Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 55(3) November 2011 doi:10.1002/JAAL.00024 © 2011 International Reading Association (pp. 187–196)
Defining Identities Through Multiliteracies: EL Teens Narrate Their Immigration Experiences as Graphic Stories This article reports on the
Robin L. Danzak
Graphic Journeys project, in which middle school English learners (ELs) were invited to narrate their families’ immigration stories in the form of comics. As a multimedia, personal writing project, Graphic Journeys engaged teen ELs in the composition process while building bridges to academic English language acquisition.
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The first few days were strange.… We had to get used to it here. We didn’t know anyone.… Only my dad and brother spoke English. We felt sad because we could never see our family in Mexico again.… When I think about my future here, it’s good and bad. I am happy with my friends. However, I am still not used to it here, and would like to go back to Mexico. (Laura, grade 7)
M
illions of people immigrate to the United States every year, but few are invited to share the stories of their journeys. Many adolescent ELs can vividly recall their families’ deciding to leave their home countries, saying goodbye to family and friends, and crossing borders to transition to a new and very different life in the United States. Similarly, ELs born in the United States have acquired the immigration narratives passed down from parents and family members who lived these experiences and incorporated them into their sense of self. Indeed, immigration narratives shape the identities of ELs and constitute a compelling discourse that can provide a valuable linguistic resource in the English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) classroom (see Figure 1). Graphic Journeys was a multimedia literacy project that took place over a period of six months in the ESOL classroom of a diverse public middle school on the west coast of Florida. This project offered 32 ELs the opportunity to research their families’ immigration narratives and depict them as graphic (comic) stories. The stories were compiled and published as hardcover books that were presented at a large-scale family/community event. Throughout the various components of the Graphic Journeys project, the students expressed themselves through diverse linguistic modalities and engaged in multiple literacies to learn more about the English language, writing, and technology, as well as their individual and family identities. (All names used in this article are pseudonyms. Names, personal photos, and other identifying information were excluded from excerpts to protect students’ privacy.)
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Figure 1
Graphic Journeys Excerpt
This article describes and explains the Graphic Journeys project in the context of an identity-as-narrative and multiliteracies framework. First, the conceptual framework is outlined, and the use of graphic novels and comics in the EL classroom is explored. The components of the Graphic Journeys project are then described in detail. Finally, reflections on the implications of this type of project are discussed, and recommendations are made for integrating multiliteracies pedagogy with academic English language instruction.
A Framework for Graphic Journeys
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Identity as Narrative
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Narratives of migration and settlement are narratives in which, almost by definition, settled and stable senses of self are unsettled and challenged. (Baynham, 2006, p. 376)
The Graphic Journeys project is framed by Sfard and Prusak’s (2005) definition of identity as “a set of reifying, significant, endorsable stories about a person” (p. 14). These authors emphasized that, rather than identity being expressed through story, identity is story, and is thus comprised of narratives that people create for themselves and others. Because individuals actively construct and coconstruct the stories that define them, this conceptualization of identity highlights human agency and the dynamic nature of identity. Therefore, it serves as a
particularly relevant lens through which to explore multicultural teens’ immigration experiences. Immigration narratives represent just one of the many stories that comprise the identities of these culturally and linguistically diverse students. However, as ref lected by Baynham’s (2006) statement earlier, the immigration experience necessarily involves an identity shift. That is, for the person living this journey, the immigration story becomes a source of defining, redefining, and understanding the self prior to, during, and after the immigration experience. This process—including both the immigration experience and the construction of related stories—also ref lects the dynamic nature of identity. The effects of immigration on identity can also apply to students who were born in the United States of immigrant parents. In fact, second-generation students may face more identity-related f luctuations than do those who arrive directly from other countries (Rumbaut, 1997). For example, Bejarano (2005) observed that adolescents born in the United States of Mexican parents used the ethnic labels Mexican and Mexican-American interchangeably, leading to “more f luid identities.” According to Bejarano, these students negotiated their identities based on the social context and their needs, using the labels strategically to confirm group membership or avoid stigmatization. Finally, self-narratives, and thus, identities, include one’s membership in communities or groups (Sfard & Prusak, 2005). Along the lines of identity-as-narrative, De Fina (2006) described group identity—including ethnic identity—as essentially a communicative activity. In this activity, narrators build socially shared identity representations through the creation of overlapping stories that express common content and use narrative resources characteristic of the group. The publication of Graphic Journeys as a compilation of illustrated immigration narratives allowed the ELs to share their stories with each other, their families, and members of the school and local community. This process served as a means to affirm and reaffirm the students’ own individual and group identities.
