IAFOR Journal of Education: Language Learning in Education Volume 8 – Issue 1 – 2020

Exploring the Effects of Digital Storytelling: A Case Study of Adult

L2 Writers in Taiwan

Min-Hsun Chiang

Tunghai University
Taiwan

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IAFOR Journal of Education: Language Learning in Education Volume 8 – Issue 1 – 2020

Abstract

With the advent of information communication technologies, an escalating number of youths

is communicating, creating, and sharing narratives via Web 2.0 social networks. To ensure the
continuity between in-class and out-of-class literacy practice, digital storytelling has become
increasingly prevalent in educational settings. Digital storytelling has the potential to enhance
digital literacy and self-efficacy through innovative learning and identity expressions. However,
the research at this juncture is scarce. Therefore, this study incorporated Storybird, a Web 2.0
collaborative writing tool, into a freshman composition class to cultivate digital literacy in
English among 18 college students who are studying English as an International Language in
Taiwan. In addition to developing digital literacy, this study also explored the effects of
Storybird-mediated storytelling on English as an International Language students’ self-efficacy
as a legitimate user of English. The results from both the quantitative and qualitative data
analyses indicate that after year-long participation in Storybird-mediated digital storytelling,
the majority of the participants rated their digital literacy in English higher than before.
Similarly, they developed a stronger sense of confidence as English as an International
Language writers. Some pedagogical considerations are offered at the end of this paper for
those who wish to incorporate Web 2.0 tools into their English as an International Language
classrooms to boost their pupils’ confidence in participating in this ever-connected global
community.

Keywords: English as an international language, digital storytelling, self-efficacy, digital

literacy, L2 writing, Storybird

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IAFOR Journal of Education: Language Learning in Education Volume 8 – Issue 1 – 2020

The rapid development of information communication technologies (ICT) in our modern

society has transformed the ways people communicate with one another. Since human
communication is mostly through the medium of language, as the technology advanced,
language is becoming inseparable from the digital environment (Hockly, 2012, p.110). This
phenomenon has brought attention to the scholars to reevaluate the existing literacy skills that
were taught in current educational systems (Churchill, 2016; Potts, 2013). Many educators
agree that new skills are required to comprehend and communicate using new technologies
(Hockly, 2012). As a result, English as International Language (EIL) learners in the 21st
century not only need to learn the language but also need to learn to communicate and utilize
the language efficiently in the digital environment. This need becomes even more vital given
the newly defined digital divide between those who are passive consumers of media and those
who are proactive discerners and creators of media (Thomas, 2016).

Due to the widespread of ICT over the past decade, numerous researchers endeavored to
conceptualize or describe the development of digital literacy (Eshet-Alkali & Amichai-
Hamburger, 2004; Potts et al., 2010, Ferrari, 2012). This trend also brought an urgent need for
developing digital literacy in a global society. Many governments or cross-national
confederations, such as the European Union, emphasized the importance of digital literacy in
the educational system (Churchill, 2016; Leahy & Dolan, 2010; Poore, 2011). The Ministry of
Education (MOE) in Taiwan also recognized the importance of digital learning and included
the development of information communication technology (ICT) skills in its educational
guidelines (MOE, Taiwan, 2012). Much research has hypothesized a close relationship
between digital storytelling (DST) and digital literacy (Karakoyuna & Kuzub, 2013; Robin,
2016; Thang et al., 2014. ) and supported the connection between the use of DST and students’
engagement and motivation for learning (Pop, 2012; Sylvester & Greenidge, 2009; Yang &
Wu, 2012). However, fewer studies have scrutinized the link between DST and self-efficacy
among EIL users. Therefore, the present study not only connects DST with several types of
digital literacy, but also relates it to the learner’s sense of confidence. The digital literacy under
discussion in the current study comprises a set of skills that are essential for decoding and
making meaning out of the digital texts (Churchill, 2016). In other words, these skills involve
critical thinking, language ability, and communicative skills, so-called 21st Century Skills
(Brown, Bryan, & Brown, 2005; Jakes, 2006). The present study intends to answer the
following three research questions:

1. Is there any significant difference in university EIL students’ self-rated English digital
literacy before and after their participation in Storybird-mediated digital storytelling?
2. How does DST affect participants’ self-efficacy as EIL users after taking part in
Storybird-mediated digital storytelling?
3. What are the participants’ perceptions of integrating Storybird into their L2 writing
class?

Significance of the Study

The results from this study contribute to the pedagogical application of DST and theoretical
understanding of DST in the L2 writing context. Students nowadays are far more interested in
continually engaging themselves in participatory social networks out of school than academic
learning in school. The current results show that integrating DST into a formal composition
class created engaging and meaningful literacy practices in class, which in turn cultivated EIL
writers’ digital literacy and sense of confidence. The current results shed light on the
relationships among DST, L2 digital literacy, and L2 self-efficacy. Most importantly, the

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ultimate outcomes of this project, the field-tested DST integration guidelines, and the
empirically grounded implications, help provide English language teachers with the ability to
think about and use technology in creative and culturally-responsive ways. The overall findings
help language educators arrive at a deeper understanding of the substantial roles that DST can
play in cultivating various aspects of digital literacy and boosting up writing-related self-
efficacy as a language learner.

