Running Head: DIGITAL STORYTELLING’S EFFECT ON WRITING INSTRUCTION 1

Digital Storytelling’s Effect on Writing Instruction

Kateri Spencer

Franciscan University of Steubenville

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Introduction

The age of formation of new inventions that make different realms of learning possible is

upon us. With this in mind, new educational facets and transformations are unavoidably going to

arise within the classroom environment (Tunc, 2017). This means that new literacies should be

acknowledged in the classroom as a tool to be used to transform and enhance education, and

students should be learning how to use them for their own educational benefit (Shelby-Caffery,

Ubeda, and Jenkins, 2014). It is hopeful for educators that when their students become fluent in

new literacies, especially those who struggle with writing or reading, they can then utilize it to

strengthen those skills they need to be successful. Teachers should not forget, though, that they

are the mediator for the introduction students will have to utilizing these new literacies (Shelby-

Caffery et al, 2014).

Purpose

Instructional technology and other new literacies have become an asset to many

educators’ classroom instruction. This research will focus on digital storytelling, one way that

instructional technology may be used. Digital storytelling is the use of multimedia technologies

to create a video story out of a series of pictures, sounds, and animations with the use of a script

to guide the video’s pre-planning and execution. The use of a script in digital storytelling often

makes the process a valuable activity for writing instruction. If teachers choose to use digital

storytelling in their classroom, it is important for them to understand what the purpose and

benefits of digital storytelling are in order to correctly integrate it into instruction. This case

study will focus on how the implementation of digital storytelling process effects students’

development of their writing skills and motivation to use them.

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Throughout this research process, I hope to discover the digital storytelling process as a

tool that teachers have used to instill a sense of writing competency in their students. If digital

storytelling can increase students’ motivation to write and help students write more fluently, then

I may discover the valuable process that digital storytelling allots educators. In order to explore

this idea of digital storytelling’s potential use in writing instruction, I will conduct a survey for

teachers and students. For teachers, I will be asking how implementing digital storytelling in

their classroom increased their students’ motivation to write, and if the script-writing process

was beneficial to students’ development of writing skills. The survey for students will utilize

those same two concepts, but will be their reflection of the motivation and skill development

they experienced when creating a digital story.

While gathering research, I expect to discover digital storytelling as something that has

been used in the classroom often enough for my data collection to be thorough as I send out

surveys. I hope that digital storytelling is a process that teachers have used for their writing

instruction, and in doing so, have discovered its manifold benefits for increasing students’ desire

to spend time applying what they have learned in their writing instruction for the script of their

digital story. In addition to that, I believe that my research will reflect that digital storytelling

does help students develop their writing skills through the creation of the script.

Review of Literature

According to Sylvester and Greenidge (2009), digital storytelling combines old and new

literacies into a process that can potentially help struggling writers be more proficient in the

writing process. Digital storytelling provides a unique outlet in which struggling writers can

express themselves in a new and creative way. The authors’ purpose was to elaborate on the

factors of the digital storytelling process that help struggling writers. In an effort to understand
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struggling writers, the authors picked three fourth graders who were struggling writers and tried

to understand why the process was difficult for each individual. Then, to incorporate the effects

of digital storytelling, the authors had one-hundred elementary and secondary education students

take part in the digital storytelling process. Each one had characteristics similar to the original

three fourth graders. The three fourth graders chosen were used to define categories of

struggling readers in which the one-hundred students would be placed under. In conclusion, the

three categories offered three findings about how digital storytelling helps struggling writers.

The first, is that it helps students revise their work when they normally may not. This is due to

the length of the digital storytelling process. Next, the authors noted that digital storytelling

helps students who easily become disengaged and distracted to remain on task. Digital

storytelling does so because it requires active learning and collaboration from the students.

Lastly, the process helps students who struggle with handwriting because the use of technology

does not require written work for its final product.

The author of this article offered many ways that digital storytelling can aid the writing

process. Though most of the conclusions were based on qualitative research, the authors still

pinpointed three clear categories of struggling readers and how they can be better immersed in

the writing curriculum through the digital storytelling process. They also included many

resources that could be used to implement digital storytelling. Though this was a good thing

about the article, it also made it difficult to understand what is the best way to use digital

storytelling. In reference to struggling readers, it would be helpful to have an explicit way to

implement the process into the classroom. This article supplements my project well because it

provides insight to the motivational factor that digital storytelling provides. It is a factor with

almost every category of struggling writer given in the article. For future research, the authors
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could have taken the three students that were the basis for the struggling writer categories and

had them experience the digital storytelling process as well. This way, their learning style is an

enhancement to the research, along with the many others that fell into their category.

