Using Digital Storytelling to Develop Foreign Language Writing Skills

Abstract

Digital storytelling has emerged as a promising pedagogical approach for combining language learning, creativity, and digital literacy while providing learners with meaningful contexts for communication. In foreign language education, it can offer learners opportunities to develop written production by combining textual expression with visual and other multimodal resources. This study explores the potential of digital storytelling for developing foreign language writing skills, with particular attention to the linguistic and textual dimensions of learners’ productions as well as the integration of digital resources. The study was conducted with 15 students from the Department of French Language and Literature at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, who participated in a digital storytelling activity in French. The research corpus consisted of 15 digital storytelling productions, which were analyzed according to four criteria: a) the use of an authentic context and its alignment with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), b) language proficiency, with particular attention to orthography and morphosyntactic accuracy, c) coherence and cohesion, and d) multimodal and digital integration. The analysis focused on the extent to which learners were able to construct meaningful written narratives while mobilizing appropriate linguistic resources and integrating digital elements into their productions. The findings provide insights into the strengths and difficulties encountered by learners in digital narrative writing and highlight the relationship between written language development and the multimodal nature of digital storytelling. The study suggests that digital storytelling can create meaningful and engaging opportunities for foreign language writing by encouraging learners to produce contextualized texts, organize their ideas coherently, and combine linguistic and digital resources in the construction of meaning. The findings also underline the importance of providing appropriate pedagogical guidance so that digital tools serve not merely as technical support, but as resources contributing to the development of learners’ communicative and writing competence.