A Case Study on the Educational Effectiveness of Online English Content Using the Storytelling Learning Method: Focusing on Students’ Perceptions and Opinions

1) Survey Question

The survey consisted of questions about the effectiveness of the online English content to which the SLM was applied, and questions about the extent to which the students felt their English skills had improved as a result of the course. The first question was to find out whether this course was helpful in learning English. More specifically, it was to find out which English skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary and phrases, sentence structure, understanding context, etc.) were felt to have improved the most after taking this course. The last question was designed to find out whether the continuous study of a film over 15 weeks was satisfactory and whether the SLM helped students to become interested and engaged in the class. The questions included in the questionnaire are listed in Table 1.

Table 1.

Survey Question

2) The Online Content: Learning English Through Film

(2) Lecture Organization

The Learning English through Film course consisted of 15 weeks. Week 8 was replaced by a midterm without a lecture, and week 15 was also replaced by a final exam without a lecture. Therefore, the actual lecture took place in week 13. As shown in Table 2 below, the weekly lesson plan consists of 1st period (Period 1) Warm Up (25 minutes), 2nd period (Period 2) Build Up (25 minutes), and 3rd period (Period 3) Practice & Review (25 minutes). It has been produced as a 75 minute lesson.

Table 2.

Lesson Plan

In the 1st period [Warm Up], students watch the YouTube video they will be studying that day, understand the theme, situation and message of the video, and have time to exercise their imagination by adding their own thoughts to the unfolding story. Students also practice listening and speaking in English. In the 2nd period [Build Up], the text of the video watched in the first period is studied in detail. Students learn related vocabulary with context, understand sentence structure, learn grammar and key phrases naturally, and practice reading and writing. In addition, by adding synonyms and antonyms of key vocabulary words that appear in the video text, an average of 20 new words and 15 phrases (idioms) are learned each week. In the 3rd lesson [Practice & Review], students watch the YouTube video again to understand the vocabulary and phrases learned in the second lesson and to solve problems in the given mission video (filling in the blanks, interpreting in Korean, writing in English, etc.). To solve the problem, practice by watching the given video several times. Simulation education through mission videos is an example of promoting interaction between students and learning content. Through this activity, students practice listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English equally, and use English expressions and phrases appropriate to the situation. By learning, they can develop skills that can be used in real life.

(3) Lecture Content (Learning Through the Story of the Film)

This course covers one film over the course of 13 weeks. The reason why movies were chosen as teaching materials is because they are the optimal choice for applying storytelling learning methods. In particular, I chose a movie based on a touching human drama with a dog as the main character, so that learners could participate in the class with a sense of intimacy. In thematically organized classes based on storytelling techniques, learners are immersed in the situations (stories) that the main character faces each week and are made to wait for next week’s class by arousing curiosity about what will happen next.

To inspire learners to understand, remember, and take action, the effectiveness of storytelling was maximised by using a heart-warming human drama film, A Dog’s Way Home, featuring a dog as the protagonist. From the first to the fifteenth week, students studied interrelated stories that revolved around a central theme (the story) to encourage them to remember the overall weekly narrative, events, situations and thoughts of the protagonist. Throughout the course, learners become highly motivated as they unite around the desire to save the main character, Bella the dog. Building on the power of storytelling, students cultivate the habit of learning English through context. For example, being surrounded by hyenas in the mountains, being unfairly arrested by the police, in an avalanche, or falling alone in starvation can be the point of antagonism. The lesson topics constructed based on this are shown in Table 3 (see Appendix).

Table 3.

Lesson Topics

As shown in Table 3, the story shows the obstacles (antagonists) that bother the protagonist everywhere. The inability to raise Bella in Denver because she is classified as a pit bull terrier; wild beasts besieging her in the mountains; an avalanche; a homeless man trying to rope Bella to his side; a car accident on the highway; and reappearing the animal care worker and police officers drive viewers to save her. On the other hand, in the midst of such a crisis, the images of Bella and Big Kitten, who are happy rolling in the snow, win the hearts of viewers. The friendship and love between animals and the communion between humans and animals are the forces that lead the whole story. In the scene where Bella is finally embraced by her master Lucas, the audience enjoys the climax of joy and tells the story.

