This research investigates the potential of digital storytelling as an innovative multimodal approach to enhancing the writing skills of children with dyslexia. Dyslexia, characterised by significant challenges in word recognition, decoding, spelling, and phonological processing, presents substantial barriers to traditional literacy acquisition and writing proficiency (Frith, 2002). Situated within a socio-cultural theoretical framework and guided by the "not so simple view of writing" (Berninger and Winn, 2006), this study examines digital storytelling through both product and process perspectives. Employing a single-subject (A-B) research design (Wery and Diliberto, 2017; Lim and Oei, 2015) with a mixed-method approach, qualitative and quantitative data were systematically gathered and analysed to assess operational (linguistic and technological skills), cultural (socio-cultural meaning-making), and critical (reflective thinking) dimensions of digital literacies (Green et al., 2016; Colvert , 2015). The study uniquely incorporates students’ voices, aligning with social constructionist principles emphasising active student engagement and socially mediated learning. Results highlight digital storytelling’s efficacy in addressing writing challenges while simultaneously fostering cultural and critical behaviours. This study contributes to inclusive education discourse by demonstrating how multimodal digital storytelling writing significantly enhances both the writing abilities and educational experiences of students with dyslexia.
Keywords: Digital storytelling , dyslexia, writing skills, cultural behaviours, critical learning
REFERENCES
[1] Berninger, V. W., & Winn, W. D. (2006). Implications of advancements in brain research and technology for writing development, writing instruction, and educational evolution. In C. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 96–114). The Guilford Press.
[2] Colvert, A. (2015). Ludic authorship: Reframing literacies through peer-to-peer alternate reality game design in the primary classroom (Doctoral dissertation). University College London, Institute of Education.
Frith, U. (2002). Resolving the paradoxes of dyslexia. In Dyslexia and literacy: Theory and practice.
[3] Green, B., Beavis, C., & Muspratt, S. (2016). Literacy education and the digital: Approaches and opportunities in a multimodal world. In Literacy in 3D. Australian Council for Educational Research.
[4] Lim, L., & Oei, A. C. (2015). Reading and spelling gains following one year of Orton Gillingham intervention in Singaporean students with dyslexia. British Journal of Special Education, 42(4), 374–389. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8578.12104
[5] Wery, J. J., & Diliberto, J. A. (2017). The effect of a specialized dyslexia font, OpenDyslexic, on reading rate and accuracy. Annals of Dyslexia, 67, 114–127.
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