Literature Review

Digital Literacy
Literacy has evolved historically from classic literacy (reading-writing-understanding) to
audiovisual literacy to digital literacy or information literacy and recently to new media literacy.
With the advent of the new literacies, today’s reading and writing instruction are influenced by
the change in even more profound ways. Due to their inherent characteristic of change, a
precise definition of the “new literacies” seems unfeasible. Nevertheless, teachers and
researchers agree that today’s students need and deserve the skills, strategies, and insights to
successfully exploit the rapidly changing information and communication technologies that
continuously emerge in our world (Leu, 2000; Street, 2003). Digital literacy is also called 21st
Century Literacy, Digital Age Literacies, and 21st Century Skills (Brown, Bryan, & Brown,
2005; Jakes, 2006). According to Ferrari (2012), “ Being digitally literate implies the ability to
understand media (as most mediums are digitalized), to search and think critically about
retrievable information (with the widespread use of the Internet) and be able to communicate
with others through a variety of digital tools and applications “ (p. 16).

Given the EIL context and the chosen platform of the present study, digital literacy here refers
to the following types of literacy, namely information literacy, reproduction/visual literacy,
language-based literacy, and connection literacy. The first two were adopted from Eshet-
Alkalai et al. (2004), whereas the latter two were delineated by the researcher. Eshet-Alkalai
et al. (2004) proposed that digital literacy can be categorized into five cognitive skills: photo-
visual literacy, reproduction literacy, branching literacy, information literacy, and socio-
emotional literacy. The current study adopted information literacy and combined reproduction
and photo-visual literacy into one category due to their relevance to the current context. First,
information literacy is defined as the ability to evaluate and assess information accurately,
which is vital for information consumers in this information-overflow era. While surfing the
Internet or navigating through digital databases, users face the difficulty of evaluating the
credibility and originality of information. Therefore, users rely on their information literacy to
make educated and intelligent assessments of information (Eshet-Alkalai et al., 2004).
Information-literate people are skilled in critical thinking and are skeptical of the quality of
information. Also, Mardis (2002) argued that information literacy is like a filter that
distinguishes incorrect, unrelated, or biased information and avoids its influences on users’
cognition. Second, reproduction/visual literacy is the ability to create new interpretations by
using pre-existing information from different media such as texts, visuals, and audio.
Reproduction literacy is vital in writing and art. In writing, people can reorganize and rearrange
pre-existing sentences to produce distinct implications. In art, people can edit and combine
visual or audio materials to make new creations (Eshet-Alkalai et al., 2004). Third, language-
based literacy refers to EIL’s students’ ability in exploring, discerning, and utilizing English
information from web 2.0 sources. The innovation of the Internet provides space for people to
communicate and share information/knowledge with others. However, the Internet also
presents many traps, such as hoaxes and malware. In general, English language-based literacy
is the ability to make a sound judgment of various English-mediated online sources and identify

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Internet traps. Finally, connection literacy pertains to EIL students’ capacity of branching out
to English-mediated cyber world with aims to communicate with other English speakers,
establish a connection with them, and professionally collaborate with them. In other words,
connection literate users are capable of sharing data with others, evaluating information, and
collaboratively constructing knowledge with others.

DST and its Educational Benefits

DST can be traced back to the late 1980s when new media technologies were merely just
around the corner. DST is not a new invention. Joe Lambert (2002) helped establish DST as
the co-founder of the Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS), a non-profit, community arts
organization for new media and civic engagement in Berkeley, California. Since the early
1990s, Lambert and the CDS have offered training and assistance to those who were interested
in creating and sharing their personal narratives (Center for Digital Storytelling, 2005). The
development of DST highly relates to the evolution of internet technology known as user-
contributed content, social media, and Web 2.0 (Robin, 2016). Through Web 2.0, people
transformed from “one-to-many” communication to “many-to-many” communication on the
Internet (Roush, 2006). Similar to traditional storytelling, digital stories relate to specific topics
and usually generate unique ideas (Robin, 2016). The definition is somewhat agreed upon;
nevertheless, the uses of DST for learning have been quite diverse. Some educators use DST
as a way to cultivate digital literacy, while others utilize it to motivate students to write. Both
endeavors have been relatively successful for students in various educational contexts.

