Effects of Digital Shot Stories on the Development of Listening Skills: An Action Research

The present research aimed to find out whether digital short stories can improve language learners' listening skills. The purpose of this study was to figure out student teachers' perceptions of digital short stories' implementation into language classrooms. Specifically, the current research aimed to investigate whether digital short stories are useful to develop language learners' listening skills in English. The research is action research in design. The study used pretest and post-test, a written structured interview to collect data and it included both quantitative and qualitative components. The interview consisted of six open-ended questions. Achievement tests and t-test were used to analyse quantitative data. On the other hand, content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. The data were collected in 2016-2017 academic years at a state university, Turkey. Participants were preparatory class students of English language teaching department of the university. In the treatment process, digital short stories were used for eight weeks, which were written by various famous American authors and voice recorded by American native speakers of English. Additionally, weekly worksheets and hand-outs were prepared by the researcher. Results showed that digital short stories provide satisfactory content, supports vocabulary learning, improves language learners' listening skills, helps participants to gain familiarity with complex grammar structures and makes students more familiar with different cultures. Furthermore, participants were satisfied with digital short stories and they thought these digital stories are useful to improve their listening skills.