Dialectical (and multimodal) reading of historical fiction (comics) with elementary school students: Design and testing of a learning unit
Contemporary literacy skills, in general, and interpretative and critical reading skills in the history classroom in particular, may be enhanced by the mobilization, in the classroom, of historical fiction (graphic novels, novels, TV series, movies, video games, etc.). From an original theorized proposition (dialectical reading), a learning unit based on multimodal and historical literacy and historical thinking, has been designed and tested (development research). Results of the first trial of a graphic fiction prototype are presented and discussed. They suggest that sixth graders can really engage into dialectical reading (interpretative & critical reading), but under the explicit condition of a strong guided dialogue by the teacher.