Many studies show that DST bears a positive impact on digital literacy. For instance, Robin
(2016) claimed that students’ technology literacy was enhanced as they added texts, images,
audio, and video into their digital stories, whereas Sylvester and Greenidge (2009) found that
students tended to employ both old and new literacies while creating digital stories. Thang et
al. (2014) claimed that DST helped enhance students’ language literacy, communication
literacy, and media literacy. Besides, creating digital stories not only enhances students’ digital
literacy but also helps them achieve school-based curriculum goals (Karakoyuna and Kuzub,
2013). Besides academic gains and strengthened digital literacy (Alameen, 2011), DST also
exerted its influence on L1 and L2 language learning (Yoon, 2013; Potts et al., 2010; Xu et al.,
2011). Yoon (2013) looked into how DST affected the 5th-grade ELL students’ English
learning and concluded that students’ learning motivation and reading comprehension were
improved. Moreover, Potts et al. (2010) conducted an experimental study in a language arts
class with a group of second grade, multi-lingual students in the US. They reported that DST
engaged students in a meaningful social context in which their collaborative learning was
promoted (Potts et al., 2010, p.190). The DST experience also boosted students’ learning
motivation. The above studies suggest that DST has the potential to enhance digital literacy,
cultivate academic gains, facilitate language learning, and boost up learning motivation.

DST and Empowerment

Besides its facilitating effects on digital literacy, language development, and learning
motivation, DST has been used as a means of empowerment for marginalized voices across
community-based projects worldwide. Xu, Park, and Baek (2011) examined the effects of DST
on writing flow and self-efficacy in the virtual reality learning environment where sixty-four
undergraduate Korean students were recruited to participate in the study. The results show that
their writing self-efficacy and flow improved after engaging in DST (Xu et al., 2011, p. 188).
Yoon (2013) found similar results in his study as he investigated the effects of storytelling on
L2 learning attitudes and reading comprehension. Different from Xu et al. study, the
participants in this study were 32 EIL 5th graders in South Korea. In addition to the

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improvement of writing self-efficacy, this study also indicates that DST is instrumental in
improving students’ reading. In sum, the studies reviewed in this section point out a positive
influence of DST in learning motivation and writing efficacy among L2 learners (Alameen,
2011; Potts, 2013; Xu et al., 2011; Yoon, 2013). These findings suggest that DST can be a
valid tool for educational purposes. Aside from merely encouraging students to write, educators
see digital stories as an empowering mechanism to provide a voice to those who are typically
marginalized (Yuan et al., 2019).

The similar empowerment effect is very likely to take place with EIL participants when their
writings are shared publicly through Storybird. In other words, integrating DST with the
English composition class has the potential to boost EIL participants’ confidence to compose
and communicate in English as an empowering pedagogy. DST has been utilized as an
empowering pedagogy in educational settings. For example, teachers delivered subject matters
through digital stories and empowered the students by asking them to be the storytellers (Liu,
Tai, & Liu, 2018). Creating digital stories encourages learners to develop their voices instead
of merely imitating others’ words (Al-Qallaf & Al-Mutairi, 2016). To be a good storyteller, a
learner strives to integrate his/her intentions and perspectives into digital stories (Bloch, 2018).
Similarly, Robin (2016) pointed out that the personal narrative that the storytellers tell about
their own experiences constitutes the most popular type of digital story. For instance, in the
study above by Robin (2016), the teachers who implemented DST in their classrooms found
that students’ motivation and engagement levels were increased as a result of telling their
personal stories. Robin (2016) maintained that the phenomenon supported the idea of the
“director’s chair effect.” By digital storytelling, students had chances to express themselves,
which gave rise to their sense of efficacy. In sum, the findings from the previous studies suggest
that digital storytelling, when utilized appropriately, can serve as a dynamic teaching and
learning method that brings about academic gains, language development, digital literacy
development, and a sense of efficacy in students.

Nevertheless, the contributing effects of DST on digital literacy identified by the previous
studies (Karakoyuna & Kuzub, 2013; Thang et al., 2014;) are mostly derived from a single
survey and/or self-appraisal by the participants. Besides, the questionnaire used by the previous
study did not break down the construct of digital literacy into its sub-domains. To mend this
gap and respond to the call by Belcher (2017) for further research on exploring the trajectory
among the affordances of multimodality of digital storytelling, digital literacy, and L2 writing
pedagogy, the current study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods to shed more
light on this juncture.

Method

Design
This research utilized a case-study approach (Richards, 2003) to provide both quantitative and
qualitative data of a group of Taiwanese university students engaged in year-long digital
storytelling, which was integrated as part of their L2 writing practices. According to Duff
(2014), a case study is suitable when understanding individuals’ experiences and development
courses within a particular educational context is the goal. This case study is exploratory in
nature with an attempt to gain insight into the potential effects of DST on developing L2
learners’ digital literacy and self-efficacy. The researcher functioned as an instructor of the
course and a participant observer in the physical class and the cyber space. Most students
entered this class with a good grasp of computer literacy and above-average communication
competence in English. The study lasted for the entire school year from the fall semester of

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2017 to the spring semester of 2018. At the onset of the study, the students were introduced to
Storybird-mediated writing as an integral component of the course. To tap into the participants’
view of Storybird-mediated digital storytelling, qualitative data were also gathered from an
open-ended survey and a group interview toward the end of the study.

