Understanding how young learners self-regulate English learning through scaffolding digital storytelling

Self-regulated learning (SRL) has been demonstrated to be an effective strategy for acquiring language skills, both in physical classrooms and in virtual learning environments. Digital storytelling (DST), as an emerging instructional approach, integrates audio, text, and visual artifacts to facilitate language expression and communication. The present study investigates the impact of combining these two methods into a pedagogy, self-regulated digital storytelling (SRDST), for scaffolding students’ English language learning. Using a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-tests, 110 fourth-grade students were assigned to either an experimental group (which received SRDST instruction) or a control group. The results from one-way ANCOVA and paired samples t-test analyses indicate that the SRDST pedagogy significantly improved students’ English academic performance. Furthermore, the approach enhanced students’ SRL abilities across all three phases: forethought, performance, and reflection. With appropriate guidance and scaffolding, young learners demonstrated a clear willingness to reflect on both their own work and their learning strategies. Future research should focus on optimizing the cognitive load within the SRDST framework to simultaneously foster English proficiency and digital literacy. Further exploration is also needed to examine how this pedagogy can be adapted to address learner diversity and to understand teachers’ perceptions and implementation challenges. (198 words)