Abstract:
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.
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Keywords:
comics in education, narrative literature review, visual literacy, reading motivation, pedagogy, multimodal learning
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