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Abstract

The study presented in this article examines the use of comic books, specifically the TOON comic books during guided reading instruction. The instruction was provided to struggling readers by the Literacy Center at a comprehensive university in southeastern United States. What most pre-service teachers in this study agreed upon was that comic books served as an effective tool for getting their students interested in reading. Reading comic books with tutors as partners in conversation with the struggling readers in this study was also a powerful medium for facilitating students’ literacy skills development, particularly in the areas of reading fluency and reading comprehension. Contrary to common misconceptions that reading visual literacy, including comic books and graphic novels, is a simple process (Mortimore, 2009), the pre-service teachers found out firsthand that it actually is a complex process. Nonetheless, the challenges they encountered with incorporating comic books in the classroom did not prevent these pre-service teachers from appreciating their educational merit.

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