Students’ Experience of Using Storybird in Writing ESL Narrative Text

Full text

Creative Education, 2016, 7, 2107-2120
http://www.scirp.org/journal/ce
ISSN Online: 2151-4771
ISSN Print: 2151-4755
DOI: 10.4236/ce.2016.715210 September 13, 2016
Students’ Experience of Using Storybird
in Writing ESL Narrative Text
Siti Mariam Zakaria, Melor Md. Yunus, Nurhuda Mohamad Nazri, Parilah M. Shah
Faculty of Education, National University of Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia
Abstract
Equipping students with 21st century skills has become the main focus among ed
u-
cators. In line with the Ministry of Education initiatives in transforming the fram
e-
work of Malaysia Education system, 11 shifts charted are steered to witness the n
a-
tion stay abreast, if not ahead of
global trends. One of the major shifts is to leverage
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in order to escalate quality
learning experience in the classrooms across the country. Therefore, preparation of
teaching materials with meaningful techno
logy integration is imperative to prepare
students for the mastery of 21st
century skills. Thus, the assimilation of online tool
into teaching and learning of writing skills is stimulating to elevate students’ writing
competency and motivations along the p
rocess. This study aims to identify students’
experiences in using digital storytelling tool called Storybird in writing English as a
Second Language (ESL) narrative text. Semi-structured interviews
and observation
are the instruments employed to collect data from 15 d
iploma students of a private
university in Malaysia. The findings show that majority of the respondents reflect
their positive experiences in using Storybird in writing ESL narrative text. This study
has significant implications to shed some l
ight on the potential use of Storybird as a
pedagogical tool for English course.
Keywords
Digital Storytelling, Storybird, ESL Writing, Narrative Text
1. Introduction
Possessing bilingual proficiency is a crucial requirement for graduates as employers of
multinational companies are seeking for employees with such potential. Despite the
number of A’s or CGPA’s obtained by fresh graduates, majority of them have failed to
impress the interviewers when asked to converse in English. They seem to be lacking of
How to cite this paper:
Zakaria,
S. M.,
Yunus,
M. M., Nazri, N. M., & Shah
, P. M.
(2016)
Students’ Experience of Using Stor
y-
bird in Writing ESL Narrative Text
.
Cre
a-
tive Education
, 7,
2107-2120.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2016.715210
Received:
August 2, 2016
Accepted:
September 10, 2016
Published:
September 13, 2016
Copyright © 201
6 by authors and
Scientific
Research Publishing Inc.
This
work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution International
License (CC BY
4.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Open Access

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2108
critical thinking, communication skills and language proficiency in English (MOE,
2012). Realizing the need for the system to keep evolving as to keep updated to the cur-
rent trends, Ministry of Education (MOE) (2015) has taken a proactive approach in
transforming the Malaysian Education System with the launching of National Educa-
tion Blueprint (2013-2025) and Blueprint for Higher Institution (2015-2025). The Blu-
eprints are the testament for continuous commitment and effort exerted by the Minis-
try in ensuring that the products of the system are congruent with the expectation of
the global market that demands graduates to possess the 21st century skills. Among the
21st century skills that students have to possess are self-direction, creativity, collabora-
tion and innovation (Rotherham & Willingham, 2010).
With the advancement of technology, students have unlimited access of resources
and tools that facilitate language learning (Hashim, Yunus, & Embi 2016). According to
Prensky (2001), millennial students who are known as “Digital Natives” demand a ra-
ther different approach of teaching and learning as they have been surrounded by digi-
tal tools in their lives, resulting in the change of their thinking patterns. The role of
teachers has to evolve upon meeting the demands of these students. Prensky (2007)
highlighted how important it was for teachers to utilize technology into the lesson. De-
spite the fact that students are highly tech-savvy compared to their teachers (Prensky,
2001, 2007), meaningful integration of technology into learning is indispensable. Sadik
asserted that “the use of technology can only be effective if teachers themselves possess
the expertise to use technology in a meaningful way in the classroom” (p. 487). Many
studies have shown the positive effects of using technology in the process of teaching
and learning (Yunus, Nordin, Salehi, Embi, & Salehi, 2013). Since technological inno-
vation has been regarded as a catalyst in learning (Morrison, Ross, & Lowther, 2009),
preparation of teaching materials has to be integrated with technology with the empha-
sis on incorporating 21st century skills into the lesson. One way of achieving this is
through the integration of digital storytelling tool into ESL writing class.
Writing is likely to be a challenging task for ESL students who are easily bored with
the conventional approach. It is also a painstaking process for some, especially when
they have difficulties in expressing themselves well in writing. In Malaysia, students
who are from urban areas and high socio-economy background will not have much
trouble in writing as some of them even use English in their daily conversation. In con-
trast, students who come from rural areas and have limited access to English usually
face difficulties in English writing. In general, “writing is the skill that most Malaysian
students are least proficient in” (Chitravelu, Sithamparam, & Teh, 2005: p. 141). The
lack of competence in writing cannot be seen as a minor problem, for writing assess-
ment is included in all major examinations in Malaysia. Writing assessment is also part
of pre-intake requirement for some of the government and private posts in the country
other than attending interview. Thus, the ability of writing bilingually is important.
However, the arising issue which needs to be tackled by teachers is on how to motivate
the students to write well especially for ESL students. As ESL students are exposed to
virtual interaction via social networking sites, they have the tendency to use informal

