The importance of reading motivation in adolescent reading comprehension: The graphic novel as a promising tool?

According to the results of the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, one in four 15-year-old students is considered a low-performing reader. Inference generation plays a major role in reading comprehension and represents a potential source of difficulties. It is therefore not surprising to observe a significant development of interventions targeted at this skill. However, their effects could be partly mediated by reading motivation. Therefore, whatever the nature of the interventions, if adolescents are not motivated to engage in them, they are likely to have little lasting effect. Nevertheless, reading motivation is rarely considered in the development of these interventions. Thus, we discuss the relevance of a promising tool, which could both support the training of reading comprehension skills and foster reading motivation in adolescents: the graphic novel.