The Form and Function of an After-School Comics Club

• In Event: 61.026 - Comics and Critical Engagement in Literacy Education and Research

Abstract

Objectives and Methods:
Teaching literacy is frequently described in terms of in- and out-of-school binaries (e.g., Hull, & Schulz, 2002), with out-of-school literacies frequently termed more relevant and motivational to students. Oftentimes, calls are made to bridge the two in instruction (Author 4, 2009), but the formal aspects of schooling and calls for accountability and adherence to specific curricula (at least in the US) make it difficult to introduce untested types of instruction that hinge on areas not regularly recognized as academic.
The present study focuses on an out-of-school space that is actually within a school: an afterschool comics club that meets weekly and is comprised of about twenty students. The club’s advisors are an English teacher, who stresses academic aspects of composition, planning, and storytelling, and a communication (art) teacher, who focuses on the artistic renderings as well as career considerations. Students are from grades nine through twelve, and vary greatly in terms of their interests, storytelling practices, abilities to write or draw, media proclivities (both print and electronic), and intentions for publication.

Data Sources and Methods:
Data from participants were gathered via individual interviews. The advisors were interviewed as a duo, speaking to why they organized the club, how it worked, what they felt were effective practices from their five years of experience, and what they wanted students to learn from the club. Students spoke in individual interviews about the comics they made, why they were interested in making them, their creative processes, and their views on the club. Interviews were recorded and transcribed.

Analytic Framework:
Data were analyzed using Kvale’s (1996) method of meaning interpretation to apply specific theories to interview data. The space of the club is rife with various dialogic tensions (Bakhtin, 1986) between the students’ and the teachers’ aims for the club. Dialogical Self Theory, particularly its emphasis on recognizing diverse voices (Hermans & Harmans-Konopka, 2010), provides a set of analytical tools to examine these tensions and speak more directly to the working environment where many different intentions and literacy practices (Street, 1984) are in play. Additionally, the analysis of interview data from multiple participants lends insight into the different parts of the self (Hermans, 1996) enacted in the club environment, shedding light on how similar bridging events might be framed in the future.

Findings:
Initial results from the advisors’ interviews focus on the intersections of instruction, learning, skills, and vocational concerns as well as how comics creation connects with larger community contexts and contemporary educational standards. In terms of student views, conversations lent insight into their identities, interests, motivations, reasons for engaging in the specific types of literacy via the club, and what they learned.

Scholarly Significance:
This study speaks to the organization and efficacy of a successful afterschool club as well as the learning outcomes and other functions it served for adult and student stakeholders. It has much to say about effective teaching and learning that can be related to in- and out-of-school environments.

Author

• Stergios Botzakis, The University of Tennessee - Knoxville