Participants and Setting

As a result of convenient sampling, eighteen English-major freshmen enrolled in the
Composition One course were recruited to take part in this one-year, Storybird-mediated DST
project. The average English proficiency of 18 participants was between B1 and B2 based on
the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) with one-third of them
comfortably landed on B2 while two-thirds remained on B1. Composition One is a required
year-long course for every English-major freshman in this 4-year college. The class meets two
hours per week in an attempt to cultivate students’ ability to write a 5-paragraph academic
essay as the ultimate goal. At the beginning of the fall semester in 2017, two tutorial sessions
were conducted to orientate the participants to this relatively novel way of composing and
writing. In line with the course objectives for each writing practice, the participants were asked
to compose and illustrate their first draft on Storybird. The instructor, also the researcher of the
current study, commented on the participants’ writings via Storybird. When the participants
finished their second draft, they would receive voluntary comments from the other EIL students
studying at the other university. The partnership was formed via the collaboration with another
professor’s composition class voluntarily. They were encouraged to visit their partners’
Storybird writings and leave comments as well. There were three telecollaborative exchanges
among the students.

Procedures
Storybird was a free Web 2.0 1 publishing tool providing collections of artwork for digital
stories. It was chosen as a DST platform for this study because it is user friendly and safe
cyberspace for creating and writing. Unlike other multimodal platforms, such as Padlet or
Photo Story, Storybird allows teachers to conveniently set up accounts for their students and
organize them into classes. Using Storybird, the teacher can comment on the students’ written
assignments and set the deadline for students to submit their revisions. The work students
produce can then be shared among the members and peer-assessed. Thus, on top of the
instructor’s comments, students are able to see and learn from what other students have written.
Crucially, it can also be published for the whole world to see, which lends itself nicely to the
concept of learning English as a global language with communication as a primary goal.

Data Collection and Analysis

Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to shed new light on how the participants’
digital literacy and self-efficacy were affected as they took part in the Storybird-mediated
writing course. This study also tapped into the participants’ points of view as to how they
perceived this novel way of writing. Two quantitative instruments, the Digital Literacy Scale
and the Self-Efficacy of Using English as International Language, were developed by the
researcher to gather numerical data on the participants’ digital literacy and self-efficacy. The
digital literacy scale has four dimensions investigating the participants’ information,
reproduction/visual, language-based, and connection literacy. These four dimensions were
chosen in light of the prior research (Eshet-Alkalai et al., 2004) as well as the educational needs
of EIL learners. The self-efficacy questionnaire for EIL learners was developed by referring to

1
Storybird is no longer free. Now it charges teachers and students for writing and publishing on the platform.

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Bandura’s (2006) notion of learner’s sense of efficacy to gauge the empowering effects of
Storybird-mediated DST on cultivating communication, writing-related, and purpose-driven
efficacy. Both instruments have piloted with thirty other first-year college students and
obtained satisfactory reliability coefficients of Cronbach’s Alphas of .828 and .88 for digital
literacy and self-efficacy, respectively. Several paired-samples t-tests were performed to detect
any differences in digital literacy and self-efficacy between the pretests and posttests. An open-
ended survey and a group interview regarding the participants’ view of Storybird-mediated
DST were conducted. The survey and interview data were content analyzed to explore
emerging themes. To establish the trustworthiness of the qualitative data, the data gathered via
qualitative methods were used to triangulate with the quantitative data.

Results and Discussion

Quantitative data from digital literacy and the self-efficacy questionnaire were analyzed to
identify the potential effects of Storybird-mediated DST on participants’ digital literacy and
self-efficacy as EIL users. In addition to quantitative analysis, qualitative data were collected
through the open-ended survey to understand the participants’ perceptions of partaking in the
Storybird-integrated composition class. In the following sections, three major findings will be
presented as tentative answers to the three research questions, accompanied by discussion.

Research question 1: Is there any significant difference in university EIL students’ self-
rated English digital literacy before and after their part-taking in Storybird-mediated
digital storytelling?
There is a significant difference in the participants’ overall digital literacy after year-long
participation in Storybird-mediated digital storytelling. A questionnaire for self-rated English
digital literacy was administered to 18 students twice to detect any changes in their digital
literacy before and after the intervention. Cronbach’s Alphas of .84 and .89 were obtained for
the pretest and the posttest of the digital literacy questionnaire, which suggests the satisfactory
reliability coefficient of both tests. Table 1 summarizes the difference in the overall digital
literacy, information literacy, reproduction literacy, language-based literacy, and connection
literacy between the pretest and the posttest. The participants rated themselves higher in the
overall and four sub-categories of digital literacy after year-long engagement in Storybird-
mediated digital writing. Among the four sub-categories of digital literacy, the participants
made the most substantial gain in reproduction/visual literacy while the least in information
literacy.

