From comics,graphic novels and picturebooks to fusion texts: a new kid on the block!

There is probably a comic or graphic novel to suit the needs and requirements of all kinds of readers. However, in addition, there is now a new kid on the block! A different kind of book is emerging, one that exhibits some, but not always all, of the characteristics normally thought of as belonging to comics and graphic novels. These books blur the boundaries and include elements of comics, graphic novels and picturebooks, fusing them and creating a category that is a synthesis of aspects from all of them, hence the term, “fusion” texts. This article challenges the view that comics, graphic novels and picturebooks are aimed at a younger and/or immature audience and shows how they are often complex fusion texts dealing with challenging, controversial issues which frequently deliver thought provoking and uncomfortable messages.     

Reading biographical texts: a gateway to historical disciplinary reading

We examined the response of high school students in Israel to biographical texts. Students were exposed to three sub-genres of biographical texts (a literary-biographical text, an autobiographical text and a scientific-biographical text). These texts all differ from the conceptual schema of ordinary school texts. The data were collected from 64 participants from three classes in two different public schools in Israel. The ability of students to apply historical disciplinary reading skills was evaluated for each text, with an emphasis on ‘sourcing’ and ‘corroboration’. The basic premise was that the texts the students are exposed to influence not only their level of knowledge but also their disciplinary concepts and skills.

We contend that it might be that biographical texts, and especially autobiographical and literary-biographical texts, evoked historical reading in students, and strengthened their disciplinary reading abilities.     

The effects of multimodal texts on science reading comprehension in Chilean fifth-graders: text scaffolding and comprehension skills

ABSTRACT

Reading comprehension is a crucial skill that elementary school students must develop in order to learn science. However, there is not yet enough research about the role that multimodal texts play in scaffolding student reading comprehension of complex scientific processes, such as energy transfer. This study explored how verbal and visual resources (scaffolding level) and individual differences (reading skills) contribute to science reading comprehension. One-hundred and sixty Chilean fifth-graders were assessed on reading skills, vocabulary, and prior science knowledge. A counterbalanced design was used to test two groups: Group 1 reads a text with low multimodal scaffolding and Group 2 reads a text with high multimodal scaffolding. Level of text scaffolding was determined by (1) image function, (2) visual-verbal relations, (3) presence of an explicit explanatory structure, and (4) lexico-grammatical resources. General monomodal and multimodal science reading comprehension were assessed with multiple-choice tests. An ANCOVA analysis revealed non-significant differences between groups after controlling for prior knowledge, fluency, and vocabulary. Likewise, a two-factor ANCOVA analysis showed that the high-multimodal scaffolding text significantly boosted science reading comprehension for low-skilled comprehenders. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for pedagogy and research, aiming to foster multimodal literacy for learning in content areas.     

Playing texts against each other in the multimodal English classroom

This article explores the way adolescents and adults are experimenting with the multimodal affordances of contemporary intertextual practices. Drawing on a considerable number of recent research studies, we outline how young people and young adults are consistently engaging with the opportunities of the digital environment. We explore the recent history of multimodality, examining how we can help students move from simply using intertextuality for their own enjoyment, to a far more critical and informed position. This critical position, we feel, is especially powerful when students engage in intercontextuality and when they investigate issues of identity through the affordances of multimodal texts. Drawing on the research studies, we offer a number of ways in which English teachers can utilize the potential of their students' capability with the new technologies.     

Grade 7 Students Reading Graphic Novels: ‘You Need To Do a Lot of Thinking’

A multifaceted, classroom‐based research project explored how developing Grade 7 students’ knowledge of literary and illustrative elements affects their understanding, interpretation and analysis of picturebooks and graphic novels, and their subsequent creation of their own print texts. Analysis of two sources of data, the students’ written responses to Amulet ( Kibuishi 2008 ), one of the graphic novels read and discussed during the study, and the students’ opinions about the knowledge that is required to read and understand a graphic novel, indicated how the instruction about various graphic novel conventions had impacted the students’ awareness of and knowledge about the structural design of these multimodal texts.     

Student connections with academic texts: a phenomenographic study of reading

Concerns about the ability of post-secondary students to read scholarly materials are well documented in the literature. A key aspect of reading at the deeper level expected of these students is connecting new information to prior knowledge. This study is based on an activity where students were explicitly required to make such connections as part of an in-class workshop on reading. Phenomenographic analysis of these connections showed that students could establish links between the scholarly article and their personal and academic knowledge. It also showed that students read at both surface and deep levels, making connections to the words in the text or on a deeper level, to the meaning of the text. These insights suggest ways of encouraging students to deepen their engagement with academic texts.     

