Multimodal Digital Storytelling as Literacy Learning and Moral Cultivation Practices for University EFL Students

This study examines how first-year English majors in a Chinese university engage with a theme-based multimodal digital storytelling (DST) project with the assistance of computers or helpful digital devices, their perceptions of the process, and its impact on their literacy skills and moral development. The study also explores how individual and collaborative traits emerge in students’ digital literacy practices and whether these contribute to their moral construction or reconstruction. This study explores the potential of digital storytelling to support moral development and improve literacy skills among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. By applying the concept of transmediation, the study examines how students transfer meanings across different semiotic modes—images, video, audio, and text—through creative and critical engagement. The study found that students positively participated in creating digital stories by promoting critical thinking and decision-making abilities. These English majors’ print-based literacy skills, including reading, speaking, writing, translation, and digital literacy proficiency, such as composing multimodal digital texts, all improved. Students’ social responsibility and commitment to building a harmonious shared future have also been inspired. Future research could investigate EFL learners’ decision-making, identity construction or reconstruction, as well as peer assessment processes and outcomes, during their digital story creation or modification processes.