Bolstering Language Instruction With Comics

Working with middle-grades students across languages can be a vulnerable task, especially for a monolingual teacher. Educators are often positioned as learners and as leaders. This post describes the power of visual and verbal texts like graphic novels and comics for engaging multilingual learners and for building literacy skills. With these tools, culture and identity can be centralized and celebrated as a natural step. A well-chosen text can be a centerpiece for conversation and connection with students across language boundaries.

The history of comics, like many cultural works, can be problematic. Racist and sexist depictions have been dominant, and representations of people and ideas have not always been thoughtful. When it comes to language, brackets have traditionally been incorporated to automatically translate any language for ease of the story. However, the ideas I’ll discuss stem from comics and graphic novels that work with greater intention.

Translated Language Depictions

In some cases, authors and artists use visuals and language in an openly translated way. Authors like Raúl the Third render words first in Spanish and then in English. In the Lowriders series, Raúl illustrates and Cathy Camper collaborates as author to share a science fiction story that is ideal for middle school readers. When Spanish occurs in the text, the author/artist duo includes a footnote to provide an English translation. The learning is evident on the page, and both languages are given space.

Books that do this work can show the range of language, and teachers can encourage readers to compare how languages work. The Rez Detectives, by Steven Paul Judd, and Tvli Jacob, illustrated by M. K. Perker, features a similar footnote approach to Choctaw, as well.

Noticing the rendering of language can lead students to feel an appreciation, a sense of welcome, and makes lessons in building cognates and relationships between and among words and writing structures easier to understand.

Untranslated Language Depictions

While some authors and artists feature translations, others use language in its original form and leave the work of translation and interpretation to the reader. Fortunately, the graphic novel page features a host of images, including settings and expressions, that can help readers do this work. The use of footnotes and back-and-forth translations is a strong primer, but untranslated books take a more immersive approach.

While an untranslated page can seem intimidating, the focused use of language in graphic novels can help ease this tension. Books that do this work can illustrate the importance of context and create empathy for students who are monolingual in an English-speaking context, demonstrating what it is like to navigate the uncertain territory of an unfamiliar language system. 

Author Minh Lê has collaborated with illustrator Dan Santat to take this approach in the comics-like picture book Drawn Together. The use of untranslated Vietnamese shows the generational relationship between a grandson and grandfather. The use of a picture book in middle grades might be new to some educators, but I advocate for this approach. For a more advanced reading experience, I also recommend Harmony Becker’s Himawari House. This young-adult-oriented graphic novel features the story of three adolescents traveling and living in Japan. Becker intentionally shows languages in their original form without translation and even includes language approximations to illustrate the process of acquiring a new language. 

By pointing out these interactions, teachers can embrace the complexity of what it means to learn a new language, as well as navigate multiple languages at the same time. This is classroom work that is as much about etymology as empathy.

A 3-Step Approach to Unlocking Language 

Finally, I want to note the overall power of comics for older readers who are working across languages. Whether translated, untranslated, or English-only, visual texts have a unique design that can help students unlock language. In 2016, I worked with a middle-grade student in a clinical context—building reading, vocabulary, and writing practices. Here is the three-step process I followed: 

1. Assess and begin linking word groups and concepts. We began with an informal reading inventory, then progressed to English and Spanish lessons. First, we used a Spanish-language copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to locate cognates.

2. Incorporate reading, translating, and responding. Soon, I learned that the student had an interest in Batwoman. She wrote a lengthy story in Spanish focused on the character, filling the front and back of multiple pages with handwritten text. Following this line of interest, I brought in copies of contemporary comics from the local bookstore, featuring Batgirl.

3. Expand this work based on student needs and direction. Over the course of multiple weeks, this student and I worked through pages of comics text and fan fiction, emphasizing close looks at works and images, translating some words into English, organizing words into larger categories, and engaging with writing/drawing. While this use of Batgirl comics and popular fiction didn’t create an immediate entry into English, I was able to work with this student on building  comfort with the language and categorizing words as she learned them in her school and community context.

Comics might not be a cure-all for all students, but they certainly offer a unique reading opportunity and design format that engage readers in an approach that centers word instruction in the context of additional supports that are a natural part of the book design. The interest and engagement that comics generate provide a foundation for students’ further study. For additional insights on this topic, my colleagues Matthew Deroo and Daryl Axelrod and I explore some of the theoretical underpinnings of language instruction and comics.