1) Online Lectures or Face-to-Face Lectures: Which is More Helpful for Learning English?

As shown in Table 4, the first question asked which method, online lectures or face-to-face lectures at school, was more helpful for learning English. Students were asked to choose one of three options. Out of a total of 1,024 respondents, 817 students chose the “Online lectures,” 142 students chose the “Face-to-face lectures,” and 65 students chose “Both.” Around 80% of respondents (or 817 people) said that online lectures were more for learning English. Students highlighted the advantage of being able to adjust the playback speed to suit their individual pace, allowing them to thoroughly understand the content by reviewing the lectures several times. They also mentioned that repeated listening helped them to understand difficult parts that they initially struggled with. In addition, they expressed their willingness to attend online lectures again if given the opportunity in the future. On the other hand, 14% of students, or 142 students, said that they found face-to-face lectures more for learning English. Their reasoning was that languages, including English, are best learned and remembered through real-life use. They felt that simply reading and talking to themselves without face-to-face interaction did not have the same impact on their memory. They suggested that engaging in dialogue with classmates, such as practising lines from films together, would be a more effective approach. Although the face-to-face classes offered the advantage of being able to talk to their peers, they made it clear that this did not mean that the online classes were not helpful. One of the students shared that the online format had proved when he was unwell, as it allowed flexibility in terms of time constraints. He also highlighted the benefit of being able to review the material as many times as he needed. 6% (65 students) of the students replied that both online and offline classes seemed to be helpful for learning because of their different advantages. They replied that face-to-face classes are good because they can focus more on the situation with their fellow students, while online classes are good because they can easily study English in their free time using their mobile phones without time and space constraints.

Table 4.

Online Lectures vs. Face-to-Face Lectures

In a study of foreign students’ experiences of non-face-to-face Korean language classes, Kim (2020) found that they preferred real-time online classes using Zoom. Kim (2020) conducted research on foreign students’ experience of real-time online teaching during COVID-19. Students initially found the online teaching method inconvenient, but soon adapted. They struggled to prepare for group presentations but improved their Korean language skills. The benefits of real-time online classes included active interaction, immediate feedback, and a preference for video lectures for reading and writing and online classes for discussions and presentations.

This finding is consistent with previous studies that have confirmed the effectiveness of audiovisual (video) materials as a valuable learning method in educational settings. For example, lots of research has reported on the advantages of teaching with audiovisual materials (Lee, 2006; Lee, 2011; Choi, 2012; Jung & Kim, 2012; Kim, 2018).

In particular, because films can be effective for students who are familiar with computers and multimedia games, it was suggested that films have various educational benefits when applied to practical arts. It was believed that through films, learners could acquire knowledge, values and culture from real life, stimulate motivation and gain indirect experience. In a study conducted by Choi (2012), the significance of incorporating video content in educational settings was emphasized, along with an examination of college students’ understanding of the purpose and approach of utilizing video content for teaching, and their recognition of the connection between video-based instruction and the enhancement of logical reasoning abilities. Through in-depth interviews with college students, the findings revealed that they viewed video content as an engaging instructional method that facilitated comprehension of lecture materials and provided valuable opportunities to explore real-life phenomena and practical examples in the media domain. It was also reported that “the use of video content is recognised as a very effective learning method that can improve students’ logical abilities” (Choi, 2012, p. 173). Kim (2018) proposed a plan to develop listening textbooks to help learners improve their listening skills by taking advantage of video media, which is highly preferred by learners and arouses their curiosity and interest. As the use of video content in education becomes increasingly important, the importance of strategically planned online educational content is highlighted.

2) Which Skills Do You Think Have Improved the Most?

