Digital storytelling and speaking: improving oral skills in FLE through the creation of multimodal stories

Abstract

Research into foreign language acquisition emphasises the importance of providing learners with opportunities to develop their communicative skills.  In addition, the integration of communicative approaches in the foreign language classroom has been shown to improve learners' oral proficiency. In Algerian universities, traditional teaching methods such as traditional grammar and the audio lingual approach are still widely used in the teaching of French as a foreign language. Teachers' reluctance to adopt digital methods in their classrooms stems from a lack of training and unfamiliarity with the classroom activities appropriate to this approach. It should be stressed that digital tools, if used appropriately, present enriching communication opportunities. They have the capacity to promote interaction between learners and increase engagement in learning activities. This study proposes digital storytelling as a method of creating an unusual learning environment for first-year FLE students at Saida University and encouraging them to talk while doing authentic work. We asked 24 students to collaboratively create five digital stories over a 12-week period using the ‘Weviédo’ software, with an audio recording accompanied by a visual presentation of their stories. The results showed that the students thoroughly enjoyed the task. We also found that this activity had great potential for improving the students' oral skills, such as pronunciation, rhythm and intonation.