'A different kind of reading': the emergent literacy practices of a school-based graphic novel club

Abstract

This paper explores the possibilities for pedagogy inherent in the reading practices which emerged from an extra-curricular graphic novel reading group set up in a Scottish secondary school. The research is presented within the framework of the New Literacy Studies and its focus on ‘practices' and ‘events' but, more specifically, it uses the framework developed by researchers working on the Literacies for Learning in Further Education project conducted recently in the United Kingdom. This framework allows a more detailed exploration of ‘events' by unpacking the fine-grained aspects that compose a literacy practice. This paper aims to identify, trace and analyse the aspects of the emerging new practice of this Reading Group. While the framework it employs is based on an opposition between curricular and non-curricular practices, the data presented in this paper derives from an extra-curricular activity uniquely positioned inside the school but outside of the official curriculum. By focussing on notions of identity and process in particular, the paper presents a critique of the ways in which literacy practices which take place outside of the classroom have been undervalued or ignored by educational policy and practice.