Building on the speaker’s 2024 article “I feel my inner child out: Zine-making as a data collection tool in narrative inquiry” in Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, this talk aims to engender a wide discussion on zine-making as a fun, creative, ethical and empowering tool, for collecting data in narrative inquiry (NI). This talk discusses the possibilities of zine-making as a data collection tool in NI from the following three aspects: 1. Facilitation tips (how zine-making can be used to collect data?), 2. Analysis approaches (how zine-making data can be analysed?), and 3. Research focus (what topics can zine-making explore?). Empirical data and examples of effective practices will be used to explore these possibilities. This talk is useful for researchers who are interested in zines and zine-making. It has implications for narrative inquiries in and outside of applied linguistics, particularly those working with marginalised groups.

Meifang Zhuo is a PhD candidate in ELT and Applied Linguistics in the Department of Applied Linguistics, at the University of Warwick. She is an experienced and award-winning English language teacher and a passionate teacher educator with practices both in China and in the UK. She supports the MA TESOL programme at the University of Warwick as a senior GTA and the MA TESOL (studies) programmes at the University of Leeds as a Dissertation Supervisor. Her research interests lie in language teacher education and development, teacher psychology (identity, wellbeing and burnout), arts-based and visual methodologies. Her research can be found in TESOL Journal, RELC Journal and Research Methods in Applied Linguistics.

Further information: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/people/m-zhuo/