Long before there were computers, movies, radios, or even books, there were storytellers. For generations, stories have been used to entertain, inform or impart morals and social values. As new and emerging technologies provide us with boundless potentials, many stories are told in multimedia format.The Digital Storytelling Association (2002) describes this as "the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling." Digital storytelling uses a computer to create narratives that are personal but meant to reach a broad audience. Such stories may involve a variety of multimedia elements – text with hyperlinks, still images, video clips, music and more – and a choice of delivery methods including the World Wide Web and CD-ROM” (Kahn and Coburn, 1998).Language classroom is the perfect place to rekindle the tradition of storytelling enhanced by digital technology. FM Magic is designed to enliven the classroom environment and make EFL learning interesting, authentic and interactive for students.

Theoretical Perspectives
The pedagogical perspectives that form the theoretical basis of FM Magic include the enhancement of literacy development by stories, constructive approach to education and positive learning environment. We will examine the effectiveness of FM Magic program in light of these theories.

For years, research (Durkin, 1966; Cochran-Smith, 1984; and Teale, 1981) has indicated that reading aloud and storytelling play important roles in children’s lives and literacy development. Davis (2004) says good traditional oral tales are highly sophisticated teaching instruments, instructing on many levels at once. Oral stories provide a foundation for literacy. They develop and refine learners’ speaking and listening skills. They enrich learners’ vocabulary and familiarize them with language patterns and story structures. They motivate reading by making language intimate, joyful and meaningful. They allow listeners to experience intimately the culture and humanity of peoples from all over the world. They stir imagination and strengthen attention and memory.

These statements apply equally well with language learners as explained by Lazar (1993). She says that literature may be more absorbing for students than the pseudo-narratives frequently found in course books; it provides access to cultural background, encourages language acquisition, expands students’ language awareness, develops students’ interpretative abilities; and it stimulates the imagination of students, develop their critical abilities and increases their emotional awareness. Tsou (2006) and Wan (2005) both suggest that storytelling is a practical and powerful teaching tool, especially for language learning.

Constructivist approach is another theoretical foundation the Program is built on. It indicates that students learn better if they are actively engaged in making the connections between the material and their personal experiences. A significant number of education researchers point to interactive pedagogies, such as cooperative learning and discovery learning, as the most beneficial in aiding students in constructing understanding (DeVries and Zan, 1996; Fosnot, 1989; Gabler and Schroeder, 2003; Kain, 2003; Noel, 2000; Winitzky and Kauchak, 1997). Krashen’s communicative approach to language instruction is also consistent with constructivist theory, in which he suggests that students learn better with comprehensible, authentic and context embedded input.  The Program aims to provide students with authentic learning opportunities.

As learning always takes place in an environment, the idea of carefully designing instruction, varying the formats in which information is presented to students, and building interactive simulations lead naturally to the idea of constructing entire learning environments. In the eighteenth century, Rousseau (1762/1933) argues that the most effective and socially appropriate education arose from a student’s interaction with the natural environment, and Vygotsky (1978) acknowledges the social nature of learning. Technology enhanced learning environment has the potential of simulating the natural environment, providing meaningful connections with the real world, and social interaction of the learners with the Internet. Results from classroom learning environment studies indicate that students’ achievements are likely to improve if attempts are made to make the actual learning environments more congruent with that preferred by students (Fraser and Walberg, 1991). It is essential to see whether the learning environment created by FM Magic program is conducive to language learning for the EFL Japanese students.

Related Studies
Previous studies show that globally there have been increased awareness, efforts, trials and errors among language instructors at all levels on the use of technology and storytelling in their classrooms. Zhao’s (2005) says that the application of technologies can be effective in almost all areas of language education.

Kahn and Coburn (1998) describe several cases where Spanish/English teachers and students communicate, learn and grow by telling personal digital stories. The pride, the emotional release and the satisfaction of having a story well told in a medium once reserved for professionals has an incredibly empowering effect on both its creator and audience. Greene (2000) records the implementation of a CALL (computer assisted language learning) writing course for EFL students at a Japanese technical university, and outlines its theoretical underpinnings and practical limitations, noting that theory and practice often collide.  According to Suh (2002), Korean EFL students thought their computer-mediated writing instruction a helpful tool.

