Cover not available

Article published In: Decolonising or Recolonising?: Generative AI through the eyes of applied linguists, language teachers, and learners
Edited by Toni Dobinson, Julian Chen and Carly Steele
[Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 47:3] 2024
► pp. 259–283

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB

Co-creating stories with generative AI

Reflections from undergraduate students of a storytelling service-learning subject in Hong Kong

ORCiD logo with link | College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
 | College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Published online: 6 January 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.24101.che
Abstract
Publicly available Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools are said to liberate students from the instrumental use of English and empower them to write creative texts to communicate with different communities. This paper reports on an undergraduate language-related service-learning subject in a Hong Kong tertiary institution. In the subject, students co-created digital stories with asylum-seeking children, in written and podcast formats, with the help of GenAI. The qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews with the students found that this experience expanded the students’ creative potential. Meanwhile, GenAI played a peripheral role in the story creation processes, in that the students exercised agency to use the tools and remained critical of the AI-generated content. This study argues that digital storytelling with GenAI, when used critically, promotes linguistic, digital and cultural awareness among ESL learners, offering them a third space to interact with culturally diverse communities in Hong Kong and giving them genuine ownership of English for creative and communicative purposes.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Context of the study
    • 1.2Organisation of the paper
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Digital storytelling and GenAI: Issues of language learner development, ‘voice,’ and ‘identity’
    • 2.2GenAI for language learning: Benefits and challenges
    • 2.3Integration of digital storytelling for English learning in service-learning
  • 3.Research questions
  • 4.Methods
    • 4.1Research participants
    • 4.2Data collection
    • 4.3Data analysis
    • 4.4Ethical considerations
  • 5.Findings
    • 5.1Pivotal role of English for creative and communicative purposes
    • 5.2Peripheral Roles of GenAI in the Story Creation Processes
    • 5.3Students’ agency of non-GenAI use
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1English learning through storytelling vs instrumentalist approaches
    • 6.2Storytelling in English with GenAI: Expressing voices, identities, and agency
  • 7.Concluding remarks
  • References
References (72)
References
Abfalter, D., Mueller-Seeger, J., & Raich, M. (2021). Translation decisions in qualitative research: a systematic framework. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 24(4), 469–486. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aguillon, C. J. T., Guinto, N. L., & Aberion, L. H. (2022). Discourse Analysis. The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in the Asian Context, 219–233. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Appiah, K. A. (2007). Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. Norton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barkhuizen, G. P., Benson, P., & Chik, A. (2014). Narrative Inquiry in Language Teaching and Learning Research. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barrett, A., & Pack, A. (2023). Not quite eye to AI: student and teacher perspectives on the use of generative artificial intelligence in the writing process. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 20(1), 59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bell, J. S. (2002). Narrative inquiry: more than just telling stories, TESOL Quarterly, 36(2), 207–213. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bringle, R. G., & Hatcher, J. A. (1996). Implementing Service Learning in Higher Education. The Journal of Higher Education, 67(2), 221–239. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, T., Mann, B., Ryder, N., Subbiah, M., Kaplan, J. D., Dhariwal, P., ... & Amodei, D. (2020). Language models are few-shot learners. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 331, 1877–1901.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Camus, R. M., Lam, C. H., Ngai, G., & Chan, S. C. (2022). Service-learning exchange in developed cities: Dissonances and civic outcomes. Journal of Experiential Education, 45(4), 453–476. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Candela, A. G. (2019). Exploring the function of member checking. The Qualitative Report, 24(3), 619–628. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Canh, L. V. (2022). Working towards Centrally Determined Levels of Proficiency: Uncovering the Neoliberal Standardization in the Vietnam-Produced ELT Textbooks. In A. J. Daghigh, J. M. Jan, & S. Kaur (Eds.), Neoliberalization of English Language Policy in the Global South (pp. 119–135). Springer International Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, A. H. (2023). Integrating Pedagogy and Practice: The Impact of Academic Service Learning in the TEFL Context in Higher Education. Education as Change, 27(1), 1–24, 53–66. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clandinin, D. J. (2022). Engaging in narrative inquiry. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, R., & Ivanic, R. (1997). The politics of writing. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Creely, E. (2024). Exploring the Role of Generative AI in Enhancing Language Learning: Opportunities and Challenges. International Journal of Changes in Education. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2014). Transnational identity and migrant language learners: The promise of digital storytelling. Education Matters: The Journal of Teaching and Learning, 2(1). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Costa, P. I., Park, J. S. Y., & Wee, L. (2021). Why linguistic entrepreneurship?. Multilingua, 40(2), 139–153. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Feldermann, S. K., & Hiebl, M. R. (2020). Using quotations from non-English interviews in accounting research. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, 17(2), 229–262. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fisher, J. A. (2023). Centering the Human: Digital Humanism and the Practice of Using Generative AI in the Authoring of Interactive Digital Narratives. In L. Holloway-Attaway, & J. T. Murray (Eds.), Interactive Storytelling (pp. 73–88). Springer Nature. