Using Digital Storytelling as a Strategy for Enhancing EFL Writing Skills

• Main Authors: Luz Mercedes Castillo-Cuesta, Ana Quinonez-Beltran, Paola Cabrera-Solano, Cesar Ochoa-Cueva, Paul Gonzalez-Torres
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kassel University Press 2021-07-01
• Series: International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET)
• Subjects: higher education; efl teachers; writing skills; digital storytelling; storybird.
• Online Access: https://online-journals.org/index.php/i-jet/article/view/22187

The present study is aimed at analyzing the impact of digital sto-rytelling on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pre-service teachers’ writing skills. The participants were 101 students, who were enrolled in four distance courses of the English Major at a private university in Ecuador. Their ages ranged between 19 and 22 years old. They were divided into one control (49) and one experimental (52) group since this study used a quasi-experimental approach combined with a mixed-method design. The instruments included a pre-question-naire, a pre-test, a post-questionnaire, and a post-test. The main findings show that there was a significant improvement in students’ writing skills, particularly in aspects related to grammar and vocabulary. In addition, digital storytelling us-ing Storybird was perceived as a useful strategy to develop the participants’ EFL writing skills since they were more engaged in activities that allowed them to demonstrate their knowledge when designing narrative projects.