Students’ Perspectives about the Use of Digital Storytelling as a Pedagogical Tool to Develop Creative Linguistic Expression

Abstract

Digital Storytelling (DST), is a practical shift in higher education, by combining oral communication, writing, and digital creation into an innovative pedagogy. While theoretical frameworks establish the cognitive foundations of this innovation, there remains a need to systematically measure how EFL learners evaluate their preparedness for creative language use in digital environments. Accordingly, this research explores students’ perceptions of digital storytelling as a tool to develop creative linguistic expression among EFL third-year students at Abdelhafid Boussouf Mila University. In this respect, this study tries to answer these following questions: How do third-year EFL students perceive the role of peer collaboration and collective feedback during creative linguistic expression tasks? How does shifting from conventional assignments to interactive DST activities influence undergraduate EFL learners' satisfaction and academic motivation? How do technical and cognitive challenges during digital storytelling affect students' creative linguistic output? Following a descriptive quantitative survey design, a structured questionnaire administered to 70 participants to collect frequency data on learners' perceptions of collaboration, academic motivation, and technical barriers. Although DST is not yet officially used in the EFL curriculum, this study investigates it as an innovative, student-centered tool. ssessing students' readiness establishes a baseline to determine if digital tasks can be successfully integrated despite technical and cognitive constraints. Results show while students highly value DST for selfexpression,technical constraints and traditional habits can hinder fluid language production. The study also proposes structured projects and teacher training, alongside recommendations for border integration across Algerian universities.