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2109
language with abbreviated words. This habit may pose challenge for some ESL students
to write by using good English structures and wide vocabulary in formal writing as-
sessment.
Nevertheless, with the advent of Web 2.0 tools, writing skills can be enhanced
through collaboration with other writers. Young and talented writers would display
distinguishing characteristics as they get connected with other avid writers via online
writing communities (Olthouse & Miller, 2012). Besides, teachers can make their writ-
ing more interesting with the use of digital storytelling tool. One of digital storytelling
tools which gather the writers around the globe is Storybird. Despite numerous litera-
ture on digital storytelling (Conrad, 2013; Robin, 2008; Sadik, 2008, Sukovic, 2014),
there has been a scarce literature pertaining to writing using Storybird (Herrera, 2013;
Menezes, 2012; Wertz, 2014) and a lack of research done in exploring on the students’
view towards using Storybird in writing. As highlighted by Mustapha, Rahman, & Yu-
nus (2010), looking into students’ perception is important, for it delves into the class-
room realities. Therefore, the research question which acts as a basis for this study is:
What is the students’ experience in using Storybird? By looking into students’ view
when they use the application of Storybird in writing a narrative text in the classroom,
the use of Storybird as a platform for narrative text is explored in order to achieve the
purpose of the study.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Digital Storytelling (DS) and Narrative Writing
Digital storytelling is a powerful technology tool for 21st century classroom (Robin,
2008). It is a compelling approach in telling stories using multimedia production
(Chung, 2007). According to Conrad (2013), digital storytelling emerges as a new form
of documenting one’s experience through multimedia video creations, blogs, podcasts,
activities on social network or other story forms. As the educators around the world are
preparing students with 21st century literacy, some opt to use digital storytelling in the
classroom as it provides a combination of digital literacy, global literacy, technology li-
teracy, visual literacy and information literacy (Robin, 2008). The notion of Digital Sto-
ries is not new as Digital Storytelling movement has started in late 1980s by Joe Lam-
bert and the late Dana Atchley, the co-founders of Centre for Digital Sorytelling (Rob-
in, 2008). Gil (2005) as cited in Sadik (2008) mentioned on the advantages of using dig-
ital storytelling in education such as creating real-life situations, engaging students’ in-
terest and improving the involvement of students in the process of learning. Studies
have shown that digital storytelling is effective in enhancing language learning in a va-
riety of contexts (Thang, Mahmud, & Tng, 2015). Reinders (2010) affirmed that digital
storytelling is a great tool in motivating students to use language inside and outside of
the classroom. Sukovic (2014) expressed her strong view that Digital Storytelling pro-
motes a higher order thinking about texts by allowing students to explore new forms of
writing and construct their own meaning. On the other hand, Garrard (2011) claimed
that there is lack of academic research to indicate that Digital Storytelling can improve

