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Systematic Review

A Systematic Review of Digital Storytelling in Improving Speaking Skills

by
Viknesh Nair
* and
Melor Md Yunus
*
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9829; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179829
Submission received: 27 June 2021 / Revised: 24 August 2021 / Accepted: 24 August 2021 / Published: 1 September 2021
(This article belongs to the Collection Sustainable Teaching and Learning Strategies in the Digital Age)
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Abstract

:
Educational systems frequently employ technological equipment in a variety of ways to make lessons in an English Language classroom fun and meaningful. For both students and instructors, digital storytelling (DST) has evolved into a useful instructional tool that can be utilised in the teaching and learning process. To answer the research question on the role of digital storytelling in improving students’ speaking skills, The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was used to systematically review 45 articles sourced from Google scholar and ERIC, and most of these articles highlight the importance of digital storytelling as a contemporary teaching methodology. These articles showed that digital storytelling can be used as a useful tool by educators in improving students’ speaking skills from various levels of education, ranging from primary to tertiary education. Most of the authors of these research papers provided empirical proof that substantiated the advantages of employing digital storytelling in the classroom to help pupils communicate and speak more effectively.

1. Introduction

This systematic review paper examines matters concerning the educational utilisation of digital storytelling to improve students’ speaking skills. In other words, it is a paper that provides an overview of the way that digital storytelling is capable of supporting the process of speaking among students [1]. This will commence with the definition of digital storytelling and how it differs from other kinds of videos found on the Internet. It also discusses how digital storytelling is utilised to support the enhancing of students’ speaking skills [2]. In practice, digital storytelling is defined as the skill of conveying stories using digital media, such as texts, images, recorded audio narrations, music and video [3]. These multimedia elements are combined by using software to tell a story that revolves around a specified kind of theme or even a topic and usually contains the point of use. Researchers claim that the benefits of digital storytelling are significant in facilitating the improvement in speaking skills among students [4].
Many digital stories are quite short, with about a length of 3 to 10 min. They are usually presented in a digital format capable of being viewed on a computer or any other device that can play video files [5]. In addition, digital stories are usually uploaded to the Internet to be viewed using any Internet web browser. There are all sorts of different kinds of digital stories. Still, certain researchers have made the proposal of classifying them into some limited categories. These include personal narratives, historical documentaries, and stories that inform or instruct about a concept or a specific practice [6]. The concept of digital storytelling as a means of improving the speaking skills of individuals has grown in popularity.
It is now being practiced in various parts of the world, and these include schools and libraries together with business organisations as well [7]. In the educational context, instructors and students from kindergarten to university are beginning to produce digital stories on a variety of themes, spanning from arts to science and many content areas [2]. Digital storytelling has suddenly become a global phenomenon, with teachers and practitioners across the world aiming to utilise digital stories as a means of integrating technology into the classroom to support a variety of learning processes, especially when it comes to enhancing the speaking skills of the students [8]. They believe that the speaking skills of students can be improved through digital storytelling due to its ability to facilitate and support the process of language learning, the ability to facilitate discussions, and most of all, the ability to utilise technology to enhance the learning process with greater speed and efficiency [5].

1.1. Digital Storytelling

At its most basic core, digital storytelling involves the practice of utilising computer-based tools as a means of telling stories. Many different terms are used to describe the method, including computer-based narratives, electronic memoirs, digital documentaries, interactive storytelling, or even digital essays [9]. Digital storytelling revolves around the fundamental notion of integrating the art of storytelling with multimedia components and visuals, video and audio and web publishing technologies [10].
Digital stories, just like traditional storytelling, focus on particular types of topics and will contain a certain point of view. However, the phrase “digital storytelling” implies that these digital stories include a mix of computer-based images, texts, recorded voice narration, and video clips [11]. Digital stories can be quite long, but in the sphere of education, they usually last between 3 to 10 min. Topics used in digital storytelling tend to range from various personal stories to the collection of various historical events and also the exploration of people’s lives in their community and everything else in between [12].
Although digital storytelling greatly emphasises computer technology, it is not a very new in practice [13]. A well-known pioneer of digital storytelling is known as Joe Lambert, who headed an organisation known as the Centre for Digital Storytelling. Almost 30 years ago, this organisation was in charge of aiding children and adults in developing and sharing personal narratives via creative writing and digital media technology. Daniel Meadow is also a well-known author and educator. He pioneered digital storytelling and defined digital stories as very concise personal multimedia tales that are expressed from a person’s heart [14]. He argues that the fundamental value of such stories made by individuals anywhere in the world is the visual expression and the fact that digital stories can be shared on electronic platforms all over the world [6].

