ABSTRACT
This study aimed at determining the teachers’ and learners’ experiences on the use of comic strips for comprehension skills development as bases for a proposed workshop. The participants in this study were the eight (8) English teachers from public and private secondary schools and the sixteen (16) learners who were enrolled under each teacher for School Year 2023-2024 from the District of Sara. It was found out that the teachers viewed comic strips as supplementary materials to enhance student engagement and interest, facilitate learners’ comprehension and critical thinking, promote creativity and expression, and integrate curriculum and instruction. On the other hand, learners viewed comic strips as material forms of enjoyment and promote creativity and expression. The experiences identified by the teachers in using comic strips in their English classes were; enhance learner engagement, improve comprehension, and facilitate language acquisition. As for learners, these were increase class engagement, improve comprehension, and foster a foster a positive learning environment. A workshop was proposed as a result of the study.
Keywords: comic strips, comprehension skills, experiences
INTRODUCTION
The ability to interpret and understand written communication is one of the macro skills that learners should master to create harmony and pleasant relationship not only with tangible or visible characters but also with impalpable ones. Fluency in reading is a mark of one who is smart, quick-witted and knowledgeable. It is only fitting that learners of the second language in the secondary level should exhibit reading fluency skill to prepare them for a more complex learning experience ahead.
Reading comprehension makes it possible to incorporate information that supports training procedures and effective management of both personal and academic circumstances. Reading comprehension in higher education must give students the freedom to guide their own academic and professional development and foster critical thinking in support of volunteer work (UNESCO, 2009).
Ersani, et al. (2021) highlight that teaching reading involves the use of various modalities and materials, including books, magazines, newspapers, audiobooks, and other recorded resources. Effective teaching and learning processes take into account learners' preferred modalities, thereby ensuring that instructional strategies align with individual learning preferences.
Visual modality is one that is commonly used for learning. The audio-visual tendency, which causes many students to favor visual and auditory stimuli over written text, is intimately related to this modality (Ariantini, et al., 2021).
Multimodal texts, such as comic strips, integrate words and images to convey narratives (Budiman, et al., 2019). Research suggests they offer pedagogical benefits, thus enhancing language learners' capabilities and fostering positive attitudes (Sharma, et al., 2020). Oller's (1983) as cited in the study by Auquuilla, et.al., (2019) stated that episode hypothesis posits that episodically organized texts facilitate better storage and recall. Specifically, learners benefit from connected sentences with logical structures and narrative arcs, rather than disjointed phrases. It was emphasized that context alone is insufficient; rather, texts should exhibit logical coherence and conclusive structures. This implies that dialogues or texts require more than mere contextualization; they necessitate narrative frameworks that promote meaningful learning.
see PDF attachment for more information