COMICS AND CHILDREN’S LITERACY SKILLS: A FOCUS GROUP ANALYSIS FROM PRESCHOOL TEACHER’S PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Comics is amongst the educational learning tools which offer children an opportunity to understand and interpret the narrative by themselves. Like most studies conclude, through the characteristics and features that comics provide to the reader, it offers many advantages on how literacy skills develop for children's development, as well as specific skills associated with recognizing reading skills and value-added benefit. This study was discussed extensively on how comics could improve the literacy skills of children particularly for pre-school children's reading comprehension. By conducting focus group discussion, data were qualitatively collected from six pre-school teachers who used comics for their learning and teaching sessions as their pedagogical approach and aids. The finding found that comics showed considerable contribution to enhance pre-school children's literacy skills not only for reading comprehension, but also provided added value that comics needed to improve children's critical thinking. Eventually, comics will be adapted to improve the learning of children in the classroom, and even the issue of implementation would be discussed together as well. The research indicates that teachers are urged to use comics in classroom learning sessions as one of the alternative teaching materials in teaching young children.