Promoting Vocabulary Building, Learning Motivation, and Cultural Identity Representation through Digital Storytelling for Young Indonesian Learners of English as a Foreign Language

Digital Storytelling (DST) is a globally accepted approach in teaching English. However, in the Indonesian EFL context, little attention has been paid to DST as a pedagogical approach, particularly its potential to create a bridge betweenthe students’ primary culture and that of English cultures. We report on how DST helped Indonesian junior-schoolstudents make meaning in English through a local culture-based DST narrative project. As part of a case studyapproach, we used various qualitative data collection methods, including focus group interviews, students' reflectivejournals, classroom observations, and the DST product itself. Finally, multimodal transcription and thematic contentanalysis were used to interpret the data. The study shows that the digital story is an effective tool to express thestudents' identity and make meaning through their local culture stories. Participating in these activities alsoincreased student motivation. Working collaboratively in a group helped them to make meaning and focus on topicsthat resonated with them personally, reduced stress, and allowed them to focus on communication. Drawing ontheir local culture also assisted to build a bridge between the familiar lexical content and terminology and the lessfamiliar English cultural content and vocabulary, resulting in enhanced engagement and achievement in English.Practically,