Second Language Cultural Negotiation and Visual Literacy: Comics in Class

(Hardback)

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Second Language Cultural Negotiation and Visual Literacy looks at the theory behind cultural learning at the intersection of culture, visuals, and emotions and offers a theoretical and practical foundation upon which teachers can build.

Bringing to light theoretical work from multilingual sources, this book illuminates the process of second language cultural negotiation as subjective, affective, and reliant on imagination and applies this theoretical basis to using comics inside and outside the classroom. It re-examines the popular Vygotskian concept of meaning making in the Zone of Proximal Development and identifies sequential art as a unique and legitimate academic medium that can enable cultural negotiation in a diverse and increasingly globalized society. This book explores the mechanism employed by English language learners reading comics to make meaning.

Lapidus establishes interdisciplinary research as a valuable form of research and draws upon the concept of multiliteracies to illuminate the multimodal nature of meaning making. Presenting theory and its practical ramifications, this book will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students, language teachers, and anyone who enjoys exploring the way humans learn.

Reviews

Alec Lapidus provides strong theoretical and pedagogical reasons for the inclusion of 'sequential art' such as comics in our classrooms. He helps us see the value they have, not only as a tool for language development, but in raising learner awareness of cultural and linguistic diversity and the uniqueness of our lived experiences. Alec's book is indeed an important addition to the field.

Grounded on Vygotskian perspectives, Alex Lapidus extends a persuasive invitation to language teachers to take up comics as a tool for promoting cultural negotiation in a classroom. Imaginations, emotions, and thoughts that comics provoke can transform a classroom from a place for learning a language to a site for developing multiliteracy and multiculturalism. This is a must-read book for teachers and scholars who wish to gain theoretical and practical implications of comics in linguaculture education.

Author Bio

Alec Lapidus is associate professor in the school of education and human development at the University of Southern Maine.