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2110
standards of literacy in the classroom.
Bruner (1991) defines narrative as the organization of human’s experience and
memories. Narrative may also be thought of as literary fiction, fantasy, pretence or even
as lie (Clandinin & Connelly, 1989). In writing a narrative text, the characters in the
story play a very important role. Narrative writing generally is driven by the goals of the
characters (Garrard, 2011). Writing a narrative text involves fiction or non-fiction story
written based on experience, imagination and observation. Compared to the other ge-
nres, narrative writing seems to be the easiest. A good narrative writing usually has an
interesting plot and succeeds in arousing the interest of the readers to read from the
beginning of the story till the end. The findings of the study by Garrard (2011) revealed
that good narrative writing skills is essential in the production of digital story. None-
theless, she discovered that narrative writing was a difficult activity for EAL (English as
an Additional Language) students since they struggled to formulate ideas and use vo-
cabulary in a different language. Even though the students managed to create their dig-
ital story, the task was time-consuming. This finding was congruent with a study done
by Sadik (2008) whereby students took a long time in learning to use the software and
finding appropriate resources for their digital stories project.
In the meantime, Graham and Perin (2007) argued that a lot of youngsters did not
learn to write well enough to meet the demands of school or the workplace. They
claimed that school was not doing an adequate job in teaching students writing which is
considered as a complex skill. Their notion was based on the report by National Com-
mission on Writing (2003) which revealed that many youngsters in the United States
did not develop the competence in writing needed at their respective grade. Among the
recommendations highlighted by the authors in order to improve adolescent students’
writing are to teach them strategies for planning, revising and editing their com-
positions as well as engaging them in activities which help them gather and organize
ideas for their ideas before writing the first draft. Not only that, the authors also em-
phasized that collaborative activities may improve the quality of writing as students
work together to plan, draft, revise and edit their compositions. One of the activities
suggested is “developing a visual representation of the ideas before writing” (Graham &
Perin, 2007: p. 467). Since digital storytelling involves visual representation of the ideas,
it is a compelling activity to be used in teaching writing. Robin (2008) pointed out that
teachers can attract students’ interest and engage them into the lesson when digital
storytelling is used as an instructional tool upon introducing new topics or presenting
new ideas. Hence, digital storytelling is a great tool for teaching ESL narrative text.
2.2. Storybird in the Classroom
One of digital storytelling applications or sites which have gained millions of users is
Storybird. As shown in Figure 1, Storybird is a very simple and engaging tool as it of-
fers ready-made high quality digital visualization (Pop, 2012). Storybird allows its users
to collaborate and share artistic and literacy talent across the globe. Based on the art-
inspired storytelling, Mark Ury, the founder of Storybird has brought the readers, writers,

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2111
Figure 1. Storybird as an engaging tool.
artists and educators to collaborate and share their talents into the world of virtual sto-
rytelling (West, 2013). One of the interesting features of Storybird belongs to its amaz-
ing arts. The variety and beautiful images offered in the site enable the users to craft
their stories without having to draw pictures. Writers can simply use abundant of free
arts by dragging the images in shaping their storyline which eventually change into ei-
ther picture books or long form books. Picture books function as storyboards where
students choose and drag images page by page to suit the storyline. These online books
can be shared and read by others. Through collaborative learning, English language
proficiency is enhanced (Kwan & Yunus, 2014). Using Storybird seems to be tempting
for students since they can collaborate with other users of Storybird upon completing
their story. Students can improve their writing from time to time by reading other
books from authors they wish to follow. The reading materials vary in terms of catego-
ries, age and format. There are 19 categories to be chosen, depending on the themes
and genres which are suitable for preschoolers up to adult either in the format of pic-
ture or long form books. Poetry is also available in the site to be read and composed by
users. Thus, Storybird enhances critical and creative thinking among the users through
reading and writing.
It is suggested that the role of visual is greatly empowered with the application of
Storybird in language learning. Jensen (2000) has emphasized the sight impact on the
learning process in which “our eyes are capable of registering 36,000 visual messages
per hour” (p. 55). Since our brain tends to absorb between 80 and 90 percent of all in-
formation visually (Jensen, 2000), Storybird is a great pedagogical tool in promoting
reading and writing. The application of Storybird has encouraged the users to create
over 10 million picture books for the past few years (Jussel, 2009) as there are avid
readers and talented writers who are inspired with the use of arts in storytelling.