Banaszewski (2002) reports successfully using Apple's iMovie with his fourth and fifth graders to tell digital stories in the classroom. Students tell stories about special places in their lives with images, voices and writing. MacGregor (2002) explores the use of a computer paint program and indicates that children showed greater creative strength in visuals and created more detailed accompanying stories than traditional paper pencil group, and made more revisions in both their visual and written products. Esteller and Sitzer (2003) report a third-grade class using technology to develop and share e-books they created together in an American International School in Romania. Also the results of Tsou’s (2006) study support the significance and education value of a multimedia Storytelling Website on EFL teaching and learning in Taiwan. Green and Youngs (2001) indicates technology-supported independent language learning is as effective as classroom instruction, if not more.

Another area of related studies is the classroom learning environment research, which investigates the relationships between student outcomes and the nature of the classroom environments (Fraser & Fisher, 1982; Fraser, 1994).  The Constructivist Multimedia Learning Environment Survey (CMLES) are used (Maor and Fraser, 2000; Maor, 2002) in schools in Perth,Australia to assess the learning environment while students interacted with science multimedia programs and on-line interactive multimedia programs. The studies focus on science classrooms and the use of technology.  However, few previous studies have been found addressing the impacts of multimedia programs on the learning environment in language classrooms. The authors hope this study will draw language instructors’ and researchers’ attention to these important aspects of our classroom practice.

Literature on Japanese language instruction and the use of technology reveal that in most traditional Japanese university language classrooms, teachers often convey information and students passively receive it. Students do not express their feelings and opinions, nor set their own goals (Kohyama, 2001). The educational system is also, with rare exceptions, equated exclusively with high school and university curricula, teacher-centered (Edwards, 2002).Edwards (2004) calls for English and other foreign languages to be taught in Japan with student-centered approach emphasizing creativity and enjoyment beginning with songs, stories, rhymes, games, plays, sister school exchanges and home-stay programs. This would help create a strong, lifelong self-motivating love of English.  Edwards’ (2002) survey on the state of CALL (computer assisted language learning) in Japan concludes that native speaker teachers (American, Canadian, British, and Australian) use the Internet for a wide variety of personal and work-related purposes (email, research, music, news, etc.) far more than their Japanese colleagues; most school administrators--the key decision-makers in allocating school resources--seem less than enthusiastic about CALL; and cultural, traditional and economic factors are the main barriers for the use of CALL in Japan. Previous studies (Edwards, 2002 and 2004) indicate that teacher-centered approach is used in Japanese language classrooms, and the wide use of CALL is still on the way.

Contexts of the study
FM Magic is the result of collaborations among colleagues from Japan and the USA, who share the belief that the marriage of storytelling with technology will meet the needs of and motivate language learners of the 21st century. Supported by a university initiative to integrate IT in teaching, these professors work together and create FM Magic, a web-based multimedia English program. Although the authors learned English through traditional grammar-translation approach, they want their students to have a different learning experience through the web-based multimedia program. This study is an effort to assess how well the Program achieves this goal. 

Designed for high school and university English as a foreign or second language programs, FM Magic appears as a simulated, pre-recorded Internet radio program consisting of theme-based shows. As with broadcast radio shows, it includes songs, news and weather reports, interviews, commercials, narrated stories and commentaries.The content is original,multimedia-enhanced and created by FM Magic's team of educators, artists, musicians, and media specialists.Each theme-based teaching unit features teacher-developed, pre-recorded, illustrated, or animated writings of various genres; a section for students to write, to narrate and showcase their work; and a Forum for students to exchange ideas using the target language.  Appendix 1 shares sample pages of the Program.