A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies The term multiliteracies (New London Group, 1996) refers to a shift in the conception of literacy and literacy pedagogy from that of a page-bound practice
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bicultural practices, as well as through their innovative mixing and developing of new linguistic and cultural expressions. Additionally, the narratives that comprise the Graphic Journeys project are intertextual in nature in that they represent memories of shared experiences, family stories, and cultural meanings. Thus, they are stories of multiple voices that incorporate the expression of many narrators, both explicit and implicit. Finally, it is important to note that the expression of the students’ immigration narratives in the style of a graphic novel allowed the multimodal meanings of Graphic Journeys to become visually evident, as written text and images converged to tell the students’ stories. This description of the project sparks inquiry about the characteristics of graphic novels, how they fit into a multiliteracies pedagogy, and their use in the EL classroom. These points will be addressed in the following section.
Graphic Novels and Comics in the EL Classroom A graphic novel is a book-length, fiction or nonfiction story produced in the style of a comic book (Chun, 2009). Comics and graphic novels provide ample opportunities for students of all ages—especially ELs— to interact with highly engaging, multimodal texts of numerous genres. The use of comics to support language learning in the EL classroom is not a new concept. Wright (1979) argued that comics provide visual support for ELs’ construction of meaning during reading, and suggested incorporating comics into writing activities with these students. More recently, Cary (2004) published a practitioners’ manual for using comics in multilingual classrooms. This author suggested that, thanks to visually supported text, graphic novels provide comprehensible input and lower the affective filter for second language readers. There have been very few research studies exploring the outcomes of using comics/graphic novels in the EL classroom. Norton and Vanderheyden (2004) examined the appeal and inf luence of the Archie comics (Archie Comics Publications, Inc.) on the literacy learning of ELs attending grades 5 to 7 at a diverse public school in Canada.
D e f i n i n g I d e n t i t i e s T h r o u g h M u l t i l i t e r a c i e s : E L Te e n s N a r r a t e T h e i r I m m i g r a t i o n E x p e r i e n c e s a s G r a p h i c S t o r i e s
restricted to an official/standard (i.e., monolingual and monocultural) language to a critical and dynamic understanding of literacy as a multiplicity of discourses. This broad conceptualization of literacy highlights diversity, both of texts and of the individuals who create and interact with them. The concept of multiliteracies is based on two key premises relevant to the current, global educational and social context: (1) the expanding variety of modes of communication and tools for meaning-making, including the mass media, multimedia, and electronic hypermedia; and (2) the growing importance of cultural and linguistic diversity as our communities become more globally connected (New London Group, 1996). Nearly 15 years after the introduction of this framework, these two conditions continue to constitute driving forces in the educational milieu. Students today have more access to electronic, Web-based, and multimedia communication devices than ever before. These tools instantaneously connect individuals to information, resources, and communities at the global level. Simultaneously, schools continue to become more and more diverse and, consequently, have a responsibility to provide inclusive, multicultural and multilingual contexts that support critical pedagogy. As noted earlier, a key aspect of multiliteracies involves the incorporation of multiple modalities and media into literacy practices. One outcome of this interaction is what the New London Group (2000) termed “multimodal meanings” (p. 28), referring to the dynamic relationships among Visual, Spatial, Gestural, and other meanings. These relationships are characterized by two designs of meaning: (1) hybridity, the crossing of conventional boundaries to create new cultural practices; and (2) intertextuality, the overlapping and interaction of multiple texts or voices comprising a text. When put into pedagogical practice, designs of meaning are necessarily situated in specific sociocultural settings in which, scaffolded by instruction, learners can develop critical understandings of the world around them (New London Group, 2000). The Graphic Journeys project constitutes an assemblage of multimodal meanings and texts in various ways. For example, multicultural students literally or symbolically represent border crossers, and are thus an embodiment of hybridity. This hybridity is expressed at numerous levels in ELs’ bilingualism and
