Abstract:

In today’s technology-mediated world, the ability to interpret and produce mono- and multimodal semiotic texts is critical. To develop such ability––what has been called digital literacies–– language educators have been increasingly incorporating digital storytelling (DS) into their instruction. In DS, students produce a multimedia artifact that strongly resembles a media product, gaining awareness of how language interacts with other semiotic forms of communication (visual, auditory, etc.) to construct meaning. The process of writing the story also maintains a focus on language and language learning, and develops awareness about the narrative genre. DS also affords students the possibility to write creatively and about events and topics that interest them, thus leading to “experiences of agency, efficacy, and pleasure” (Lankshear and Knobel, 2008, p. 9).

This presentation will, first, examine the design of a Spanish university course conducted in a small liberal arts college in the US mid-Atlantic, and structured around a digital storytelling project. The (digital) stories created by learners in the class will then be analyzed, attending to choice of topic, and integration of the different modes of meaning-making. The presentation will end by reporting on a study conducted to assess the development of the students’ awareness of the narrative genre, and their own assessment of the learning outcomes of the project, including self-awareness and self-reflection.

Keywords:

Digital narratives, digital literacies, language learning, identity, multimodality.