Check the way of writing the ideas and the grammar
Show entire document
Abstract
Comics are world known as extensive nonverbal concepts which focus on visual
literacy rather than written words. However, as a genre of literacy, it is not
readily accepted in most of schools in a believe that comics do not seen to be for
educational purposes. This research designed to challenge the traditional
perception of comics and ascertain if young children have the capacity to
interpret emotions and nonverbal thoughts from graphics in comics in order to
develop their literacy skills. The action research study was implemented in a
local United Arab Emirates (UAE) Kindergarten with 55 KG 2 children. The
target emotions of happy, sad, surprised, angry, and scared formed the basis of
understanding emotions of comics’ characters.
The results obtained by using
different research methods such as checklists, scaling lists, observations and
documentations, concluded that ‘children have great interpretation skills that
improved through ‘reading’ comics’ illustrations and tell stories’.
Key words:
Emotions, facial expressions, interpreting, children, comics’
graphics
Introduction
Literacy is a fundamental aspect of children’s learning which includes reading.
However, these days with technology development and the variation of our life styles,
children in the UAE are changing their literacy practices from reading to a greater use of
visual literacy. Comics are one of the major sources of literacy that children interact with
which in turn activates their abilities in reading. Comics have been stereotyped as being a
source of children’s entertainment only. In contrast, comics require visual literacy, which
contributes to an expansion of visual literacy skills .Therefore, there seems to be a strong
relationship between comics as graphics and children's visual language.
In the UAE context, families’ acceptance of comics is rare. UAE’s kindergarten
classrooms exclude the use of comics. There is a strong belief from teachers and parents that
comics in the school’s environment are not considered as a ‘learning’ tool. Their perception is
that comics may diminish the value of the teachers’ strategies and approaches. This situation
brings into question that if we were to consider comics as a learning technique, would UAE
children be willing to read. The research indicates that comics have an important role in
enhancing children’s literacy skills as additional language and motivate them to read. As
Volin stated, the facilitation between the words and graphics in comics empower children to
read (
Volin
).
Put quote
This Action Research Project (ARP) aimed to ascertain if 4-5 years old children in UAE
Kindergartens have the capacity to interpret emotions and nonverbal thoughts from graphics
in comics in order to understand a story in a comic.
A strong argument has been made to
present the theoretical frame of children’s capacities in recognizing emotions and the
importance of nonverbal concept in their learning. The student researchers used two
distinctive approaches of development and scaffolding children in sequential stages through
their learning experience in the classrooms. The study used a mixed method approach of
collecting, sorting, and analyzing data. The advantages of combining qualitative and
quantitative methods will assist in the clarification of the findings of the study.
Several
learning pedagogies were implemented in the study to scaffold children’s capacities to
interpret emotions from graphics in comics.
Literature review
RQ:
The meaning of non-verbal communication
How often have we heard the expression that actions speak louder than words?.
Wordless or nonverbal communication (NVC) is the way we converse with our body and
exclude the use of words to derive meaning. Researchers embraced the notion and defined it
in several ways. As Burgoon, Buller, and Woodall cited in(
explained that the nonverbal
communication similarly to the verbal communication. They mentioned the nonverbal
communication as a conscious process of sending nonverbal behavioral messages among
people from which they then have to interpret meaning. There are other researchers who have
demonstrated the meaning of nonverbal communication totally differently from verbal
communication where meaning is delivered through sounds and nonverbal messages rather
than words.
However, some scholars have integrated verbal communication to expand the
nonverbal communication conceptions. They demonstrated the notion of nonverbal
communication as a combination of the verbal and nonverbal behavior to share and interpret
messages related to the shown variables in the situations. Furthermore, Samovar, Porter and
Stefani (1998) have a holistic idea about nonverbal communication. They think nonverbal
Recently Asked Questions
- What have both the Chilean and California wines borrowed from French wines?
- What branding and target marketing concepts have Chilean wines borrowed from California wines?
- Brown corporation is reviewing its capital budget. It has paid a dividend per share of $3.00 for the past several years and the shareholders expect that the