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Extremely virtual and incredibly physical

Investigating language students’ mediation strategies through digital storytelling and digital social reading

ORCID logo | Ca’ Foscari UniversityVenice
| Ca’ Foscari UniversityVenice
Digital mediation strategies are key soft skills to develop amongst students as they prepare to interact in increasingly collaborative settings, socially and professionally. Defined as a set of communication strategies deployed to reach mutual agreement over a dispute, mediation enables students’ cooperation in task-based language teaching settings. However, there is an absence of research investigating learning practices in digital social spaces that allow students to develop mediation strategies while using foreign languages to achieve group task goals. In this article, we will outline and compare the results of two case studies exploring the interaction potential of digital educational activities: Digital Storytelling and Digital Social Reading. The analysis of students’ multimodal conversations during the activities shows that while there are intrinsic interactional affordances related to the technologies (StoryMaps, izi.Travel, ThingLink, Immerse and Glose for Education) used in educational contexts, fostering students’ mediation strategies was only feasible through a sound instructional methodology. Starting from the data analysis, pedagogical implications are drawn to help language teachers implement virtual technologies to boost students’ digital mediation strategies to act successfully in their professional and social lives. Considerations include pre-activity tech and strategy training and the integration of asynchronous and synchronous moments of reflection. Further discussion pertains to creating a community of practice collaborating to understand tool usability for attaining activity goals.
Keywords: digital storytelling, digital social reading, virtual reality, mediation strategies
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1The affordances of immersive technologies for foreign language learning
    • 2.2An overview of mediation strategies developed through DST and DSR
  • 3.Research methodology
    • 3.1Case study 1 (DSR)
      • Research context & Participants
      • Pedagogical framework, activity design, and digital tools
    • Case study 2 (DST)
      • Research context & participants
      • Pedagogical framework, activity design, and digital tools
    • 3.3Procedures of data analysis
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Analysis of case study 1
    • 4.2Analysis of Case study 2
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Limitations
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Aknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
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