Yamac and Ulusoy (2016) conduct experimental research to discover the effects of digital

storytelling on the writing of third graders. Their writing was examined and measured before

and after the students learned how to create a digital story. Twenty-six participants were

included in this study; the students were in the third grade, most of whom were from rural areas.

The teachers were educated on how to instruct their students on the process of digital

storytelling. Students were placed in groups to perform all the steps of the digital storytelling

process. In conclusion to the study, the researchers discovered that students who went through

the digital storytelling process provided better writing products than their work was original

composed of before the experiment.

The article held value in its results revealed in the quantitative and qualitative spectrums

of the research experiment it detailed. The writing process taught for the digital storytelling was

explicitly detailed in the article. Due to this, the reader can understand how the writing process

was taught for the purpose of digital storytelling and how that process is valuable for classroom

instruction. It was difficult to read and understand the quantitative research in the study.

Quantities were given for writing performance in order to show a change before and after the

digital storytelling process. The provided tables provided clarity for the purpose of the scores

and were an important aspect of the article. The article reveals relevant research for the effects

of the writing involved in the production of a digital story. This is due to the fact that the writing

process in this experiment was systematically carried out and used in a third grade classroom

environment. Each part of the writing process and the students’ performances in each step were
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carefully detailed in the article. Further research could be done which wider spectrum of

subjects, including students in urban communities and ranging grades. If this was done, it would

provide great insights on how to differentiate the digital storytelling process.

Robin (2013) specifies the educational value of digital storytelling in and outside the

classroom environment. The author provides insights on how digital storytelling supplements

learning strategies and supports teaching. Not only is digital storytelling used by educators, but

it is also utilized in museums, and for health sciences by those who wish to inform the

community. The authors explores how digital storytelling differs from other forms of videos,

supports student learning and is used as an instructional tool in elementary and secondary

education. The author concludes the article by expressing how digital storytelling is carried out,

along with addition resources for educators to utilize when working with this project in their

classroom.

The article provided evidence as to why student learning was supported by digital

storytelling. The process of digital storytelling allows for student collaboration, and student

creativity. Digital storytelling and its process are explained systematically, giving light to the

value it has concerning classroom literacy practices. It was difficult to read about different types

of literacy (i.e. global literacy, visual literacy, and information literacy) without much

background knowledge about what each one entailed. It would be helpful, as the reader, to have

more information on those topics when reading this article. The information presented in the

article was very relevant to the topic of digital literacies’ role in education. It stressed the value

of socialization through the collaboration digital storytelling requires and also spells out the

script writing process. The students should know how to write stories before they begin to write

the script, which connects to learning about the writing process in the classroom. Future
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research could contain pedagogical strategies for using digital storytelling in specific educational

disciplines. This way educators reading the article could have a standards-based activity at their

disposal in their classroom.

Methodology

I conducted a survey for this study that reached 24 college students and two high school

students. I also sent a separate, shorter survey out to 16 teachers. Both were computerized

surveys that contained six questions. For the student survey, the first question provided a

statement of what digital storytelling entailed and provided “yes” or “no” choices if the subjects

had taken part in the digital storytelling process. Question two and three asked the participants

to please prove the year they created the digital story, for purposes of understanding what writing

they were doing for their story, and the third asked how old they were currently. The latter was

asked in order to determine the age of participants that were included in this study. Question

four asked if the participants had created a script for their digital story; this question was used to

determine if the participants for eligible to participate in the next two questions. The research

question is supported by the answer of the next two questions, question five and six. The first

asked, “Do you believe the script writing process (or creation of a storyboard) for your digital

story was beneficial in regards to developing or practicing your writing skills? Please Explain.”

The last question asks if students were motivated to use their writing skills while writing their

script for their digital story and to explain why.

The teacher’s survey contained four questions. The first asked if the teachers had ever

integrated digital storytelling into their classroom, and the second asked if they required the

students to write a script. The last two questions used a Likert scale to ask if the teachers

believed that having their students write a script helped their students strengthen their writing
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skills. The second question asked if they observed an increase in their students’ motivation when

they were asked to write a script or storyboard for their digital story.

