Manga in Education: A Proposal and Practical Guide

Abstract

Current literature teaching in the Netherlands has been suggested to cause a lack of interest and reading pleasure in students, because it places too much focus on canonical works and the material generally used is not sufficiently accessible for students. The genre of manga might offer a solution these problems as a supplement to traditional literature teaching: manga could be used to spark more enthusiasm in students and stimulate budding interest in literature. The genre is quite popular in the Western world and is more accessible to students than traditional literary works. Four lessons revolving around manga and Shakespeare were developed. The target audience was the upper grades of the pre-university level (VWO). An experiment was conducted in which the lessons were taught. A questionnaire was devised to measure students' attitudes towards Shakespeare and the use of manga in the classroom. Although no significant changes in attitudes towards Shakespeare were found, the results showed that manga and use thereof in the lessons about Macbeth was received very well. The results from putting the lesson plan into practice suggest that manga might be a valuable addition to the current curriculum and that it could be used to improve literary education in the Netherlands (with regard to the subject of English).