Integrating Digital Storytelling into STEAM Teaching: Examining Young Language Learners’ Development of Self-regulation and English Literacy

Abstract

As an innovative pedagogical approach, STEAM Education uses science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics to spark students’ learning motivation, problem-solving skills, and cognitive development. Despite widespread literature on STEAM pedagogy, evidence on the benefit of integrating STEAM with technology-enhanced language learning at elementary levels is insufficient. This study thus inspects the impact of incorporating digital storytelling (DST) into STEAM teaching on young language learners' development of self-regulation and English literacy. Thirty-three schoolchildren participated in the study as the experimental and control groups. Their English literacy and self-regulation were examined before and after the study. Both groups received STEAM instructional content in English for one semester. The DST group worked with the online platform StoryJumper to make digital books for their projects; meanwhile, the control group prepared their projects by reports and presentations. At the end of the experiment, the DST group’s academic self-regulation improved significantly which was the result of their enhanced introjected and external regulation. Also, the DST group outperformed the control group in English literacy. Due to the key role of STEAM education in making students interested in STEAM disciplines at elementary levels, planning and implementing best practices of STEAM pedagogy for schoolchildren is recommended.