A Study of the Effects of Transmedia Storytelling on Active Participation and Language Learning

This study observed the following two purposes: (1) to investigate whether transmedia storytelling (TS) encourages beginner-level college students to actively participate in classwork, and (2) to determine whether TS is positively related to second language (L2) learning. The transmedia approach will help the students to gain more knowledge and information about the target language. Two beginners were invited to act as case studies to these ends. An American television series, The Good Place (Holland, 2018), was chosen. This study was conducted in three stages: (1) participant presentations on selected topics via TS, (2) first recall test (one week later, with notice), and (3) second recall test (two weeks later, without notice). On the first test, Participant A scored well on his selected topic, but his score dropped somewhat on Participant B’s topic. Participant B had a better score than Participant A on both topics. The second test was an error analysis. Participant A had minor errors on the TS-based topic but significant ones on the not-TS-based topic. Participant B had fewer errors than Participant A on both topics, and all his errors were minor. Both participants were involved in active participation. Pedagogical implications are discussed in the conclusion.