The Council Chronicle
ENGH 100 – P03
Student Y
December 2019
Graphic Novels/Comic Books: Their Effect on
Student Academic Work and Well-Being
You have seen them on your students’ desks
and in your favorite bookstore. The graphic novel
or comic book industry is getting bigger and
bigger by day. There are various movies produced
or being produced right now, which most of them
are enormous box office hits. The latest example
for this extremely successful industry comes from
the fast-growing website formed by a former topranked Wall Street analyst, the movie called Joker
(2019), which made a billion dollar in the box
office (Business Insider 2019). These books and
their spin-off movies are very popular now, so
popular that students actually read them on their
own without being told to read them.
Image from: https://m.comixology.com/Beowulf-TheGraphic-Novel/comics-series/543
However, there isn’t enough research regarding graphic novels/comic books, student
achievement, and well-being. There is even a debate about if reading them counts are real
1
The Council Chronicle
reading. As Ashley Kelly-White (2016) , a guest writer at The Bobcat Network, an online
newspaper from a Kansas high school shares, “Many people state that they are only a comic
book, a pure art form, and are nothing more than a type of entertainment for children and
teenagers.” It seems like people decide if reading graphic novels is good for students or not
based on their own opinions. So, the gap in the wall of knowledge is the lack of research
regarding graphic novels/comic books and their effect on student well-being and academic
performance. The aim of this article is to show the positive impact of graphic novels/comic
books on academic performance and how graphic novels might impact individual student wellbeing.
Why is there prejudice against comic books being used in classroom?
As reported by two researchers of graphic novels and comics in the classroom, Yıldırım
(2013) and Yang (2016), most of the educators see graphic novels/comic as books for free time
activity, or leisure time activity. Even Yang (2016), who is a high school teacher, for a long time
thought the same thing: comic books don’t belong in class. However, when Yang (2016) used
comic books to teach algebra to his class, he realized that he was wrong, and comic books indeed
have a place in classrooms. Then, he conducted research about why this prejudice against comic
books apparent, and Yang (2016) found a connection between a person named Dr. Fredric and
his book called Seduction of Innocent. Dr. Frederic was a child phycologist who mostly worked
with juvenile delinquents. In his book, Dr. Frederic argues that comic books cause juvenile
delinquency. He was wrong because Dr. Frederic was working with juvenile delinquents, and he
failed to realize that almost every kid in the 1940’s read comic books. However, his work caused
tremendous damage towards the reputation of graphic novels/comic books. Moreover, Frederic’s
2
The Council Chronicle
book even made the Unites States Senate hold several hearings to see if comic books caused
juvenile delinquency. The hearings ended inconclusively, but the damage was done. The
connection Aşkın Yildirim (2013), Assistant Professor in the School of Foreign Languages at
İzmir Katip Çelebi University in Turkey, found was an anti-comics campaign that happened in
1950s within the United States. Yıldırım (2013) states that during this period comic books were
burned, including very popular comics, such as Batman and Robin because they were blamed of
promoting homosexuality, Wonder Woman for being a bad role-model for girls, and Superman
for promoting an unnatural sense of reality. All of these and many other comic books were
accused of corrupting American youth. These accusations still harm the reputation of comic
books now (Yildirim, 2013) even though society’s ideas about LBGTQ and women’s roles have
changed and current media gives a more realistic unnatural sense of reality.
Image from: https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2019/03/20/batman-a-history-ofheroics-1940s-1950s
3
The Council Chronicle
How do graphic novels/comic books impact academic performance?
Daniela Traficantea, Valentina Rita Andolfi, Maryanne Wolf are highly respected literacy
researchers, each of them wrote more than ten research papers and/or books regarding the topic
literacy. Information gathered from Andolfi (2017) demonstrates that improving students’
literacy abilities increases their self-esteem. Because of this self-esteem, they tend to be more
involved in class, and show great improvements concerning the grades they got. Aşkın Yildirim,
Assistant Professor in the School of Foreign Languages at İzmir Katip Çelebi University in
Turkey, claims improved reading can come from reading any type of book; it doesn’t matter
whether the reading a student does is light reading or heavy reading. Light reading is a reading
type in which one reads fairly easy texts, which consist of simpler vocabulary, such as
magazines, newspapers, graphic novels, and comic books (Yıldırım, 2013). If light reading helps
improve student’s literacy like Yildirm (2031) reports, this probably due to the fact that they can
be so interested in a book they finish without noticing. From this information we can conclude
that in order to improve one’s literacy it doesn’t matter if the text has academic language, or it
has informal language, such as magazines, and etc., students just have to like it and finish it.
