Abstract
Humanist perspectives in language education have highlighted the relevance of the learner and their identities in the L2 learning (Harmer, 2016). Digital storytelling (DST) has been an adequate tool in this regard by expanding learners’ identities (e.g., Darvin & Norton, 2014; García-Pastor, 2018, 2020), and developing their language skills therein (see Oskoz & Elola, 2016; Reyes-Torres et al., 2012; Yoon, 2013). However, the potential of DST to promote the learning of specific linguistic elements which allow for the construction of certain identities in L2 has been under-researched (cf. Norton & De Costa, 2018). This study addresses these issues by exploring how secondary education students from a public school centre in the south-east of Spain express themselves and construct their identities in personal digital stories (DS) produced in L2 English. More specifically, it examines students’ use of evaluative language and the identities they crafted by means of these elements in their digital texts. To this end, a 4-month DST project was implemented, in which students wrote an initial unguided autobiographical text, different guided drafts, and a final piece, which was the script of their digital products. The analysis of students’ writings and DS followed Martin and White’s (2005) categories of evaluative language, Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) framework, and identity research in language education. Results indicate a gradual increase and greater diversity of evaluative language in the data, and students’ emphasis in the self-as-author aspect of their identities through such language and other semiotic elements in their digital products.
Presenters
María Dolores García PastorProfessor, Teaching Languages and Literature (English), University of Valencia, Spain Jorge Piqueres Clatayud
PhD Candidate, Didácticas específicas (educación lingüística), Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Learner Diversity and Identities
KEYWORDS
Digital storytelling, Identity, L2 education, EFL
