Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

1999

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

EdD

College

College of Education and Human Services

Department

Curriculum & Instruction/Literacy Studies

Committee Chair

Ardeth M. Deay.

Abstract

Japanese university students who come to the United States present a particular challenge to universities to teach them about their risks to personal property. The usual method of delivering this message, a lecture during the orientation period, may not be the most effective way of presenting the information due to their limitations in understanding English. It was hypothesized that a manga, or comic book, would be an effective and culturally compatible mode of instruction.;A manga was developed and was tested on a group of incoming Japanese freshmen. Forty students (12 females, 28 males) were divided into two groups. One group received instruction through a lecture; the other received the manga. An instrument to test the effectiveness was also developed. Named the Safe Practices on American College Campuses Inventory (SPACCI), it was administered to both groups before and immediately after their respective periods of instruction. It was administered to each group again three months later to determine what the students retained.;Analyses of variations were done on the data and revealed that the manga group scored significantly higher (p < .05) on the inventory than the lecture group, indicating the effectiveness of this method for the short term. In addition, analyses revealed that there was no significant difference between the answers of male and female students, nor between students from rural and urban areas. Although the manga group initially scored higher than the lecture group, they did not retain the information any better after three months.;The data suggests that a comic book is an effective method of instructing Japanese university students during their orientation period about behaviors that will safeguard their personal property.

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