Applied Linguistics / Second Language Acquisition Research Paper (25 mins)
Vocabulary Development and Intercultural Awareness Through Digital Storytelling in Primary Education
There is today a rich body of literature about the affordances of using DST (Digital Storytelling) in education, but the research on its effectiveness for vocabulary development and intercultural awareness is scarce. This presentation aims to analyze the impact of DST on vocabulary development from an intercultural perspective among Primary Education children. This three-month research included 128 learners aged 6-8 from 24 different cultural backgrounds divided in a control group (CG), using three printed multicultural folktales, and an experimental group (EG), exposed to the digital version (DST) of the same stories. In this mixed method research quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through class activities (reading or watching) and a pre-post-delayed-test. The results revealed that DST can be effectively used to expand EFL vocabulary and intercultural awareness, but some statistical differences were observed in the post- and delayed tests depending on cultural background and home exposure to technology.
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Cristina Gómez has been teaching EFL for 8 years in the public sector at Secondary and Primary stage of education. Eager to learn about new methodologies to adapt to the 21st century learner, she is continuously absorbing training courses on innovative activities to put into practice in the classroom. Drama, video and stories make up the core of her interests.