heidari, Zahra

Digital Storytelling and Its Role in Oral Performance, Vocabulary, and Grammar Learning of Iranian EFL Public School Students

In the recent decades, the use of technology in the classroom to teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL) has significantly increased. Advances in technology are reshaping learning, and digital storytelling is one such emerging field that can help teachers and students. This provides many incredible opportunities for schools and instructors to integrate technology into the classroom and improve teaching effectiveness. While the literature contains research on the use of digital storytelling in various educational contexts , research on the efficacy of DS in Iranian public schools in terms of vocabulary acquisition, grammatical knowledge, and studentsʹ speaking abilities is very limited. Therefore, the present study investigated the extent to which digital storytelling could contribute to an increase in students’ vocabulary repertoire, grammatical knowledge, and speaking proficiency. It also examined students’ attitudes on the use of digital storytelling in learning environments. The current study included 86 EFL female students. In this quasi-experimental study, the experimental group (n = 43) created 6 digital stories within a 9-month implementation process. The Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was used to divide the participants into the control and experimental groups, and a teacher-made test of vocabulary and grammar and the speaking test were used as data collection tools. After 36-session (9 months) of the program, students were again eva‎luated regarding their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary as well as their speaking ability. Finally, to eva‎luate the learners’ attitudes and feelings towards the effectiveness of the digital storytelling instruction, semi-structured interviews were carried out. The results indicated significant improvements in students’ vocabulary repertoire, grammatical knowledge, and speaking proficiency after digital storytelling activity. Learners with digital storytelling treatment had high scores on the post-tests. Therefore, it can be claimed that digital storytelling does improve participants’ acquisition of vocabulary, grammar knowledge, and their oral skills. Moreover, another finding was that the effect of digital storytelling was more significant in participants’ acquisition of vocabulary and grammar rather than speaking. Furthermore, the results obtained from the interviews were indicative of the participants’ beliefs in the superiority of the digital storytelling instruction in comparison to what they had already come across in English classes. Overall, the findings revealed that digital storytelling might be an essential and successful tool that can be used in learning environments to assist studentsʹ development of language skills. As for the implications of the study, the findings of the current study can assist teachers in becoming familiar with digital storytelling and learning how to take advantage of this area to enhance students’ language skills. Besides, the results indicate that digital storytelling (DST) provides students with valuable opportunities such as enhancing their language skills, increasing self-confidence and improving communication skills, becoming familiar with technology resources applicable in education, developing 21st-century literacy skills, and assisting learners to learn interactively during covid-19 pandemic. Finally, material developers can take advantage of integrating digital technologies to the learning tasks.