Abstract

Conclusion. The findings provide pedagogical guidance for creating communicative spaces in DST that enable learners to convey personal meaning in authentic language-use contexts. Limitations related to database scope, time range, and exclusion of theoretical literature are acknowledged, and future directions are proposed to broaden the search scope and incorporate theoretical insights for a more comprehensive understanding of DST’s role in enhancing WTC.

Keywords: Digital storytelling, willingness to communicate, EFL/ESL learners, systematic literature review

Al Ghaithi, A., Behforouz, B., & Al Balushi, A. K. (2023). Exploring the effects of digital storytelling in Omani EFL students’ self-directed learning, Motivation, and vocabulary improvements. Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 14(4), 415–437. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.37237/140402

Bai, Y., & Xian, H. (2024). Exploring the interplay of digital storytelling, L2 speaking skills, self-regulation, and anxiety in an IELTS preparation course. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04109-8

Bin Jwair, A. A. (2023). Improving middle-school students’ English vocabulary via digital storytelling. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 13(6), 195. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.36941/jesr-2023-0158

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Çakmak, F., & Andujar, A. (2025). Exploring foreign language learning and contextualization through digital storytelling projects and personal digital learning narratives. Educational Technology & Society, 28(1), 109–122.

De Caro-Barek, V. (2022). Everyone loves a good story: Learning design in massive open online courses for language learning. Frontiers in Education, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.1007091

Del-Moral-Pérez, M. E., Villalustre-Martínez, L., & Neira-Piñeiro, M. D. R. (2019). Teachers’ perception about the contribution of collaborative creation of digital storytelling to the communicative and digital competence in primary education schoolchildren. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 32(4), 342–365. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2018.1517094

Dewaele, J.-M., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2014). The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 4(2), 237–274. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2014.4.2.5

Fan, Y.-S. (2024). Facilitating content knowledge, language proficiency, and academic competence through digital storytelling: Performance and perceptions of first-year medical-related majors. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 56(2), 129–150. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2022.2110337

Fu, J. S., Yang, S.-H., & Yeh, H.-C. (2022). Exploring the impacts of digital storytelling on English as a foreign language learners’ speaking competence. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 54(5), 679–694. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2021.1911008

García Pastor, M. D. (2018). Learner identity in EFL: An analysis of digital texts of identity in higher education. Digital Education Review, 33, 55–76. https://doi.org/10.1344/der.2018.33.55-76

Garcia-Pastor, M. D. (2020). Digital storytelling and learners’ dialogical construction of identity in EFL. Digital Storytelling in Second and Foreign Language Teaching. Bern: Peter Lang.

González Mesa, P. A. (2020). Digital storytelling: Boosting literacy practices in students at A1-Level. HOW, 27(1), 83–104. https://doi.org/10.19183/how.27.1.505

Hafner, C. A. (2014). Embedding digital literacies in English language teaching: Students’ digital video projects as multimodal ensembles. TESOL Quarterly, 48(4), 655–685. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.138

Hafner, C. A., & Miller, L. (2011). Fostering learner autonomy in english for science: A collaborative digital video project in a technological learning environment. Language Learning and Technology, 15(3), 68–86. https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/44263

Hava, K. (2021). Exploring the role of digital storytelling in student motivation and satisfaction in EFL education. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 34(7), 958–978. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2019.1650071

Huang, H. D. (2023). Examining the effect of digital storytelling on English speaking proficiency, Willingness to communicate, and group cohesion. TESOL Quarterly, 57(1), 242–269. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3147

Hull, G. A., & Nelson, M. E. (2005). Locating the semiotic power of multimodality. Written Communication, 22(2), 224–261. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088304274170

Humairoh, M. F. N. (2023). Building undergraduate students’ cultural identity through digital storytelling. Communication Teacher, 37(3), 235–245. https://doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2022.2127820

Jewitt, C. (2008). Multimodality and literacy in school classrooms. Review of Research in Education, 32(1), 241–267. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X07310586

Kang, S.-J. (2005). Dynamic emergence of situational willingness to communicate in a second language. System, 33(2), 277–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2004.10.004

Kim, Y., Kang, S., Nam, Y., & Skalicky, S. (2022). Peer interaction, writing proficiency, and the quality of collaborative digital multimodal composing task: Comparing guided and unguided planning. System, 106, 102722. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102722

Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Pergamon Press.

Lantolf, J., & Thorne, S. (2006). Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second language development.