Findings

For this research, the participants that answered “no” to having written a script were left

out of the results because they could not answer the two questions of the survey that pertained to

the research question. This included seven out of the 26 people that took the survey.

Interestingly, though, one of those seven participants stated that if they had created a script for

their digital story it would have helped increase their writing skills. None of the seven

participants had anything to say about how it could have increased their motivation. With these

seven eliminated, I was left with 19 participants who had written a script and answered the

questions concerning the research question. Figure 1 below reflects how many of the 19 student

participants included in the study believed that their writing skills were strengthened when

creating the script or storyboard for their digital story.

Figure 1. Students Who Strengthened Writing Skills

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The figure depicts that 89% of students, or 17 out of 19 students, believed that their

writing skills were increased through the script writing process for the creation of the digital

story. Many comments concerning the strengthening of writing skills stated that script writing

with the understanding how to write in correct sequence. Participant 1, a college student who

created their digital story while in college, stated that they felt positive pressure to write their

best, and, in turn, they strengthened their writing skills. Participant 2, also a college student,

said it bolstered their writing skills by having them practice writing in dialogue form. Two

participants, out of the 19, or 11% of the participants said it did not increase their writing skills.

Both were college students that stated it helped in the creation of the digital story, but did not

promote an increased writing ability.

Figure 2 below shows the feedback from teachers concerning how they felt about

students’ writing skills being increased through the digital storytelling process. More than half of

the teachers, or 69%, strongly agreed or agreed that the script writing, or storyboard creation did,

in fact, increase students’ writing skills. 23% percent of teachers remained neutral on the idea

that digital storytelling script writing could help strengthen students’ writing skills. Only one

teacher, 7% of the population of thirteen educators that submitted feedback, did not agree that

the script writing process or storyboard creation could increase students’ ability to write. Robin

(2016) also describes a teacher in their research who observed students going from passive

learners to taking control of their learning by applying their writing skills.

When considering one portion of the research question that states if students writing skills

could be strengthen through the digital storytelling process, both surveys’ feedback appears to

support the hypothesis that digital storytelling can strengthen students’ writing skills.
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Teachers’ Observation on the Strengthening of Students’ Writing Skills

Figure 2. Teachers’ Opinion on the Strengthening of Students’ Writing Skills

In considering literature as well, Robin (2016), describes a teacher in their research who

observed students going from passive learners to taking control of their learning by applying

their writing skills for the digital storytelling process. Another study by Sylvester and Greenidge

(2009), observed that struggling writers are more aware of their writing when they write a script

for their digital story because they know their audience. Due to this, the students have to

develop writing that includes more details and is written in more clarity (Sylvester and

Greenidge, 2009).

The next question from both surveys draw a connection to the research question by

asking both the students and teachers whether or not the digital storytelling process promoted

motivation to use writing skills. In figure 3 below indicated by the blue portion of the circle

graph, you can see that most students thought digital storytelling did influence their motivation

to write; more accurately, 74% of students, or 14 out of the 19 participants agreed that their

motivation to use their writing skills previously learned increased when creating a digital story.
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Figure 3. Students Whose Motivation Increased.

Participant 7 states that writing for the digital story motivated them to write in logical

order and create their digital story more efficiently. Another participant, 14, said that in order to

have their digital story grab the audience they knew they had to use their writing skills to draw

out important facts about their story. One of the participants said the digital storytelling process

did not motivate them to write better because they saw the project as something where only the

video aspect really mattered to them.

Lastly, looking at Figure 4 below, we can see that 69% of the teachers, or nine out of the

13 who participated in the survey, agreed that their students’ motivation increased in some way

when they were writing their script or storyboard for their story. The other 4 teachers, or 31% of

the participants, were neutral or disagreed that the motivation of their students to use their

writing skills increased. This can be supported through literature for this research done by Chan

et al (2013) in which a participant in their study felt that she was motivated throughout the

storyboard process, due to the fact that she wanted her video to be done well.
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Teachers’ Observation of Students’ Increased Motivation

Figure 4. Teachers’ Observation of Students’ Increased Motivation

Recommendations

If this research were to be continued, there would be viable ways to extensity the

findings. The findings reflect that students’ writing skills can be strengthened though digital

storytelling, and their motivation to use their writing skills can be increased. The next step for a

research study like this, would be to make a controlled study using digital storytelling and

observing these specific aspects of the research question within the classroom first hand. For

instance, a researcher could choose different grade level classrooms and have a student self-

evaluation and a teacher evaluation of the students’ writing skills and motivation before

implementing digital storytelling in the classroom. After the pre-evaluation, the teacher would

integrate digital storytelling into their curriculum and the researcher could observe how the

students are progressing within the instructional time. When the digital stories have been

completed and shared, the students would fill out another self-evaluation and the teachers would

fill out a post-evaluation on them as well.