The Foreign Language Program at the university under study consists of 400 English majors. FM Magic is introduced to 79 EFL juniors and seniors,taking an advanced writing course. They meet twice a week for 90 minutes each time. Students’ previous English writing experiences include a freshman writing course taught by non-native English speaking professors. These instructors usually teach English and culture through textbooks. Students typically learn to write through learning about English sentence structures, vocabulary and grammar.They spend time in class translating English sentences into Japanese, analyzing English grammar, and practicing writing English sentences.

Research Questions
To assess the effectiveness of FM Magic and to seek ideas for its improvement, three questions are asked:

1. What are the students’ perceptions of the constructivist multimedia classroom learning environment where FM Magic is implemented?
2. What impact does FM Magic have on the learning of English for these EFL Japanese students?
3. How to refine FM Magic so it will be more conducive to language learning?

Data Collection and Analysis
Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used. The Constructivist Multimedia Learning Environment Survey (CMLES) (Maor, 2002) is adopted and used in this study.  It has thirty questions with the first part of the questionnaire measuring students’ negotiation, inquiry learning and reflective thinking, and the second part measuring students’ reactions to the interactive multimedia program in terms of authenticity, complexity and challenge (Appendix 2, Table 1). At the end of the course, the students are asked to rate the actual demonstration of constructivist characteristics in the classroom on a scale of 1–5 recorded as “Almost Never,” “Seldom,” “Sometimes,” “Often” and “Always.”  Additionally, the Student Open-ended Questionnaire with ten questions (Appendix 2, Table 2) is used to support and refute the findings of the CMLES.

Data were collected during 2004-2005 academic year. Among the 79 participants, 59 (75 percent) returned their surveys. The answers to the questionnaire are examined for emerging themes, while the results from the CMLES are included for analysis and interpretation. The reliability of the results is ensured by using multiple data sources, both a quantitative method (CMLES) and a qualitative method (the Student Open-ended Questionnaire). The validity and reliability of the CMLES instrument were tested and proved by Maor (1999) with teachers and students (Maor, 2002) in previous studies.

Results
The summary and the Table below show the means and grand mean from the CMLES students’ responses.
1. “Learning to Communicate” is rated as 3.9,  a little over “Sometimes.” Students feel the class sometimes allows them to discuss with each other on how to conduct investigations and exchange ideas.
2. “Learning to Investigate” with a score of 3.5 shows that students, to some extent, find out answers to questions by investigation and solve problems on their own.
3. With a 3.5 average for “Learning to Think,” students feel sometimes they have chances to think deeply about their own ideas, new ideas and reflect on learning in the class.
4. The mean score of 3.9 for “Relevance” reflects that students feel above average that the tasks are realistic, representing a wide range of information, and relevant to their lives.
5. Students find the design of the program interesting, fun, and fairly easy to use because they rate this item as 4.1.
6. “Challenge” receives the highest average score, 4.2, on the survey form.  This indicates that the program allows and helps students to generate new ideas and questions.
7. “The grand mean of 3.85 shows students feel above average in general about the items listed on the CMLES.

 Summary Table: CMLES Students’ Responses

Besides the above results from the CMLES, several important themes have emerged from the analysis of the Students Open-ended Questionnaire.

1. New Experience

FM Magic is reported as a new learning experience for many students. None of the participants have had previous online learning experience. In other classes, they learn grammar through textbooks, and are assigned topics to write about. With this Program, they use computers and drawings to create their own stories. They enjoy the freedom and the use of imagination to write their own stories. Here are some words from the students:
            “Different. With the program I could use a computer and make my own stories. But the other writing classes, I study mostly grammar.”
            “Different. I can imagine by using drawings.”
            “Completely different from other classes. Other classes I was told what to write about. Copy what the professor writes on the board. But this class, I have freedom to make my own stories, and learn different sentences.”

