Abstract
The pairing of text with images to form a narrative (comics) has been successfully used to reach otherwise reluctant language learners for decades. However, though a number of studies have supported the effectiveness of comics as a multimodal text in the classroom, limited research on their effectiveness has been done in the Arab Gulf region, including Oman. This paper reports the results of a quasi-experiment involving the use of comics over two trimesters in the large English foundation program at a military engineering college in Oman. It examines whether the use of comics is associated with increases in intra- and post-trimester scores on reading quizzes and exams as well as improvements in student motivation. Results suggest positive participation and feedback by students and staff even though improvements across various measures of linguistic proficiency were not apparent.
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Hoffman, R. (2018). Comics in the Omani EFL Classroom: Boosting Student Vocabulary, Reading, and Motivation. In: Al-Mahrooqi, R., Denman, C. (eds) English Education in Oman. English Language Education, vol 15. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0265-7_16
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