As can be seen in Table 5, when asked which skills were particularly improved by the course (they were asked to choose only one of the seven options), the most common responses were “Listening” and “Contextual understanding.” These accounted for 336 students and 316 students respectively. The next highest response was for improvement in “Grammatical structures” with 130 students. “Speaking” was also mentioned by 90 students. The same number of students, 59 each, reported an improvement in “Writing” and “Vocabulary.” In addition, 34 students reported an improvement in “Reading” skills. In percentage, 33% (336 students) stated that their “Listening” skills improved the most after taking the course. Given the focus of the course on English with videos, this seems to have played a significant role in improving students’ listening skills. Students who reported the greatest improvement in listening explained that activities such as watching films, listening to native speakers and practising shadowing with videos had contributed greatly to their progress. In particular, one student mentioned that the mission video section in the third lesson was particularly helpful, leading to a 200 point increase in his recent TOEIC test score.

Table 5.

Which Skills Have Improved the Most?

It is encouraging to note that 31% (316 students) reported a significant improvement in their “Contextual understanding” skills. This is a testament to the effectiveness of SLM, which was the primary learning method used in this study. In addition, 12% (130 students) reported an improvement in “Grammatical structures,” while 9% (90 students) experienced an improvement in “Speaking” skills. Among the students, 6% (59 students) identified “Writing” skills and “Vocabulary” skills as the areas that showed the most improvement. Although “Reading” skills received the lowest percentage at 3% (34 students), this does not mean that reading comprehension did not improve. Rather, it was overshadowed by other choices due to the constraint of selecting only one of the seven options provided. It is worth noting that students’ selection of different skills, regardless of the percentage, indicates the effectiveness of each skill offered in the course. For example, a student who selected “Speaking” skills as the most improved area explained: “I chose ‘Speaking’ skills because I not only learnt basic grammar, but also acquired a range of colloquial expressions and phrases which greatly improved my ability to communicate in everyday life.”

3) What was the Most Helpful Part of the Curriculum?

As shown in Table 6, when asked which of the curriculum was most helpful, 110 students (11%) said that the 1st Period (Warm Up: Watching videos) was the most helpful. 394 students (38%) indicated that the 2nd Period (Build Up: Reading the script) was the most helpful, while 520 students (51%) indicated that the 3rd Period (Practice & Review: Pattern practice through mission videos) was the most helpful. More than half of the students chose the 3rd Period. Students who felt that the 3rd Period was the most helpful commented: “It was good to be able to review the main content learnt that week by watching the simulation video several times and solving problems”, “It was fun to be able to participate actively in carrying out tasks such as filling in the blanks, dictating, interpreting phrases and sentences, etc.” It was effective for them to be able to participate actively in the class by concentrating on the lesson and practising repeatedly to solve problems in the third. They also commented that “the 3rd Period was because it served to review and integrate what had been learnt in the 1st and 2nd Periods, allowing the content learnt that week to remain in the mind for a long time.” Students who said that the 2nd Period was most helpful said “I was able to understand the situation in the film by watching the lines in the film and reading the script. In particular, I learnt grammar and key phrases related to the lines in the film and how to use grammar in context”, “It was easy to understand what was going on.” Students who responded that the 1st Period was the most helpful said, “Because it was at the beginning of the lecture, when concentration was highest, I was able to understand a lot of the content” and, “I also liked the time I had to imagine while previewing the videos I would learn that week.”

Table 6.

The Most Helpful Part of the Curriculum

From these results we can see the effect of the step-by-step structure of the lesson. In the 1st Period, the students watch a YouTube video as an introduction. There is no explanation of the video script or content at this point. This is a time for students to watch videos on their own, to learn what they will be learning that week and to think about what kind of story will unfold. In the 2nd Period, students read the script (text) of the video they watched in the 1st Period, sentence by sentence, and learn expressions such as relevant vocabulary and key phrases. In the 3rd Period, students watch the video they watched in the 1st Period again and review the vocabulary and key phrases they learned in the 2nd Period. They then watch and listen to the simulation video again to practise the vocabulary or phrases they need to learn this week. Through this process, students learn listening, reading, speaking, writing, grammatical structures, vocabulary and the ability to understand context. As a result, students will be able to improve their critical thinking skills to understand and compose the whole story, which is the aim of this course, learn English vocabulary in context, and understand the structure of English sentences and the meaning implied between the lines. It will also promote a broad understanding of the lifestyle and culture of English-speaking countries and consolidate a foundation in the humanities. In addition, learners will improve their ability to express themselves in English, be able to use English with confidence in real life situations, and become global citizens in an era of globalisation.

