Graphic Novels in the Beginning L2 Classroom:
A Case Study

In the Fall of 2014 my colleague, Matthew Hambro, and I decided to integrate the graphic novel Berlin -- geteilte Stadt into our second semester German courses at Duke University. On this page you will find an overview of how and why we organized the second half of our semester around this text and a summary of what we learned from this pedagogical experience.

Student Assignments

Matt and I used two major types of assignments as we worked through the graphic novel. The first, the reading journal, was designed to enhance reading comprehension skills. The second, in which students were asked to write their own comics, was designed to enhance writing skills.
  • Reading Journal
Based on a template provided by Elizabeth Bridges (Rhodes College), in each reading journal we asked students to engage with the text on three levels: vocabulary, reading comprehension, and critical thought. The students were given some words already glossed and provided space to record new words that they looked up while reading. They were asked plot-based comprehension questions or asked to write their own plot summary. Finally, they were asked to intuit things not stated explicitly in the text such as the feelings of certain characters, or to make predictions about what might happen next.
Reading Journal Example
File Size: 73 kb
File Type: pdf
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  • Write Your Own Comic
During a lesson about the history of the Berlin Wall, students watched a short video produced for the 25th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some of the interviewees spoke about the remaining prejudices between citizens of former East and West Germany, the so-called  "Mauer im Kopf." After discussing this concept, students were asked to consider a time in their lives when they experienced or witnessed prejudice and/or overly hasty and unfair judgment. The students then created comics detailing these stories. Below one such comic is shared with permission from the student:
Student Comic Example.pdf
File Size: 1827 kb
File Type: pdf
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Advantages of Teaching with Graphic Novels

  • Information Redundant
We found that the combination of images and text allowed students to comprehend what they were reading at a higher level than just text alone.

  • Visual Permanence/ Self-Paced Reading
Unlike films, in which the images move at a specific pace that is difficult to alter, students were able to read as quickly or as slowly as their individual ability allowed.

  • Authentic language and culture
This text engages with a relevant cultural topic, which still has significance in contemporary Germany. Students were able to engage in a discourse that was topical and meaningful despite their limited language skills.

  • Development of foreign language reading and writing skills earlier than the textbook alone
By introducing graphic novels into the curriculum this early, students developed strategies for reading longer texts in German and learned how to look up unknown words efficiently and effectively. In their written assignments they also negotiated how to express complex ideas and emotions with simple, L2 language.

Difficulties We Faced

  • Timing – within the semester and within each class period
Adding this graphic novel into an already packed textbook curriculum was a challenge. In order to overcome the feeling that we didn't have enough class time to discuss the text Matt and I added the use of a social media component (in our case Twitter), through which the students could ask questions about the text and receive answers from the instructor or their classmates. In terms of areas for improvement, Matt and I tried to teach a small section of the text each day along with a grammar section from our textbook (Kontakte). This did not work well because transitioning between the two texts was often awkward. In hindsight, it would have been better to set aside one day a week for the graphic novel and teach the textbook materials on the other days.

  • Integration with grammar topics
This is a challenge with any cultural topic. Matt and I tried to use the Berlin Wall theme and new vocabulary from the graphic novel in our grammar exercises, but we would have liked to have been able to do more in terms of having the students think more carefully about the grammar of the text that they were reading.