Liu, G. L., Darvin, R., & Ma, C. (2024). Exploring AI-mediated informal digital learning of English (AI-IDLE): A mixed-method investigation of Chinese EFL learners’ AI adoption and experiences. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2024.2310288

Liu, K.-P., Tai, S.-J. D., & Liu, C.-C. (2018). Enhancing language learning through creation: The effect of digital storytelling on student learning motivation and performance in a school English course. Educational Technology Research and Development, 66(4), 913–935. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-018-9592-z

Luan, L., Yi, Y., Hwang, G.-J., Dong, Y., Jing, B., & Liu, J. (2024). Facilitating EFL learners’ willingness to communicate amidst the pandemic: A digital storytelling-based online flipped learning approach. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 18(2), 139–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2023.2241436

MacIntyre, P. D., Clement, R., Dornyei, Z., & Noels, K. A. (1998). Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: A situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation. The Modern Language Journal, 82(4), 545–562. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1998.tb05543.x

MacIntyre, P., & Gregersen, T. (2012). Emotions that facilitate language learning: The positive-broadening power of the imagination. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2(2), 193. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2012.2.2.4

Mayer, R. E. (2005). The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning. Cambridge University Press.

Makarova, E. N., & Pirozhkova, I. S. (2021). New educational technologies to develop foreign language communicative competence of non—Linguistic students: Digital storytelling. Philological Class, 26(3), 231–242. https://doi.org/10.51762/1FK-2021-26-03-20

Meletiadou, E. (2022). Using educational digital storytelling to enhance multilingual students’ writing skills in higher education. IAFOR Journal of Education, 10(2), 111–130. https://doi.org/10.22492/ije.10.2.06

Mohammed Al-Amri, H. (2020). Digital storytelling as a communicative language teaching based method in EFL classrooms. Arab World English Journal, 11(1), 270–281. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol11no1.20

Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., & Altman, D. G. (2009). Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement. Annals of Internal Medicine, 151(4), 264–269. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-151-4-200908180-00135

Nair, V., & Md Yunus, M. (2022). Using digital storytelling to improve pupils’ speaking skills in the age of COVID 19. Sustainability, 14(15), 9215. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159215

Nishioka, H. (2016). Analysing language development in a collaborative digital storytelling project: Sociocultural perspectives. System, 62, 39–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2016.07.001

Norton, B. (2000). Identity and language learning: Gender, ethnicity and educational change. Longman.

Norton, B. (2013). Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation. Multilingual Matters & Channel View Publications; JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.18799909

Ohler, J. B. (2013). Digital storytelling in the classroom: New media pathways to literacy, learning, and creativity. Corwin Press, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452277479

Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., Brennan, S. E., Chou, R., Glanville, J., Grimshaw, J. M., Hróbjartsson, A., Lalu, M. M., Li, T., Loder, E. W., Mayo-Wilson, E., McDonald, S., … Moher, D. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ, 372, n71. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71

Pandhiani, S. M. (2024). Toward empowered identities: An exploration of female ESL learners’ literacy through digital storytelling. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 59(4), 1078–1100. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219096221125910

Peña-Acuña, B., & Navarro-Martínez, Ó. (2024). The promotion of originality perceived in two multimodal storytelling applications: Storybird and Scratch. Education Sciences, 14(1), 21. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14010021

Peng, J.-E. (2012). Towards an ecological understanding of willingness to communicate in EFL classrooms in China. System, 40(2), 203–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2012.02.002

Peng, J.-E. (2019). Understanding willingness to communicate as embedded in classroom multimodal affordances: Evidence from interdisciplinary perspectives. Linguistics and Education, 51, 59–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2019.04.006

Peng, J.-E., & Woodrow, L. (2010). Willingness to communicate in English: A model in the Chinese EFL classroom context: Willingness to communicate in English. Language Learning, 60(4), 834–876. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00576.x

Raffone, A. (2022). Gamifying English language learning through interactive storytelling and MALL technologies. Language Teaching Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688221110206

Robin, B. R. (2008). Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century Classroom. Theory Into Practice, 47(3), 220–228. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840802153916

Sadik, A. (2008). Digital storytelling: A meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 56(4), 487–506. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-008-9091-8

Shen, X., Hao, C., & Peng, J.-E. (2024). Promoting EFL learners’ willingness to communicate through transmediation in a digital storytelling workshop. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 45(8), 3109–3126. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2086257

Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning, 99–116.

Sylvester, R., & Greenidge, W. (2009). Digital Storytelling: Extending the Potential for Struggling Writers. The Reading Teacher, 63(4), 284–295. https://doi.org/10.1598/RT.63.4.3

Tamimi, M. A. A. (2024). Effects of Digital story-telling on motivation, critical thinking, and academic achievement in secondary school English learners. Research in Social Sciences and Technology, 9(1), 305–328. https://doi.org/10.46303/ressat.2024.18

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvjf9vz4

Yang, Y.-T. C., & Wu, W.-C. I. (2012). Digital storytelling for enhancing student academic achievement, critical thinking, and learning motivation: A year-long experimental study. Computers & Education, 59(2), 339–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.12.012

Yashima, T. (2002). Willingness to communicate in a second language: The Japanese EFL context. The Modern Language Journal, 86(1), 54–66. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-4781.00136

Yoon, T. (2013). Are you digitized? Ways to provide motivation for ELLs using digital storytelling. International Journal of Research Studies in Educational Technology, 2(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrset.2012.204

Zarei, M. J., & Navidinia, H. (2024). Improving EFL students’ writing skills through digital storytelling. Call-Ej, 25(1), 108–128.