5 Ways Comic Books Can Improve Literacy Skills
ProLiteracy
Blog: 11.08.2018 by Jennifer Vecchiarell
Being
able to read and write can be a superpower for anyone—so why not learn by
reading about superheroes? Comic books can be used as a great tool for
improving literacy skills, not just for children, but adults too.
At
a 2016
Comic-Con in San Diego, California, a panel of education professionals shed
some light on the superpowers that comics are filled with, both figuratively
and literally. “Idioms, homonyms, homophones—you can see that clearly in the
play between text and pictures,” said Lalitha Nataraj, a panelist and
librarian. “For that reason, comics are wonderful.”
Another
panelist uses Chris Claremont’s X-Men comic book to explain one of the most
significant roles comic books play in building literacy skills. “You have
Colossus, and he’s this big, giant metal guy. You get a really good sense of
what the word colossus means and that’s a good 10-cent word. Banshee’s power is
screaming. You have these characters that embody the vocabulary words that they
are. That’s something that’s a fun way to learn new words, in addition to the
contextual clues,” said James Bucky Carter, author of Building Literacy
Connections with Graphic Novels.
There
are several ways that comic books can be used to educate learners of all ages.
Motivation
Adults
who read at a low level or cannot read at all can be intimidated by books
overflowing with text.
Reading
Comprehension
The
sequential artwork in comic books lays the foundation for building reading
comprehension skills.
Dialogue
In
comic books, readers are exposed to a great deal of dialogue. This especially
is valuable for English language learners.
Writing
Comic
books contain basic story elements such as setting, characters, rising action,
climax, falling action, and resolution. Each panel in a comic book equals one
paragraph.
Vocabulary
As
mentioned above, comic books provide a baseline for learning vocabulary. READ
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