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hakanurmi, S. (2017). Learning to work through narratives: Identity and meaning-making during digital storytelling. In G. Jamissen, P. Hardy, Y. Nordkvelle, & H. Pleasants (Eds.), Digital storytelling in higher education: International perspectives (pp. 149–166). Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Han, A. (2024). StoryAI: designing, developing, and evaluating Generative AI-powered story-authoring platform for young learners (Doctoral dissertation, UC Irvine).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Han, A., & Cai, Z. (2023). Design implications of generative AI systems for visual storytelling for young learners. Proceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference, USA, 470–474. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Han, A., Zhou, X., Cai, Z., Han, S., Ko, R., Corrigan, S., & Peppler, K. A. (2024). Teachers, Parents, and Students’ perspectives on Integrating Generative AI into Elementary Literacy Education. Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, USA, 1–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hava, K. (2021). Exploring the role of digital storytelling in student motivation and satisfaction in EFL education. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 34(7), 958–978. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Higgs, J. M., & Stornaiuolo, A. (2024). Being Human in the Age of Generative AI: Young People’s Ethical Concerns about Writing and Living with Machines. Reading Research Quarterly, 1–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hofmann, V., Kalluri, P. R., Jurafsky, D., & King, S. (2024). Dialect prejudice predicts AI decisions about people’s character, employability, and criminality. arXiv preprint, arXiv:2403.00742. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holliday, A. (2006). Native-speakerism. ELT Journal, 60(4), 385–387. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hung, C. M., Hwang, G. J., & Huang, I. (2012). A project-based digital storytelling approach for improving students’ learning motivation, problem-solving competence and learning achievement. Educational Technology & Society, 15(4), 368–379. [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hung, E. (2023, September 15).Asylum seekers in Hong Kong wait up to 20 years for host countries to take them, South China Morning Post [online]. available at: [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hur, J. W., & Suh, S. (2012). Making learning active with interactive whiteboards, podcasts, and digital storytelling in ELL classrooms. Computers in the Schools, 29(4), 320–338. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hwang, A. H. C., Siy, J. O., Shelby, R., & Lentz, A. (2024, July). In Whose Voice?: Examining AI Agent Representation of People in Social Interaction through Generative Speech. Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, USA, 224–245. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Karabatak, S. & Şengür, D. (2019). A model suggestion on the use of digital positive storytelling method in the training of school administrators. PAU Journal of Education, 461, 18–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, D., & Li, M. (2021). Digital storytelling: facilitating learning and identity development. Journal of Computers in Education, 8(1), 33–61. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kohnke, L. (2024). Exploring EAP students’ perceptions of GenAI and traditional grammar-checking tools for language learning. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 71, 100279. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kohnke, L., Moorhouse, B. L., & Zou, D. (2023). ChatGPT for language teaching and learning. RELC Journal, 54(2), 537–550. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kolb, D. A. (2015). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (2nd ed.). Pearson Education.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kortegast, C., & Davis, J. (2017). Theorizing the self: Digital storytelling, applying theory, and multimodal learning. College Teaching, 65(3), 106–114. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koyama, J., & Kasper, J. (2022). Transworlding and translanguaging: Negotiating and resisting monoglossic language ideologies, policies, and pedagogies. Linguistics and Education, 701, 101010. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kubota, R. (2022). An Introduction to Race and Native-Speakerism in ELT. JALT Journal: the research journal of the Japan Association for Language Teaching, 44(2), 215–221. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lambert, J. (2013). Digital storytelling: Capturing lives, creating community (4th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lin, A. M., & Motha, S. (2020). “Curses in TESOL”: Postcolonial desires for colonial English. In R. Arber, M. Weimann, & J. Blackmore (Eds.), Rethinking languages education (pp. 15–35). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lo, M. M. (2024). Interrogating ‘Desire’ in Teaching English for Social Justice and Inclusion in Hong Kong Schools. In F. Sanjakdar, & M. W. Apple (Eds.), Engaging Critical Pedagogy in Education: Global Phenomenon, Local Praxis (Chapter 2). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Loo, D. B., & Sairattanain, J. (2024). My students hardly speak English, do I still need to decolonise my teaching practice? A dialogue with a critical friend. English in Education, 58(1), 23–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matsuda, P. K. (2015). Identity in Written Discourse. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 351, 140–159. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McMinn, S. (2023, August 31). Shaping the future of education: Principles and practices for AI integration in teaching and learning. LinkedIn. [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Modern Language Association (2023). MLA-CCCC Joint Task Force on Writing and AI Working Paper: Overview of the Issues, Statement of Principles, and Recommendations. Modern Language Association of America and Conference on College Composition and Communication.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mosed, H., Periord, M., & Caboral‐Stevens, M. (2021). A concept analysis of intercultural communication. Nursing Forum, 56(4), 993–999. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muhalim, M. (2023). Neoliberal ideology, faith-based higher education institutions, and English in Indonesia: negotiating English teachers’ ideological formation. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 21(3), 353–366. