A research on the use of digital stories in English teaching in 3rd grades in primary school

Stories are genres that tell about events that have happened or are likely to happen. Long before the beginning of written history, people had the opportunity to verbally describe the events they experienced through stories. The stories, which were first transmitted orally, later began to be told in written form with the invention of writing. Through stories, people had the opportunity to communicate with each other and have a good time together. Stories attract the attention of not only adults but people of all ages. Stories that appeal especially to children are very memorable because they are entertaining. With the development of technology, digital versions of stories have become widespread. Technology not only makes it possible to convert existing stories into digital form, but also gives people the chance to create their own digital stories. Creating digital stories with the possibilities of technology has attracted the attention of educators. Thus, digital stories have taken their place in educational environments as a teaching aid application offered by technology to educators. Digital stories also contribute to the development of skills such as digital literacy and technology literacy, which are important competencies of the 21st century. This study, planned as an action research, aimed to determine whether digital stories make it easier for 3rd grade primary school students to learn English. After the pilot application, in which 4 digital stories were first used, 8 action plans containing 16 digital stories were implemented. The data of the research were collected through teacher-student diaries, teacher-student observation forms, and a focus group interview consisting of semi-structured interview questions at the end of the application, after each action plan was implemented. The data obtained from the focus group interview was transcribed and content analysis was performed. The themes of the research were obtained by separating the data obtained from the focus group meeting into codes, sub-themes and themes through content analysis. In order to ensure the reliability of the research, the co-observer checked the code, sub-theme and theme consistency of the research. Descriptive analysis was applied to teacher-student diaries and teacher-student observation forms and were included in the research with direct quotes. According to the findings obtained from the research, it was concluded that digital stories facilitate learning English words and ensure that the words learned are memorable, that it is an application that attracts students' attention and ensures active participation of students in the lesson, and ultimately facilitates learning English and makes language learning fun.