大学英语精读教学中多模态教学模式的运用分析

在这个科技发达的时代,多媒体技术越来越发达,人们的交流方式也在不断的更新,逐渐的呈现多模态的特点。在这里,值得一提的是,多模态的手段也在大学教学中有所体现,尤其在大学英语精读教学中逐渐被使用。在大学英语改革之后,课内和课外、网络等多模态教学逐渐走上课堂。应当注意的是,在多模态模式教学的过程中,教师应该要协调好各个模式之间的配合,做好师生之间的互动工作,这不仅提高了学生的课堂积极性,也为学生提供了展示自我的机会。下面,我们将针对大学英语精读教学中的多模态方式进行分析。     

Composing print essays versus composing across modes: students' multimodal choices and overall preferences

The current study presents results from students' engagement of composing print essays and composing across modes on the same topic. It builds on the premise that print‐based reading and writing should complement and coexist with multimodal pedagogy. A group of Taiwanese adolescent students were invited to complete one print essay and one multimodal product on the same topic of “My favorite place in the world”. For their multimodal product, students were required to use at least two modes (e.g. words and image, sounds and words) in any medium (e.g. video, collage, scrapbook or website) of their choice. It was found that the most frequently used medium for students' multimodal projects was video which incorporated words, sounds and visuals. Most students felt that for the topic of “My favorite place in the world”, their multimodal products helped them to convey their ideas better because they provided the audience with more sensory information. To conclude the paper, a few future research directions are outlined to help move the research of multimodal composing forward.     

Writing texts with Radical Change characteristics

Research has revealed how students draw upon other texts when writing their own texts. This article explores how the writing of Alyssa, a 10‐year‐old Grade 5 student, was influenced by her engagement with literature with Radical Change characteristics, as well as by her knowledge of and experience with other texts. Dresang's Radical Change taxonomy is used as a framework for analysing the storybook created by Alyssa. The article concludes with discussions of the intertextual nature of the literature used in the study, and the social nature of intertextuality in the research classroom.     

Cultural agents creating texts: a collaborative space adventure

This paper discusses the ways in which young children collaboratively use narrative play and the available space and materials around them in order to exert cultural agency. The collaborative creation of texts is asserted as central to this expression of agency. By presenting an illustrative vignette of a group of 5‐year‐old boys as they engage in literacy practices and create a range of meaningful texts within an early years compulsory education setting, the ways in which agency is expressed through the collaborative venture of text creation is explored. The vignette follows an episode of self‐initiated dramatic play, fuelled by the children's desire to engage in peer culture and make meanings collaboratively. This play episode spurs the creation of a range of hybridised texts, which culminate in the production of a written narrative. Observations from this study are then used to add to a broader discussion, which raises concerns about the current policy in England, which views early writing development as a set of individual and predefined set of skills to be acquired, a view which could undervalue the experiences that children bring to early educational settings.     

Valuing and evaluating student-generated online multimodal texts: rethinking what counts

Teachers are currently urged to integrate information and communication technologies into classroom learning experiences, and many enthusiastically do so, yet traditional print‐based assessment modes still dominate. In this paper we put forward the position that the production of digitally mediated texts cannot be assessed against traditional printbased assessment criteria. In support of this position, we explore the nature of multimodal text production and propose relevant assessment criteria for determining quality.     

How graphic novels support reading comprehension strategy development in children

This qualitative case study explored the relationship between comprehension strategies and graphic novels in one Grade 4 classroom, utilising children as informants. The primary research questions related to children's applications of metacognitive reading comprehension strategies as well as the potential for graphic novels to support the students’ development as readers. Findings demonstrated that the children were able to apply two types of strategies to their reading of graphic novels: ‘keys’ that supported form‐specific comprehension strategies and ‘master keys’ that supported more general comprehension strategies that could be applied to other types of texts. Student preferences for graphic novels aligned with their preferences for reading narrative novels and non‐fiction, and did not align with preferences regarding comics or cartoons. Student preferences for reading graphic novels increased throughout the study. Fluent student responses to graphic novels through process drama were identified. Implications of the study involve the employment of graphic novels to support metacognitive strategies for reading and writing as well as to facilitate process drama.     

Teaching narrative writing using comics: Delainey and Rasmussen,the creators of Betty,share their composing strategies as rich literacy resources for elementary teachers

The author explores how comics texts and writing practices are rich literacy resources for educators. Few studies report on how teachers explore such texts and practices in their classrooms. The author examines how drawing improves students' narrative writing and presents findings from a 7‐month case study of Delainey and Rasmussen's collaborative composing routines. Delainey and Rasmussen are the creators of the daily syndicated comic strip, Betty, an internationally published family comic strip that has been in newspapers for 20 years. The author explores Delainey and Rasmussen's collaborative routines and composing practices and provides parallel suggestions for classroom work.     

