THE IMPACT OF COMIC BOOKS ON THE READING COMPREHENSION SKILL AND MOTIVATION OF 11TH GRADERS AT LICEO TÉCNICO PUENTE ÑUBLE.

Abstract

ii ABSTRACT Nowadays the teaching of a second language has taken an important place in the Chilean education system, but one thing that is still yet to be discovered is the impact multimodality has on the reading comprehension and motivation in the EFL classroom. The study shows the impact the use of comic books on the reading comprehension skill and motivation to read in the EL (English Language).In addition, the reader can review the use of comic books and how its multimodality allows for instructional elements to be presented in more than one sensory mode (multiple representations), facilitating students‘ further learning (Shah & Freedman, 2003) and the origin of a web site called Zenpencils, which is focused on adding to renowned quotes visual metaphors to make insightful comics for the public. Using the comic art of Zenpencils, five interventions were applied to the 11th grade class at Liceo Técnico Puente Ñuble composed of nine students living in a state of vulnerability on the rural area of San Nicolás. The instruments used were: Zenpencils‘ comics, “Strange like me”, “On the mindless menace of violence”, “I have the right”, “Fears are papers tiger”, and “ask yourself‖; a multiple-choice set of questions about the stories to evaluate how comic books as an aid in reading comprehension skill and a Likert scale to find out the students‘ perception on how the comic strips help in their understanding of the story and if these comics make them want to read more in the EL. The results led us to conclude that the use of comic books in the EFL does have an impact on the reading comprehension skill and motivates students to read more in the EL