Chapter II advantages and challenges of using comics in language teaching

CHAPTER II ADVANTAGES AND CHALLENGES OF USING COMICS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
2.1.Types and genres of comics suitable for language learning
Comics have been used in language learning for many years. They are a popular tool that can be used to teach reading, writing, and speaking skills. Comics are known for their ability to capture the attention of readers and make learning fun. In this article, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using comics in language learning.
Advantages
1. Visual Representation: Comics use images, which provide a visual representation of the story or concept being taught. This helps learners to understand the story better and retain information for longer periods.
2. Captures Attention: Comics are engaging and can capture the attention of learners more effectively than traditional teaching methods. This makes it easier for students to stay focused and interested in the lessons.
3. Encourages Creativity: Comics offer a creative platform for students to express themselves through storytelling, drawing, and writing captions or dialogue. This provides opportunities for learners to practice their writing skills and develop their imagination.
4. Cultural Context: Comics often contain cultural references that can help learners understand the context behind the language being used. This helps them gain a deeper understanding of the culture associated with the language they are learning.
5. Easy Accessibility: Comics are widely available online or in print form, making them easily accessible to both teachers and students regardless of their location or resources.
6. Simplicity: Comics usually use simple language that is easy to understand, making it ideal for beginners who are just starting to learn a new language.
Disadvantages
1. Limited Vocabulary: The use of comics may limit vocabulary acquisition as most comics use basic vocabulary that may not be sufficient for advanced learners.
2. Limited Grammar Practice: While comics provide ample opportunities for vocabulary practice, they do not offer enough chances for grammar practice.
3. Cultural Bias: Some comics may contain cultural biases that may not be appropriate or relevant in some cultures, which can lead to misunderstandings among learners.
4. Time-consuming: Creating comics can be a time-consuming process that may not be practical for teachers with limited time or resources.
5. Misinterpretation: Comics may be misinterpreted by learners, especially if the visuals and text are not clear or well-matched.
6. Limited Availability: Some comics may not be available in certain languages, making it difficult to use them for language learning in some contexts.
In conclusion, comics offer many benefits as a tool for language learning but also have some limitations. It is important to weigh these advantages and disadvantages before using them as a teaching tool. Teachers should also ensure that the comics used are appropriate for their learners' age, proficiency level, and cultural background. Overall, if used correctly, comics can enhance language learning and make it more fun and engaging for students.
It is the responsibility of the language teachers to motivate the learners to prepare themselves for presentations without any hesitation or phobia. As these presentations have become the essential part of their future career, the English learners should acquire these skills in order to sustain in their positions or get better opportunities for their bright career¹¹. Therefore, it is evident that the learners should be trained in language teaching by English language teachers, adopting various techniques and activities in the classrooms. In fact, such activities and techniques boost the learners’ confidence, help them acquire language teaching and eventually lead them to expose themselves to the external world in the process of seizing opportunities for their successful career.
Being a ‘good speaker’ requires a range of skills beyond accurate grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, though these are the basic building blocks that enable a message to be understood. An effective communicator chooses the words they use, and the way in which they speak to different people in different situations, whether that is ordering a sandwich at a snack bar or giving a keynote speech at an academic event. The skills involved in how we interact with others in different ways are called communicative competencies: teachable skills which frame the language used in interaction in different settings.
Notice that none of these sub-skills make specific reference to grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation, though obviously these are necessary for students to communicate what they want to say. In order to bring the focus onto these competencies, it is therefore advisable to lead speaking tasks on topics that are familiar to students, and using language that is within their ability. Taking the strain of new language out of speaking activities allows students to focus on the pure sub-skills listed above.
This is similar to the way in which native speakers are ‘trained’ for public speaking or assertiveness in social situations: as native speakers, they are comfortable with the structure of their own language, but want to develop other skills which go along with that.
Many of these features of speaking fall into the category of discourse – the organization and style of a message as it is delivered in different situations. When teaching speaking in a given context, think about how people actually speak in that situation. Find recordings of people interacting in restaurants, banks, or wherever your lesson will be set, and think about the functional steps of the interaction as it happens.
You will probably find that most interaction that you listen to is quite formulaic and predictable, so can be used as a structure for the dialogues that you present and practice in class, only with the organization and ordering of the speech as the focus of the class rather than the specific language used. Taking an opposite approach, think of situations where the above list of competencies is common.
For example: we often use circumlocution when we are talking about complex, technical subjects, like when we describe a problem we are having with a gas cooker, car engine or plumbing; we may not know the exact name of the part which is not working, but we can still communicate it to a gas fitter, mechanic or plumber. This is a useful life skill, and one which can be used to harness second-language speaking for language learners.
Again, as with grammar and vocabulary, we can incorporate these target competencies into standard formats of lessons – we can present the feature of speech through an audio or video task, and then ask students to practice applying the feature in a restricted task.
Gapped dialogues, ordering lines in a script, or choosing the best alternative from three different responses in a conversation, for example. Again, as long as the learners are playing with language they already know, their ‘discourse brains’ will be more engaged and they will have more focus on the competencies they are learning.
Free speaking tasks should be exactly that: student-student interaction which does not have too many limitations. Give students a topic or situation and ask them to script out a typical interaction in that situation. Assign roles to different students, so that they can practice speaking to different ‘people’, and see how they flex their ideas when talking to their boss as compared to their 7-year-old daughter. This will open up the features they are learning in application to different types of speech¹².
Finally, be aware that although your learners have been focusing on these great features of spoken communication, they have not yet had the opportunity to fully apply these until they have spoken totally freely, without a script, or notes to work from (after all, native speakers don’t carry scripts around with them to use in sandwich bars, though they do have an ‘expected script’ in their mind which informs their use of language), by participating in a speaking event with another student or students.
The same dialogue that was used in free practice can be repeated, though with different participants to ensure spontaneity and flexibility with language. Only then can you say that students have truly applied what they are learning by the end of the class.
In this paper, an attempt has been made to bring out various techniques and activities to teach language teaching in the English language classrooms. The activities that are done by the learners in English classrooms yield positive results in the process of learning language teaching . The emphasis is on the interaction between the teacher and learner in the English language classrooms. The importance of language teaching for a successful and bright career has been highlighted in this research paper. Hence the English language teachers are expected to implement all the above illustrated techniques and activities in their classrooms in order to develop the language teaching of the learners.
There is no hard and fast rule to apply all these methods, but better results will be expected if they involve the learners in various speaking activities. Instead of adopting one or two techniques, applying a wide range of techniques makes the learners shift from the normal routine and as a result, they participate in various activities very actively with more energetically and enthusiastically. As there is no hope of getting a right job for the academic qualifications, there is a need for the future job aspirants to acquire good language teaching . Therefore, the language teachers have to understand the real situation and train the learners in getting good command over the language teaching as these skills are very much useful for their survival in this the global competitive job market.
Since the importance of language teaching has been recognized rightly in this competitive job market and business world, there is a need for a drastic change in the attitude of learners to prepare themselves for their bright career. In order to teach language teaching effectively, the teachers should go through the recent trends in the English language teaching and undergo training to acquire the latest techniques and approaches and introduce various activities in their classrooms in order to make the learners more proficient and skilful in their language teaching .
However, today's world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students' communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance. In this case, the purpose of the teacher is to transform the communication with students to a pleasant, attractive and emotional lesson. Real communication is always informative, unpredictable, and unexpected. In order to teach real and meaningful communication in the class, the teacher must apply different ways to their teaching and, therefore, the communicative approach which is one of the most effective and widely used methods to teach English nowadays. The communicative approach has been applied in many countries in the world. This has brought positive effects on teaching English¹³.