My first digital story: a case study with 5th grade Turkish English language learners

Abstract

Writing in a foreign language is one of the hardest skills to acquire (Cumming, 2009; Richards and Renandya, 2002). Additionally, learners often lack the necessary motivation to write. However, with the help of current online technologies teachers may have a way to motivate their students to write more and improve their language skills. This qualitative case study investigated the implementation of digital story writing in a private K-8 school in Istanbul, Turkey. Sixty three 5^th grade students composed their first digital stories using Storybird, a free online story reading and writing website. Classroom observation, interviews with the students and their teachers, and analysis of the written stories indicated that digital story writing is an effective technique in foreign language classrooms to promote writing. All students were highly motivated, wrote creative stories, and felt proud to publish their stories online. Teachers reported a positive change in student motivation and involvement with the writing task; they were pleased to implement digital story writing and determined to continue using it.

Keywords: English language learners; digital story; Web 2.0 tools; young learners; digital literacy