2. Motivation for Language Learning:

Another major implication is students are motivated to learn English by the Program. They enjoy the use of creativity, imagination, and the fun way of using computer to learn English. Students self-report their writing skills have been improved and they want to continue writing stories. Some find it challenging in the beginning but believe it is worth the effort.  This is what they tell us,
“After I made stories using imagination, I feel I accomplished something.”
“It’s fun using a computer to make stories.”
“It’s fun. I can make my own story freely using my imagination.”
“It’s difficult, but worth it.”
“I became to want to improve my vocabulary and writing ability.”
“Strongly agree that my writing skills have been improved.”
“I could also think in English.”
“My imagination and creation ability increased over my writing ability.”

3. Helpful Writing Models: 

Also the stories written by the teacher serve as good examples for students’ writing. These examples increase students’ confidence of using imagination and creativity by providing ideas and examples, and helpful in many other ways. Students comment,
“Without a sample, it would have been difficult. Thanks the sample, I
could have an idea quickly.”
“It was helpful. It started me to use my imagination.”
“Helpful. I could see the difference between my own story and Mr. D’s story.”
“Helpful. Your stories make it easy to think from different perspectives.”
           
4. Learning from Peers:
Students agree that reading peers’ stories and teacher-provided drawings are helpful to them. They get ideas from peers’ stories, see the uniqueness of their work and learn from each other.
“I learned that other students use different ideas and vocabulary.”
“I could get good ideas from other student’s stories.”
“Each student’s story shows individuality and they are unique. Even with the same drawings, you can make different expressions.”
“Before, I didn’t have the chance to see other student’s stories. It was
helpful. I was impressed that my classmates can make many different
stories from the same drawings.”

5. Benefits of Multimedia:
Students also appreciate the fact that FM Magic is multimedia and they can read and listen to the materials. They like the idea of “talking” to each other on the Forum.
“I can not only read but listen to many good stories, pictures beautiful,
easy to understand.”
“I see and listen, study with topics and forum.”
“The illustrations are cute, narrator’s voice easy to listen to.”
“Fun, like a game, movie pictures, easy.”
“You can enjoy studying English and reading stories.”

6. Suggestions for Improvements:

Emerged themes also point to areas for improvements. Some students wish the Program had provided more choices of illustrations for them, while others wish to create their own illustrations and had more opportunities to share their stories and receive feedbacks from their peers. Also some wish to learn more about grammar with the Program, and others are frustrated by the technology.
“… But the pictures are limited. I was afraid everyone would create the same story. I didn’t want to make the same story. So it was difficult.”
“It would be good to draw pictures by myself. I like to draw pictures. I like to make stories.”
“I wished I could present the stories in class. I would be more motivated and I like to write better stories.”
“I want to make a group story because it’s good for group communications and I can get good ideas from them.”
“If there is a grammar expression in the program, I can learn grammar by writing stories.”
“The computers are slow.”

Discussion
Findings from the two instruments used in this study seem to bear interesting similarities and reinforce each other in many ways. Both positive feedback to FM Magic and ideas for improvements appear.

According to the participants of FM Magic, it creates a fairly positive learning environment for these EFL Japanese students. It takes a different approach from the traditional teacher-centered language instruction. It uses communicative approach of language instruction rather than the grammar-translation approach. It motivates and engages students with authentic activities and publications. Students learn English by using English instead of learning about English through textbooks. They find it refreshing and enjoyable. They respond positively to the improvement of their writing skills as well as other areas in English. This finding reinforces the perspectives that storytelling helps and motivates literacy development among both students of L1 and L2, and student-centered approach and constructivist learning environments are conducive to learning.

FM Magic creates a language learning community among teachers and students on the Internet, because it provides language models with teachers’ samples and opportunities for students to create and share their writings on the Internet. Teachers and students can read, listen, and respond to each other’s work there, and share opinions on Forum. Thus, it creates a constructive learning mode, in which the role of the teacher becomes providing models and scaffolding activities, monitoring feedback and progress, and assessing students' performance. The students, on the other hand, play an active part and assume more responsibility for their own learning. With each thematic unit, they are exposed to various genres on the same topic through listening, reading, viewing and creating activities. They follow the language models in the Program and compose their own stories. To some extent, students become more autonomous and independent seekers of information and knowledge. 