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Findings from questionnaires and interviews revealed three main patterns: (1) Archie comics provided humorous and enjoyable reading for ELs; (2) Archie characters and stories offered cultural insights into teenage life in North America, a feature that the ELs valued; and (3) Archie supported literacy learning by providing useful vocabulary and cultural and linguistic understandings of humor. Norton and Vanderheyden (2004) summarized, “For learners struggling to understand academic texts in a second language, the comic book represents an exciting opportunity to engage with text from a position of strength rather than weakness” (p. 218). This statement is important in that it eschews the deficit model of ELs in favor of a perspective that values diversity and emerging bilingualism and biliteracy as strengths. Beyond the instructional considerations previously mentioned, the content of certain graphic novels is particularly appropriate for ELs. Specifically, adolescent ELs can make special connections with (a) culturally diverse characters who struggle through a process of self-inquiry and identity development, such as the teen characters presented in the graphic novels American Born Chinese (Yang, 2006) and Skim (Tamaki & Tamaki, 2008); (b) graphic novels that focus on the immigration experience such as Persepolis I and II (Satrapi, 2003, 2004) and The Arrival (Tan, 2007); and (c) works that center on themes of social inequities and social justice, like Pitch Black (Landowne & Horton, 2008), Maus I and II (Spiegelman, 1973, 1986), and Pride of Bagdad (Vaughan & Henrichon, 2006). Looking specifically at three graphic novels that address immigration experiences, Boatright (2010) offered a critical analysis, concluding that, “English language arts teachers can assist their students in developing an analytical awareness of graphic novels’ power to represent immigrant experiences and how these representations privilege certain immigrant experiences while leaving countless other immigrant experiences untold” (p. 475). Indeed, certain graphic novels (e.g., Tan’s 2007 The Arrival) may inspire international students to recall and ref lect upon their own families’ “untold” immigration stories, provoking responses to such inquiries as (a) explain your family’s motivation for leaving your homeland; (b) describe and interpret the journey from
your home country to your current home; and (c) compare and contrast your experiences (e.g., at school) in your home country and here. These inquiries can become engaging prompts for writing activities and projects such as the Graphic Journeys project, which is described in detail in the following section.
The Project: From Graphic Novels to Graphic Journeys My life in Mexico was a normal life, but my dad had to come to America to work.… My father returned to Mexico every six months, but then had to go again. (Carlos, grade 8, from Mexico) I had to get up everyday at 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. to milk the cow and filter the milk to go to deliver it by 6:00 a.m.… I was only 10 to 12 years old and on holidays I sold cheese in the market to help my parents.… I decided to come to America to make more money and live a different life than I was living in Mexico. (Ana, grade 6, telling the story of her mother who emigrated from Mexico)
ELs have stories to tell. Many of them have experienced frightening or emotionally painful immigration experiences (e.g., long-term separation from family members, crossing the United States– Mexico border on foot in the darkness of night). A total of 32 ELs in grades 6 to 8 participated in the Graphic Journeys project. The students, of predominantly Mexican heritage, had experienced varying amounts of time living in the United States (e.g., some were born here; others arrived within a year of the project). They also represented diverse levels of English language proficiency. It is important to note at this point that, in exploring immigration stories, questions of students’ legal entry into the country or documentation status may arise. Protection of students’ and families’ privacy and safety is critical. The teacher who facilitated the Graphic Journeys project had established a classroom culture based on relationships of respect and trust. Although the project took place as part of the regular, curricular activities of the ESOL class, options were offered in case students did not want to directly address their immigration journeys in writing (e.g., students could produce graphic stories regarding differences
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Components of the Graphic Journeys Project
between their home country and the United States, adjusting to school in the United States). As a general rule, in the case of activities involving personal narrative, what students choose to disclose is their prerogative, and must be kept confidential. Therefore, creating a safe learning environment and providing choices are essential. For more information regarding public schools’ responsibility to uphold immigrant students’ rights, refer to Plyer vs. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982). This landmark case determined that undocumented immigrant children have the same right to public education as U.S. citizens. This section outlines the various components of the Graphic Journeys project, in the context of the identity-as-narrative and multiliteracies framework described earlier. The project’s components are illustrated in Figure 2, and are described in detail in paragraphs that follow here.