Table 1: Summary of pretest and posttest of the digital literacy scale

Pretest Posttest
Mean SD Mean SD
Overall 11.05 1.28 11.77 1.65
I: Information literacy 2.90 0.43 2.97 0.55
II: Reproduction literacy 2.79 0.41 3.13 0.49
III: Language-based literacy 2.54 0.35 2.63 0.44
IV: Connection literacy 2.83 0.48 3.04 0.45
(N=18)

This identified discrepancy between information and reproduction/visual literacy may be

attributed to the chosen DST platform and the designated writing tasks. The platform, Storybird,
involves choosing artwork to illustrate the participants’ writing as the end product, which

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ultimately trained the participants’ ability to create new interpretations by using pre-existing
visual sources. The considerably increased reproduction literacy might also help the
participants write better, the effects worthy of investigating in the future study. While writing,
it is crucial to be able to reorganize and rearrange pre-existing sentences to produce distinct
implications. According to Labbo, Reinking, and McKenna (1998), successful reproduction-
literate scholars usually possess excellent synthetical and multi-faceted thinking, which may
contribute to more skillful writing. However, as they wrote and selected artworks, the
participants were not required to include outside source references as they composed their
paragraphs or essays. As a result, the platform and the task did not land themselves to the
development of information literacy.

To further identify if there was any significant difference in the overall and sub-categories of
digital literacy before and after the intervention, five paired-samples t-tests were carried out.
The results are displayed in Table 2. According to the paired-samples t-tests, there are
significant differences in the overall and the reproduction/visual literacy between the pretest
and the posttest. However, there is no significant difference in information literacy, language-
based literacy and connection literacy between the pretest and the posttest.

Table 2: Paired-samples t-test results of a questionnaire of digital literacy

Mean Std. Std. Error t df Sig. (2-
Deviation Mean tailed)
Overall (Post-Pre) 0.72 1.10 0.26 2.80 17 .01*
Information literacy 0.07 0.41 0.10 0.78 17 0.45
(Post-Pre)
Reproduction 0.34 0.45 0.11 3.25 17 .005**
literacy (Post-Pre)
Language-based 0.09 0.34 0.08 1.16 17 0.26
literacy (Post-Pre)
Connection literacy 0.21 0.43 0.10 2.10 17 0.05
(Post-Pre)
*P< .05 **P< .01

Different from the researcher’s anticipation, there is no significant difference in language-

based literacy which the participants were offered ample opportunities to develop. The current
results concerning digital literacy are partially consistent with the findings from previous
research (Thang, Sim, Mahmud, Lin, & Ismail, 2014; Robin, 2016). Similar to Thang et al.
(2014) study, where their participants’ digital literacy was improved after creating their group
stories on Photo Story 3 for a semester, the present study also saw the enhanced overall digital
literacy. Nevertheless, unlike the study above by Thang et al. (2014) in which the participants’
language literacy, connection literacy, and media literacy were all enhanced, the current study
only found a significant difference in reproduction/visual literacy. As explained earlier, the
nature of Storybird and the tasks involved might be the possible reasons to account for the non-
significant, pre-post difference in the sub-category of information, language-based, and
connection literacy.

The non-significant finding in language-based literacy appears to be in contrast to Robin’s

(2016) assertion that engaging in multimodal DST facilitates the enhancement of digital
storytellers’ language literacy, oral ability, and cross-cultural competence. In his study, the
participants used audio or other media to compose digital storytelling, and their language

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literacy was substantially improved. On the contrary, the current study did not see such a
positive outcome in language-based literacy although the 18 participants had written and
revised several English paragraphs and essays on Storybird during the two semesters. The
plausible reason may include that the digital writing tasks on Stoirybird did not ask the
participants to focus on spotting grammatical errors, paraphrasing or summarizing information
and/or deciphering the content of websites. The only item under language-based literacy that
has reached significant difference states, “I can identify English information that is not correct.”
As the participants composed on Storybird, they had to search for an outside source to back up
their writing assignments. This may account for the significant difference identified in this item.
Another interesting finding surfaced as the connection literacy was on the brink of reaching a
significant difference (P= .051). This may due to the fact that the participants were only
provided with limited opportunities to engage in peer sharing/commenting with their partners
in the nearby colleges. There were only three times that the participants reviewed and
commented on others’ Storybird writings as well as being reviewed and commented on
throughout the entire school year. Should the cross-institutional collaboration has lasted longer,
the connection literacy might have further developed. In light of the enhanced overall digital
literacy, it is also essential to find out if the integration of Storybird has boosted the participants’
sense of confidence in speaking and writing in English as an International Language.