Additionally, as Yang (2016) states by teaching students with the help of comic books, it gives
students control over their lecture because of the rate of information there are gathering are in
students hand, they can stop at somewhere they don’t quite understand, and go back read the
passage as slowly or quickly they want to. Furthermore, again reported by Yıldırım (2013),
comic books help students to break free from mechanical learning by boosting their creativity
and imagination and creating a chance for poor readers to advance required skills and to aid them
in becoming more capable readers. Also, as noted above, the work by Andolfi (2017) and
4
The Council Chronicle
Yıldırım (2013) corresponds with each other, as they both claim that reading increases students
confidence. In addition, graphic novels/comic books can be used to deepen students
understanding of the curriculum, and it presents a new way to understand a certain topic (Miller,
2019). Evidence of increased student reading comprehension and ability to recall ideas in a book
where found by another researcher. Stephen Meuer, an English Language (EL) Instructor in
West Saint Paul, Minnesota, conducted a small study to see if his students’ reading
comprehension was better after reading graphic novel or a traditional novel. For all of his
students, reading comprehension improved when they read graphic novels as shown in the chart
below (Meuer 2018):
Why should graphic novels / comic books be used in the classroom?
There are various benefits of using graphic novels / comic books in the classroom found
by researchers of the topic. First Miller (2019), who is an outstanding professor who has won an
award due to his outstanding teaching in the state of Florida, finds graphic novels deepen
5
The Council Chronicle
students’ understanding of major events in history and current life, which were discussed in
class. Second, Yıldrım gives a reason to why graphic novels should be used in class, “Graphic
novels by facilitating reading comprehension can act like a catalyzer that will help students deal
with more complex reading materials more confidently” (Yıldırım 2013, p. 125-126). This is
explained by Yang (2016) as due to the fact that students’ have control over the flow of
information that is being given, so they can slow it down, or go over it quickly. The researchers
and the others mentioned above, support one and each other’s claims; specifically, they all say
on one thing, graphic novels / comic books can be beneficial for students’ academic career.
Taking into consideration that these researchers studied the use of graphic novels in different
grade levels shows that these types of books are benefitable not just to children who are having
trouble with literacy, but for university students too.
How might graphic novels/ impact well-being?
Learning to read and write properly are essential skills for daily life, and children who
have difficulties learning these skills often develop deep trust issues in their own abilities, low
motivation, and low self-esteem. These issues can manifest anxiety, and depression. Also,
studies show that children who read more slowly than peers who read at a normal paste of speed
show higher anxiety, and agitation. This literacy abilities affects the social status of children who
reads slowly negatively as well, and as a result of this it affects the relationship built with
classmates, and so their well-being (Andolfi, 2017). From this gathered information, Andolfi
and her colleagues made an experiment on children to improve their literacy abilities and to see
the effects on their well-being. The studies showed that by making “slow reading children” read
easier/lighter texts than their usual reading level, it made an improvement on their academic
6
The Council Chronicle
work. Moreover, this improvement on their academic work resulted in effecting their well-being
by feeling more confident about their work. In other words, this study concluded that reading and
writing according to the curriculum level, and engaging in learning activities, such as in class
readings, allow children to feel better about themselves and that allowing children to read lighter
texts like graphic
novels and comic
books is what helps
them do this
(Andolfi, 2017).
Image from: https://twitter.com/ICPL/status/1176603509292195841/photo/1
7
The Council Chronicle
The Reading Agency, a rooted and respected organization located in UK, conducted a
research in 2015 that corresponds with Andolfi’s (2017) view on improving literacy helps one’s
well-being. The report of the research shows that reading for pleasure, which means light
reading, can increase one’s well-being throughout life, and reduce symptoms of depression (The
Reading Agency, 2015). Moreover, this research supports Andolfi (2017) by stating that
“reading for pleasure” has vital role in improving educational outcomes, and as stated by Andolfi
(2017), improving literacy affects one’s well-being as well.
Lastly, to conclude the claim graphic novels/comic books impact well-being, we have to
take in consideration Yıldrım’s (2013) claim about light reading and how it is benefitable to
readers who are having hard time understanding heavy subjects because both Andolfi (2017) and
The Reading Agency (2015) are talking about the same thing, which is light reading. The
Reading Agency (2015) calls this method “reading for pleasure” and Andolfi (2017) calls it
“reading easier texts”; however, both of those methods can be called light reading because
according to Yıldırım (2013), we can say that light reading is easier, and more pleasure-based
reading. Therefore, taking into consideration of all this information and combining them, it can
safely be said that graphic novels/comic books affects well-being in a positive way because it
helps student learn from an easier text, thus making them more confident about themselves.
Moreover, as stated by Andolfi (2017), this confidence results in positive well-being
unintentionally, proving that these books called graphic novels or comic books are actually good
for students, against people like Dr. Frederic who thought they caused juvenile delinquency
(Yang, 2016).
