Abstract
Students in the 21 st century are exposed to multimodal texts, which are texts with the combinations of the modes of prints, images, gestures and movements. Graphic novel is one of the examples of a multimodal text and this genre is introduced in the Language Arts module as part of the English language subject in the new Curriculum for Primary Schools in Malaysia. Hence, it is important that teachers should first be aware of how to make the most of multimodal texts before introducing their pupils to the strategies necessary for comprehending the text. However, without proper training on how to approach the genre, the teaching of graphic novels may pose difficulties for teachers in general and especially so for teacher trainees. This paper reports the findings of a survey conducted on teacher trainees to explore the challenges they faced in teaching graphic novels to primary schoolers. Results show that although the graphics succeeded to entice the pupils into reading the text, the teacher trainee felt that the graphics did not help their pupils in understanding the storyline. The pupils’ eagerness to go through the graphics has caused them to ignore the words in the speech balloons. Consequently this has led to incomprehensible input and misinterpretation of the content. Results from t hese preliminary findings can be used to further investigate the strategies good readers use to read and comprehend graphic novels, so that teacher trainee would be better prepared to utilise graphic novels in their English classes. Keywords: graphic novels; multimodal; teacher trainees; primary pupils; reading graphic novels
Highlights
In the traditional view, literacy pedagogy has always focused on language texts, where language is the only mode of communicating and delivering information
As for the types of reading materials that they read, magazines were ranked as the highest (43%) and followed by online reading materials (21.0%). This survey highlighted that newspapers were the least chosen with only nine participants (15.8%) who had opted for it. In terms of their first encounter with graphic novels, more than 84% of the teacher trainees had the experience of reading the genre when they were in primary and secondary schools
It is interesting to note that whether their early or late exposure to reading graphic novels may have some implications to their own experiences in teaching using graphic novels during the practicum periods
Summary
Literacy pedagogy has always focused on language texts, where language is the only mode of communicating and delivering information. Rajendra (2015) asserts that combining two or more semiotic systems in a text creates a multimodal text. These multimodal texts, such as websites, video games, school textbooks, pictures books, magazines articles, advertisements and graphic novels, involve a complex interplay of written text, visual images, graphics and design elements (Kress & Van Leeuwen 2006, Kress et al 2001, Unsworth 2001). A study by Hassett and Curwood (2009) on children’s picture books explains that the multimodality of picture books takes various forms In such books, meanings are conveyed through the use of three sign systems, namely, written language, visual images, and visual design elements (Serafini 2012).
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