The Effect of Using Digital Stories in Teaching English as a Second Language: Digital Stories in Teaching English

Introduction

Advances in information and communication technologies have been transforming educational implications and experiences. Digital learning tools are emerging as a promising means of enhancing learning environments (Ozcinar & Ozturk, 2013). Developments in software, use of internet technology for educational purposes (Çakır & Yıldırım, 2009) and accessing information easily and instantly have made digital literacy gain great importance along with the traditional literacies (Küngerü, 2016). Digital storytelling, in this context, has emerged as a tool used for a variety of reasons in different disciplines such as education, health and communication (Çıralı, 2014) among other digital technologies. Originated from the traditional storytelling, which is a natural way of human communication (Chung, 2006), digital storytelling has made its use in education inevitable. The role of this new storytelling used in both teaching and learning by teachers and students is explained in many studies (Bromberg, 2013; İncikabı, 2013; Kordaki, 2014; Robin, 2006, 2008; Silseth, 2013). Digital storytelling as an educational tool provides guidance and space for students and at the same time teaches communication skills (Gömleksiz & Pullu, 2017). The storytelling has been one of the most frequently used methods in many ways in education, from past to now in almost all levels (Turgut & Kışla, 2015). With today’s technology, digital stories, which are mostly computer or web based traditional stories (Ciğerci & Gültekin, 2017), are multimedia forms that promote critical thinking and lead innovative learning (Gömleksiz & Pullu, 2017). The digital storytelling might be a powerful tool for educators to use in their classroom practices (Robin, 2008) as well.

The use of digital storytelling in language education is also an important area to focus on. However, its use is still new, and this raises a need of new scientific investigations. In the present study, two educational aspects of digital storytelling in foreign language teaching will be explored. These aspects are motivation and learning strategies.

Motivation, which is a theoretical structure used to explain the initiation, orientation and quality of behavior, especially of the purpose-oriented behavior (Brophy, 2004), refers to the individual's endeavor to produce behaviors in line with the target in order to meet their needs (Ülgen, 1995). Motivation is generally considered as a basis for almost every learning activity (Tugan, 2015) and an indispensable factor in learning a language (Özçalışan, 2012).

Learning strategies are a set of behaviors or thoughts that are expected to affect the processes of obtaining the information during the process of learning, storing it in their memory and retrieving it when necessary (Çalışkan, 2016). Also, they help the individual process and construct the information while facilitating self-learning (Sökmen, 2006). As in many areas of education, learning strategies are also given importance in foreign language education. From this perspective, language learning strategies can be described as the various processes that foreign language learners use in their learning process to make learning easier and faster (Boylu, 2015).

Although there is a growing body of research concerned with digital storytelling, to our knowledge, this is the first study showing the relationship between motivation and learning strategies, which are very essential for the effective learning process in digital storytelling in foreign language teaching. From this point of view, it is aimed in the present study to examine the effect of digital story on motivation and learning strategies in foreign language teaching.