Digital Storytelling as a Strategy to Improve Students’ Speaking Fluency

ABSTRACT

Multimedia has turned out to be all the more engaging in teaching and learning process as it is intuitive and empowering. New progression of innovation generally stirs students‘ interest and, thusly, builds their inspiration. This review explained the execution of digital storytelling in teaching speaking English as a foreign language. The outcomes demonstrate that applying this sort of strategy is powerful to advance the students ability. So that they will take into speaking as pleasant thing to learn.

Keywords : interesting, digital storytelling,  speaking fluency.

INTRODUCTION

1.1    The background of the study

As we know that the skill which is needed for getting well communication among people around the world is language (Mislevy & Yin, 2009). It cannot be refuted that language brings someone be able to express his or her own ideas and feeling through the words clearly (Van Gils & Gils, 2005). The elementary school students in Indonesia up to the university learnt English language as a foreign language which is taught formally in the class (Lauder A, 2008).

English, however, used for spokean langauage entirely in the world (Mappiasse & Bin, 2014). Indonesia education makes this language as important rule particularly. Even it  becomes one of subjects that examine nationally by the last grade of junior and senior high school.

In learning English, the fourth language skills are needed to involve, there are Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing (Burns & Helen, 1997). Speaking which is known as important part of four language skills is an  an activity used to be learned and mastered by every individual for having communications (Sudarminah, 2009). It has correlation with human activity for human comunicative purposes. While ones speaking, they make interactions in a way language employed to express feelings, constructing of and sending the message. (Dixon & O’hara, 2004).

Speaking is highly important today. Someone speaking fluency become the measurement of language learners success (Iswardati, 2016). However, speaking is not an easy learning activity that much. In fact, there are a few issues that students’ face in learning English particularly in speaking (Alharbi, 2015). A considerable lot of students’ absence of motivations, they have restricted vocabulary and poor of elocutions or pronunciations. In addition, the students’ are infrequently practice the material they get verbally whether in the classroom or outside the classroom (putri, 2013). Furthermore, not very many secondary school graduates can impart coherently and speak fluently in English. This feeling of disappointment in the educating of English as a foreign language (lie, 2007).

Based on that problems explained above, teachers’ should have an appropriate strategy in learning  to make the students’ more motivated in learning English. Especially in practices to get the fluency of speaking.

Considering the way of effective learning, there is a strategy or technique which produce rich-learning environments supported with sophisticated tools and software based on students-centered education. One of methods that are expected highly is digital storytelling which practiced actively in abroad countries (Kotluk, Kocakaya, & The, 2017). Digital storytelling is a modern expression of the art of storytelling that relies on the power of the images, music, narration and sound together, thus giving the dimensions and vivid color to characters, situations, experiences and insights (Tubagushidayat, 2013) . Digital storytelling has been suggested by the researcher that it is one of the instructions which can boost students’ language four skills (Chuang & Kuo, 2013)

In this case, digital storytelling is being cooshen to improve students motivation and curiosity in learning english and develope their speaking fluency.

2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE.

2.1 SPEAKING FLUENCY

Speaking as an oral language is the key of correspondence which has a vital component of association. Based on Burns that Speaking is one of an interactive process of building meaning that implicate producing, receiving and processing an information (Burns, 1997). While, Tarigan argued that speaking as pronounce sounds articulation of words capacity to express an ideas and feelings for communicating (Tarigan, 1990). Speaking takes the learners not merely know how to establish specific points of language such as grammar and pronunciation, moreover, they also understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (Yang, 2014). Eventually, speech has different skills, structures, and conventions from written language, ought to be produced to build up the students’ capacity in communicating English (Iswardati, 2016). Good speaker integrate this system of skills and knowledge to be succeed in a delivering speech act.

Essentially, speaking is skills with current system to reproduces sound articulation to convey the feelings, desires, ideas on others. This skill is also based on the learner confidence (Dustmann, 1994). Based on Son, there are specific purposes of speaking, are to inform, report, entertain, persuade, and convince someone consisting of both linguistic and non-linguistic aspect (Son, 2013)

The mean of fluency in language is speaking easily and smoothly in a foreign language without having to stop and pause a lot. (Hartmann R.R.K., 1976), he considers that fluent English speaker is someone who is able to use the structures of English accurately and scrupulously while taking the focus on the content and using the units of patterns automatically at normal conversational rapidity rather than the form. It is need an adequate of vocabularies mastering. All people around the world, including developing countries assure that the success of English language is essential thing which is cannot be denied. Everyone is yearning for getting proper command over this language and obtaining the ability of using the language (English) properly as like the fluent native speakers is saying.  (Westrup, 2003) Arguing that there is a need for people who speak English well not only throughout the world but also in the developing countries as well. Getting fluent in English today is highly in demand. So, it is extremely important and necessary for students to learn in speaking English to get well its fluency.

