Crossing Borders with Technology: Using Graphic Novels in Foreign Language Teaching

Abstract

Graphic novels and comics came into being in the 1930’s as products of the popular culture that developed at an unprecedented pace especially after World War II. This paper explores the role of graphic novels and comics as an alternative to traditional means of language teaching in overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers that exist for the foreign language students at elementary, intermediate and higherlevels. It is argued that since graphic novels and comics are a combination of visual and narrative forms of artistic expression, these forms of literary and cultural production offer themselves as useful tools in the field of language education.