Paper discussing the results of my dissertation work with an grade 12 Advanced Placement English classrooms where the teacher used graphic novels as part of his pedagogical approach. Presented at the 25th Annual Ethnographic & Qualitative Research Conference (EQRC), Cedarville, OH.

1. Using graphic novels as a pedagogical
approach with Advanced Placement
English/language arts students:
A phenomenological case study
Dr. Cary Gillenwater | Adjunct Professor of Education | Northcentral University | Prescott, AZ

2. Traditional literature and comic
books/graphic novels are intertextual.
However, in comic books and graphic
novels a sign or a symbolic message is both
narrative and visual.
Deriving meaning from these texts is a
complicated process that relies on being
able to decode both language and images.
WHY COMIC BOOKS

3. The primary purpose of the broader study that this
paper originates from was to gain insight into the
phenomenon of using comic books and/or graphic
novels with advanced ELA students.
The aspect of the study focused on here was to
understand how these texts are read, analyzed,
critiqued, and engaged with by the teacher and the
students, and what literacy skills are utilized to make
meaning with them.
The pedagogical approach of the teacher working with
these various texts was also studied and analyzed to
further understand what differences, if any, exist in
teaching them compared to traditional texts.
PURPOSE

4. The research questions that guided this aspect of the study
were primarily concerned with discovering similarities and
differences between traditional literacy skills and visual
literacy skills and how these skills are or are not applied to
comic book/graphic novel reading:
1. How do the teacher and the students make meaning from
images in comic books/graphic novels?
2. Can traditional literacy skills be applied to understanding
comic books/graphic novel images?
3. Are their visual literacy skills that are necessary for
making meaning from images in comic books/graphic novels?
QUESTIONS

5. This phenomenological case study is
comprised of a 12th grade Advanced
Placement English/language arts (ELA)
classroom where the teacher used graphic
novels as a pedagogical technique during
two units of study.
The study’s sample is seven students and
their teacher.
PARTICIPANTS

6. Corbin and Strauss (2008) noted that a phenomenological
approach to qualitative research is an attempt to try and
understand a phenomenon, in this case the use of comic
books/graphic novels in an advanced ELA classroom.
Case study method lends itself to a more focused and
profound study of a phenomenon (Stake, 1995) while also
attempting to “illustrate, support, or challenge theoretical
assumptions” (Merriam, 1998, p. 108).
Case study methodology was appropriate for this study
because the primary purpose of this study was to attempt to
understand the phenomenon of using graphic novels with
Advanced Placement ELA students whom have seldom been
studied in this context.
RATIONALE

7. This study consisted of two rounds of data
collection, collected on site.
Data collection took place in August 2010 & November
2010 and involved approximately 26 hours of data
collection.
Methods included in-depth semi-structured interviews
and follow-up interviews with Mr. Ryan and seven of
the students, a total of ten non-participant
observations using an observation guide, and a
structured think-aloud activity that took place during
the interviews involving an excerpt from the graphic
novel Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller.
METHODS

8. The combination of these three data
collection methods allowed for a richer
understanding of the phenomenon of using
graphic novels in the AP ELA classroom
because it allowed for participants’
multiple perspectives on the
experience, their interactions within the
classroom, and textual analysis to be
gathered, analyzed, and synthesized.
METHODS

9. Analysis was conducted using constant comparative method
to begin to understand the phenomenon being studied and to
develop and refine further data collection.
This method of analysis was used in conjunction with open,
axial, and selective coding.
The interviews were compared and contrasted with data
collected from the observations and the structured thinkaloud as well as with literature and research from multiple
disciplines in an effort to triangulate the findings.
ANALYSIS

10. The AP students’ traditional literacy aided in reading
and making meanings from the images in the
graphic novels.
Students who had previous formal art/visual literacy
training were able to articulate and discuss artistic
elements related to narrative and thematic aspects
in the graphic novels more richly.
Students who had not had formal art and/or visual
literacy instruction benefited from the teacher’s
pedagogical approach to visual literacy via the
graphic novels utilized.
FINDINGS

11. “I think a lot of, it’s just pure
aesthetics, the color, the shapes,
positioning of character, the
contrast. The perspective, I think
that’s a big thing, like how close, how
far you are from the main object in
the picture, the person. Like with a
lot of the frames here, you have
close ups on the face and it really
shows to the emotion on the face, so
I think that you really begin to
understand what he’s going through
because of that visual image. And
just the way, I want to aesthetics,
the way the colors go together, what
kind of mood you can infer from that.
Like these, they have limited color.
There are just a few colors and it’s
really dark, so you get that dark
idea.” – Michael Scott
EXAMPLE 1
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, writer and artist Frank Miller
©1986 DC Comics

12. “In the end when the bat comes in
it’s more of like a dark mood
because he’s angry with himself
and angry at the world, so the bat
kind of represents that
darkness...Color. Usually darker
colors symbolize a darker mood.
There’s not a lot of background
image, which shows you they’re
just trying to focus on the
character itself. Like how it’s a
dark background. – Tyron Biggums
EXAMPLE 2
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, writer and artist Frank Miller
©1986 DC Comics

13. These findings suggest a need for formal visual
literacy instruction, but even when such instruction
is absent, students’ reading, comprehending, and
making meaning of image oriented texts does not
appear to be undermined because they are able to
rely on traditional literacy, at least when their
traditional literacy is well developed.
This study also suggests that comic books/graphic
novels are a promising medium for bolstering
students’ visual literacy because these texts utilize
students’ already established traditional literacy
skills while simultaneously cultivating their fledgling
visual literacy skills.
DISCUSSION

14. The primary limitation of the study centered on issues of
participation.
This study may also have benefitted from potential contrasts and
commonalities produced by collection of data in classrooms not using
these texts, but having a similar advanced population.
Another limitation imposed on the study was the realities of time and
place
In spite of these limitations I believe the study did help in
understanding the phenomenon of using comic books/graphic novels
in an advanced ELA classroom.
This study also has the potential to aid those teachers who wish to
use these texts with this population of students, and perhaps the
interview guides and structured think-aloud activity could serve as
aids in action research as well.
LIMITATIONS

15. Future research on this phenomenon should not be
so much about the texts themselves, but instead
what these texts when used with this population
can inform us about much larger and ongoing
concerns such as the primacy of traditional literacy
and the resultant neglect of other modes of literacy
as well as the arts within schooling.
Avenues of future research, whether qualitative,
quantitative, or mixed methods should work toward
a further understanding of what students, advanced
or otherwise, may be lacking when instruction only
considers one mode of literacy.
FUTURE RESEARCH

16. Cary Gillenwater
Adjunct Professor of Education
Northcentral University
Prescott, AZ
cgillenwater@ncu.edu
(919) 923-1894
QUESTIONS?