THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STORYBIRD FOR WRITING: MAKING NOVICE WRITERS PRACTICE INDEPENDENTLY

Abstract

Abstract: Writing is an essential skill for language production. It enables a person to express feelings and ideas through a well-conducted text. In this pandemic situation, the teacher’s writing in the EFL context faces more challenges because of the limited direct interactions between the students and teachers. Thus, the teachers need to make some innovations to make the teaching of writing fun and engaging during the outbreak of COVID 19. One of the innovations is the usage of an app called Storybird for teaching writing. This paper aims to describe the implementation of teaching creative writing course in the sixth semester of University of PGRI Wiranegara Pasuruan during the pandemic of COVID 19 by using the Storybird application. The research used a mixed-method exploratory design. The subjects of this study were two lecturers and the 6th-semester students of a creative writing course class at the University of PGRI Wiranegara Pasuruan. There were 33 students, which consisted of 26 female students and seven male students. The instruments used were interviews, questionnaires, and documentation. The finding shows that the lecturers have implemented Storybird for creative writing well. The lecturer made some preparations before using Storybird for writing as reflected in the course syllabi. The students made picture books and mini fictions using Storybird application with a wide variety of topics. The finding implies that the use of writing platform like Storybird should be maximized for online learning to provide students with more practice and to make them independent learners.

Keywords: implementation, writing, Storybird