Deploying Comics for Fostering Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) [Funding captured: HK$23,700]

Principal Investigator: Dr Sun Nim Yan, Vera [SSHD]
Co-Investigator: Phoebe Siu [LC]

“[W]ords alone frequently fail to assist students’ understanding of many concepts” (Brown & Giancaspro, 2022). Visual media in any form have been persistently marginalised as less academic and less serious than text for teaching and learning in higher education, despite their potential to support higher-order thinking (HOT) (Lacković, 2020a).

Visual analysis is also rarely applied in higher education contexts in relation to curricular topics, as part of HOT skills (Lacković, 2020a; Hallewell & Lacković, 2017). Visual media lend themselves usefully to fostering HOT skills in the context of languages and EAL (English as Additional Language), but one medium is still underexplored – the medium of comics, above all tailor-made comics. When visual media are deliberately used to support HOT – such as critical, creative and analytical thinking – they become “inquiry graphics” and its application in educational context is termed an Inquiry Graphics method and pedagogy (Lacković, 2024).

Comics are types of hybrid visual media that combine linguistic texts in speech/thought bubbles and comment boxes with visual storytelling, commonly presented as sequential illustrations. Despite a “conflicted history between educators and comics” (Kirtley et el., 2020, p. 22) resulting from negative stereotypes (e.g. Precup & Scherr, 2017), comics have been frequently used in different disciplines, such as science, social studies, language, engineering and economics to enhance learning experience. Topkaya et al. (2023)’s comprehensive review of the impact of comics in education yielded 36 themes on enhanced cognitive dimensions for student learning. Although overwhelmingly positive effects were shown on student learning, However, the scholarship in comics is still underdeveloped and comics-friendly pedagogies are rarely applied (Aman & Wallner, 2022; Tilley & Weiner, 2017; Topkaya et al., 2023; Wallner & Eriksson Barajas, 2020).

Comics have proven benefits in the context of language learning but studies have not been clear on method, analysis and HOT skills. Studies in the use of comics in the context of language learning and English have reported highly positive impact, e.g. for learning vocabulary, reading and writing skills (e.g. Sarada, 2016; Wijaya et al., 2021). Challenges in implementation are also recognised, in particular, the “relevance, the choices of the topics, and how it cannot support spoken skills as much as it would support the written skills” (Wijaya et al., 2021, p. 230). This study addresses those challenges as it (1) applies tailor-made, relevant comics in the context of EAL and (2) uses language speaking exercises to purposefully analyse and describe comics content. It applies comics as inquiry graphics to support students’ HOT as well as their language skills (Phakiti, 2018; Sharma, 2020). There is indeed a scarcity of studies in the context of comics and EAL at a higher education level.

How HOT skills can be fostered in language learning through teaching with tailor-made comics is both seldom explored and seldom explored semiotically. Most studies use existing comics or comics created by students for learning (e.g. Issa, 2018). Few used tailor-made comic series, such as Brown and Giancaspro (2022), for teaching disciplinary concepts in tertiary programmes. Their surveys over two years had encouragingly 89% respondents indicated significantly improved understanding of law and non-law concepts.
An Inquiry Graphics method and pedagogy (Lacković, 2019, 2020a, 2020b; 2024; Lacković & Olteanu, 2024) has not been studies in EAL context yet it affords a closer semiotic analysis of comics and of the transformation and translation of meanings in the interpretation process. It can potentially foster learners’ HOT as creative, critical and analytical analysis of comics (ibid.). It can yield a better understanding on and provide better evidence for how HOT skills may be fostered in any disciplines including language. The study will apply the Inquiry Graphics method that was specifically developed for using comics in the context of EAL.

To be updated through data generation and publication phases in 2024-25.