The Graphic Classroom The ESOL teacher noticed that her middle school students were attracted to comics, manga ( Japanese comics produced in series), and graphic novels whenever the class attended the school library. As students began to express interest in this media, the teacher and the researcher (the author) kindled the f lame by stocking the classroom with graphic novels of all types
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from the local public library. Students began reading graphic novels during independent reading time in class, taking them home to read, and trading volumes with their friends at school. Flooding the classroom with comics and graphic novels set up a multiliteracies environment for ELs as the Graphic Journeys project progressed. Students were able to interact daily with language as well as visual, spatial, and multimodal meanings (New London Group, 2000) in the classroom. These interactions served as a basis for instructional conversations about the nature of comics and graphic novels, including the form, or visual/artistic style of the illustrations (e.g., drawings or photographs, black and white or color, realistic or cartoon), as well as the content/genre (e.g., personal narrative, fantasy, historical fiction, biography) of the various texts. These discussions were supported by graphic organizers (e.g., Venn diagram) and allowed the students to begin to envision and plan how their own graphic stories would take shape. Additionally, as students prepared to create their own graphic stories, the ESOL teacher implemented several strategies suggested by Cary (2004). These included the following: (a) having students create titles for untitled comic strips, (b) asking students to fill in written dialogue for a comic strip presented in pictures only, and (c) inviting students to draw pictures to illustrate a written dialogue. These activities not only supported English language development, but also provided practice in integration of written text and pictures to develop Visual Meanings (New London Group, 2000).
Journals The students created simple journals that consisted of loose-leaf paper, 3-hole-punched manila file folders, and brads. They used magazines and art supplies to personalize their journal covers. Most students expressed their cultural heritage by including f lags, national colors and symbols, and pictures of popular artists, sports teams, or traditional ethnic foods. They also revealed their goals with pictures and words, such as “go to college” or “be the best.” In this way, the journals became unique expressions of identity-asnarrative for each student. An example of a journal cover is provided in Figure 3.
D e f i n i n g I d e n t i t i e s T h r o u g h M u l t i l i t e r a c i e s : E L Te e n s N a r r a t e T h e i r I m m i g r a t i o n E x p e r i e n c e s a s G r a p h i c S t o r i e s
Figure 2
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Figure 3
Example of a Student Journal
food/things you do for fun is/are similar and different here and in your home country”); and (d) explaining (e.g., “Explain a family or cultural tradition/ celebration that you observe”). Practicing these conventions in meaningful contexts allows students to build structural patterns that can be extended, with support, to other content-area texts.
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The students’ journals served as reservoirs for all work related to the Graphic Journeys project, including graphic organizers, structured practice with writing/comics, written ref lections, and vocabulary. With regard to academic vocabulary development, it is notable that the students’ motivation to develop compelling stories encouraged them to seek precise words to narrate their experiences. This development was evident both in students’ journal entries and in their final graphic stories. For example, in describing the traditions of his home country, Mexico, Marco (grade 8) applied various academic words/phrases in context, including “ancestors, legend, leading figure, national hero, symbol, coat of arms, and banknote.” Journal ref lections also provided students with experiences writing to address various communicative purposes, or functions, of text. For example, (a) sequencing (e.g., “List the steps your family took in preparing for the journey to the United States”); (b) describing (e.g., “Describe someone you admire/ your house/a special place from your childhood”); (c) comparing/contrasting (e.g., “Tell about how school/
As part of the project, Yang’s (2006) award-winning graphic novel, American Born Chinese, was selected to read aloud to the ELs. This text alternates among three, interrelated stories: Jin’s struggles as a ChineseAmerican teen wishing to fit in at school and impress a girl he likes; popular Danny’s embarrassment at his Chinese cousin’s visit to his school; and the Chinese myth of a monkey king who wished to become a god. The drawings and text are simultaneously humorous and moving, offering teen ELs the opportunity to identify with issues such as being “different,” speaking with an accent, and wanting to fit in while maintaining their cultural identity and values. Overall, this graphic novel is an exemplar of intertextuality, and also highlights the identity-as-narrative framework. The ESOL teacher read a chapter each day during 15 to 20 minutes of class, using a document camera to capitalize on the visually supported text. During each read aloud chapter, key vocabulary was taught in context and reviewed immediately after reading for journal entry. Students connected the themes of the book to their own experiences and addressed these ref lections by writing their journals. For example, Li Wen (grade 7), a new student from China, recalled the time a student on his bus asked him a question that he could not respond to because he did not understand enough English. He stated, “I was embarrassed. I wished I could speak English or go back to China. The trip seemed longer that day and at that moment I wished the bus was already at my house.”
