TAILOR-MADE COMICS ON GEOFORENSICS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING: INTERFACULTY COOPERATION AND APPLICATION

Abstract

Since comics are known as an increasingly popular modern educational strategy which have not been common in university classes so far, this paper represents a creative attempt to change this practice. Namely, we believe that a good comic, or more precisely an educational-scientific comic, could be a useful tool for teaching, bringing about change and inventiveness, and connecting topics and narratives in a multitude of registers. Additionally, we believe that the potential of university teaching can be increased by combining comics and foreign language teaching, not only due to the already mentioned interest in comics as a language method but also due to its multidisciplinarity and the possibility of interfaculty cooperation as a completely new language practice, hitherto unexamined or insufficiently tested in language learning. The paper first discusses the arguments for and against the use of comics in teaching foreign languages, and then offers a practical overview on how to create a comic. Finally, we present our experiences in achieving interfaculty cooperation. In other words, this paper intends to shed light on three aspects: (1) promoting the idea of the teacher as a creator of innovative materials and strategies in education; (2) using comics as a language activity; and (3) the intellectual flexibility of students and lecturers in using comics at two different faculties. The research was conducted with the students of the Department of Geology of the Faculty of Mining and Geology of the University of Belgrade, and with the students of the Department of Forensic Engineering of the Belgrade University of Criminal Investigation and Police Studies.