There are so many different forms of literacy in this world, but knowing how to read, write, and engage with texts seems to be the most valuable in modern society.
However, for immigrants who move to a country that doesn’t speak their native language it can be difficult to use these skills to communicate as they may not be fluent in the mother language of the nation. This where comic books can step in.
Comic books and graphic novels can help a multitude of people learning a second language build their reading and writing skills in that particular language through visual literacy.
Visual literacy is “the ability to recognize and understand ideas conveyed through visible actions or images (such as pictures)” (“Visual Literacy”). In other words, being visually literate means you can interpret, interact, communicate, and comprehend visual texts. Therefore, by incorporating visual literacy –in the forms of comic books or graphic novels– into programs for second language learners, these students will be able to make connections between the text and image relating to the text they are attempting to translate. In addition to the maintaining the reader’s interest, comic books/graphic novels can help people translate texts and remember the content of the text as the images tell the story along with the text. Thus, comic books/graphic novels can help advance literacy skills for second language learners as well as young children learning to read and write.
Sources:
Liu, Jun. “Effects of Comic Strips on L2 Learners’ Reading Comprehension.” TESOL Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 225–243. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3588379.pdf.
“Visual Literacy.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/visual%20literacy.
Visual Literacy Concept Map. visualmanifesto.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/visual-literacy.png.