Collaboration and Family Involvement Because several (6 of the 32) of the students were born and raised in the United States and others had arrived at a very young age, students were encouraged to interview their parents and family members about their immigration experiences. Working in small groups,
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Writing Instruction and Structured Practice Throughout the Graphic Journeys project, the ELs had many opportunities to engage in authentic writing practices. These activities, related to instructional strategies, included (a) ref lecting on the book, American Born Chinese (Yang, 2006); (b) composing short stories about their families, home countries, and various aspects of immigration; and (c) collaboratively editing each other’s writing in an instructional context that highlighted various aspects of English syntax, spelling, and mechanics. As students composed ref lection pieces and family stories in their journals, syntax, spelling, and mechanics were discussed and edited each day as an opening activity in which the students collectively
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edited anonymous classmates’ texts projected on the whiteboard. Errors were used as “teachable moments” that were expanded to provide direct instruction on specific English language structures. For example, if the error in question was a missing “s” on a thirdperson singular, present-tense verb (a common pattern for ELs and native speakers of various English dialects), the discussion that followed would highlight the required use of this verb inf lection and also compare and contrast it with other variations of the “s” morpheme, such as in plurals, possessives, and contractions. In contrast to traditional grammar exercises, the collaborative sentence editing activity offered the students an authentic, communicative purpose for learning and practicing syntactic structures that would be incorporated in their graphic stories.
Incorporation of Multiple Modes of Communication Finally, as the class explored different options for the creation of their own graphic stories, all of the students opted to use technology rather than drawing a comic by hand. To accommodate this choice, a classroom set of laptop computers was equipped with Comic Life software (Plasq, 2008). The students first composed, revised, and edited their written immigration narratives in Microsoft Word. They then developed their multimodal graphic stories by integrating scanned family photos, clip art, and other images with their written texts in Comic Life. The stories ranged from 1 to 12 pages in length, with an average length of five pages. All of the students composed their stories in English. Only 4 of the 32 students included Spanish text in their stories, and this was always incorporated in the form of extraneous speech bubbles (e.g., “Hola”; “No hablo inglés”) or in the description of a culturally relevant image (e.g., food, church). Excerpts from three of the students’ Graphic Journeys can be viewed in Figure 4. In the Graphic Journeys project, students were guided and supported through the various stages of the writing process over an extended period of time. The diverse components of the project incorporated strategies applicable to the writing stages: (a) planning (e.g., using graphic organizers, designing family interviews); (b) composing (e.g., ref lecting on American Born Chinese, composing immigration narratives);
D e f i n i n g I d e n t i t i e s T h r o u g h M u l t i l i t e r a c i e s : E L Te e n s N a r r a t e T h e i r I m m i g r a t i o n E x p e r i e n c e s a s G r a p h i c S t o r i e s
the students brainstormed and shared questions to include in their family interviews. Students conducted their interviews over the winter holiday break. They also collected family photographs, which they brought in to the classroom be scanned in preparation for the development of their graphic stories. Nearly all of the students (29 of the 32) incorporated the family photographs into their graphic stories. Conducting family interviews provided the students with the opportunity to incorporate varied linguistic modalities and languages (i.e., they used spoken and written English in class to construct interview questions and then spoke Spanish at home to interview their parents). The interviews also enriched the students’ immigration narratives in that multiple voices could be interwoven into the texts, thus increasing the intertextuality of their stories. Of the 32 students, 15 integrated their family interviews into the final product, and 4 of these assumed the voice of a family member (mother, uncle) to tell the story (e.g., “I came to the U.S. when I was eight years young in June of the year 1984”—Lucy, grade 8, telling the story of her mother who immigrated from Puerto Rico). Finally, the family interview also served as a link to involve parents in the project itself. The large number of students, parents, and other family members (nearly 100) that attended the Graphic Journeys exhibition/celebration event, described later in this article, was evidence of this outcome.
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Figure 4
Excerpts From Three Students’ Graphic Journeys
(c) students developed the tenacity to begin a lengthy writing project and carry it through to publication. The experience of this complete writing process and the achievement of a high-quality, final product can provide a foundation for students as they encounter future writing assignments and assessments.