1.2. Digital Storytelling in Improving Speaking Skill

Digital storytelling is regarded as a contemporary method of utilising many different media sources to express oneself using stories. It also facilitates the ability of young adults to enhance their speaking skills [2]. By using digital storytelling, they can build interpretive digital stories on any content and practice speaking. Digital storytelling allows a very serious interplay between context and content, and this is very important in facilitating better speaking capabilities on the part of the learner [15]. In these present times, digital storytelling is being practiced in various places, and the most important of these is when it comes to enhancing speaking skills in the classroom [16].
Within the sphere of education, teachers and students are starting to utilise digital storytelling to improve students’ speaking skills [7]. Furthermore, digital storytelling may be a highly effective teaching tool for children of all ages and grade levels who are given the responsibility of creating their own stories [15]. Using digital storytelling capitalises on students’ creativity as a way to engage in value-adding research and start speaking independently in the process of telling stories on their own [17]. Digital storytelling also involves the students using library facilities and the Internet to find comprehensive and richer content while analysing and synthesising a broader spectrum of information and views [11].

2. Aim of Current Systematic Review

A systematic literature review (SLR) was done to comprehend the perspectives of various scholars on the usefulness of digital storytelling in improving learners’ speaking abilities of various education levels. As mentioned earlier, this paper will highlight the effectiveness of digital storytelling, particularly on learners’ speaking skills.
Due to technological development and advancement in the world, digital tools and appliances have started to become commonplace, especially in the classroom, and this presents an opportunity to expand the abilities of students to learn to speak efficiently using digital storytelling [3,4,18]. Hence, as a result, the objective of the paper is to examine the role of digital storytelling in improving students’ speaking abilities. The main research question is as follows:
What is the role of digital storytelling in improving students’ speaking skills?

3. Method

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 checklist was used to conduct this systematic literature review. The PRISMA checklist includes 27 criteria to help with transparency in a systematic review. The comparative research approach, namely descriptive comparison, was used in this systematic literature review. As this paper aims to describe and explain the use of digital storytelling in improving speaking skills, this paper serves as a systematic effort to demonstrate how digital storytelling differs and stands out from other learning platforms. This study conceptually explores the key components of how digital storytelling adds to the efficacy of teaching and learning the English language, particularly speaking abilities, by evaluating selected papers linked to the usage of digital storytelling.
The goal of this systematic literature review is to provide readers a better understanding of the function of digital storytelling in the classroom, particularly in terms of improving students’ speaking abilities. The information that was accessed for review consisted of electronic journals. This study is premised on a systematic analysis of articles sourced from two main databases, which are Google Scholar and ERIC. The processing of the literature was done based on journals dated between 2017 and 2021. Hence, in this study, the researchers utilised four phases to carry out the analysis. These include the identification phase, screening phase, eligibility phase and lastly, inclusion phase.

3.1. Phase I: Identification Phase

This stage of the systematic review involved identifying relevant work. This phase consisted of two main processes. The first stage involved collecting relevant articles and choosing suitable articles premised on what is termed inclusion and exclusion criteria. Studies like this may exhibit the limitation of publication bias. This research process did not involve the analysis of literature from sources other than journal databases, such as book chapters, white papers and technical reports.
Hence, the research was focused on analysing journals that are peer-reviewed to make the comparison between different sources. The primary databases used for this study were Google scholar and ERIC, as shown in Table 1. Furthermore, the papers that were used in this systematic review were published between 2017 and 2021. Given the increasing rate of scientific papers being produced, today’s evaluations of the literature must be aware not only of the broad direction and achievements of an area of research but also of the most recent findings in order to avoid becoming out-of-date [19]. There was a combination of various keywords that were used in this process. These include digital storytelling, digital storytelling in education and digital storytelling towards improving speaking skills.