Children's writing goes 3D: a case study of one primary school's journey into multimodal authoring

This paper draws from research conducted as part of an Australian Research Council funded Linkage Project ‘Teaching effective 3D authoring in the middle years: multimedia grammatical design and multimedia authoring pedagogy’, which is a collaboration between the University of New England, the University of Tasmania and the Australian Children's Television Foundation. This project is being conducted in over 20 schools around Australia. The data presented in this paper focuses on one such school, located in Tasmania. It explores one school's endeavour in the teaching and learning of multimodal narrative. Data includes interviews from students and multimodal analysis of student narratives. The paper showcases the kinds of semiotic choices the children are making for their stories, and includes excerpts from the interviews to illustrate how they are able to articulate justifications for their choices. In particular, it focuses on how children are establishing literary concepts such as genre, characterisation and point of view using all semiotic resources. In doing so, it considers the pedagogy behind the creations to explore how effectively it works as children create new kinds of texts which are innovative, critical, creative and ‘of quality’.     

Researching and writing based on multiple texts

Students perform poorly on multiple text reading-writing (MTRW) tasks. To address this issue, we examine students' strategy engagement during response composition by analyzing five types of data. These include: (a) log data of text access, (b) the notes that students composed during processing, (c) students' modified think-aloud reports, (d) screen-capture videos of writing behaviors, and (e) the written products generated. We report on insights gained by coordinating and juxtaposing these various sources of data on students' writing. Results showed that while students accessed and took notes on the majority of the texts provided, information from texts was rarely connected, neither in students' notes nor in the written responses composed. Moreover, students' effortful engagement in multiple text use, captured via log data, was associated with task performance. Finally, a number of variables, corresponding to students’ strategy reports during processing, were found to be significant predictors of writing performance.     

A case study of questioning for reading comprehension during guided reading

This case study explored how a teacher's questioning during guided reading scaffolded six children's understanding of reading. Observations and interview data conveyed that questioning statements and the teacher's involvement as a respondent prompted children's engagement and understanding of the text. Insufficient wait time and open questions with a closed intent seemed to stifle children's understanding of reading. Conclusions suggest teachers' relaxation of questioning to a conversational manner may enable guided reading to be an opportunity to develop children's comprehension on all levels.     

Learning literacy though play using interactive texts during storybook reading: A parent/child experience

Abstract

Based on first hand field notes, I undertook to research the reasons why children interacted or did not interact appropriately with a common emergent literacy experience, the readaloud. I explored the reasons why par‐ents/caregivers may not effectively participate in storybook reading, including reactions of parents/caregivers during four literacy events. I determined that the key to successful literacy experiences were first hand, personal involvement of the children in an active learning experience associated with interactive texts. Here, children were invited to create appropriate actions to accompany the story readings. Interactive texts appear to hold the key to successful early literacy experiences for preschoolers. © 2005 Published by Elsevier Inc.     

Slowmation: Preservice elementary teachers representing science knowledge through creating multimodal digital animations

Research has identified the value of learners using technology to construct their own representations of science concepts. In this study, we investigate how learners, such as preservice elementary teachers, design and make a narrated animation to represent their science knowledge. The type of animation exemplified is called a “Slowmation” (abbreviated from “Slow Animation”), which is a simplified way for preservice teachers to make an animation that integrates features from claymation, object animation, and digital storytelling. Drawing on semiotic theory, a case study of three preservice elementary teachers, who were audio and video recorded as they created a slowmation, illustrates how the construction process enabled them to engage with a science concept in multiple ways. Findings suggest that when preservice teachers create a slowmation, they design and make a sequence of five representations, each being a semiotic system with particular affordances that link as a semiotic progression: (i) research notes; (ii) storyboard; (iii) models; and (iv) digital photographs, which culminate in (v) a narrated animation. In this study, the authors present their theoretical framework, explain how the preservice teachers created a slowmation using a sequence of representations to show their science knowledge and discuss the implications of these findings for learners in universities and schools. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 985–1009, 2011     

A case study of reading instruction in a Philippine classroom

In this article, we describe the reading practices in a public and high-achieving 6th grade English classroom in the Philippines. By utilizing a four resources model, we discuss the different roles that students assume in this classroom. Students in this class are mainly code breakers and text users and have limited opportunities to assume the other two roles of the four resources model. This case study provides a different view of reading, specifically a view of a culture of reading wherein higher status is given to oral reading performance rather than comprehension. We describe the way a high-achieving 6th grade Philippine classroom perceives reading. Through this article, we would like to contribute to the research literature on Philippine education and increase our knowledge of reading practices as they are conceived and practised in this particular classroom.     

文学阅读与文学疗愈

本文依据文艺批评、接受美学和阅读学的原理,举例说明了阅读＂文学好书＂的一般人文价值和特殊心理疗愈效用;认为文学阅读推广,尤其是深入阅读＂文学好书＂,是构建一个人＂内心和谐＂、一个家庭＂文教氛围＂乃至一个社会＂终身学习习惯＂和＂文化素质教养＂的重要精神文明举措,关系到一个时代的＂和谐社会＂建设乃至民众生活的＂幸福指数＂。