1) Has SLM Helped You Learn English?

As shown in Table 7, out of 1,024 students, 778 students responded that it was helpful. However, none of the students chose “No” or “Don’t (I am not sure it helped).” In other words, no student gave a negative opinion. The reason why only 778 students answered this question is probably because the question about whether this course based on SLM was helpful was repeated (overlapping with question 2 in Section 3) and students skipped it without answering. All 778 students who responded answered in the affirmative. They felt that SLM’s focus on Bella’s story helped them to learn English. One student said: “The way I used to learn English was to interpret given sentences like a machine. But when I tried to break away from that and understand sentences with stories in a chain, I forgot that I was learning English and naturally approached English with my own will because I wanted to understand the next content. I was interested in this method of learning and found it very helpful.” Another student said: “I think the storytelling method helped me to learn English. Even if there were words I didn’t know in the lines, it wasn’t difficult to understand the context because there was a story and the lines came to mind, which helped me remember words and grammar.” Another student said: “I found it more interesting because it focused on Bella’s story. I was curious to see what happened next and it was easy to empathise with this animal because we see it so often. Because the story was simple and straightforward, it was easier to concentrate on Bella and it was really good for concentrating in class. It was great and helpful to understand the context. I think the storytelling method of learning is very helpful for students who are relatively uninterested in English,” he said, explaining why it was helpful. Another student said: “Because I learned English through storytelling rather than simple memorisation, the process of learning English was not boring and all the classes I took during the semester were fun. Perhaps because it was a story-centred class, I felt that it was stored in my mind as long-term memory rather than short-term memory. So in other classes I don’t tend to remember much of the material covered before the midterm, but that wasn’t the case in this class, so I was really impressed.” From the students’ responses, as mentioned in the previous section, it can be seen that the SLM stimulated the students’ interest in learning, helped them to understand the context and helped them to remember the learning in the long term. Through this study we were able to diagnose the effectiveness of the SLM.

Table 7.

Has SLM Been Helpful?

These results are also consistent with the research findings of Gu et al. (2009), a study that induced problemsolving skills by using storytelling to enhance learning motivation. Gu et al. (2009) developed a programming learning design and support system that induces motivation and problem-solving skills by combining problem-based learning and storytelling as a strategy to increase motivation for elementary programming classes. In addition, Jung and Kim (2012) demonstrated the effectiveness of language learning through storytelling in their study. The study examined the impact of storytelling English classes on primary school students’ listening and speaking skills, interest in English, and attitudes towards learning. The results showed that students in storytelling classes showed significant improvements in listening and speaking skills compared to those in traditional textbook classes. Their interest in English and their attitude to learning also increased significantly. These findings highlight the positive effects of storytelling as a teaching method for developing language skills and fostering a positive learning environment. The study also emphasises the importance of integrating storytelling into the primary English curriculum.

2) Were You Curious About the Story’s Unfolding in the Next Session?

Based on the data presented in Table 8, out of a total of 1,024 students surveyed, 943 students indicated that they were curious. None of the students answered “No.” It is possible that the response rate of only 943 students is due to the overlap between the question about curiosity about the story of the next session and question 2 in section 3, resulting in some students skipping the question without giving an answer. It is worth noting that all 943 students who responded to this question (100%) expressed their anticipation for the next lesson because they were curious about what would happen next. Examples of student opinions are as follows “It felt like watching a drama. As the story unfolds around the content, the immersion improves and I wait with curiosity to see what next week’s content will be,” “It was much more interesting than a typical English lecture,” “I was curious to see how the next story would unfold. Instead of a boring and uniform class, this storytelling learning method helped me learn English because I was able to kill three birds with one stone—learning, emotion and fun—through the content of films, especially films with humanistic content,” “I was so absorbed that I even thought the class time was too short,” “The storytelling learning method made me curious about the content to be taught next week, and I was more interested and engaged than in other classes because it was interesting and fun.”

Table 8.

Curious About Next Session?

3) Would You Like to Study Different Films Each Week Instead of This Course?

