ABSTRACT
Co-authored with Lori Simpson, Chapter 6 begins with a definition and examples of multimodal texts in ESL classrooms. This chapter focuses on the use of graphic novels and documentary films. With graphic novels, the chapter describes two instructional activities: Storyboarding and a jury trial. In addition to scaffolding the comprehension of written content, the multimodal elements in graphic novels recruited emergent bilingual youths’ ability to construct meaning from visual images and graphic design features. The chapter then describes the use of Bernardo Ruiz and Pamela Aguilar’s documentary, Los Graduados/The Graduates, which prompted the youth to engage in a structural critique of the US education system and grapple with the intersections of immigration, family, and education. With graphic novels and documentary films, emergent bilinguals approached the texts as representations, created by a person with a particular point of view and set of beliefs. The chapter concludes with theoretical and practice-based insights about multimodality and the role of texts in critical education for emergent bilinguals.
