“Because ‘visual images are socially and culturally constructed products which have a culturally specific grammar of their own’ (Stenglin & Iedma, 2001, p. 194), the students who had never been exposed to the specific visual grammar of a graphic novel had to adjust to it.” (Chun, 2009, p. 151) Critical Literacies and Graphic Novels for English-Language Learners: Teaching Maus

Chun’s article “Critical literacies and graphic novels for English-language learners: teaching Maus” was particularly interesting to me as a foreign language and English language teacher especially because it mentions topics such as scaffolding lessons that we have covered in our second language class at NYU. As language teachers, we need to think about different mediums that can be used to convey language and sometimes we can get stuck in the more traditional mediums such as books and movies. But what about graphic novels?

Graphic novels can be a valuable tool that we can use as language teachers to make learning a language fun and relatable to students. The advantage of graphic novels is that it has images that will aid the students in understanding another language in which they may not have a complete grasp of, yet it is age appropriate and can be varied depending on age. Unlike picture books, graphic novels (if chosen correctly) can be geared towards older students as well as younger students. Because let’s face it, no adolescent wants to be reading a picture book or a book that is geared towards younger students just because they are learning a new language and their reading level is not as high as other students their age who are native speakers of that language. However, when using graphic novels, it is important to adjust students to the “culturally constructed products” and the “specific grammar” of the visual images because students may not be accustomed to the format of graphic novels. Students who have never been exposed to graphic novels may not understand the symbolism embedded within the images at first glance. The images may seem like just pretty drawing at first to the students, but with the help of the teacher and scaffolding, the students can learn how to navigate their way around the images and learn how to “read the graphic novel visually” and understand what the images really stand for. Once the student understands how to read the graphic novel they can then relate the novel to their own experiences and become invested in the story.