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Received: 26 June 2016 / Revised: 12 September 2016 / Accepted: 21 September 2016
Abstract
The aim of this action research was to investigate the effects of digital storytelling in improving the writing skills of third grade students enrolled in rural primary schools. The writing performances of the students were measured before and after the teaching procedures of digital storytelling. Then, the process of narrative writing with digital storytelling was profoundly and carefully explored through observation and field notes, interviews, audio and video records, student diaries and documents, and student products. The results indicated that digital storytelling enhanced students' ideas, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions in terms of writing quality. Similarly, the digital storytelling improved story elements and word counts in stories. In terms of the quality of students' digital stories, the results demonstrated a steady progress in the elements of digital stories, and the technology literacy and competency of students throughout the process. Besides, the digital storytelling modified the process of narrative writing, and emerged as a beneficial tool to overcome the digital divide by developing students' new literacy perception, competency, and skills. The digital storytelling also created learning community by improving interactions among students in the classroom, and increased their motivation to write.
Keywords: Writing instruction, digital storytelling, disadvantaged students, digital divide and new literacy.
Introduction
The recent studies have reiterated the fact that the students who fall behind until the third grade in terms of reading achievement are not able to keep up with their peers, and the gap among the peers increases gradually (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2010). Considering the significant effects of the internet on the new literacy, children should be trained with the opportunities in the new literacy starting from the earlier stages of their childhood. Although the children from the high socioeconomic level interact with the information technologies and internet from the early years within the bounds of opportunities (Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear, & Leu, 2008; Cooper, 2004), the children from the low socioeconomic level are deprived of these opportunities (Forzani & Leu, 2012; Leu, O'Byrne, Zawlinski, McVerry, & Everett-Cacopardo, 2009). A range of studies have also pinpointed that some variables such as gender, age, race, parents' educational levels, class and region result in a digital...