Exploring the possibilities of reporting teacher research through comics [Research Paper]

ELTED has published a research paper ‘Exploring the possibilities of reporting teacher research through comics‘ by Darren Elliott.

There is an undeniable element of gimmickry in publishing research in comic form. This may be helpful in getting your work actually read; in such a crowded field it is good to stand out. However, it remains to be seen whether such work can be taken seriously. Sousanis (2015) demonstrated how an entire doctoral thesis in philosophy and visual communication could be produced in graphic form to great effect, but are comics welcome in language education research?

The first part of this contribution was intended to, briefly, familiarise the
unfamiliar reader with the ‘form’ of comics. Comics, like any other media, have certain stylistic features which need to be understood in order for the message to be correctly understood. I do not contend that this particular content is necessarily best served by presenting it as a comic, however. For the writer, it is labourintensive and difficult to edit. Although it may be original, engaging, and novel, it is probably not the most effective way of conveying all information.

Read full paper.