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(c) revising (e.g., teacher conference, integrating stories from Word into Comic Life); and (d) editing (e.g., collaborative editing, correcting errors in the final draft). Each of these stages represented advancement toward the ultimate goal of publishing the students’ immigration experiences as graphic stories, a goal in which the students were personally invested from the onset. Because the project was both engaging (due to the multiliteracies aspects) and meaningful to them (due to the identity-as-narrative framework), the
The students’ completed graphic stories were compiled and bound into full-color, hardcover books that were formally presented to them at a large, family event held at the school. Approximately 100 total students, parents, teachers, administrators, and community members attended this event, which added yet another layer to the multiplicity of communicative modalities and meanings incorporated into the Graphic Journeys project. Essentially, the exhibition and celebration of the Graphic Journeys publication served three purposes: (1) the event publicly recognized the ELs as successful authors and creators; (2) the published compilation of stories allowed the EL teens to acknowledge their common experiences, therefore solidifying group identities and memberships; (3) the Graphic Journeys books and the documentation of the process provided other students and adults “outside” the group (including teachers and school administrators) a better understanding of the immigrant experience, as well as a powerful insight into the language and literacy capabilities of these culturally and linguistically diverse students. As Chang (2008) noted in her discussion on self-narrative, “Self-discovery in a cultural sense is intimately related to understanding others” (p. 34). Thus, the ELs’ Graphic Journeys book served as a means to construct and express not only their own identities, but also those of the people who served as the audience of their stories. At the book exhibition event, the EL teens became not only storytellers, but also published authors. Thus, their multimodal immigration narratives were officially made public. The students were recognized and celebrated for their literary and creative accomplishments, as well as for their diverse cultural and linguistic identities and experiences.
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This article has outlined the Graphic Journeys project in the context of an identity-as-narrative and multiliteracies framework. By inviting middle school ELs to express their identities through narrative and incorporating a multiliteracies pedagogy, this project provided a rich set of authentic writing opportunities to engage teens in literacy production and the literate community. This type of interaction allows for the integration of language and writing instruction that bridges multimedia personal narrative writing to academic language development.
Making Connections: A Multiliteracies Pedagogy for Adolescent ELs Graphic Journeys is but one example of an engaging multiliteracies project for teen ELs. There are many other strategies that teachers can employ to incorporate aspects of multiliteracies into English language and literacy instruction, and the content of these projects can be extended to academic language learning in the content areas. For example, digital stories integrate multimodal meanings (New London Group, 2000) through the incorporation of photos and graphics, video clips, audio narration, and supporting written text. Other activities might include the creation of critical, documentary films (e.g., [auto]biographies of historical figures, or journalistic accounts of school, community, or environmental issues), multimedia poetry (e.g., audiovisual recordings of poems, raps, or songs), and multimedia posters that demonstrate content-area learning objectives (see www.glogster.com). These types of projects can also serve as authentic assessment tools in any discipline.
Identity, Narrative, and Supporting the Voice of ELs Overall, providing adolescent ELs with opportunities to learn language and literacy through multiple modalities and media should increase their engagement in schoolwork. Additionally, ESOL teachers can further engage ELs, as well as promote multiculturalism, by offering students opportunities to write, create, and share about themselves.
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Teens—especially international teens—are constantly redefining their identities and seeking new ways to express themselves. Finally, it is important to recognize the importance of a self-narrative, multiliteracies project such as Graphic Journeys as a means to construct a safe and welcoming space for teen ELs to share their stories. In this supportive space, ELs must be given the resources (such as relevant writing instruction and guided practice), the tools (supplies, access to computers and software) and the time (several weeks for a multilayered project) to create original, culturally relevant, and personally meaningful literacy products. This process as a whole affords a voice to students who are frequently silenced in the traditional,
Take Action! 1. Immerse the classroom in graphic novels and embrace technology in your teaching to create a multiliteracies environment. Graphic texts are now available for nearly every academic content area. A discerning teacher can identify quality Web resources to augment any lesson.
2. Provide structured opportunities for students to work with comics and graphic novels as a means to practice academic vocabulary and sentence structures relevant to your content area.
3. Incorporate technology to support students’ development of substantial, authentic, multimodal texts. Most computers are equipped with software to create digital stories. Several websites offer free comic creators and other multimedia tools that engage students and allow them to demonstrate their understanding in creative and innovative ways. 4. Emphasize the writing process, including revising and editing skills, as students work to create a final product. Encourage the integration of written text with meaningful images that enhance content with visual information.