The website of FM Magic is user-friendly and works well most of the time for the students. That is why this item receives a 4.1 average score from the students. They enjoy working with the colors, images and stories. It challenges students in many ways, such as the use of computer, exploration of new ideas and imagination, and the use of English to create their own stories. Again the result from the CMLES agrees with that from the questionnaire survey.

The Student Open-ended Questionnaire shows that although students enjoy reading each other’s stories and like the idea of choosing their own topics for writing, they wish there were more opportunities to share and interact with each other. The findings suggest that more interactions and sharing of stories among students are desired for the Program. Although the CMLES shows fairly positive results on this item, the average score of 3.9 could have been closer to 5 meaning “Always.” The results from both instruments, in our opinion, reinforce each other and indicate that students would welcome more communications and interactions among peers.

Results from both instruments also indicate that this Program can be improved to further meet students’ need of critical thinking, problem solving and student-centered learning.  In their response to open-ended questions, students mention they would like to have more freedom and opportunities to explore their own ideas and creativity in writing stories and making illustrations. They think the provided illustrations are good and helpful, but are limited in numbers and thus limit their creativity in some way. Some wish they had opportunities to write and illustrate their own stories, and to explore more on their own.

The study indicates that students welcome the challenge, enjoy learning with the multimedia story program, and benefit from it tremendously. However, they wish to create and move the Program towards a more constructive, democratic, authentic and open direction. The grand mean, 3.85 from CMLES indicates this. It is a score on the positive side but could be closer to 5 which is more constructivist aligned.

According to this study, FM Magic has succeeded in the first step of getting away from the teacher-centered language instruction. The designers and teachers have made tremendous effort and progress in trying to impact, change and to inspire language teaching and learning. They want to make English learning authentic and interesting for the students. The results show they certainly are on the right track. 

However, this is, by no means, to say that FM Magic is perfect, nor is the implementation of it all smooth-sail. Obstacles do exist along the way in terms of professional development for professors on the use of technology, funding, and professors’ buy in of the effectiveness of the Program and the constructive approach it embraces, just to name a few.  Also the Program itself needs further refinement and improvement to be more effective. More interactions among students, such as editing each other’s stories, writing group stories and sharing stories with peers in class will be attempted in the future. The instructors may continue to provide students with sample stories and illustrations, but will make it an option for students to write and illustrate their own stories. FM Magic will provide more opportunities for students to use and explore their own imagination and creativity. Also computer systems and software should be updated frequently to ensure the smooth running and easy use of the Program.

Conclusion
As Socrates notes education is not the filling of a vessel, but a kindling of a flame. FM Magic will become one of the torches that can do this. It creates a fairly positive learning environment for students to learn English in an informal, stimulating, meaningful and enjoyable way with the help of audio and visual images.  It combines the ancient method of storytelling with the use of modern technology and applies them to language instruction. With continued efforts and further improvements, FM Magic is expected to mature into a program that benefits many language learners around the world.

This study itself has several limitations. As the first study on FM Magic, it only looks at student’s opinions, leaving teachers’ and administrators’ and other aspects of the Program for future studies. A comparison of students’ perceptions of traditional English courses with FM Magic will provide an interesting reference point. Since it is “a long distance” study enabled by modern technology, only one of the three researchers has had opportunity to observe the classes first hand. However, the Open-ended Questionnaire, which collects rich detailed information from students, seems to have compensated for some of the limitations. The researchers intend to conduct further investigations into the impact of FM Magic on students’ achievement using a design of experiment and control groups. Also a general survey of the perceptions of the Program by both non-native and native English speaking professors should yield interesting results.

Since FM Magic can be implemented with as little technology as computers and Internet access, it is accessible to teachers and students with minimum training. Universities or schools with Internet access would be able to make this Program available to its teachers and students.If any readers are interested in the details of integrating and implementing of the Program, please contact us and we would be more than happy to share.

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Appendix 1.   Sample Pages See PDF