Digital Storytelling, Communication Anxiety, and English Learning Motivation Among Indonesian EFL Students: A Pre–Post Intervention Study
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Objective: This study examined changes in communication anxiety and English learning motivation among Indonesian university EFL students after an eight-week Toontastic-based digital storytelling intervention.
Methods and Materials: This exploratory pre-experimental study used a one-group pretest–posttest design. Participants were 60 EFL students aged 18–22 years from a private university in East Java, Indonesia, selected through convenience sampling. The intervention involved eight weeks of digital storytelling activities using Toontastic, including story exploration, brainstorming, plot development, script writing, voice recording through animated characters, and digital story production. Communication anxiety and L2 motivation were measured using selected items from Peng and Woodrow’s Willingness to Communicate Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, and Cohen’s d effect sizes.
Findings: Communication anxiety decreased across all six anxiety items after the intervention, especially in spontaneous speaking, oral presentations, and formal discussions. All anxiety changes were statistically significant (p < 0.001), although effect sizes were very small to small (d = −0.09 to −0.22). English learning motivation increased across all 12 motivation items, with all pre–post differences statistically significant (p<0.001). Most motivational effects were small, while one item reached a moderate effect size (d = 0.55), particularly reflecting identity-related and intrinsic motivation gains.
Conclusion: Toontastic-based digital storytelling was associated with reduced communication anxiety and increased English learning motivation among EFL students. However, given the one-group design and small anxiety effects, findings should be interpreted as preliminary evidence.
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