3.2. Phase 2: Screening Phase

As the suitable papers in ERIC and Google Scholar were chosen, duplicates were discovered and removed within two weeks. The papers were then re-examined to ensure that the remaining articles met the researcher’s requirements.

3.3. Phase 3: Eligibility Phase

The gathered papers were reviewed for eligibility in the third phase, where they had to match the criteria outlined in Table 2’s inclusion section. This is a critical step in ensuring that the data collected in this study were of high quality and dependability.
The papers chosen focus on researchers who utilise digital storytelling to improve students’ speaking skills. The papers were vetted in accordance with the criteria outlined in Figure 1.

3.4. Phase 4: Exclusion Phase

After checking for the articles’ eligibility in the third phase, the remaining articles were excluded from this systematic literature review. The criteria of the excluded articles are stated in Table 3. The exclusion step, like the eligibility step, was crucial in ensuring that the researchers collected high-quality data.
There were 45 articles that provided information about the role of digital storytelling in improving students’ speaking skills. Most of the analysed articles showed the combination of quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method type studies as depicted in Table 4. The respondents from all of the studies included all levels of education from primary until university level.
Figure 2 depicts the full procedure from Phase 1 through Phase 4 in clearer detail based on The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 checklist in conducting this systematic literature review.

4. Results

The findings of the research papers will be reviewed in-depth in this section. Due to the nature of investigations, 45 articles were chosen to be appropriate in this systematic review after four phases of choosing eligible articles for evaluation. Many different researchers have presented research on the role of digital storytelling in improving the speaking skills of students, and the best and most seminal of these research papers are described in Table 5 below.

5. Discussion

The advent of technologies and their integration into education present many benefits to educators around the world as technologies enable teachers to improve their teaching and learning process and achieve academic goals [50,51,52]. It is important to offer new educational techniques based on the use of digital technology in order to foster the development of meaningful learning [53]. Active participation and 21st-century teaching and learning are now possible thanks to modern collaborative technology, such as digital storytelling [48]. There are numerous ways that digital storytelling may be used in education, and one of the most important considerations to make when incorporating this device into the curriculum is whether teachers are well equipped and prepare to use digital stories [16]. Much preparation and practice are needed to hone their skills in using digital storytelling because multimedia-rich digital tales can be used to arouse students’ interest and entice them into the lesson [16].
A significant amount of research reviewed in this analysis has shown that the utilisation of digital storytelling during English language lessons can improve students’ speaking skills. According to [54], children’s animation films are seen as a medium for the conveyance of values, roles, patterns, behaviours and aspirations, which can aid in the growth of the young audience’s personality. The findings of the research papers in this systematic review posited that educators are required to carry out digital storytelling projects for approximately 8 to 14 weeks to observe the improvement in pupils’ speaking skills. The authors of [4] stated that digital storytelling contains a variety of attributes that enhance the speaking skills of the students, and there are numerous elements of effective digital stories that facilitate the ability of the student to speak more effectively. In essence, digital storytelling makes it possible for the students to construct digital stories and personal experiences and thereby improve their own understanding of the matter and thus allows them to speak more fluently [3]. Digital storytelling also seeks to elicit various emotions from the student, and it allows a student to express their emotions more lucidly, thus improving their speaking skills at the same time. Furthermore, students will try to personalise their story by recording themselves and reciting the script, and this involves the students training themselves to become more confident with their speech, and this improves their speaking skills as well [15]. Research shows that new technologies have given presence to the digital storytelling method, and this has paved the way for educators and policymakers to enhance the learning process, especially when it comes to improving the ability of students to speak effectively [48].
Besides improving students’ speaking skills, the implementation of digital storytelling in education has numerous advantages. It provides teachers with creative teaching methods to create a personalised learning experience. Based on Table 6, a total of 15 out of the 45 articles stated that digital storytelling increases the motivation of the student in the learning process, and 17 out of 45 of the articles showed that engagement of learners’ increases as digital stories are used during lessons. Teachers from all walks of life agreed that digital storytelling is effective in many ways especially improving students’ confidence [1,25,36,37,48], creativity [2,7,10,23,41], collaboration [7,9,13,25] and digital literacy [1,20,22,36,37,43]. Overall, most of the researchers agree that digital storytelling can be used to improve many aspects in pupils and not just speaking skills.

