Reading Strategies, Vocabulary Development and Graphic Literature:

Teaching Persepolis in the Secondary EFL Classroom

Introduction
Graphic literature speaks the language of young people in that content is filmic, visual, and
immediate (Wagner, as cited in Lawn, 2012, p. 30). Thus, this genre offers a potentially
engaging alternative to traditional literacy pedagogy (Chun, 2009, p. 144). This paper
discusses three lesson plans on Persepolis: A Story of a Childhood designed for Dutch EFL
learners in the first year of pre-university secondary education in the Netherlands, referred
to as VWO. This cohort needs to achieve B2 level Independent User (Vantage) - in the
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) upon completion of the
first three years of junior high school (Nuffic, 2015). This means that they will need to able to
comprehend modern literary prose on contemporary problems and write clear, detailed
descriptions on a wide range of subjects (Council of Europe, n.d., p. 27). Furthermore, they
will need to have developed considerable vocabulary breadth, whereby they may
demonstrate difficulties with low-frequency idioms only (Council of Europe, n.d., p. 69).

Persepolis is a graphic coming-of-age memoir narrating the authors childhood in Iran during
the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war. The simple black-and-white frames illustrate
complex themes: the conflict between fundamentalism and democracy; womens rights; and,
coming-of-age in a turbulent society. Satrapi produced this text to disrupt stereotypes which
connect Iran predominantly with fundamentalism, fanaticism and terrorism (2002, p. 10).

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An exemplar of graphic literature was specifically selected for its multiple affordances for L2
literacy learning. Firstly, this genre may encourage reluctant and at-risk readers to engage in
literacy events in that they tend to be attracted to the visuals and usually strong storylines
(Lawn, 2012, p. 31). Secondly, it promotes vocabulary learning in that readers can infer word
meanings by interpreting the frames (Cimermanov, 2015, p. 2452; z & Efecioglu, 2015, p.
78). Thirdly, it can be motivating for beginning L2 learners in that the visuals assist in
overcoming linguistic barriers (Cimermanov, 2015, p. 2452). In sum, graphic literature can
function as a bridge to other literary genres (Krashen, as cited in Moeller, 2009, p. 14) as well
as an aid in promoting independent L2 readers by reducing affective filters such as anxiety
and lack of confidence (Krashen, as cited in z & Efecioglu, 2015, p. 77).

The three pertaining lesson plans are based on the Intensive Reading Framework as outlined
by Hedgcock and Ferris (2009, p. 161), including a before, during and after reading
lesson. An interactive approach towards literacy learning was adopted, including schemata
development, strategy use, and genre writing. The paramount educational goals are to
develop students skilful application of strategies and vocabulary acquisition, so that they
become increasingly able to read authentic texts beyond the classroom (Hedgcock & Ferris,
2009, p. 162). The present paper is limited to discussing the main teaching and learning
activities, however, detailed lesson plans can be found in Appendix A (pp. 10 - 15).

Lesson One - Before Reading

The purposes of the before reading lesson (Appendix A, pp. 10 - 11) include activation and
development of students knowledge of the memoirs context so as to facilitate
comprehension. Schemata theory holds that the more a reader knows about a topic . . . , the
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more readily the reader can construct meaning from a text (Derewianka, 2003, p. 204). The
lesson commences with a mini-lecture, followed by a brainstorm session, whereby students
make free associations with the words Iran, Persia and Islam. The latter activity aims to
activate students schemata, so that they can connect existing knowledge with new
knowledge acquired during reading. However, students cultural schemata are likely to be
limited and thus the lesson includes a schemata development activity involving Internet
research. This requires the class to be divided into five teams, whereby each researches one
of the following topics: geography; history of Ancient Persia; modern history until 1979; the
Islamic Revolution; and, women in Islam.

The research task will extend students information literacy skills, which entails the ability to
source, analyse and evaluate online information (Warschauwer, 2007, p. 914). Digital literacy
development is a crucial aspect of language learning in the twenty-first century. A survey of
adolescents in the USA found that 73% of participants used the Internet regularly to collect
information, exchange ideas and share opinions (Lenhart, Madden & Hitlin, as cited in Castek,
Bevans-Mangelson & Goldstone, 2006, p. 716). The lessons research task will assist students
in developing digital literacy skills required for further study and the world of work beyond
the classroom (Castek, Bevans-Mangelson & Goldstone, 2006, p. 716). Students may research
L1 websites, considering that this cohort consists of beginning L2 users. The lesson is
concluded with a teaching-back activity, whereby teams report findings to the class.

Lesson Two During Reading

The learning objectives of the during reading lesson (Appendix A, p. 13 - 15) comprise
development of effective reading strategies and acquisition of new vocabulary. Good readers
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know what reading strategies are and understand when and where to use them (Demirz,
2010, p. 81). Therefore, the lesson involves explanation, modelling and practise of the two
strategies to be learned.

