Digital comics as learning media in EFL classrooms: meta-synthesis of published articles

The use of technology in teaching English is essential, especially after COVID-19. The teachers are encouraged to be familiar with using technology as learning media. One of the media that teachers can use is digital comics. This study aims to discover the types of digital comics that are widely used by the teachers and students’ responses when teachers used digital comics. This study uses a qualitative meta-synthesis method by reviewing 30 published articles focusing on digital comics used in learning English in the EFL classrooms. The results showed that four digital comics were identified: Mangatoon, Cartoon Story Maker, Pixton, and Webtoon. These digital comics were applied at three levels of education: university, senior high school, and junior high school, and teachers used the applications differently according to the students’ level. The study also found that the students’ responses were positive toward using digital comics in the classroom. They believe that it could facilitate the improvement of their English language skills. This study implies that teachers can use digital comics as learning media as it can be used for various learning activities. However, the teachers should identify the types of stories in the digital comics to address students’ level.