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2112
Despite its wonderful features, there is lack of research done on the use of Storybird
in writing ESL narrative text (Herrera, 2013; Menezes, 2012; Wertz, 2014). Menezes
(2012) claimed that the teachers who were in Language Teacher Master Class in the
Polythecnic of Castelo Branco, Portugal had tried out Storybird with their students but
there was no specific data collected on the students’ own view towards using Storybird.
Only implementation and the outcomes of using Storybird by the teachers were hig-
hlighted. In the meantime, Wertz (2014) had shared her experience of using Storybird
with the fifth and sixth students in narrative writing at Summer Digital Literacy Tool.
She asserted that the writing concepts were grounded in traditional school-based lite-
racy but the ideas were conveyed with the use of technology. Apparently, Wertz em-
phasized on the writing concepts by having her students to go through the stages of
writing; brainstorming, writing first draft, revising and editing. She even highlighted
how her students worked collaboratively to edit the stories in terms of grammar, spel-
ling and word usage before publishing the stories in Storybird website. Working colla-
boratively while using Storybird helped her students share experience and create identi-
tites upon producing digital storybooks (Wertz, 2014). In a study conducted by Herrera
(2013) between two groups of learners who were undergoing a training course to take
the First Certificate in English (FCE) exam, the findings were similar in which both of
the groups had shown improvement in terms of vocabulary, specific aspects of the
written language and attempts to use more complex structures when collaborative
writing strategy was supported with the use of Storybird in writing narrative text. This
shows that the use of Storybird enhances active learning among the learners as they
work together to construct knowledge and work collaboratively to negotiate content
and meaning which is in line with the notion of constructivism (Yunus & Salehi, 2012).
3. Method
3.1. Research Design
This study employed a qualitative method which includes semi-structured interview as
well as researcher’s observational notes in order to have an in-depth understanding on
students’ experience.
3.2. Respondents
15 students of mixed proficiency levels took part in the study. Their proficiency was
determined based on their English subject results in the Malaysian Certificate of Educa-
tion, which is a national examination compulsory to all fifth-year secondary school
students. The purpose of having mixed proficiency students is to ensure the study
closely resembles the normal classroom setting in Malaysia thus warranting the clarity
and significance of the findings. Generally, all schools in Malaysia do not segregate the
students according to their English language skills and competencies. Instead, they are
ghettoized based on their academic performance or major per se. All respondents in the
present study enrolled in Communication English course in which the module is aimed
at enabling students to master important skills in writing a variety of technical reports

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2113
and narrative text.
3.3. Procedures
Purposive sampling method was employed with the intention of exploring students’
experience in using Storybird in writing narrative text. Since none of the respondents
had experience in using the tool, hence, a one-day workshop was conducted by the re-
searchers and step-by-step tutorials on how to use the tool were shown. After the res-
pondents were all familiarized with the tool, they were then instructed to sign up for
Storybird. Subsequently, they were assigned a writing task based on a “Friendship”
theme. In the first 30 minutes, the respondents were asked to complete the task indivi-
dually. Next, 45 minutes was given to them to work collaboratively among themselves.
The social domain of language learning strategy is embedded in the process to minim-
ize inhibiting factors to permit optimization of language learning experience. The re-
searchers observed the respondents and documented observation notes. At the end of
the session, the respondents were requested to publish their story online. For the pur-
pose of the interview, 7 respondents including 5 females and 2 males were interviewed
regarding their experience of using Storybird in writing a narrative text. It is important
to highlight that these respondents were purposively selected for the interview session
and the selection was based on their proficiency level in English language. Consequent-
ly, the findings will be able to provide significant insights from different perspectives of
proficiency levels.
3.4. Data Analysis
Semi-structured interviews were conducted in English. Although the respondents had
different proficiency level of English, they were able to understand the questions posed
to them throughout the interview. This may be partly because they had much exposure
towards English listening and speaking in Communication English Course 1. The in-
terviews were then transcribed and analyzed using thematic coding. To retain anonym-
ity, all respondents were coded as R01, R02 and so on. Other than interviews, research-
er also looked into the observational notes as to substantiate or contradict findings for
interviews.
4. Findings and Discussion
This section presents the data collected on the students’ experience of using Storybird
in writing ESL narrative text as well as discussion on the issues.
4.1. Students’ Experience of Using Storybird as a Platform for Narrative
Writing
Observational notes indicated that all of the respondents succeeded in writing a narra-
tive text or a story within the time-frame except R02 who wrote with the least number
of words. The title written by students varied in length. As presented in Table 1, there
were noticeable errors pertaining to punctuation and spelling in the title even though

