Using Digital Storytelling to Increase Writing Skills for English Language Learners

• In Event: Knowledge, Strategies, Instruction, and Assessment

Abstract

In this presentation the authors will discuss the results of a 3 year study in which they examined middle school English language learners’ reactions to digital storytelling (DST). The authors were concerned with the participants’ perceptions of how their understanding of the writing process changed over the course of the DST project. Data were collected using narrative inquiry framework with the researchers as peripheral participants in the process. The English as a second language teacher involved kept a journal and work samples throughout the process, and the researchers conducted focus groups with participants at the end of the DST process. Results indicated that middle school English language learners felt that their organizational skills increased along with their sense of audience.

Authors

• Denise M. Ousley-Exum, University of North Carolina - Wilmington

• Eleni N. Pappamihiel, University of North Carolina - Wilmington