Research question 2: How does DST affect participants’ self-efficacy as EIL users after
taking part in Storybird-mediated digital storytelling?
There is no significant difference in the overall self-efficacy of being an EIL user among the
18 participants before and after the intervention; nevertheless, a significant difference was
identified in the aspect of writing-related self-efficacy. To investigate the effects of Storybird-
mediated DST on self-efficacy, the questionnaire of self- efficacy as EIL user was administered
to 18 participants in the beginning and the end of the school year. Table 3 provides a summary
of the mean scores and standard deviations of the overall and the three domains in the pre and
post self-efficacy scores for 18 participants. Table 2 indicates that the participants’ self-efficacy
as EIL user were boosted in their overall and the three domains. The reliabilities of the pretest
and posttest were calculated with satisfactory Cronbach’s (α = 0.861 for the pretest and 0.854
for the posttest).

Table 3: Summary of pretest and posttest of self-efficacy as EIL user questionnaire

Pretest Posttest
Mean SD Mean SD
Overall 7.67 1.00 8.00 1.24
I: Communication 2.67 0.48 2.76 0.51
II: Writing-Related 2.49 0.41 2.64 0.49
III: Purpose-Driven 2.54 0.35 2.63 0.44
(N=18)

Four paired-samples t-tests were performed to examine the effect of Storybird-mediated DST
on the participants’ self-efficacy and its three domains before and after the intervention. Table
4 shows that there is no significant difference in overall, communication, and purpose-driven
self-efficacy. Nevertheless, a significant difference was identified in writing-related self-
efficacy, which suggests that the participants’ writing-related self-efficacy was significantly
enhanced at the end of this study (t=2.43, p<.05, d=.54).

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Table 4: Paired-samples t-test of pe and post-test of self-efficacy of

using English as an international language
Mean Std. Std. Error t df Sig. (2-
Deviation Mean tailed)
Overall (Post-Pre) 0.33 0.88 0.21 1.60 17 0.13
Communication (Post- 0.09 0.35 0.08 1.14 17 0.27
Pre)
Writing (Post-Pre) 0.15 0.29 0.07 2.28 17 0.04*
Purpose (Post-Pre) 0.08 0.43 0.10 0.83 17 0.42
*P<.05

Different from the insignificant difference identified with the current participants, Yang and
Wu (2012) reported that DST had significant effects on senior high school students’ English
proficiency, critical thinking, and self-efficacy. Although Yang and Wu focused on high school
students’ English learning motivation, they did include five items for self-efficacy in their
motivation questionnaire. Their research results indicate that the use of DST in the English
class positively influenced their students’ learning motivation, and their writing self-efficacy,
a domain in writing motivation, was significantly improved at the end of the study. For the
present study, lack of practice might be the main reason accounting for the non-significant
findings with the overall, communication-related, and purpose-driven self-efficacy after year-
long engagement in Storybird-mediated digital storytelling. The participants did not get
sufficient opportunities to communicate with their cross-institution partners via digital
storytelling; neither did they have enough practices to accomplish specific tasks through digital
storytelling. As a result, their sense of confidence was not cultivated. Given ample practices,
their self-efficacy of using English for communication and purposes might be elevated, as in
the case of their writing-related self-efficacy, the primary focus of this study. The statistic
findings suggest that self-efficacy in one language skill cannot collude to others unless there
are a compatible amount of practices evenly allocated for other language skills.

Unlike the insignificant statistical difference in the participants’ overall self-efficacy, the
qualitative analysis from the open-ended survey indicates that the majority of the participants
considered their sense of confidence being promoted as a result of partaking in the Storybird-
mediated digital storytelling. Every participant affirmed the statement that their sense of
confidence had been enhanced after year-long writing training. When asked if the integration
of Storybird writing has somehow contributed to their enhanced confidence, the majority
responded positively, with only 4 out of 16 respondents answering with ambivalence. Many
participants attributed the compliments from other Storybird writers as the leading cause for
their elevated confidence. For example, Erica recalled, “I have received some compliments on
my stories from other writers, which has made me feel more confident in my writing.” Similarly,
Jessica pointed out that Storybird not only has made English writing more exciting but also
removed her apprehension towards it, which in turn increased her confidence in English writing.
This finding is consistent with the previous research results (Robin & McNeil, 2012; Sylvester
& Greenidge, 2009; Yang & Wu, 2012). Robin & McNeil (2012) postulated that students’ self-
efficacy was promoted after implementing DST in the classroom. Interestingly, Sylvester and
Greenidge (2009) noticed that the students’ motivation to write increased after they were
informed that their writing assignments would be published on the Internet and viewed by other
people other than their teachers, which echoes precisely what some of the participants stated
in the survey. For instance, Elaine mentioned, “Somehow, I feel more motivated and confident
to write when I knew that some real readers are out there on the Storybird to read and appreciate

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my writing,” as she contemplated on her overall experience with Storybird. When the EIL
students have the opportunity to publish their written work on the Internet and receive genuine
comments afterward, their sense of confidence in English writing can be fostered.