As shown in Table 9, out of 1,024 students, 608 students (59%) responded that it would be better to cover one film over the course of 15 weeks, as in this course. 272 students (27%) responded that it would be better to cover different films each week. 112 students (11%) answered that it would be ideal to watch about 2 different films before and after the midterm. And 32 students (3%) responded that both options would be good or that they were not sure which one would be better.

Table 9.

Different Films Each Week?

The following is an example of the opinions of students who responded to the above question by saying that it was a good idea to study one film per semester. “Studying the plot elements of the film one by one over the course of a semester allowed me to immerse myself in the film and understand the content in depth. I got so much out of just one film. But if I went through a different film every week, the learning flow or content was interrupted. I think it is very likely that only the surface will be known,” “I think it would be better to concentrate on one film and do it as a class. I think that if we cover a different film every week, the quality of the work will be low because the time is limited,” “If you do a different film every week, the disadvantage is that the story doesn’t continue. That’s why I think it’s better to cover only one film,” “For the sake of immersion, I think it is better to cover only one film,” “I’m also in favour of covering one film over 15 weeks for the sake of continuity.”

On the other hand, the opinions of the students who thought it would be good to teach with a different film each week were as follows. “I think there are many students in this class who are interested in films themselves. Therefore, if they can watch a variety of films, their interest and concentration will increase significantly. Also, I think that the variety of genres can play a big role in arousing interest,” “I was satisfied with this course, but if I had to choose between the two, I think it would be better to cover a different film every week. The reason for this is that I thought that if only one film was covered, students who had seen the film in advance might be relatively less interested. In my case, I had never seen the film covered in this class before, so I came to the class with interest, but I think other students might think differently from me. Therefore, I think that learning English through different films will help to arouse students’ interest and at the same time learn more diverse expressions.”

Students who thought it would be good to study one film for 15 weeks talked about the benefits of story continuity. On the other hand, students who thought it would be good to study with a different film every week thought it would be good to cover a variety of films in terms of interest and fun. In any case, we can see that even these different opinions agree that learning English through films that maximise the storytelling effect was very effective.

1) How Much Do You Think This Course Has Improved Your English?

In response to this question, as shown in Table 10, 628 students answered “Much improved,” 116 students answered “Improved,” and 280 students answered their English improved to an “Average level.” No students answered “Not much improved” or “not Improved at all.” The majority of students (62%) reported a significant improvement, while 11% reported improvement, and 27% reported an average level of improvement. As a result of this course, 62% of students said that their English had improved significantly. Examples of student responses: “This course has been very helpful. I have improved so much that I can now communicate in English in real life,” “My TOEIC test score increased by 200 points,” “Especially my English listening and speaking skills have improved and I have gained the joy of learning English with ease,” “I have gained confidence in English,” “My English listening and reading skills have improved. In particular, I could feel that my memorising skills had improved significantly because I memorised English by thinking about the content of the film rather than just cramming it in,” “I felt much more comfortable with English after doing this course,” “I always had the burden of understanding and remembering the English I learned, but because I learned it by watching films, I didn’t feel uncomfortable, so I felt I could continue to study English on my own in the future,” “It was a course that allowed me to become familiar with the English language, and I think my English writing skills improved a little by speaking up even when I made mistakes.” Most of the 11% of students who answered “Improved” and 27% of students who answered “Average” gave a positive response, humbly stating that their English skills had improved through this course.

Table 10.

How Much Improved?

2) How Has This SLM-Based Course Helped You Improve Your English?

This question was asked: Has this SLM-based course helped you to improve your English? If so, in what way. The responses to this question were “I attended with great anticipation (excitement),” “I immersed myself with interest (involvement),” “It helped me understand the context,” “It helped me remember English words and expressions,” and “It was not much different from other courses.” As shown in Table 11, 33% (n = 334) of students responded that they were enthusiastic about attending weekly classes, and 25% (n = 259) of students responded that they immersed themselves in the course because it was fun. 22% (n = 226) of students responded that this course helped them understand the context, and 20% (n = 205) of students responded that it helped them remember English words or phrases. Fortunately, no one chose the negative answer “not much difference.”

Table 11.

Enhanced Language Skills