5. Celebrate the students’ work! Host a parent event, or have students present their projects to peers through a gallery exhibit or book-signing event.
D e f i n i n g I d e n t i t i e s T h r o u g h M u l t i l i t e r a c i e s : E L Te e n s N a r r a t e T h e i r I m m i g r a t i o n E x p e r i e n c e s a s G r a p h i c S t o r i e s
Discussion and Implications: Reflections on Graphic Journeys
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monolingual, English-speaking classroom. Ultimately, this narrative voice can empower ELs to simultaneously express their identities and advance confidently in their language and literacy abilities.
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References Baynham, M. (2006). Performing self, family and community in Moroccan narratives of migration and settlement. In A. De Fina, D. Schiffrin, & M. Bamberg (Eds.), Discourse and identity (pp. 376–397). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511584459.019 Bejarano, C.L. (2005). Qué onda? Urban youth culture and border identity. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Boatright, M.D. (2010). Graphic journeys: Graphic novels’ representations of immigrant experiences. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(6), 468–476. doi:10.1598/JAAL.53.6.3 Cary, S. (2004). Going graphic: Comics at work in the multilingual classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Chang, H. (2008). Autoethnography as method. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast. Chun, C.W. (2009). Critical literacies and graphic novels for English-language learners: Teaching Maus. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(2), 144–153. doi:10.1598/JAAL.53.2.5 De Fina, A. (2006). Group identity, narrative, and selfrepresentations. In A. De Fina, D. Schiffrin, & M. Bamberg (Eds.), Discourse and identity (pp. 351–375). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/ CBO9780511584459.018 New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–92. New London Group. (2000). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures (pp. 9–37). New York: Routledge. Norton, B., & Vanderheyden, K. (2004). Comic book culture and second language learners. In B. Norton & K. Toohey (Eds.), Critical pedagogies and language learning (pp. 201–221). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Plasq. (2008). Comic Life Deluxe Edition [Computer Software]. New York: Freeverse. Rumbaut, R.G. (1997). Paradoxes (and orthodoxies) of assimilation. Sociological Perspectives, 40(3), 483–511. Sfard, A., & Prusak, A. (2005). Telling identities: In search of an analytic tool for investigating learning as a culturally shaped activity. Educational Researcher, 34(4), 14–22. doi:10.3102/0013189X034004014 Wright, G. (1979). The comic book: A forgotten medium in the classroom. The Reading Teacher, 33(2), 158–161.
Literature Cited Archie Comics. Mamaroneck, NY: Archie Comic Publications, Inc. Landowne, Y., & Horton, A. (2008). Pitch black. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos. Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis: The story of a childhood. New York: Pantheon. Satrapi, M. (2004). Persepolis 2: The story of a return. New York: Pantheon. Spiegelman, A. (1973). Maus I: My father bleeds history. New York: Pantheon. Spiegelman, A. (1986). Maus II: A survivor’s tale. New York: Pantheon. Tamaki, M., & Tamaki, J. (2008). Skim. Toronto, ONT, Canada: Groundwood. Tan, S. (2007). The arrival. New York: Scholastic. Vaughan, B.K., & Henrichon, N. (2006). Pride of Baghdad. New York: DC Comics. Yang, G.L. (2006). American born Chinese. New York: First Second.
Danzak is an assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, Sarasota, USA; e-mail
[email protected].
More to Explore ReadWriteThink.org Lesson Plans “Assessing Cultural Relevance: Exploring Personal Connections to a Text” by Traci Gardner “Making It Visual for ELL Students: Teaching History Using Maus” by Christian W. Chun and Martha Atwell “Twenty-First Century Informational Literacy: Integrating Research Techniques and Technology” by Jennifer Freeman IRA Journal Articles “English as a Second Language Learners’ Exploration of Multimodal Texts in a Junior High School” by Lasisi Ajayi, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, April 2009 “Graphic Novels in the Secondary Classroom and School Libraries” by Paula E. Griffith, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, November 2010 Even More! “English-Language Learners, Fan Communities, and 21stCentury Skills” (Book chapter), by Rebecca W. Black, in Preparing Reading Professionals (2nd ed.) edited by Rita M. Bean, Natalie Heisey, and Cathy M. Roller
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