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My study could be improved, firstly, by finding more participants to complete the survey.

This would have helped produce more accurate results, especially if it was done equally across

different grade levels, an aspect of this study that was left out. Secondly, both surveys could be

modified. Valuable information could be gathered by including more open ended questions for

the teachers about how the digital storytelling actually affected their students writing skills, and

motivation. In addition, instead of asking the students the open ended questions about their grade

and experience with digital storytelling, I would have made choices for those answers. The

questions about their digital storytelling experience would have “yes” and “no” options with an

open ended answer slot below. This way they could only say yes or no to the question I was

trying to ask, instead of creating their own answer that may have ended up unrelated to the

research question.

In conclusion, if digital storytelling were to be used to supplement writing skills, more

stress on script writing should be included. Two participants of this study reflected that the

script writing process should be something with which teachers emphasize certain writing skills

and strategies that can be used for their digital story’s script. Writing guidelines could be a

valuable addition to the digital storytelling process so that the students have specific skills to be

consciously developing as they create their digital story. With the guidelines, students can focus

on their writing as they are motivated to create a good end result, their video.
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References

Chan, Churchill, & Chiu (2017). Digital literacy learning in higher education through digital

storytelling approach. Journal of International Education Research, 13(1), 1-16.

Robin, B.R. (2016). The power of digital storytelling to support teaching and learning. Digital

Education Review 30, 17-29.

Shelby-Caffery, C., Ubeda, E. & Jenkins, B. (2014). Digital storytelling revisited: An educator’s

use of an innovative literacy practice. The Reading Teacher, 68(3), 191-199.

Sylvester, R. & Greenidge, W. (2009). Digital storytelling: Extending the potential for struggling

writers. The Reading Teacher, 63(4), 284-295.

Tunç, Ö.A. (2017). Material development based on digital storytelling activities and assessment

of students’ views. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 6(1),

54-63.

Yamac, A. & Ulusoy, M. (2016). The effect of digital storytelling in improving the third graders’

writing skills. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education 9(1), 59-86.

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Appendix

Student Survey

1. Have you created a digital story before? (A digital story is the use of multimedia texts,

pictures, sound and animations to create a video. You may have used any tool such as

Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, Biteable, Powtoons, etc.)

2. What grade/year were you in school when you created this digital story?

3. What grade/year are you in school currently?

4. Did you have to create a script or a storyboard for your digital story? (A storyboard is a

series of pictures and texts used to plan the sequence of shots for a video)

5. Do you believe the script writing process (or creation of a storyboard) for your digital

story was beneficial in regards to developing or practicing your writing skills? Please

explain.

6. Did creating the script for your digital story motivate you to apply the skills you have

learned in your writing instruction? Please explain.

The 26 student responses can be retrieved from:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17UkqJYv5IJCmOf2Rl9JIxtvOEY9fy4UjG1WR-

J4pHjc/edit?usp=sharing
DIGITAL STORYTELLING’S EFFECT ON WRITING INSTRUCTION 16

Teacher Survey

1. Have you ever integrated the digital storytelling process into your classroom? (Digital

storytelling involves the use of multimedia texts, pictures, sound, and animations to

create a video in order to tell a story. Multimedia facets that may have been used include:

Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, Biteable, Animoto, PowToons, etc.)

2. Did you require your students to write a script or create a storyboard prior to creating

their digital story?

3. By having your students create a script or storyboard for their digital story, do you

believe that it helped strengthen their writing skills? (Likert Scale used)

4. Do you believe the script writing or storyboard creation process for the students' digital

story motivated your students to apply what they learned in their writing instruction?

(Likert Scale used)

The 16 teacher responses can be retrieved from:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FO3B6ZbXEkNnTjJApvDIsXAf3TDfExNGVr-

_JmHZtyc/edit?usp=sharing