Presented by Dr Peter Friedlander as part of the ANU Language Teaching Forum

The use of images has been a long established practice in language teaching.  During the last year I have been experimenting with the use of online comics as a part of teaching Hindi and found that it has had very beneficial learning outcomes. In this report on practice, I shall show how I am using comics in order to promote student engagement with dialogues where the dialogue is initially presented without text but through images and sounds. In an initial attempt at understanding how comics help in language teaching I shall also explore how theorists who work on comics characterise the notion of ‘closure’ as described by Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics (1994), which refers to how viewers provide links between different panels in a comic and a possible parallel with the notion of an ‘information gap’ in communicative language teaching. By showing examples of how the use of comics and images can help to convey concepts in a non-verbal manner and how conceiving of a dialogue as a comic storyboard helps in creating meaningful dialogues I will argue that there are exciting possibilities that we may be able to explore for foreign language teaching. Finally, I shall also point out that however haphazard our comics maybe, they also add an aspect of student engagement.

Dr Peter Friedlander lived in India from 1977-1982 where he learned Hindi in Varanasi. He then studied at SOAS (London University) and completed his PhD on the life and works of the medieval Hindi poet-saint Ravidas in 1991. He has taught Hindi language, Buddhist Studies and Indian studies for Antioch University abroad (Bodhgaya), La Trobe University (Melbourne), and the National University of Singapore. He was awarded an honour for his contribution to the study of Hindi and Hindi literature at the World Hindi Conference in South Africa in 2013 and was the invited keynote speaker at the World Hindi Secretariat International Hindi day in Mauritius in 2016. 

His research interests include Hindi language, pedagogy, Hindi print media, religious traditions in South Asia and Buddhism and society. Recent national projects that he has contributed to include: academic advisor on the translation of interpretative signage at the Australian War Museum, academic advisor on the development of the Australian National Curriculum for Hindi (2015-16) organiser and convenor of the first national workshop on Hindi in Australia at ANU in July 2015. He was also a lead convenor for the international conference on Transformations in Asian Religions held at ANU from the 7-9^th April 2016. His forthcoming publications include chapters on Hinduism and Politics and Buddhism and Politics in the 2^nd edition of the Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics (2016) and a chapter on Ravidas and the Ganga in a forthcoming volume on the Goddess in India from Monash University Press.

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The ANU Language Teaching Forum (LTF) provides a discussion platform for language teachers and researchers across ANU colleges. Its main objective is to enhance the exchange of research and new approaches in language education. The forum is also open to interested people from outside the university such as school teachers and teachers from community schools.

This forum is jointly coordinated by the College of Arts & Social Sciences (the School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics and the Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies) and the College of Asia & the Pacific (the School of Culture, History & Language).

For more information, contact:

France Meyer (CAIS, CASS)
E france.meyer@anu.edu.au

Dr Duck-Young Lee (CHL, CAP)
E duck.lee@anu.edu.au

Dr Piera Carroli (SLLL, CASS)
E piera.carroli@anu.edu.au