DIGITAL STORYTELLING AS ENGLISH WRITING PRACTICE: CHALLENGES FACED BY EFL STUDENTS

Abstract

Digital storytelling, as the new development of traditional storytelling involving various media,
is currently becoming one of the methods of teaching and learning English that is applicable
in many schools. This method is suitable for the development of the four English language
skills namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This study aimed to find the EFL
students' perspectives toward Digital Storytelling (DST) focusing on the benefits and
challenges students experience regarding their English writing. A descriptive design with a
qualitative study is applied. To obtain the data, the researchers conducted observations and
interviews. The data was then summarized and elaborated systematically. Based on the
findings, the researchers found the three challenges the EFL students experience while
creating digital storytelling in writing, namely: inadequate knowledge of grammar,
brainstorming ideas to write, and sentence construction. Students agreed that their
inconsistency, errors, lack of exposure, and unfamiliarity with the writing process all
contributed to the challenges. This study also discovered that students viewed digital
storytelling as beneficial to their education as it helps them practice using English in written
forms and critical thinking skills. In conclusion, the use of digital storytelling-based tasks for
EFL students is advantageous. This study will provide students, teachers, and future
researchers with valuable insight to enhance language acquisition.