COMICS AS EDUCATIONAL TOOLS: A NARRATIVE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

This study, “Comics as Educational Tools: A Narrative Review of the Literature (2000–2025),” examines the role of comics in education over a 25-year period. It aims to analyze research categories, identify main thematic focuses, assess distribution across educational levels, and evaluate research trends to inform future practice. A narrative literature review was conducted on 58 selected sources, including journal articles, theses, and research reports. Findings indicate that peer-reviewed articles dominate the literature, while research is unevenly distributed across educational levels, with secondary and higher education receiving more attention than primary and preschool levels. Five main themes emerged: reading literacy, reading motivation, EFL/ESL, visual and multimodal literacy, and pedagogy and curriculum integration. Comics were found to improve literacy, engagement, conceptual understanding, and higher-order thinking, demonstrating their versatility as an interactive and multimodal learning medium. However, most studies are small-scale, short-term, and limited in crosscultural application, highlighting the need for systematic, long-term, and contextually relevant research. Overall, the study underscores the value of comics as an effective educational tool, emphasizing teacher readiness, curriculum integration, and culturally responsive approaches to optimize learning outcomes.