Using Digital Storytelling as a Strategy for Enhancing EFL Writing Skills

Abstract

The present study is aimed at analyzing the impact of digital storytelling on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pre-service teachers’ writing skills. The participants were 101 students, who were enrolled in four distance courses of the English Major at a private university in Ecuador. Their ages ranged between 19 and 22 years old. They were divided into one control (49) and one experimental (52) group since this study used a quasi-experimental approach combined with a mixed-method design. The instruments included a prequestionnaire, a pre-test, a post-questionnaire, and a post-test. The main findings show that there was a significant improvement in students’ writing skills, particularly in aspects related to grammar and vocabulary. In addition, digital storytelling using Storybird was perceived as a useful strategy to develop the participants’ EFL writing skills since they were more engaged in activities that allowed them to demonstrate their knowledge when designing narrative projects.