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Degree

Master of Arts, Ohio State University, EDU Teaching and Learning, 2010.

Abstract

This study explores the possibilities of graphic novels with young readers. I examined the question: In what ways do readers engage while reading a graphic novel? Throughout the 2009-2010 school year, four fifth grade students from a private Catholic school in the Midwest were selected to participate in two book discussions revolving around two graphic novels. After these discussions, each student was interviewed, one-on-one, about their experience. This was followed by intense analysis of the data collected. Based on my own teacher journals, as well as transcripts from the videoed book discussions and interviews, I was able to index and outline three emergent themes. During this study, readers engaged with the graphic novels discussed by connecting them to the film medium, by calling on personal experiences and relating them to the text, and by noticing and discussing literary devices found in the graphic novels. These themes show three diverse and important ways that these student readers engaged in graphic novels. Ultimately, it is my conviction that there is great value in reading graphic novels, based on the wide-ranging discussion topics, as well as the enthusiasm they are met with in an academic setting. The graphic novel is a powerful medium, and I challenge teachers, students, librarians, researchers, and readers everywhere to engage in a graphic novel and experience what it has to offer.

Subject Headings

Education; Middle School Education; Reading Instruction

Keywords

graphic novels; comics; visual literacy; engagement

Committee / Advisors

Mollie Blackburn, PhD (Advisor)
Caroline Clark, PhD (Committee Member)

Pages

53p.

Document number: osu1290088200
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1290088200

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