Measuring the educational value of comic books from the school librarians’ perspective: A region-wide quantitative study in Taiwan

2021 ◽  
pp. 096100062098343
Author(s):  
Patrick Lo ◽  
Ya-Pin Lyu ◽  
Joyce Chao-chen Chen ◽  
Jui-Lien Lu ◽  
Andrew J. Stark

Comic books and their characters are an integral part of popular culture. However, comic books, as educational material, still remain controversial in certain education systems, as this medium is regarded by some as sheer entertainment – thereby hindering students’ motivation to seek out other more formal, text-based literature to read. For this study, a region-wide questionnaire survey was sent out to explore school librarians’ perceptions and attitudes towards the educational value of comic books in Taiwan. A total of 789 responses were collected for this questionnaire survey study. The regression model was used to identify the causal relationship between different genres of comic books and students’ voluntary reading and learning incentives in the context of the school library. Findings from this study suggest that comic books (1) carry the potential to attract more students to visit the school library after class, (2) facilitate students’ reading comprehension skills and (3) foster students’ interest in voluntary reading. Because of this medium’s visual-based and serialised narrative approach to storytelling, findings of this study also suggest that comic books could function as a reading motivational tool, particularly useful in helping their students learn about the subjects of History and Science.

2021 ◽  
pp. 57-73
Author(s):  
Eleanor B. Howe

This paper describes the listening and reading comprehension skills of elementary school students, presents a classroom action research project that concludes that listening skills may transfer to reading skills, and recommends indirect teaching methods to enhance listening comprehension and learning during story hour. The study was designed to test whether instruction in three listening comprehension skills improved reading comprehension using those same skills. The recommended generic lesson plan for story hour is based on theory and research in listening and reading comprehension as well as the suggestions of teachers and librarians. It can be used by teachers, public librarians, school librarians, and parents.


2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 1103-1119
Author(s):  
Patrick Lo ◽  
Bradley Allard ◽  
Kevin K.W. Ho ◽  
Joyce Chao-chen Chen ◽  
Daisuke Okada ◽  
...  

Comic books are becoming increasingly popular in the field of education. In the past, comic books were excluded from school libraries and classrooms. However, with the resurgence in the popularity of comic books and students’ increased demands for them, they are now considered as recreational reading with educational value. In response to this, school libraries have begun collecting comic books and including them as part of their regular collections. This research paper reflects on the current situation of comic books in primary and middle school library collections and examines school librarians’ perceptions towards educational values of comics. The investigation was launched in Hong Kong, Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia and Japan – making comparisons amongst different levels (primary school and secondary school), and different types (public school and private school) of schools in five different countries. Questionnaire surveys were sent to selected school librarians and were the main method of data collection. A total number of 683 responses were collected for this study. Research results include librarians’ attitudes towards comic books in school libraries, adolescent readers’ use of school libraries, their reading and borrowing practices, as well as other problems encountered with the on-going maintenance of comic books as part of the school libraries’ regular collections.


Author(s):  
Eleanor Howe

Reading aloud to children is not only a very pleasurable experience but also an academic enrichment activity that helps equalize opportunities for all students by increasing their exposure to language, culture, and literature through a variety of vicarious experiences. After reviewing relevant professional literature, this paper presents a generic lesson plan that can increase children’s listening and reading comprehension skills and thereby help break down the barriers between advantaged and disadvantaged students. Public librarians, school librarians, teachers, and parents can use the recommended read-aloud strategies to help all children increase their linguistic and social skills as well as their cultural awareness.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 652
Author(s):  
Tati Nurhayati

Reading comprehension is a reading activity that aims to obtain adequate understanding and interpretation of the meanings contained in written symbols. the reading process is divided into three stages, such as pre-reading, reading, and post-reading. But the reality is that many of the students still experience difficulties in reading comprehension learning. Therefore, researchers applied an Accelerated Learning approach to improve students' reading comprehension skills. The results showed, the assessment of the process of reading students' skills for each assessment indicator was in the value range of 78.35% to 87.35% which was included in the good and very good category. While the results of the assessment of the overall reading skills process were 82.32% with a very good category. Based on the results of the study it can be concluded that learning based on the accelerated learning approach can enhance reading comprehension skills of students in class V of the Primary school of 011 Air Emas, Singingi District.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (07) ◽  
pp. 20484-20491
Author(s):  
Dr. Ishag Adam Hassan Ahmed

This paper is devoted to presenting the methods in English communicating skills for Learners of English in general and the problems specific to University of Bahri. English language major’s graduates then; it discusses the notion of communicative competence, and defines strategic competence. It also briefly deals with the various definitions of communication strategies and taxonomies of conversation strategies. Also, I give brief definition of the word conversation, that is the act of talking together or exchange ideas, opinions, skills, and information. As accustomed, speaking is natural and automatic but communication is an art which must be learned and practiced. Also the aim of this paper is to present you with suitable suggestions about how you can solve problems while reading English? In order to comply with this objective: we considered two variables. The first one is that within our daily practice at the university we have students with different abilities while reading English. Therefore, we need to help them increase the ability in reading comprehension. However, we don’t have enough teachers and needed resources to supply them with the help they need. The second variable is related to the fact that at University there are different centers where the students’ skills can improve and their reading comprehension skills deficiencies could be overcome by getting help from the teachers. This study is small component of a larger curriculum review exercise. The findings of study in general suggest that both students and English language lecturers were in agreement that Sudanese students had a problem in writing and speaking English and due to that the conversational problems are raised.      Finally, the paper concludes by representing the pedagogical implications of conversation strategies.


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