In her article "Why Teach With Comics?" Jennifer Haines explains just one of the
misconceptions that persists in regards to the reading of comics stating:
"One criticism levelled at comics is that the reading level is too low. As it turns out, this is not true. 'According to read-aloud specialist Jim Trelease (2001), to become proficient readers, people need to master a set of about 5,000 ‘rare words’ that appear infrequently in conversation. In the average adult novel, these words appear 52 times per 1,000 words of text. In comic books, they appear 53 times per 1,000 (Hayes & Athens, 1988). Consequently, comic books don’t reduce the vocabulary demand on young readers, but they do provide picture support, quick and appealing story lines, and less text.' As it turns out, comics are just as challenging as prose novels in terms of reading level and ability. But, since they are broken into chunks of reading, they are much more accessible to reluctant readers and English Language Learners.
Even beyond the support given to reluctant readers and English Language Learners, the benefits of graphic novels and comics in the classroom are vast."
So on this National Comic Book Day, go out and flaut Fredric Wertham and the
"One criticism levelled at comics is that the reading level is too low. As it turns out, this is not true. 'According to read-aloud specialist Jim Trelease (2001), to become proficient readers, people need to master a set of about 5,000 ‘rare words’ that appear infrequently in conversation. In the average adult novel, these words appear 52 times per 1,000 words of text. In comic books, they appear 53 times per 1,000 (Hayes & Athens, 1988). Consequently, comic books don’t reduce the vocabulary demand on young readers, but they do provide picture support, quick and appealing story lines, and less text.' As it turns out, comics are just as challenging as prose novels in terms of reading level and ability. But, since they are broken into chunks of reading, they are much more accessible to reluctant readers and English Language Learners.
Even beyond the support given to reluctant readers and English Language Learners, the benefits of graphic novels and comics in the classroom are vast."
So on this National Comic Book Day, go out and flaut Fredric Wertham and the
Comic Code Authority! Enjoy a superhero serial, an indie graphic novel, some manga, or one of those graphic memoirs that are currently trending!
Don't know what to choose?! Ask your librarian.
Don't know what to choose?! Ask your librarian.
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