DIGITAL STORYTELLING AS ENGLISH WRITING PRACTICE: CHALLENGES FACED BY EFL STUDENTS

Digital storytelling, as the new development of traditional storytelling involving various media, is currently becoming one of the methods of teaching and learning English that is applicable in many schools. This method is suitable for the development of the four English language skills namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This study aimed to find the EFL students' perspectives toward Digital Storytelling (DST) focusing on the benefits and challenges students experience regarding their English writing. A descriptive design with a qualitative study is applied. To obtain the data, the researchers conducted observations and interviews. The data was then summarized and elaborated systematically. Based on the findings, the researchers found the three challenges the EFL students experience while creating digital storytelling in writing, namely: inadequate knowledge of grammar, brainstorming ideas to write, and sentence construction. Students agreed that their inconsistency, errors, lack of exposure, and unfamiliarity with the writing process all contributed to the challenges. This study also discovered that students viewed digital storytelling as beneficial to their education as it helps them practice using English in written forms and critical thinking skills. In conclusion, the use of digital storytelling-based tasks for EFL students is advantageous. This study will provide students, teachers, and future researchers with valuable insight to enhance language acquisition.