Research question 3: What are the participants’ perceptions of integrating Storybird into
their L2 writing class?
Storybird-mediated DST was well-received as an integral part of their composition class by the
participants. Analyses of the responses from the end-of-year survey indicate the
overwhelmingly positive reaction to the integration of Storybird among the present participants.
The survey consists of 16 questions probing into the participants’ views on integrating
Storybird-mediated DST into their regular composition class, commenting/receiving
comments from other Storybird writers, and operating on the Storybird platform. Three major
themes are presented and illustrated with the participants’ responses, including preferring
Storybird-integrated over conventional writing classes, benefiting from the interaction with
other Storybird writers, and wanting some modifications on the Storybird platform.

When asked to choose between the Storybird-integrated and the traditional composition class,
the entire cohort except for one student opted for the former for several reasons. The foremost
reason identified by the participants is that Storybird makes English writing more exciting and
less inhibiting when compared with the conventional writing class. The participants not only
enjoyed writing on Storybird but also benefited from interacting with other Storybird writers.
Emily pointed out, “It’s delightful to write on Storybird with so many pictures to choose from.
My writing became more interesting and vivid after being illustrated with pictures”. Many
participants mentioned that receiving feedback from people other than the instructor also makes
the writing process worthwhile because having a real audience brings purpose and meaning to
the writing. Most participants found the comments they received helpful in revising their piece
of written work. For instance, Vicky recalled the comments she got from the other Storybird
writer and asserted that “I have never thought my story could be developed that way until I saw
the suggestion from the other Storybird writer. It’s always beneficial to have an additional read
to give my writing a fresh look”. Besides receiving helpful comments from others, the
participants enjoy reading others’ Storybird writings as well. With the considerable advantages
stemming from the Storybird integration, the majority of the participants recommended the
continuous use of Storybird for next year’s students. Nevertheless, when asked if they would
continue to use Storybird as a writing platform after the current class ended, only 4 participants
said “Yes” while the rest replied with uncertainty.

Most participants acclaimed the vivid and artistic pictures offered by Storybird as the primary
feature that instilled fun into the writing process. Teresa mentioned, “I really enjoy illustrating
my story with the Storybird pictures. This process helped me relax and become less concerned
about my imperfect English”.

Many other participants also acknowledged that when they write on Storybird, they pay more
attention to the content instead of the grammatical accuracy of their English compositions. For
example, Alisa mentioned that “While I am writing on Storybird, I pay less attention to
grammatical accuracy and vocabulary usage; instead, I focus on my contents. On the contrary,
when I am writing with the other way, I will pay more attention to them. I think the difference
is that for me, my works in Storybird are like stories; however, when they are in a traditional
way, they are essays.” In addition to the eye-catching pictures provided on the Storybird
platform, many participants applauded the opportunity to interact with other Storybird writers
via reading and commenting on each other’s stories. When asked what they mostly focused on

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while commenting on others’ Storybird writing, fourteen out of the 18 participants said that
they mainly focused on the content, two on the language accuracy, and the remaining two on
the structure. They believe that the content is the core of any story and deserves the most
attention. Therefore, when the participants commented on others’ Storybird writing, they
usually thought of themselves as a reader and a language learner. The participants voiced their
preference for constructive comments advising how they can revise their stories. Emily
explained, “With this kind of comment, I would know what to do with my story. As for those
comments with only compliments, I welcome them, but I think I learn little from them”.
Although the participants held very positive views of Storybird, they identified some
limitations of this platform, such as no flexibility of mixing illustrations from various artists,
no spelling checker, the difficulty of locating matching pictures, and difficulty of modifying
the story. The participants would like to see some of the aforementioned problems being
addressed with the updated version of Storybird.

The main reasons accounting for the participants’ positive attitudes toward the Storybird-
integrated digital writing are similar to the previous study (Dogan, 2012; Hett, 2012) where the
subjects enjoyed writing with the artistic pictures and interacting with their peers. Hett (2012)
postulated that the technologically enhanced images and audio made DST captivating for
young writers. Although Storybird is not equipped with audio recording, the participants in the
current study were drawn enchantedly to writing a story with pictures. In addition, most
participants believe that they have made substantial progress in English writing as a result of
taking part in this project, which echoes Yoon’s (2013) argument that DST can improve
students’ language growth in reading, writing, speaking and listening. In sum, integrating
Storybird into a conventional composition course has been perceived as a motivating,
stimulating, interactive, and facilitating innovation by the current participants who fervently
suggested the continued use of the platform for the upcoming freshman class.

