Graphic novels in the K-12 classroom are most often used to motivate marginalized readers because of the lower text load and assumption of easy reading. This assumption has thus far been unexplored by reading research. This qualitative multiple-case study utilized think-aloud protocols in a new attention-mapping activity to better understand how…

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…

This pedagogical study explored the usage of graphic novels among three, college English instructors at various institutions in the state of Pennsylvania. All three participants were faculty members of their respective institutions and were interviewed, had their classes observed by the researcher, and had content analysis conducted on all…

The present study aims to investigate the effects of Aesthetics English comic books on EFL junior high school students' vocabulary acquisition, reading comprehension, and English learning motivation. The participants in this study were 28 eighth graders from one class in a public junior high school in Pingtung in Taiwan. After ten weeks…

Of its millions of readers worldwide, why individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in particular love manga--and its animated cousin, anime--remains mostly unexplored. Therefore, it is critical for English teachers to ask two questions: (1) What does the preference for manga reveal about the way adolescents with ASD view and process the…

Background: High-risk human papilloma virus (HR-HPV) is highly prevalent in sexually active men and women; HR-HPV has been classified as a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and as a necessary, but not sufficient, causal agent for cervical cancer. Women who test positive for HPV often experience serious psychosocial consequences such as fear,…

In her book "Why Do We Care about Literary Characters?" Blakely Vermeule addresses the tendency of the academic establishment to dismiss affection for literary characters in favor of objective analysis, describing teachers with "the furrowed brow, the worried expression: responsible teachers [who] wean their students off their passion for literary…

This study examined children's ability to use mutual eye gaze as a cue to friendships in others. In Experiment 1, following a discussion about friendship, 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds were shown animations in which three cartoon children looked at one another, and were told that one target character had a best friend. Although all age groups accurately…

Can children's handedness influence how they represent abstract concepts like "kindness" and "intelligence"? Here we show that from an early age, right-handers associate rightward space more strongly with positive ideas and leftward space with negative ideas, but the opposite is true for left-handers. In one experiment, children indicated where on…

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…

To examine the neural mechanism of co-speech gesture production, we measured brain activity of bilinguals during an animation-narration task using near-infrared spectroscopy. The task of the participants was to watch two stories via an animated cartoon, and then narrate the contents in their first language (Ll) and second language (L2),…

Cartoons are valuable aids that prompt interest and foster genuine student engagement in the classroom. Cartoons are part of a much larger effort to introduce rare and amusing activities to boost learning and student participation. Concept cartoons are visual tools composed of three or more characters' proposing ideas, discussing or thinking…

This study investigates how syntactic complexity affects speaking performance in first (L1) and second language (L2) in terms of speaking fluency. Participants (30 Dutch native speakers with an average to advanced level of English) performed two speaking experiments, one in Dutch (L1) and one in English (L2). Syntactic complexity was…

Graphic novels are an increasingly popular format that educators can use as a tool to teach reading and writing skills across the K-12 curriculum. This article describes a project in which incarcerated youths collaborated with a graphic illustrator to create a graphic novel about teens dealing with issues related to HIV/AIDS. The graphic novel is…

While comics have received widespread acceptance as a literary genre, instructors and scholars in Rhetoric and Composition have been slower to adopt comics, largely because of a lingering difficulty understanding how the characteristics of the form relate to our work in the classroom. Using as guides the "WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year…