The structural organization of comic strips

Abstract

This article has the objective of presenting how the work with the structural organization of the genre comic strips occurs in one of the modules produced for the design of a didactic sequence aimed to the eighth grade at elementary school. Thus, as theoretical foundation, this work used Bakhtin and his Circle studies, which refer to interaction, writing and discursive genre, and Dolz, Noverraz & Schneuwly (2004), who focus on the production of didactic sequences. In order to achieve more effective learning, the results of the  study with comic strips show that: a) it is necessary to make the student perceive that s/he is dealing with a narration, which, differently from other texts, uses peculiar devices  like the visual language linked with the verbal one; b) the narrative occurs through a chronological sequence that is characterized by the vertical division of the squares, which is part of the composition of the strips; c) the balloons, with their several frames, indicate the characters' expressivity, that is, they show the verbal language of a comic strip; d) the onomatopoeias, which are sound devices used in the strips, present movement and give more life to the narrative action; e) the main discourse in the comic strips is the dialogue between the characters.