Pedagogical Implications and Conclusion

The overall findings of this study suggest that DST can be a practical and empowering
pedagogical addition to the existing EIL writing course. Different from the previous studies
which relied on a single survey result to report the potential effects of DST on cultivating digital
literacy (Karakoyuna & Kuzub, 2013; Thang et al., 2014), this study pointed out the differing
outcomes among sub-categories of digital literacy. The differing outcomes suggest that merely
integrating a technologically advanced approach will not automatically develop all aspects of
digital literacy. The type of digital literacy mainly cultivated hinges upon the nature of the
adopted platform and the characteristics of instructional task design. Explicit instructions on
verifying the source reliability and identifying the media bias are needed to cultivate students’
information literacy. With the unprecedented overflow and preoccupation of social media
among youth, cultivating their information and connection literacy became far more crucial
than before. To help adult EIL students become prudent consumer of social media rather than
being consumed by social media, the English language teachers ought to educate their students
about how to “use technology as a tool to engage in creative, productive, lifelong learning
rather than simply consuming passive content” (Thomas, 2016, p. 18). This study offers some
guidelines for EIL teachers to integrate multimodal DST as an empowering pedagogy.

The quantitative results suggest that integrating Storybird with the conventional EIL writing
course has positive effects on cultivating adult EIL students’ digital literacy and promoting
their writing-related self-efficacy. The current participants not only rated their overall digital
literacy but also reproduction/visual literacy higher after their year-long engagement in

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Storybird writing. Higher reproduction/visual literacy is often associated with proficient

synthetical and multi-faceted thinking (Labbo et al., 1998), two essential prerequisites to
skillful writing. In other words, the current participants’ writing might also have improved. For
future study, it will be of significance to investigate whether this engaging in DST will also
help EIL students improve their academic writing. Besides higher digital literacy, the
participants also developed a stronger sense of self-efficacy as an EIL writer, which in turn will
help them conquer more challenging writing tasks in the future. The boosted self-efficacy in
writing suggests that confidence cultivated in one language skill cannot transfer onto other
skills. In other words, when EIL students became more confident in one language skill (e.g.,
writing) via specific training, the influence of the training would not get carried over into other
language skills (e.g., speaking, listening or reading). Therefore, it will be ideal for engaging
EIL students in multimodal DST in which they can orally contribute to the digital story. As
such, the participants’ communication-oriented self-efficacy might be promoted. In the present
study, the collaboration was mainly conducted in written form.

Apart from the statistical analysis results, the qualitative findings indicate that Storybird was
well received by the cohort of 18 students who have expressed enthusiasm toward writing with
artful pictures. Despite some difficulties in locating suitable pictures to illustrate their writing,
many participants wanted to write more and practice more on Storybird. DST contains not only
traditional literacy but also new literacies as it involves multimedia texts. Students who struggle
with traditional literacy may have a stronger motivation and a better grasp of traditional literacy
when they create digital stories. Thus, new literacies have the potential to scaffold students’
traditional literacy (Sylvester & Greenidge, 2009). In both reading and writing, DST is a new
medium for struggling students (Hett, 2012). Interestingly, students’ motivation to write
increased after they were informed that their writing assignments would be published on the
Internet and viewed by other people besides teachers. Therefore, the current study suggests that
teachers can use DST to motivate reluctant students and stimulate them to revise and complete
writing assignments for a broader audience out there on the Internet. According to Pop (2012),
students of higher education are often considered self-efficacious learners. Their self-efficacy
on learning is often underestimated. However, students’ motivation and engagement are two
essential elements for successful learning (Pop, 2012; Yang & Wu, 2012). The current study
shows that DST enhanced the students’ engagement in English learning and their productivity
in English writing. The results of the open-ended survey also affirmed the positive effects of
Storybird-mediated DST on digital literacy and self-efficacy among adult EIL students. Despite
the overall positive findings, some participants voiced their frustration toward choosing the
suitable artworks to illustrate their more complicated pieces of writing. Some expressed their
tiredness of finding the right pictures to match their writings over the course of one school year.
Based on these negative feedbacks, it is advisable for any teacher who intends to introduce a
DST platform to his/her students that sticking to one single platform throughout the entire year
may not be the best practice. It’s worth trying more than one platform to gauge its instructional
affordance and sustainability.

Albeit the theoretical and pedagogical implications, the generalizability of the current study to
other L2 contexts is limited in the following aspects. First, the differences identified from the
paired-samples t-tests do not denote the interaction among digital storytelling, L2 digital
literacy/writing self-efficacy, and time. Second, the number of participants is not significant
enough to warrant the predictability of similar outcomes when the study is replicated. Third,
the current study did not investigate the effects of DST on L2 writing gains. The development
of L2 writing can only be inferred from the participants’ self-reported data. In light of the above
limitations, the future study may recruit more participants and randomly divide them into the

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experimental group with DST and the control group with conventional L2 writing pedagogy to
explore the potential differences in digital literacy, self-efficacy, and L2 writing competence.
Also, the future study should look into the effects of DST on writing development among L2
learners.

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Corresponding author: Min-Hsun Chiang

Contact email: [email protected]

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