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2114
Table 1. Stories published by students based on the theme of friendship.
Students Title
R01 Thank You, My Friend…
R02 SHE
R03 “My Most Generous Friend”
R04 Can I Be Your Umbrella?
R05 “That Little Girl Is My Friend”
R06 We don’t need someone who have same personality to create our best friendship
R07 “She is my faries”
R08 MATES
R09 everything is okay for you
R10 SPECIAL
R11 You Are My Friend, You are My Sunshine
R12 Rain or Shine “I Will Always Be For You”
R13 Lonely New Boy
R14 Newbies In My Life
R15 A Friend in Need a Friend Indeed
students were informed on the spell-checker function in the Storybird. This may sug-
gest that students did not have enough time to proofread their story due to time-con-
straint. One of the respondents, R11 felt that it was quite difficult for her to generate
ideas in sufficient time. To overcome this challenge, respondent chose images as the
pre-writing technique. Though not explicitly stated, R11 implied that her writing will
be improving from time to time if she keeps on reading online stories shared by other
Storybird users since she was impressed with the reading materials which are abundant
in the Storybird. Her opinion was also shared similarly with R15 who stated “reading
from other authors in Storybird will help me improve my grammar”.
Furnished with artistic graphic images, colorful templates and stimulating designs,
Storybird captures students’ interest in writing as the aforementioned features facilitate
the development and elaboration of the storyline. In relation to that, affective strategies
were unconsciously employed by the respondents as they become fond towards writing
narrative text. This notion is supported by the following comments: “I really like to use
Storybird because it is simple and consists of beautiful pictures … and I will try to write
using bombastic words. I love to write in English” (R12) and “I like storybird because it
can release my stress. When I feel bored, I can express my feelings through writing”
(R13). For example, one of the respondents (R07) commented, “I like Storybird very
much because I could not draw well and now I can choose pictures that I like to tell my
story”. This finding implies that students who are able to write a narrative text will not
have difficulties in writing since they have already drafted their stories. This view is
supported with the comments: “When writing, if my grammar is not so good, I can just