8
The Council Chronicle
Conclusion
The benefits of graphic novel/comic books to one’s mental well-being, and their
academic work as the referenced sources proves it is undeniable. What this research is trying to
accomplish is to show the benefits of graphic novels/comic books, and to change the
misconception that these are something a child would read. The good news is that this
misconception is slowly changing, as teachers are seeing them as a learning tool and scholars are
seeing them as a promising subject for study (Viadro, 2009). It is relevant to students and
teachers, who want to learn about benefits of graphic novel/comic books. Also, because it is an
area with minimum research being made, it helps contribute
to wall of knowledge so other scholars can learn about the
intersection between graphic novels/comic books, academic
achievement, and well-being. Teachers or students benefit
from this method to learn better as stated by Miller (2019).
Taking this article into consideration, my fellow students
peers, teachers, and scholars can see the point of using
graphic novels/comic books in academic life. Think for
example how drama students using the graphic novel
Image from:
https://play.google.com/store/books/details
/Gareth_Hinds_King_Lear?id=uhilAwAAQBA
J&hl=en-US&gl=us
version of the King Lear play to better picture what is going
in the scene, or drama teachers who could give the graphic
novel version of the King Lear to teach their students. This will show them a different, new, and
effective way to learn and teach.
9
The Council Chronicle
References
Andolfi V. R., Traficante, D., & Wolf, M. (2017). Literacy abilities and well-being in children:
Findings from the application of EUREKA, the Italian adaptation of RAVE-O Program.
Form@re, 17(2), 12-38. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com
Clark, T. (2019, Nov 15). ‘Joker’ will cross $1 billion at the box office today, becoming the first
R-rated movie in history to do so. Business Insider. Retrieved from
https://www.businessinsider.com/
Kelly-White, A. (2016, April 7). Graphic novels explained. The Bobcat Network. Retrieved from
https://www.blhsnews.com/feature/2016/04/07/graphic-novels-explained/
Meuer, S. (2018). Reading comprehension through graphic novels: How comic books and
graphic novels can help language learners. MinneTESOL Journal 24(2). Retrieved from
http://minnetesoljournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Meuer-2018-ReadingComprehension-through-Graphic-Novels-2.pdf
Miller, C. (2019, April 2). Using Graphic Novels and Video Essays to Critically Understand
Socio-Political Events. National Council of Teachers of English. Retrieved from
https://www2.ncte.org/blog/
10
The Council Chronicle
Reading for pleasure builds empathy and Improves wellbeing, research from the reading Agency
finds. (2015, August 3). The Reading Agency. Retrieved from
https://readingagency.org.uk
Viadero, D. (2009). Scholars See Comic Books as No Laughing Matter. Education Week.
Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/
Yildirim, A. H. (2013). Using graphic novels in the classroom. Journal of Language and
Literature Education, 8, 118-131. Retrieved from http://oaji.net/articles/2014/10691406114482.pdf
11
The Council Chronicle
Revision Memo
1- What aspect of your essay did you “re-see”? How would you describe this
revision as a large-scale revision, a re-seeing? – I would say I re-see my articles
subject, because at first I couldn’t found a good amount of sources to continue
writing about graphic novels/comic books, so I change it to physical activity,
however lucky enough and with the help of Professor Miller I found enough
sources to continue with graphic novels and comic books. I call this a large scaled
revision, because everything about my research changed from driving questions
to new offering.
2- What feedback did you prioritize and why? – I prioritized the feedbacks about
my sources form Professor Miller, because I wanted to make sure I was using
proper sources to conduct my research. Also, about my exigence, since I had
hard time coming up with my exigence, because this was something I have never
done, and it was hard for me.
3- How do you feel like the essay better addresses the audience and genre now? – I
have finished writing and I am still not sure about whether I am addressing my
audience with right language, nevertheless I am sure about the genre it is an
academic article.
4- What’s your favorite part of this piece? – My favorite part is introduction,
because with the help of the CARs handout I know, I did a good job at the
introduction section and got the all the requirements fulfilled according to CARs
handout.
5- What’s your least favorite part? – My least favorite part of this piece would be
conclusion, due to the fact that I’m still not sure about if I did the new offering
right or not. So, I am not confident about my conclusion part making it least
favorite part for me.
6- If you had more time, what would you do? – I would work on conclusion more. I
know that I have already used my crisis passes, but due to some complication I
12
The Council Chronicle
couldn’t work on my paper during the Saturday night, so if I had more time I
would mainly work on conclusion and maybe make it a bit more detailed.
7- Discuss what you learned from this project: about research, writing, yourself as a
writer, etc. – I have learned thanks to this project, for example I can now defend
comic books being a helpful to academic work and well-being with the
knowledge I gathered. Also, I think I have proven myself that I can actually write
good paper, because I wasn’t so confidante about my writing skill, and now I feel
confident about it, thanks to my professors.
8- What process steps would you use for another assignment? For what types of
assignment, and why? What would you rethink, and why? – I will definitely use
the CARs method of writing an introduction on my future papers, and I will
definitely use part 7 on the project plan, which is answering driving questions to
make it easier to answer them.
13