Online Comic in Mandarin Chinese’s Vocabulary Learning: A Case Study of Budi Utama Multilingual School in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

This study was aimed to investigate 1) the improvement of CFL elementary-school students’ skill in learning Mandarin Chinese (hereafter referred to as Mandarin) vocabulary through creating comic without online resources, creating online comics individually and collaboratively, 2) the CFL elementary-school students’ attitude towards the application of comics in learning Mandarin vocabulary, and 3) the CFL elementary-school students’ attitude towards the application of collaborative activities in learning Mandarin vocabulary. The research design was based on a quasi-experiment using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Three classes participated in this study: one class was the control group using text-based instruction without online resources; the other two classes were the experimental groups 1 and 2. In the experimental group 1, students worked individually on online comic whereas in the experimental group 2, students worked collaboratively on online comic. All participants were Grade 5 students of Budi Utama Multilingual School in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The collected and analyzed data included performances on Mandarin vocabulary, in-class observation, questionnaires, and interview. In Mandarin vocabulary performances, the experimental group 2 outperformed the other two groups and the experimental group 1 performed better than the control group. In the students’ attitude, the experimental group 2 behaved more positively than the two other groups, and the control group behaved more positively than the experimental group 1.

Keywords

• Online comic
• Mandarin
• collaborative learning
• computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL)
• technology enhanced language learning (TELL)