Boosting motivation, cultural confidence, and native cultural awareness through digital storytelling in L2 language...

With increasing emphasis on sustainability and cultural awareness in education, foreign language teaching is increasingly expected to extend beyond the introduction of target-language cultures alone. However, limited empirical research has explored how to incorporate students' native cultural perspectives in a meaningful way into classroom teaching. Therefore, this study developed a Digital Storytelling for Native Cultural Awareness (DSTNCA) model based on social constructivism and the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) to address this gap. The model will help Chinese English learners present their native culture with more confidence. A total of 281 undergraduate English majors participated in the study. The experimental group received DSTNCA intervention for 8 weeks, and the control group continued in regular classes. Results showed that DSTNCA increased students' Ideal L2 Self motivation (β = 0.300, p < 0.01) and reduced Ought-to Self motivation (β = -0.247, p < 0.05). It also promoted a sense of national culture (β = 0.252, p < 0.01) and cultural awareness (β = 0.328, p < 0.01). Qualitative research indicated that digital storytelling enabled students to view themselves as "cultural ambassadors" and strengthened their sense of identity and self-confidence through English study. The above results suggested that integrating local culture and history in English-as-a-Foreign-Language curriculum development can make learning more meaningful and inspire students to continue their studies voluntarily.