Graphic Novels as a Teaching Resource for Improving L2 English Reading Comprehension

Sammanfattning: Swedish L2 English pupils are required to develop their reading comprehension all while they are reading less and less during their free time. At the same time, Swedish students’ PISA scores are slowly but surely increasing. However, the PISA 2018 scores also show that 18% of the tested students do not reach the lowest acceptable level. Motivation, in general, is one of the most crucial factors for language learning, and this is especially true when it comes to promoting reading. Graphic novels are often used as a motivational tool when teaching reading comprehension. With this in mind, we investigate to what extent graphic novels as a teaching tool impacts the development of L2 English learners reading comprehension, and to what extent visual literacy is required for successful use of graphic novels in this regard. The investigated studies show an overall positive impact from the use of graphic novels as a teaching tool, especially for low proficiency learners. The implications of this are that the visuals of graphic novels function as scaffolding and the visual support helps pupils better understand the text they are reading. Implications of these results are discussed in reference to dual-coding theory. However, it is vital to note that teachers need to have prior knowledge of both graphic novels and visual literacy, to be able to use the medium for teaching purposes properly.