Comics as illustrators : the use of comics in instruction

Abstract

Analytical literature has often eliminated comics from active roles in the cognitive domain. This thesis contends that comics language can be an effective cognitive tool and can be used in instruction to ends as effective to retention and application as other, text based methods of instruction. This thesis is in four chapters. Chapter one introduces the problem induced by the comics' negative reputation as well as implying the unused potential of the genre. Chapter two provides a brief literature review of comics within the context of visual literacy. It examines the use of illustration in instructional text, noting that most research to date has downplayed the effectiveness of the visual dimension. Chapter three carries the analysis of the results of a questionnaire on cognitive retention and application answered by 90 schoolchildren after reading three treatments of a historical text about Maltese prehistory. The treatments were (i) text, (ii) illustrated text, and (iii) comic. The result was that subjects acquired on the cognitive level equally from all three treatments. Chapter four proposes a number of areas that can provide further studies about the instructional effectiveness of the genre.