I. English is a key skill in Europe and is the most widely taught foreign language According to the latest EU Survey on Language Competencies, 2012, English is by far the most taught foreign language in nearly all EU countries at all educational levels. Furthermore, it is a key skill for employability: the Commission Study on Foreign Language Proficiency and Employability (2015) revealed that over 4 in 5 employers interviewed stated that English was the most useful language in all sectors and in almost all non-English speaking countries. But, even though most secondary schools students study English (94% of upper secondary students in the EU studied English in 2016 according to Eurostat), this critical skill on the job market is not mastered by all learners. II. Visual material such as comics are perceived as easy tools to study languages, but they have limits While more than 98% of teachers surveyed by the French Association of Publishers stated that they perceived the pedagogical potential of comics, only 30% of them had use them as part of their teaching practice in the previous year, mostly due to a lack of practical guidance. The educational advantages of comics in the classroom are well identified in theory: -They allow to turn lessons into stories, which makes concepts less abstract, -They can be perceived asinformal learning resources in complement to text lessons, thus less intimidating to students who have difficulties, -They provide visual articulation cues which supports the reader to read at their own pace and go back to the critical points more easily, -When the reader is trained to make a comics strip or page, comics become a means of self-expression and knowledge restitution. In practice, however, it appears that the potential of comics as educative tools is not yet realised in education institutions in general. The 2017 National Comics Conference in Angouleme (France), tackled the barriers that prevent comics from actually entering the classroom. Their main findings were the following: -Comics still suffer from a negative image as being a “light medium” not suitable to support actual learning, -There is a lack of official guidance as to which comics to use and how to integrate them in teaching practices, -Teachers consider it difficult to identify comics that fit with the programme, -Even when comics are used, teachers focus on the text and are not equipped to analyse illustrations. -Comics are more expensive than other books and are difficult to acquire for school libraries and for students. In addition to these barriers, it is important to note other obstacles: -Not all comics are accessible to learners with SLDs, -Cultural barriers can make it more difficult for teachers to feel equipped to use different forms of comics that can be popular with teenagers. III. This is why we wish to support teachers with a methodology to use and create pedagogical comics With the development of accessible online resources, there has been a growing interest from teachers to develop new ways to present their lessons, including comics strips & comic pages. Several online tools and platforms exist today to support this effort, relieving teachers from being able to draw to create their own comics for the classroom. However, they also need guidance as to how to integrate comics in their lessons and in the wider school programme. This is why we are creating a project that aims at developing the technical skills of teachers for them to create inclusive digital comics for practical use tailored to their classrooms’ needs. We will focus on English language lessons for secondary level students. OBJECTIVES: to create a methodology to make the most of comics as a pedagogical tool to learn English in an inclusive way (SLD, cultural differences) and to provide teachers and students with the tools to create their own comic pages for innovative pedagogy. NEEDS: fluency in English for employability, need for alternative and inclusive pedagogical tools, need to strengthen teachers’ ICT skills TARGET GROUPS: 1. European learners in general, secondary school learners in particular 2. Teachers in secondary education, English teachers in particular We will focus on producing inclusive material for learners with Specific Learning Disorders (such as dyslexia, dyspraxia…) as they account for 10 to 15% of the population in Europe, and it is essential to spread inclusive teaching practices The following OER will be produced during this project: - a pedagogical guide on the practical uses of comics in education - a digital comics creation guide for teachers - an elearning module to train teaches in creating their own digital comics for language education - 45 lesson and comics packages to showcase practical example of pedagogical comics - A workshop methodology for teachers to organise comics creation workshops for students -An implementation guide with usecases and recommendations from partners’ experience
This partnership aimed to support teachers with a methodology to use and create pedagogical comics to teach English. With the development of accessible online resources, there has been a growing interest from teachers to develop new ways to present their lessons such as comics. Several online tools exist today to support this effort to create comics. However, teachers also need guidance as to how to integrate comics in their lessons. In addition, comics generally present 2 main inclusion challenges: - The text font and page layout can be challenging to follow for students with learning disorders - Comics carry cultural values and can convey negative stereotypes that would make part of the students feel judged or excluded. Therefore, the project’s objective was to create a methodology to make the most of comics as a pedagogical tool to teach English in an inclusive way and to provide teachers and students with the tools to create their own comics for innovative pedagogy.
According to the latest EU Survey on Language Competencies, 2012, English is by far the most taught foreign language in nearly all EU countries at all educational levels. But, even though most secondary schools students study English (94% of upper secondary students in the EU studied English in 2016 according to Eurostat), this critical skill on the job market is not mastered by all learners. The educational advantages of comics in the classroom are well identified in theory: - Stories make concepts less abstract - As non-formal learning resources they are less intimidating to students who have difficulties - They provide visual articulation cues which supports reading at one’s own pace - Creating comics is a means of self-expression and knowledge restitution. In practice, however, it appears that the potential of comics as educative tools is not yet realised in schools. The 2017 National Comics Conference in Angouleme (France), tackled the barriers that prevent comics from actually entering the classroom. The main barriers are the perception that comics are not serious enough to support actual learning, the lack of guidance for teachers to use them in the classroom, and the price of comics.