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2115
use simple vocab and grammar” (R04) and “I have Plan A, Plan B, Plan C when writing.
If I can’t find suitable pictures, I just change my story plot” (R07). Choosing pictures
out of millions of arts is not difficult as they use the search button to find the arts that
mostly tally with their story as specified by R13, “At first it was quite difficult because I
hardly find suitable pictures but later, when I use the search icon, I can easily find suit-
able pictures”.
Writing via online tool brings a sense of authority to the students, allowing them to
feel that their voice is heard. This is supported when R01 pointed that “I can like, share
stories with my friends in Storybird” and “Writing online via Storybird helps me to
write wisely compared to writing in other social networking sites” (R15). Another im-
portant finding is discovered whereby some students prefer working individually. This
notion was voiced out by R13, “I’m a shy person. With Storybird, I’m free to write by
myself. I’m free to use my own words”. R12 felt similarly in which she stated “I can ex-
press my feelings where no one will interrupt my writings”.
Undeniably, the use of Storybird helps students to develop their interest and a sense
of authority in writing, knowing that they can write and express themselves via online
tool. Nevertheless, the finding of this study seems to support the notion by Garrard
(2011) whereby a few respondents had difficulties to write narrative text as they strug-
gled to generate ideas. This is plausible as some of the respondents are less proficient in
English language and in fact, they are low achievers for English subject in the Malaysian
Certificate of Education. These students might have faced difficulties in generating and
elaborating ideas as a result of poor pre-writing skills such as brainstorming and clus-
tering. Nevertheless, they managed to overcome the obstacle in writing once they chose
and arranged the images offered in the Storybird as the pre-writing skills. Their ideas in
writing started to flourish while drafting stories based on the images. Therefore, Story-
bird is a great tool in evoking students’ ability to generate more ideas for their respec-
tive stories.
4.2. Students’ Engagement through Collaborative Writing
Students’ engagement was analyzed based on the observation on students’ contribution
in completing the task. In this study, students’ contribution was assessed on the num-
ber of words written by students within one hour and 15 minutes. According to Malay-
sian Certificate of Education 1119/1 marking assessment, the length of narrative text
written should be about 350 words within one hour. With regards to dragging and ar-
ranging pictures while writing online simultaneously with firsthand experience of using
Storybird, 11 out of 15 students had written more than 300 words as presented in Fig-
ure 2. This has indeed shown that they were highly engaged in completing their task.
Based on the observation, students enjoyed working collaboratively as they were
highly engaged in discussion, especially during the pre-writing stage. This finding con-
curred with the findings gained from the interview as majority of students who were
interviewed stated their preference on working collaboratively when completing the
task. Students believed that working collaboratively helps them to improve their narrative

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2116
writing. For instance, R07 commented “I prefer working with friends. I can share words
or ask my friends to polish my story”. Similar opinion was voiced out by R11 and R15
who believed that completing the task collaboratively helps them to boost more ideas in
writing. Meanwhile, R01 and R05 shared the same view as they felt that working with
friends would help them improving their grammar. R05 claimed that she would write
better if she had been given extra time in completing the task since she could discuss
with her friends in getting more ideas to write. An example of students working colla-
boratively is given in Figure 3.
Furthermore, students felt more comfortable to work collaboratively with friends
whom they preferred rather than a random respondent assigned by the researchers.
Students had been observed to be sitting next to their friends whom they were com-
fortable with. The reason is because they would not have any boundaries or restrictions
to share ideas or ask opinion from friends. One of the participants, R05 stated: “I have
an idea but I have difficulties to write sentences, grammar, verbs. So, work with friends
can help me to come up with words that I don’t know. My friends can help me with my
sentences”. R11 and R15 argued that working collaboratively allows them to discuss
Figure 2. Stories published based on word count.
Figure 3. Students work collaboratively upon completing the task.

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2117
with their friends in choosing the right pictures that tally with the story theme. As men-
tioned by R15, “When my friends help me to choose pictures, I know that it can be a
good book” and “My friends would help me choose stories and pictures that are related
with theme” (R11). Hence, all of them managed to write stories that tally with the im-
ages chosen except R02 who had written her story different than the rest in which she
had chosen 10 images with only 95 words. Throughout the observation done during the
study, R02 seemed to comfortably work alone rather than working collaboratively with
friends.
The above findings seem to be compatible with the findings by Herrera (2013) in
which students who worked collaboratively in writing a narrative text when using Sto-
rybird had the tendency to improve themselves in vocabulary and were discovered to be
writing more complex structures when using Storybird and working collaboratively in
writing a narrative text.
5. Conclusions and Implications
This paper explores on students’ firsthand experience of using Storybird in writing ESL
narrative text. In view of students’ positive responses towards the use of Storybird as a
tool in writing narrative text, teachers should consider utilizing the wonderful features
offered by Storybird in order to nurture the habit of writing among the younger gener-
ations who are very adept at using technology. Apart from encouraging students to
write digital storybook in Storybird, teachers can also assign students to read the mate-
rials available on Storybird and incorporate them into lessons. The respondents agree
that Storybird is a great tool in helping them to improve their writing skills by reading
other online stories shared by other Storybird users. It is suggested that this pedagogical
tool has to be meaningfully integrated into the lesson in order to develop literacy skills
among students. The success or failure in the utilization of ICT tools in the classroom is
largely contributed by the teachers (Shah & Empungan, 2015). Yunus, Salehi, & Nordin
(2012) stressed on the importance of integrating technology into a pedagogical tool in
which it was a more student-centered approach. Indirectly, using Storybird in the les-
son helps to instill habit of reading and enhance students’ writing skills while promot-
ing active learning among students.
The students’ engagement is evident when using Storybird in writing as participants
have used variety of images with lengthy texts. They also prefer working collaboratively
as they share their feelings and thoughts with their friends in gaining more ideas to
write and choosing suitable vocabulary. Nonetheless, it is crucial for them to be taught
and guided by teacher during the pre-writing strategies. Teaching pre-writing strategies
to students is essential as stated by Graham and Perin (2007) who recommended ado-
lescent students must be taught on planning, revising and editing their compositions.
Despite the limited scope of this study which only explores on students’ experience of
using Storybird as a digital storytelling tool, writing quality may need to be emphasized
in future experimental design and longitudinal study on the effectiveness of Storybird
towards students’ writing skills.

