Digital storytelling as a disciplinary literacy enhancement tool for EFL students

This research compared the process of disciplinary literacy acquisition of students who experienced two different pedagogical approaches to learning science, technology, engineering and mathematics through astronomy (STEM-A). The objective of this study was to explore the impact of a digital storytelling (DST) educational technology intervention in a STEM-A context on the process of disciplinary literacy acquisition of students who were learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The research was designed as a type IV case study with a sample of 30 students from Kyrgyzstan aged between 12 and 16 years. Data were collected from written responses to the astronomy diagnostic tests (ADT), which were coded against the structure of the observed learning outcomes (SOLO) and analysed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures on the occasion of testing. Data from the Australian sample, native speakers of English, (N = 328) were used as a baseline. The results showed a positive effect of the DST intervention on EFL students’ astronomy disciplinary literacy acquisition. The research contributes to the body of knowledge on educational technology by exemplifying how the DST teaching intervention could bridge the gap between EFL and non-EFL students’ disciplinary literacy acquisition in STEM areas.