The Aesthetics of Storybird to Replace the TraditionalPen and Paper for Writing English Essays

Abstract

The initiatives of the Malaysian Ministry of Education in
elevating the quality of education in Malaysia had been outlined in the
National Education Blueprint (2013 – 2025) and the Blueprint for Higher
Institution (2015-2025). One of them is to equip students with the 21st
century skills to incorporate more of Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning process in order to
improve the quality of students’ learning experience in the classroom
which is in line with the millenials’ attraction towards visual appeal. This
study aims to identify the students’ perception on the usage of an ICT
tool called Storybird and their thoughts on the visuals and to identify the
preference of students between the digital approach and the conventional
approach in writing an English essay in the ESL writing classroom. Two
essay tests were carried out and a questionnaire was used as the
instrument in this study. A total of 18 respondents in a private university
college in Malaysia participated in this study.