Multiple Modalities:Using Graphic Novel to Stage a Shakespearean Play in a TESL Classroom

摘要

This paper focuses on a small scale action research involving a class of 42 local University Malaya undergraduates, 12 international and 2 Foreign exchange students enrolled in the Performance in Literature Education course at TESL program in the Faculty of Education. The Course synopsis states that it aims to provide students with hands-on experience in the use of various types of performance activities to facilitate engagement as well as the analysis and interpretation of literary text. This paper presents the findings of an experiment to look at the effectiveness of using the graphic novel in the engagement and learning process of students. Students reported that combination of the visual images as presented in the graphic novel rather than the traditional read on text had prepared them better in their presentation of the gestural, spatial and kinaesthetic modalities to support the performance of a difficult text.