6. Limitation

There are two main limitations in this study that should be addressed in the future if there are academics interested in this issue. The researcher concentrated on the 45 highest-quality articles that addressed the review topic from Google Scholar and ERIC. There might be articles in other databases, such as Scopus and Web of Science (WoS). It would be fascinating to expand the research to include more perspectives from other academics to reveal more outcomes. The impact of digital storytelling on learners’ grammatical knowledge, listening abilities, reading skills and vocabulary knowledge should be investigated in future studies as this systematic review focuses on improving students’ speaking skills.

7. Conclusions

This systematic review of the literature analysed 45 articles on the role of digital storytelling in improving speaking skills, and it was shown that digital storytelling has a variety of attributes, benefits and features that play a vital role in enhancing students’ speaking skills. Numerous researchers were reviewed in this paper, and these researchers have carried out studies using a variety of methodologies in order to highlight the importance of digital storytelling as being a contemporary teaching methodology that plays a vital role in enhancing the speaking skills of students from a variety of levels of education. Students who take part in the development of digital stories can improve their communication skills by learning to express themselves, ask important questions, share their perspectives, and create narratives, as all of these help sharpen students’ speaking skills. Moreover, students are allowed to share their work with their peers, and in that process, they will acquire highly valued experience in criticising their work. This can also encourage better speaking capabilities and promote students to gain a higher level of emotional intelligence, enjoy better collaboration levels and engage more constructively in the social learning process. New technologies are gaining traction in the digital age, and technology resources are rapidly being included in the educational curriculum. Digital storytelling has the ability to help students around the world to understand the importance of story and audio-visual media and at the same time promote language skills and talents. In essence, this systematic review has presented a large number of literatures connected to the topic of digital storytelling, and these literatures have supported its use in ensuring greater capability of students in speaking. In other words, based on the perspective of various researchers, it is safe to say that the use of digital storytelling can generate better speaking skills among students of all ages and from all walks of life.

8. Implication and Recommendation

Digital storytelling examines digital narratives from many perspectives, especially in a virtualised situation. It provides a platform for educators to gear their teaching methods towards the digital era. Simultaneously, in a more digitalised world, this approach could be beneficial, especially in times of confinement, such as the COVID-19 lockdown. Educators are able to create meaningful lessons by implementing digital storytelling during distance or online learning. In the education context, teachers should exert themselves in utilising this material in their classrooms and see it as a means to empower their students’ voices and give them the opportunity to learn in a fun and positive environment. Capturing the attention and motivation of students is one of the foundations for making learning meaningful, and digital storytelling can be the suitable technique to involve students in their own learning process.

