Term
2011
Capstone
Restricted Access Thesis
Degree Name
MAESL
Abstract
Critical thinking is an important part of the academic standards in language arts, but ELLs in high school are often not provided with opportunities to practice critical thinking skills. Dual coding theory and schema theory suggest that the use of visuals in conjunction with text can increase readers' comprehension. This study explored the use of graphic novels as a means for eliciting critical thinking responses to literature. The study was conducted in a literature-based high school ESL class of 11 students half of these students read a text-only novel, and the other half read the graphic novel adaptation. Students participated in four guided classroom discussions and responded to written prompts designed to elicit critical thinking responses about the novel these data were analyzed for evidence of critical thinking responses based on Bloom's Taxonomy of critical thinking. The results showed that students who read the graphic novel produced more higher-level critical thinking responses than those reading the text-only version, both orally and in writing. The findings also suggested that students in both groups were better able to express critical thinking responses in writing than orally, and that the highest-level critical thinking responses were difficult for both groups to produce.
Recommended Citation
Emery, Jessica Holte, "Graphic novels in ESL: a case study of a secondary literature-based classroom" (2011). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations. 445.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_all/445