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2118
Storybird is indeed a great tool in engaging students to write narrative text as it
brings students into the world of virtual storytelling with its interesting and beautiful
images, ready to be crafted into stories by the users. Despite its wonderful features, as-
pects of good writing need to be exposed while promoting on the use of Storybird to the
students. Thus, teachers are encouraged to exert more efforts in ensuring the students
to receive quality education while seeking ways on transforming teaching and learning
innovatively. Hence, the initial goal to produce students with the mastery of 21st skills
will be realized in the near future.
Acknowledgements
The researcher would like to thank the respondents and interviewees for providing rich
and informative insights for the purpose of this study.
References
Bruner, J. (1991). The Narrative Construction of Reality.
Critical Inquiry
,
18,
1-21.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343711 http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/448619
Chitravelu, N., Sithamparam, S., & Teh, S. C. (2005).
ELT methodology: Principles and Practice
.
Shah Alam: Penerbit Fajar Bakti.
Chung, S. K. (2007). Art Education Technology: Digital Storytelling.
Art Education
,
60,
17-22.
Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (1989). Narrative and Story in Practice and Research.
http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED309681
Conrad, S. K. (2013). Documenting Local History: A Case Study in Digital Storytelling.
Library
Review, 62,
459-471. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/LR-02-2013-0013
Garrard, D. (2011). A Case Study to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Digital Storytelling as a Narra-
tive Writing Tool.
https://ulir.ul.ie/bitstream/handle/10344/1818/2011_Garrard%2cD.pdf?sequence=6
Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). A Meta-Analysis of Writing Instruction for Adolescent Students.
Journal of Educational Psychology
,
99,
445-476. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.99.3.445
Hashim, H., Yunus, M. M., & Embi, M. A. (2016). Pre-University English as Second Language
(ESL) Learners’ Attitude towards Mobile Learning.
Creative Education
,
7
, 1147-1153.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2016.78119
Jensen, E. (2000).
Brain-Based Learning
. San Diego, CA: Brain Store.
Jussel, A. (2009).
Storybird Kids Online Book Community Hatches Creative Fledglings
.
http://www.shapingyouth.org/?p=8341
Kwan, L. S., & Yunus, M. M. (2014). Group Participation and Interaction in ESL Wiki Collabora-
tive Writing among Malaysian Gifted Students.
Asian Social Science
,
11,
59.
Menezes, H. (2012). Using Digital Storytelling to Improve Literacy Skills.
Proceedings of the
IADIS International Conference On Cognition & Exploratory Learning in Digital Age
,
299-301.
Ministry of Education (MOE) (2012).
Preliminary Report: Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-
2025
. www.moe.gov.my/userfiles/file/PPP/Preliminary-Blueprint-Eng.pdf
Ministry of Education (MOE) (2015).
Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher
Education)
.
http://www.moe.gov.my/cms/upload_files/files/3_%20Malaysia%20Education%20Blueprint%2

