Crafting a Critical Literacy Skillset: An Improved Use of Visual Modalities

Abstract

The goal of literacy development at schools is a standing feature of the curriculum. In spite of this, the means to develop critical thinking in students often comes up short. The development of literacy and critical thinking can be presented in engaging and memorable ways, but schools often defer to what they have done in the past; namely through textbooks and worksheets. This article will argue that the greater and structured incorporation of graphic novels and comic literature, but from a critical literacy perspective, will have the effect of increasing engagement of the subject matter. A closer engagement through visual means, coupled with a teaching pedagogy that directly supports critical literacy skill development builds the best experience and engagement of student learning.

Exploring the Aesthetic Values and Components of Digital Graphic Novels: A Systematic Review

“…Reading DGN, readers must actively decode text and images together to synthesize information. It will guide students to describe what was happening in the images and the evidence that led them to those conclusions (Brugar et al, 2018;Rosenberg, 2018;Barbre, 2019;Felsenthal, 2019). Besides that, this study also has an impact on the development of teaching methods and tools for teachers, parents, and children.…”