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mutua, D. K., Ong’onda, A. N., & Oketch, O. (2024). Computer and Mobile Assisted Language Learning: Use of Podcasts and Digital Storytelling in Development of Speaking Skills in Upper Primary. European Journal of Science, Innovation and Technology, 4(1), 216–229. [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nikolopoulou, K. (2024). Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Exploring ways of harnessing pedagogical Practices with the assistance of ChatGPT. International Journal of Changes in Education, 1(2), 103–111. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Dowd, R. (2010). Online foreign language interaction: Moving from the periphery to the core of foreign language education?, Language Teaching, 44(3), 368–380. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pellas, N. (2023). The Effects of Generative AI Platforms on Undergraduates’ Narrative Intelligence and Writing Self-Efficacy. Education Sciences, 13(11), 1155. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pennycook, A. (2020). Translingual entanglements of English. World Englishes, 39(2), 222–235. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pera, R., & Viglia, G. (2016). Exploring how video digital storytelling builds relationship experiences. Psychology & Marketing, 33(12), 1142–1150. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Priego, S., & Liaw, M. -L. (2017). Understanding different levels of group functionality: activity systems analysis of an intercultural telecollaborative multilingual digital storytelling project. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 30(5), 368–389. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rauschert, P., & Mustroph, C. (2022). Intercultural Education through Civic Engagement: Service Learning in the Foreign Language Classroom. In T. McConachy, I. Golubeva, & M. Wagner (Eds.), Intercultural Learning in Language Education and Beyond (Vol. 381, pp. 149–167). Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rettberg, J. W. (2022, December 6). ChatGPT is multilingual but monocultural, and it’s learning your values. jill/txt. [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sadik, A. (2008). Digital storytelling: A meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning. Educational Technology Research & Development, 56 (4), 487–506. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmoelz, A. (2018). Enabling co-creativity through digital storytelling in education. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 281, 1–13. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Selvi, A. F. (2019). Qualitative content analysis. In J. McKinley, & H. Rose (Eds), The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in Applied Linguistics (pp. 440–452), Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shi, H., & Cheung, L. M. E. (2024). Storytelling for understanding: a case study of an English-language digital storytelling service-learning subject for refugee children in Hong Kong. Journal for Multicultural Education, 18(1/2), 81–97. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sun, Y., & Lan, G. (2021). Enactment of a translingual approach to writing. TESOL Quarterly, 55(2), 398–426. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tsao, J., & Nogues, C. (2024). Beyond the author: Artificial intelligence, creative writing and intellectual emancipation. Poetics, 1021, 101865. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vears, D. F., & Gillam, L. (2022). Inductive content analysis: A guide for beginning qualitative researchers. Focus on Health Professional Education: A Multi-Professional Journal, 23(1), 111–127. [URL]. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, L., & Fang, F. (2020). Native-speakerism policy in English language teaching revisited: Chinese university teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards native and non-native English-speaking teachers. Cogent Education, 7(1), 1778374. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Webster, A. K. (2010). “Still, she didn’t see what I was trying to say”: Towards a history of framing Navajo English in Navajo written poetry. World Englishes, 29(1), 75–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wee, L. (2003). Linguistic instrumentalism in Singapore. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 24(3), 211–224. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
White, M. D., & Marsh, E. E. (2006). Content analysis: a flexible methodology, Library Trends, 55(1), 22–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wu, J., & Chen, D. T. V. (2020). A systematic review of educational digital storytelling. Computers & Education, 1471, 103786. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yang, Y. T. C., & Wu, W. C. I. (2012). Digital storytelling for enhancing student academic achievement, critical thinking, and learning motivation: A year-long experimental study. Computers & Education, 59(2), 339–352. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yeh, H. C., & Heng, L. (2023). Creating a virtual “third space” in a telecollaborative project to promote English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ language proficiency and intercultural awareness. Interactive Learning Environments, 31(10), 6667–6677. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, L. J., & Zhang, D. (2019). Think-aloud protocols. In J. McKinley, & H. Rose (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of research methods in applied linguistics (pp. 302–311). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

Im, Jaeun & Byenghee Chang
2026. Human–AI Co-creativity in Storytelling: A Scoping Review of Literature, Education, Media, and Interactive Systems. In Interactive Storytelling [Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 16375], ► pp. 396 ff. DOI logo
Wang, Ziyi, Ling Ma, Ray Lc & Jussi Holopainen
2026. Design, Reflect, Create: Game Poem Practices with Generative AI Tools. In Interactive Storytelling [Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 16375], ► pp. 113 ff. DOI logo
Kim, Nari, Vashti Lee, Sonja Mecham & Peter I. De Costa
2025. Problematizing and addressing equity issues in multiliteracies and the use of generative AI: why critical ethical literacy matters. Pedagogies: An International Journal ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Dobinson, Toni, Julian Chen & Carly Steele
2024. Decolonizing or recolonizing?. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 47:3 ► pp. 253 ff. DOI logo
Dovchin, Sender
2024. Artificial Intelligence in Applied Linguistics. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 47:3 ► pp. 410 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue