Digital storytelling: multimodal meaning making

What is it? Robin (n.d.) defines digital storytelling as “the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories”, stressing that “they all revolve around the idea of combining the art of telling stories with a variety of multimedia, including graphics, audio, video, and Web publishing” (n.p.). Ohler (2009) suggests that “digital storytelling […] uses personal digital technology to combine a number of media into a coherent narrative” (p. 15). Very often, digital storytelling involves some kind of video production (see examples on https://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu). Including stories and storytelling for language learning barely needs justification. The ability to tell a story is important in many life settings, from hanging out with friends to selling a product. But why digital storytelling? In 1996 The New London Group argued that the traditional perspective on literacy should be extended to encompass a broader range of meaning-making practices, including those involving digital media. In a similar vein, The Douglas Fir Group (2016) argues that “language learning is semiotic learning” (p. 27), and goes beyond the acquisition of words and structures. While engaging in digital storytelling, learners practise the target language in a potentially highly motivating context, use the target language and other linguistic resources to engage in discussion and negotiation about the process, and in the production of their stories (e.g. in a task-based language teaching tradition); also extending their repertoire of meaning-making resources through practice and reflection – cf. The New London Group’s (1996) notion of critical framing. Students of many different levels of proficiency can create engaging digital stories – from the A1-level primary school student telling a story via the Puppet Pals app, to the adult language learner engaging in a complex cross-media storytelling project.