Author Contributions

All authors contributed to several aspects of the study, specifically, conceptualisation, V.N. and M.M.Y.; methodology, M.M.Y.; validation, M.M.Y.; formal analysis, V.N.; investigation, V.N.; resources, M.M.Y.; data curation, V.N. and M.M.Y.; writing—original draft preparation, V.N.; writing—review and editing, V.N. and M.M.Y.; supervision, M.M.Y.; project administration, V.N.; funding acquisition, M.M.Y. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia under research grant number GG-2020-024 and the APC was funded by the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. Assessment criterion in choosing articles.
Figure 1. Assessment criterion in choosing articles.
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Figure 2. Stream chart of the research article selection process.
Figure 2. Stream chart of the research article selection process.
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Table
Table 1. Source of journals.
Table 1. Source of journals.
Journal SourceQuantityKeywords
Google Scholar28 JournalsDigital storytelling, digital storytelling in education and digital storytelling towards improving speaking skills.
ERIC17 Journals
Table
Table 2. Inclusion criteria.
Table 2. Inclusion criteria.
Inclusion Criteria.
Digital storytelling in the educational system
Research methodologies: quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method
Sample or respondents from various levels of education
Evaluate Digital Storytelling in improving speaking skills
Journal articles published between 2017 and 2021
Table
Table 3. Exclusion criteria.
Table 3. Exclusion criteria.
Exclusion Criteria
Digital storytelling was not implemented in the educational system
The studies did not access and evaluate digital storytelling
Teaching and learning which did not use digital storytelling
Journal articles not published between 2017 and 2021
Table
Table 4. Quantity of journals based on research design.
Table 4. Quantity of journals based on research design.
Research DesignJournals Quantity
Quantitative Design28
Qualitative Design10
Mixed-Method Design2
Review of literature5
Table
Table 5. Main characteristic, perspective and perception of using digital storytelling in improving speaking skills.
Table 5. Main characteristic, perspective and perception of using digital storytelling in improving speaking skills.
AuthorsTerritoryStudy PurposeParticipantsDiscussions
[1]IndiaReview of literature on educational effects of digital storytelling on the development of English language learning and teaching.-Digital Storytelling can empower young students to speak with better confidence.
[2]MalaysiaTo investigated the process of digital storytelling production in aiding ESL learners to improve their verbal proficiency.5 Secondary (Form 4) studentsDigital storytelling can encourage creativity among students, and this gives them a voice.
[5]LebanonTo investigate whether students of English as a foreign language (EFL) at the Lebanese University (LU) can effectively improve their language proficiency by creating digital stories.20 second-year student-teachers majoring in EFL educationStudents can utilise digital storytelling to convey their thoughts and feelings to others by telling their stories.
[6]TurkeyTo investigate the perceptions of 8th-grade students on the integration of technology via Digital Storytelling to English courses.15 students in a public schoolDigital storytelling facilitates student learning and is a processing of information where students are motivated to speak to one another, and this assists them to improve their speaking abilities.
[7]MalaysiaTo present a new methodology to enrich the creation of stories related to speech ac of request.30 students of a secondary school
(intermediate proficiency)		Digital storytelling encourages peer-to-peer communications, and this results in the student enjoying better speaking skills.
[8]LondonTo present findings from the global literacy project, Critical Connections: Multilingual Digital Storytelling (MDST), which provides a means of nurturing and reflecting multiliteracies in practice.Not specifiedClassrooms engaging in digital storytelling allow tutors to teach more effectively, which influences students’ speaking abilities.
[9] USATo explore an intervention targeting preservice teachers, integrating a hands-on video production experience into their existing teacher preparation.31 preservice elementary teachersDigital storytelling plays an important role in helping students to discuss the story, related elements more lucidly and collaborate with others to improve their speaking skills.
[10]IranTo investigate the impact of digital storytelling (DST) on EFL learners’ oracy skills and their motivation towards the use of DST instruction.30 intermediate EFL learners (12–16 years old)Digital storytelling makes them become more engaged with the storytelling exercises, and this improves their ability to speak more creatively.
[11]USATo use digital storytelling to support teaching and learning activities.Not specifiedIt is possible to utilise digital storytelling to integrate very important instructional messages in learning and speaking activities.
[12]IndonesiaTo find out whether Project-Based Learning (digital storytelling) can improve students’ speaking skills and improve students’ learning motivation.36 senior high school studentsStudents’ speaking competence improved in some aspects, such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, fluency and confidence.
[13]IranTo introduce an innovative technique of teaching and learning that is the combination of the art of storytelling with the benefits of technology.Not specifiedStudents in the classroom are likely to be more motivated when given the chance to indulge in digital storytelling.
[14]Turkey To reveal the contribution of digital storytelling to the peer assessments experiences of preservice teachers within the teaching practices.Senior year preservice teachersPreservice teachers’ perspectives were quite positive toward the use of digital storytelling for peer assessment in their teaching practices, and it influences them and the perception of themselves as speakers.
