Facilitating content knowledge, language proficiency, and academic competence through digital storytelling: Performance and perceptions of first-year medical-related majors

Abstract

This study explores pedagogical applications of using digital storytelling to facilitate the learning of content knowledge, integrated language proficiency, and academic English competence in an EFL context. Informed by social constructivism, process writing theory, and multimodality, a digital storytelling project was designed in accompany with a series of carefully structured learning tasks and instructor’s scaffolding during the composing process. The findings revealed that digital storytelling encouraged learners to transform from passive receivers to critical users of knowledge, engaged them in using integrated English abilities strategically, and invited them to explore the possibilities and limitations of applying multimodalities in order to construct meaning. In addition, students revealed more awareness of rhetorical, linguistic, and inter-semiotic choices, in response to the interactive nature of the multimodal genre.

Keywords:

• Technology-integrated learning
• academic English competence
• digital literacy

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for the useful comments on an initial draft of this paper.

Additional information

Funding

I would like to appreciate the support from the Ministry of Education in the Republic of China, Taiwan under grant number P ED1100950 and from Taipei Medical University under grant number T MU104-AE1-B05.

Notes on contributors

Yu-Shan Fan

Yu-Shan Fan is currently an Assistant Professor at the Language Center at Taipei Medical Univeristy in Taiwan. Her research interests center on multimodal composing, academic English writing, and second language writing.