As the technology in computer graphics advances, Animated-Virtual Actors (AVAs) in Virtual Reality (VR) applications become increasingly rich and complex. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) suggests that complex visual materials could hinder novice learners from attending to the lesson properly. On the other hand, previous studies have…

Graphic novels have become increasingly popular with young people over the last few years. At the same time, they have become much more prominent in popular culture in general. One only needs to look at the plethora of summer blockbuster movies based on comic superheroes or the increasing amount of shelf space devoted to graphic novels and manga…

The present study investigated the effect of context on the strategies the EFL learners utilized to process idioms. To do so, ten Iranian intermediate EFL learners were randomly assigned to two groups who then attended a think-aloud session. The 5 subjects in the first group were exposed to an animated cartoon including 23 unfamiliar idioms while…

This study evaluated how comic books and graphic novels enhanced the reading comprehension of the students enrolled in the intermediate reading course at Western Pennsylvania Community College. The three research questions are: (1) How can a developmental reading course make use of comics as a learning tool? (2) What impact does reading comics…

Depression during adolescence is highly prevalent with as many as 20% experiencing a major depressive episode by the age of 18. Adolescent depression causes significant impairment across life areas including school functioning, such as poor academic performance and decreased academic achievement. Despite the existence of many evidence-based…

Young children shift meanings across multiple modes long before they have mastered formal writing skills. In a digital age, children are socialised into a wide range of new digital media conventions in the home, at school, and in community-based settings. This article draws on longitudinal classroom research with a culturally diverse cohort of…

Prompted by the recent surge in the popularity and utilization of graphic novels in the elementary classroom as well as trends toward the publication of content-focused graphic novels, the research described in this study was designed to explore educators' perspectives toward the medium as well as the issue of quality in graphic novels with…

After years of fighting for shelf space in libraries and classrooms, graphic novels have finally become an acceptable alternative to their prose-packed counterparts--and kids can't seem to get enough of them. For that matter, neither can grown-ups. In 2006, U.S. consumers dropped an estimated $330 million on graphic novels and comics, with…

This article draws on data from research with six ten-year-old children investigating the role of film and media in developing understandings of narrative. I present an account of one of the children, Connor (his chosen pseudonym), whose experiences represent a telling case of the dissonance found between children's knowledge and experience of…

Why do people with right hemisphere damage (RHD) have difficulty with pragmatics and communication? One hypothesis has been that pragmatic impairment in RHD is the result of an underlying impairment in Theory of Mind (ToM): the ability to infer the mental states of others. In previous studies evaluating ToM abilities in people with RHD,…

This article explores how immigrant experiences are represented in the narratives of three graphic novels published in the last decade: Tan's (2007) "The Arrival," Kiyama's (1931/1999) "The Four Immigrants Manga: A Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904-1924," and Yang's (2006) "American Born Chinese." Through a theoretical lens informed by…

The continuous inventions and evolutions in all information technology fields open new channels and opportunities to enhance teaching and educational methods. In one side, those may improve the abilities of educators to present information in an interactive and media enhanced formats relative to traditional methods. This may help students or…

Purpose: A picture is worth a thousand words. Multimedia teaching materials have been widely adopted by teachers in Physics, Biotechnology, Psychology, Religion, Analytical Science, and Economics nowadays. To assist with engaging students in their economic study, increase learning efficiency and understanding, solve misconception problems,…

In this article, the author talks about fan fiction, which is defined by Jenkins (2008) as "original stories and novels which are set in the fictional universe of favorite television series, films, comics, games or other media properties." Fan fiction generally involves writing stories with a combination of established characters and established…

This paper presents an overview of modalities that can be used to make learning statistics fun. Representative examples or points of departure in the literature are provided for no less than 20 modalities. Empirical evidence of effectiveness specific to statistics education is starting to emerge for some of these modalities--namely, humor, song,…