[16]MalaysiaReview of the literature on the usefulness of digital storytelling as an instructional media program employed in the education process.-Digital storytelling is a good tool for creating learning environments based on constructionist principles of teaching and learning.
[17]CyprusTo examine the relation between adults’ engagement in digital storytelling and their speaking skills and motivation when learning a foreign language. 40 tertiary students Findings showed that digital storytelling provide an interactive learning environment which supports the development of adults’ speaking skills.
[20]Taiwan and Finland To create digital storytelling for the acquisition of skills.150 elementary school studentsBy empowering students to be capable of creating their own stories using digital storytelling tools, will allow the students to become more engaged in the process and thus speak more fluently.
[21]MacedoniaTo highlight the educational purposes of using digital storytelling as a tool for learning a second language and help educators perceive the pedagogical potentials it holds.30 students grades 2nd, 3rd and 4thDigital storytelling is a significant teaching and learning tool that improves students’ overall proficiency in the English language and helps them acquire valuable life skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving and analysis of the findings.
[22]IranTo investigated the effects of offline vs. online digital storytelling on the development of EFL learners’ literacy skills.42 lower intermediate language learnersDigital storytelling can facilitate a very constructive approach towards teaching language skills, which motivates them to speak with greater fluency.
[23]MalaysiaTo explore the use of ‘Who We Are’ to enhance rural students’ English as A Second Language (ESL) learning through a case study.24 secondary school students from a rural secondary schoolDigital storytelling has the potential of engaging students to integrate approaches towards learning with digital media.
[24]TaiwanTo examine the effect of learner grouping patterns on learning outcomes, such as knowledge achievement, autonomy in language learning and emotional experience.55 sixth-grade studentsThe students working cooperatively were discovered to outperform those working individually, and digital storytelling helps students utilise a better set of skills to improve their speaking abilities and interpersonal skills.
[25]USAReview of literature on educational effects of digital storytelling on the development of English language learning and teaching.-Students become more engaged in the classroom when given the ability to tell their stories using digital storytelling.
[26]SingaporeTo facilitate students’ development of literacy and twenty-first-century competencies via digital storytelling.Not specifiedDigital storytelling allows students to focus on using English to communicate with a classmate, and this improves their speaking skills.
[27]USATo promote the learning of English through the use of digital tools.20 eleventh grade studentsDigital storytelling has the benefit of engaging a number of different senses. These include the hands, eyes and ears, which improves students’ technical literacy, thus enabling the students to speak more fluently.
[28]Spain To investigate teachers’ perception about the progress in communicative and digital competencies in primary education children participating in a collaborative digital storytelling project.201 primary pupilsDigital storytelling can create a very engaging and exciting learning environment that motivates students to engage in the lesson with more attention.
[29]Taiwan-To employ Toontastic—an app with the principles of scaffolding embedded to assist learners in producing DST.Middle school studentsFindings showed that learners made significant progress in speaking competence as regards fluency and language use.
[30]Hong Kong
(China)		To examine factors affecting the achievement of digital literacy when using digital storytelling.3 participantsStudents who participate in digital storytelling projects tend to communicate better in the English language, and the levels of digital literacy among the three participants improved.
[31]GreeceTo explores and analyses digital storytelling as an important tool in language education and how it can be implemented into the educational context.Not specifiedDigital storytelling is an ideal way of learning new things and implementing a very constructive approach to speaking.
[32]TaiwanTo investigate the influence of digital storytelling (DST) on elementary school students’ creative thinking and their responses to the use of DST in English classes.27 sixth gradersDigital storytelling is a very constructive approach towards learning to speak, and it enhances creative thinking significantly.
[33]AustraliaReview of literature on educational effects of digital storytelling on the development of English language learning and teaching.-Students can learn by using digital storytelling since it provides a more flexible setting in which they can use their ideas and speak more freely.
[34]SpainReview of literature on educational effects of digital storytelling within the cultural and educational sphere.-There is a rising interest in developing research that focus on digital storytelling as it provides a platfrom for students to voice out their opinions, which is a critical component of cultural, educational and social study.
[35]NorwayTo explore the role of digital storytelling within higher education today.Not specifiedDigital storytelling can be utilised to teach and build communities in tertiary institutions through the particular form of audio-visual communication by developing relationships across professions, workplaces and civil society.
[36]USATo examine how digital storytelling facilitated students’ reflection and learning in a project-based year-end middle school programme.2 third grade students.Digital storytelling enables students to express their voices, identities and emotions using the multimodal resources available in digital stories.
