IMPACT OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING ON THE LISTENING SKILLS OF YOUNG LEARNERS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, NIGERIA

This study investigated the impact of digital storytelling on the listening skills of young learners in English Language education in the North Central Zone, Nigeria. A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was adopted. The target population comprised pre-primary and primary school pupils in the Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State. A sample of 145 pupils comprising 60 pupils in the experimental group (exposed to digital storytelling) and 85 pupils in the control group (exposed to traditional methods) was selected using a simple random sampling technique. Morrow’s (1986) 10-Point Scale for Retelling Analysis was used as the primary instrument for pretesting and posttesting. Data collected were analyzed using Mean and Standard Deviation to answer the research questions, while One-Way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive results revealed that the experimental group achieved a substantial mean gain score of 4.67 (moving from a pretest mean of 3.45 to a posttest mean of 8.12), whereas the control group achieved a mean gain score of only 1.66 (moving from a pretest mean of 3.52 to a posttest mean of 5.18). The inferential analysis confirmed a highly significant difference in the posttest listening scores of the two groups, F(1,142)=253.41,p<0.001, in favour of the experimental group. Based on these findings, it was concluded that digital storytelling is a highly effective pedagogical tool for improving young learners' listening comprehension and narrative retelling abilities. The study recommended among other things, that the Ministry of Education and school administrators integrate digital storytelling tools into the primary school English Language curriculum and organize continuous professional development training for teachers on multimedia instructional delivery.