Designing transmedia storytelling as an education model in foreign language teaching

Abstract

Transmedia storytelling, which positions individuals as narrative creators while encouraging participatory culture and simultaneously as productive consumers, has gained significant educational momentum in recent years following its success in the publishing industry. Recognizing these opportunities, this article aims to devise a transmedia educational framework focusing on a more specialized area such as foreign language teaching, and to evaluate the impact of this model on language skills development. The study group consisted of 29 students enrolled in a B2 preparatory Turkish language class at a state university in Turkey during the 2023-2024 academic year. Over the 6-week implementation period, activities designed within a transmedia educational environment were implemented in the experimental group (n = 15), while activities from the existing B2 Turkish study book were used in the control group (n = 14). The quantitative analysis of the research revealed a significant disparity in the post-test scores between the experimental and control groups. Observational data suggest that the foreign language teaching process based on transmedia storytelling enhances students' literacy skills in the target language, fosters both cognitive and affective skills during language acquisition. Additionally, students' diverse cultural backgrounds serve as a rich resource for collaboratively shaping the narrative, and the enjoyment derived from activities supports language learning by increasing motivation. The connections between quantitative and qualitative findings enhance our understanding of the opportunities foreign language learners can gain in a transmedial educational environment and how these educational environments should be designed.