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The semantic and syntactic qualities of paneling in students’ graphic narratives

The overarching purpose of the classroom-based research featured in this article was to explore the development of middle-year students’ visual meaning-making skills and competencies. The research was informed by multimodality and social semiotics, and embraced a sociocultural perspective of literacy and a transactional theory of literature. Over a period of several weeks, Grade 7 students had opportunities to learn about a selection of elements of visual art and design, and some conventions of graphic novels, including paneling. In addition to reading, responding in writing to, and discussing a selection of picturebooks, graphic novels and magazine issues, the students composed their own texts using the medium of comics. In this article I focus on the paneling in the graphic narratives created by seven student participants. The content analysis of the students’ graphic narratives revealed the intentionality of their panel meaning-making, and the semantic and syntactic qualities embodied in their paneling. Excerpts from the students’ interviews revealed how learning about the what, why and how of paneling affected the composing of their work. I conclude the article with a consideration of some pedagogical issues associated with the teaching of paneling and other conventions in the medium of comics.