[37]USATo present strategies for integrating digital storytelling into the classroom and include digital stories created by three graduate students as examples.3 graduate studentsDigital storytelling allows students to use technology in order to speak more fluently and lucidly.
[38]USATo explore how ‘The Story Workshop’ approach can improve four critical areas in literacy: reading, writing, speaking and listening.Not specifiedThrough digital storytelling, students are able to present experiences, reflections and evaluations of their views and opinions in a very comprehensive way.
[39]TaiwanTo investigate how a digital storytelling method that promotes autonomy and creativity may be applied in a formal primary classroom and how it affects students’ motivation and performance in language acquisition.64 sixth grade studentsDigital storytelling combines the use of electronic applications, and this can increase the knowledge, skills and abilities of the students to speak on a certain topic more elaborately.
[40]TaiwanTo investigate the effects of digital storytelling on students’ achievement, social presence and attitude in online collaborative learning environments.Students in a middle schoolDigital storytelling improved students’ online communication, interactivity and social presence.
[41]IndonesiaTo describe how to implement the medium of retelling a story and analyse the use of digital storytelling in improving students’ speaking skills.19 secondary school studentsCollaborative learning was enhanced through digital storytelling as each student was reliant on one another for a variety of reasons, prompting them to create their own piece of art.
[42]OmanTo give an understanding of the usage of a multimodal approach such as digital storytelling in a language learning classroom.24 students of English Foundationlevel 2Digital storytelling has a positive impact on students’ speaking skills, and pupils had different levels of learning excitement.
[43]IndonesiaTo determine whether there is a significant effect of using digital storytelling (Toontastic 3D) on students’ speaking skills. 38 secondary studentsDigital storytelling encourages the development of speech abilities and increases motivation towards language learning in general and speaking skills.
[44]Malaysia To investigate the use of digital storytelling in enhancing students’ speaking skills in English.20 Form 4 students (16 years old)The digital storytelling approach promotes the development of English speaking skills by improving language proficiency levels at the level of pronunciation and fluency.
[45]EcuadorTo determine the use of Authentic Digital Storytelling as an alternative strategy to improve the English Speaking Skill.50 4th level English language learners (English intensive courses)Digital storytelling provides realistic and relevant learning experiences for effectively developing students’ growth as fluent English speakers and creative thinkers.
[46]TaiwanTo examine the effectiveness of digital storytelling (DST) on foreign language learners’ English speaking and creative thinking.54 seventh grade studentsThe findings revealed that DST can effectively foster the students’ development of becoming proficient English speakers and creative thinkers.
[47]Saudi ArabiaTo determine why adult learners in Saudi Arabia are unable to speak English as a foreign language (EFL) and to evaluate the pedagogy of using the Digital Story Telling (DST) approach in teaching English as a foreign language.Group of learners at the chosen university in Saudi ArabiaThe findings showed that using DST as a pedagogy can help them improve their general speaking ability. These findings will help EFL teachers in Saudi Arabia create a favourable environment in and out of the classroom which will greatly inspire students to speak English fluently.
[48]CyprusTo explore how digital storytelling (DST) approaches can be used for social media campaigns to create more engaging digital content.Not specifiedDigital storytelling provides students with the opportunity to express themselves in visual media as opposed to mere words, and this facilitates communication and builds their confidence.
[49]PalestineTo identify the effect of utilizing digital storytelling on developing oral communication skills.5th-grade students at Rafah Primary schoolDigital storytelling has a good impact on the development of oral communication skills, and it should be utilised to improve students’ oral performance in both elementary and secondary schools.
[50]EgyptTo investigate the effect of digital storytelling on learners’ oral proficiency and determine learners’ satisfaction with the digital storytelling experience.8 first-year college studentsThere was a favourable influence on learners’ oral performance, and it was also discovered that the participants were quite pleased with the usage of digital storytelling.
Table
Table 6. The advantage of implementing digital storytelling in the classroom.
Table 6. The advantage of implementing digital storytelling in the classroom.
AuthorsAspects of Improvement in Students after Implementing Digital Storytelling
MotivationEngagementConfidenceCreativityCollaborationDigital Literacy
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Nair, V.; Yunus, M.M. A Systematic Review of Digital Storytelling in Improving Speaking Skills. Sustainability 2021, 13, 9829. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179829

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Nair V, Yunus MM. A Systematic Review of Digital Storytelling in Improving Speaking Skills. Sustainability. 2021; 13(17):9829. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179829

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nair, Viknesh, and Melor Md Yunus. 2021. "A Systematic Review of Digital Storytelling in Improving Speaking Skills" Sustainability 13, no. 17: 9829. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179829

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