Based on the description above, it can be concluded that speaking fluency is one of very important language skill aspect as a means for having good communication with the other person and foreigners. This speaking fluency needs to be stimulated through activities that can improve the vocabulary owned by the learner. It is an important dimension of communicative language (Yang, 2014)

2.2 DIGITAL STORYTELLING

Digital storytelling is an innovation application that is all around situated to exploit the contributed content and to enable teachers’ to beat a portion of the obstructions to beneficially utilizing innovation in their classrooms (Robin, 2008). Acording to Porter (2004) as cited by (Kotluk, 2017) digital storytelling is the action of joining individual story with pictures, illustrations, music, and actually voiced portrayal of naration . The computare aplication progame and videos are used to applay this digital storytelling as a tool in learning process to attaract students’ interest (Kotluk, 2017). As well as traditional storytelling, most of the digital story tells of a subject viewed from a certain angle. As the name implies, the story contains a combination of digital images, text, sounds, grapichs, photographs which allow the students to express their own story (Şeker, 2016). This has risen throughout the most recent couple of years as an intense educating and learning tool  that connects with both teachers’ and their students’(Aktaş & Yurt, 2017). It is also believed can establish to be highly worthwhile to increase students’ ability of speaking (Ohler, 2008).

Digital storytelling is a cutting edge articulation of the craft that depends on the energy of the pictures, music, portrayal and sound together, in this manner giving the measurements and striking shading to characters, circumstances, encounters and bits of knowledge (Van & Gils, 2005). For example, a child showed an interest in the arts, he will strive to learn more about the art (Usman, 1995). Beside as a means to improve the confidence of students to publish their work, and dare to accept the opinions and feedback of others. This digital storytelling  has firmly proposed by the scientist as one of guidelines device which can lift understudies’ four abilities including speaking (Chuang & Kuo, 2013).

2.3 DISCUSSION

We have seen from the review above that sophisticated tools in general, and digital storytelling in particular, can be applied in the teaching and learning process to take students’ interest and motivate both teachers’ and students’. In teaching English, speaking, teachers’ can used this digital storytelling as a strategy to construct their students’ the usage of language interactively by give a decent respon to the students due to it is the act of utilizing to tell stories. The students’ also can learn while they are listening to the others or audio, giving an opinion by their point of views, and retelling the story in front of the class. In addition they are supposed to make a creative digital story telling based on their experience creatively. So they can appreciate the learning procedure and will not get boared.

The provided audio and combinations of pictures will examine students’ listening skills and attract they are interest so they can grasp the story content handily, besides it will enrich they are vocabularies and pronunciations. As a result of listening practices with the aid of digital storytelling they will produce the ability of speaking by presenting their point of views of the story or picture and retelling it in front of the class. In this stage, students’ will also build their self confidence and bravery.

It is conceivable too to take another advantages of digital storytelling in learning speaking by creating stories based on students’ experiences or to recount events. In order to conduct the situation, students’ may utilize authentic photos, daily paper features, their own audio voices, and other accessible materials to make a story that adds depth and meaning to story. In the end, they present their own digital story to their friends.

3. CONCLUSSION

Digital story telling is a sophisticated and newest teaching strategy for teacher to interact with students in learning speaking. Besides, students are engaged in the activity of the classroom that creates pleased atmosphere. Furthermore, Students actively provide an opinion on the subject. In line with, students able to give opinions cognitively and affectively, without being afraid of whether this opinion is right or wrong.

Students actively explore a topic, based on the perspective they have about the content of text. In this case, the students learn to take a stand especially when they have a different opinion. Hence, applying this kind of method able to promote the students speaking ability.so that they will take into speaking as enjoyable thing to learn.Simply, it can be concluded that digital storytelling is an effective strategy to promote students speaking fluency. This has a same consentient with  Chuang & Kuo  thatthis digital storytelling has strongly suggested by the researcher as one of instructions tool which can boost students’ four skills including speaking (Chuang & Kuo, 2013).

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