The first strategy involves a bottom-up strategy, namely guessing word meanings based on
L1 lexical knowledge. Through the use of L1 lexical knowledge, students may rapidly develop
a significant L2 sight vocabulary due to a numerous cognates. For example, the first page in
Persepolis contains nine cognates, including is/is, was/was, class/klas, school/school, see/zie,
Islamic/islamitisch,

revolution/revolutie,

execution/executie,

and,

monster/monster.

Automatic word recognition is a crucial component of reading fluency, which is required for
full comprehension of texts (Grabe, 2009, p. 291). This strategy is intended to aid the
transition of automatic word recognition skills from L1 to L2 reading.

The second strategy involves a top-down strategy, namely inferencing vocabulary meanings
from surrounding visual clues. Research has found that EFL learners perceive graphic
literature as helpful in inferring word meanings of unfamiliar vocabulary (Jones, as cited in z
& Efecioglu, 2015, p. 79). The frames reinforce plot, characterisation and vocabulary (Sloboda,
Brenna & Kosowan-Kirk, 2014, p. 20) and may therefore provide valuable clues to word
meanings. For example, the meaning of obligatory in Illustration One below cannot be
guessed on the basis of Dutch L1 lexical knowledge. However, the gestures of the authority
figure in the panels bottom right suggest that it may relate to acts rendered mandatory by
laws, policies or rules. In conclusion, this strategy may aid students development of
vocabulary breadth.

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Illustration 1: The Veil in Persepolis (Satrapi, 2002, p. 13)

demonstrates the implications of the Islamic Revolution for
young women in Iran. The characters gestures provide clues to
the meaning of the word obligatory.

The intensive reading lesson includes a joint first reading so that students discover the texts
main themes. This is followed by a joint re-reading to model and provide guided practice of
strategy use. This can also involve vocabulary explanations. Thereafter, students engage in
silent reading of sequential chapters to gain individual practise in using the two strategies.
The silent reading activity requires students to develop a personal bilingual dictionary to
record new vocabulary encountered in the text. This allows them to connect existing L1 lexical
knowledge to newly-acquired L2 knowledge (Bauer & Arazi, 2011, p. 384).

The homework assignment requires students to read sequential chapters so as to provide

additional opportunities to consolidate previously learned vocabulary through repeated
encounters and learn new vocabulary through continued use of the strategies outlined above.

Lesson Three After Reading

The learning objective of the after reading lesson (Appendix A, pp. 14 - 15) entails writing
skills development, whereby students need to write chapter summaries. This activity
demonstrates whether students have comprehended the text (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2009, p.
185) and provides an opportunity to deepen vocabulary learning by putting the new words to
use (Sripada, 2015, p. 61). Furthermore, it provides scaffolded support for the assessment
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task described below. The lesson is based on genre pedagogy so as to provide students with
explicit explanations on how this text type works to meet its communicative purposes
(Hyland, 2007, p. 150). The approach is informed by the Sydney School, focussing on
ideational and interpersonal metafunctions of the summary writing micro-genre. The main
teaching points include ideational metafunctions, i.e. factual representations in the present
tense, and interpersonal metafunctions, i.e. writing in the third person, to achieve objectively
written student summaries.

As writing summaries in an L2 may pose a considerable challenge (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2009,
p. 185) the activity has been carefully scaffolded. The genre is explained and modelled first,
followed by a joint whole class construction of a summary of the texts first chapter; pair
construction of a summary of the second chapter; and, individual construction of summaries
of the third and fourth chapters as homework.

Assessment Multimodal Book Summary

Persepolis: A Story of a Childhood should be taught in its entirety, whereby key chapters could
be discussed in class and other chapters read as homework. Comprehension, vocabulary
learning and summary writing skills could be assessed with a performance-based formative
assessment instrument, whereby students each create a multimodal book summary
comprising text, imagery and annotated screenshots from Persepolis. As such, it would
reinforce the educational objectives as well as visual and information literacy skills.

In conclusion, the lessons, homework assignments and assessment instrument may promote
traditional L2 literacy skills as well as some of the new literacy skills required to succeed in
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future study and work contexts. Currently, the lesson plans were written for a hypothetical
student cohort in an intended future teaching context at a pre-university secondary school in
the Netherlands. A small scale-research project found that Dutch junior students are
disengaged from reading literature (Ewalds, 2014, p.7) and experience difficulties
transitioning to the senior years (Ewalds, 2014, p. 55) when they are required to read
canonical texts for an extensive reading project as part of the Dutch equivalent of the HSC for
the subject English (Ewalds, 2014, p. 11). The present lesson plans were developed in the
hope to reverse such trends and hopefully inspire a passion for reading and provide the skills
necessary for academic success in the senior years.

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