The Missouri Reader Vol. 38, Issue 2 | Page 38

Attitudes Toward Comics

The historic struggle of the comic book (Hajdu, 2010; Jones 2004) to gain acceptance by the adult world, is replicated, in microcosm,

in the nation’s classrooms.

In her study on the moti-

vating power of Archie

Comics, Bonny Norton

(2003), who interviewed

student teachers and

students in her case study

on attitudes towards Archie

Comics, wondered in her conclusion:

Why did the student teachers, who loved

Archie comics as children, dismiss them as

‘garbage’ once they reached adulthood? By

what process did this transformation occur?

How did they, like the children in this study,

gradually learn that a ‘good reader’ is one

who reads difficult chapter books, consults

the dictionary, and avoids comics, but seldom

has ‘fun’ (p 146).

Holser and Boomer (2008) worked with students in four college biology courses. A unit in one of the four courses was taught with a traditional science textbook. Students in the other three courses used a graphic novel called Optical Allusions, created by one of the authors. The students took pre- and post-tests to determine attitudes towards biology and graphic novels, level of content knowledge, and whether gains were achieved. The authors reported a significant increase in the median content knowledge of the students across all four courses. Positive attitudes toward biology and comics also increased significantly, demonstrating that “with regard to student learning, comic book stories lose nothing to traditional textbooks while having the added potential benefit of improving attitudes about biology” (Holser & Boomer, 2011, p. 316).

In her 2011 study, researcher Sarah Mathews wanted to learn the likelihood that pre-service social studies teachers would one day use graphic novels in their social studies classrooms. Mathews (2011) believed that “The images in graphic novels provide an additional interpretive layer of text, thus affording readers another opportunity to develop critical literacy skills” (p. 419). Mathews reported that the teachers felt it acceptable to present multiple sides of an issue, in line with what they were currently being taught in their preservice reading and social studies courses, but would present nothing to their future students that might be controversial. Mathews continues: “If young teachers are reluctant to critique societal issues, it is likely that their K-12 students will be unprepared to do so as well” (p. 436). She concludes, “Until graphic novels become legitimized forms of knowledge within educational institutions, teacher educators must help pre-service teachers foster the agency to critically examine these curricular materials” (p. 437).

Robin Moeller (2011) studied fifteen high school students (eight females and seven males) who participated in focus groups upon reading three graphic novels randomly selected from the Young Adult Library Services Association’s Graphic Novels for Teens booklist (2007). Moeller was surprised to learn that the participants felt graphic novels were primarily read, not by boys or girls, but by members of a third group, the “the nerds” (Moeller, 2011, p. 480).

It is this sense of illegitimacy, otherness, and alienation that pervades much of comic book culture. Botzakis (2009, 2011) studied a group of young adults (primarily men), typical of today’s comic book fans and reported their attitudes over the course of two articles. Botzakis interviewed 12 participants to gather information on their life-long literacy practices and focused on Roger as representative of the

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"How did they [student teachers], like the children in this study,

gradually learn that a 'good reader' is one who reads difficult

chapter books, consults the dictionary,

and avoids comics, but seldom has 'fun?'"