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2119
02015-2025%20(Higher%20Education).pdf
Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., & Lowther, D. L. (2009). Technology as a Change Agent in the
Classroom. In L. Moller, & D. M. Harvey (Eds.),
Learning and Instructional Technologies for
the 21st Century
(pp. 1-23). Berlin: Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09667-4_9
Mustapha, S. M., Rahman, N. S. N. A., & Yunus, M. M. (2010). Perceptions towards Classroom
Participation: A Case Study of Malaysian Undergraduate Students.
Procedia-Social and Beha-
vioral Sciences, 7,
113-121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.10.017
Olthouse, J. M., & Miller, M. T. (2012). Teaching Talented Writers with Web 2.0 Tools.
Teaching
Exceptional Children, 45,
6-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/004005991204500201
Pop, A. (2012).
Enhancing English Language Writing and Speaking through Digital Storytelling
.
In M. Vlada, G. Albeanu, & D. M. Popovici (Eds.),
7th International Conference on Virtual
Learning (ICVL 2012)
(pp. 453-458). Romania: Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1.
On the Horizon, 9,
1-6.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816
Prensky, M. (2007). How to Teach with Technology: Keeping Both Teachers and Students Com-
fortable in an Era of Exponential Change.
Emerging Technologies for Learning, 2,
40-46.
Ramirez, Y. E. H. (2013). Writing Skill Enhancement when Creating Narrative Texts through the
Use of Collaborative Writing and the Storybird Web 2.0 Tool.
Colombian Applied Linguistics
Journal, 15,
166-183.
Reinders, H. (2010).
Digital
Storytelling in the Foreign Language Classroom
.
http://hdl.handle.net/10652/2496
Robin, B. R. (2008). Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century
Classroom.
Theory into Practice, 47,
220-228. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405840802153916
Rotherham, A. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2010). “21st-Century” Skills.
American Educator, 34,
17-
20.
Sadik, A. (2008). Digital Storytelling: A Meaningful Technology-Integrated Approach for En-
gaged Student Learning.
Educational Technology Research and Development, 56,
487-506.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11423-008-9091-8
Shah, P. M., & Empungan, J. L. (2015). ESL Teachers’ Attitudes towards Using ICT in Literature
Lessons.
International Journal of English Language Education, 3,
201-218.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/ijele.v3i1.7158
Sukovic, S. (2014). ITell: Transliteracy and Digital Storytelling.
Australian Academic & Research
Libraries, 45,
205-229. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2014.951114
Thang, S. M., Mahmud, N., & Tng, C. K. C. A. (2015). Digital Storytelling as an Innovative Ap-
proach to Enhance Learning Mandarin as a Second Language.
Journal of E-Learning and
Knowledge Society, 11,
11-25.
Wertz, J. A. (2014). Bitstrips and Storybird: Writing Development in a Blended Literacy Camp.
Voices from the Middle
,
21
, 24-32.
West, M. (2013).
The Storybird Has Flown the Nest
. The Literary Platform.
http://theliteraryplatform.com/magazine/2013/03/the-storybird-has-flown-the-nest/
Yunus, M. M., & Salehi, H. (2012). The Effectiveness of Facebook Groups on Teaching and Im-
proving Writing: Students’ Perceptions.
Journal of Education and Information Technologies,
1,
87-96.
Yunus, M. M., Nordin, N., Salehi, H., Embi, M. A., & Salehi, Z. (2013). The Use of Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) in Teaching ESL Writing Skills.
English Language
Teaching, 6,
1-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n7p1

S. M. Zakaria et al.
2120
Yunus, M. M., Salehi, H., & Nordin, N. (2012). ESL Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions on the Use
of Paragraph Punch in Teaching Writing.
English Language Teaching, 5,
138-146.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v5n10p138
Submit or recommend next manuscript to SCIRP and we will provide best service
for you:
Accepting pre-submission inquiries through Email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
A wide selection of journals (inclusive of 9 subjects, more than 200 journals)
Providing 24-hour high-quality service
User-friendly online submission system
Fair and swift peer-review system
Efficient typesetting and proofreading procedure
Display of the result of downloads and visits, as well as the number of cited articles
Maximum dissemination of your research work
Submit your manuscript at: http://papersubmission.scirp.org/