Effect of Comic Strips on Learner Motivation and Reading Comprehension

The aim of this study was to shed light on the nature of comic strips and to assess the probable effect of using comics as reading materials on intermediate EFL learners¿ motivation to read. It was also aimed to find out whether using comic strips has any effect on students¿ comprehension of comics and accordingly comprehension of other reading materials. Two groups of teenage intermediate EFL learners were selected for this study. The participants were 91 fifth and sixth grade students. A Nelson Proficiency Test was administered in order to determine the homogeneity of the two groups. Then, the learners were assigned to experimental and control groups and participated in a reading program. The students¿ motivation to read was assessed at the beginning and end of the study administering the Motivational Questionnaire (Mori, 2002). The pre- and post-test data obtained from the students¿ responses to the questionnaire was fed into SPSS and a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was used to analyze the raw data. The analysis showed that the students¿ motivation to read increased significantly at the end of the reading program.