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Narración digital con inteligencia artificial para la
enseñanza del inglés en contextos rurales de
Ecuador
Digital storytelling with AI for teaching English in rural contexts in
Ecuador
Infante-Vera, Alba Edelmira
1
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4525-2978
alba.infante@docentes.educacion.edu.ec
Unidad Educativa Teodoro Wolf, Ecuador, Santo
Elena.
Autor de correspondencia
1
DOI / URL: https://doi.org/10.55813/gaea/rcym/v4/n2/215
Resumen: La enseñanza del inglés como lengua extranjera
en contextos rurales del Ecuador enfrenta desafíos
persistentes relacionados con la infraestructura tecnológica
limitada, la escasez de docentes calificados y la reducida
exposición a insumos auténticos de la lengua. Este estudio
examinó la implementación de la narrativa digital potenciada
por inteligencia artificial como estrategia pedagógica para la
enseñanza del inglés en un contexto educativo rural del
Ecuador. Se empleó un diseño de estudio de caso cualitativo
con 30 estudiantes de básica superior (8.vo a 10.mo grado) de
la Unidad Educativa San Pablo, comuna San Pablo, provincia
de Santa Elena. Los datos fueron recolectados mediante un
cuestionario estructurado que combinó ítems en escala Likert
y preguntas abiertas, administrado al finalizar una intervención
de narrativa digital asistida por ChatGPT en tres fases. Se
aplicaron estadística descriptiva y análisis temático para los
datos cuantitativos y cualitativos, respectivamente. Los
resultados mostraron que el 83,3% de los participantes
percibió a ChatGPT como una herramienta útil para expresar
ideas en inglés, y emergieron tres temas cualitativos
recurrentes: práctica del lenguaje a través de la narrativa,
motivación mediante la autoría creativa, y conciencia del uso
de la IA como apoyo al aprendizaje. Las principales barreras
identificadas fueron la conectividad limitada a internet y el
desconocimiento sobre la escritura de instrucciones en inglés.
Estos hallazgos sugieren que la narrativa digital potenciada
por IA constituye una estrategia viable y contextualmente
adaptable para la enseñanza del inglés en entornos rurales,
siempre que se atiendan las limitaciones infraestructurales y
se incorpore formación explícita en literacidad de
instrucciones en el diseño pedagógico.
Palabras clave: narrativa digital; inteligencia artificial;
educación rural; ChatGPT; Ecuador
Artículo Científico
Received: 30/Abr/2026
Accepted: 28/May/2026
Published: 24/Jun/2026
Cita: Infante-Vera, . A. E. (2026). Narración
digital con inteligencia artificial para la
enseñanza del inglés en contextos rurales de
Ecuador. Revista Científica Ciencia Y
Método, 4(2), 599-
612. https://doi.org/10.55813/gaea/rcym/v4/n2
/215
Revista Científica Ciencia y Método (RCyM)
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© 2026. Este artículo es un documento de
acceso abierto distribuido bajo los términos y
condiciones de la Licencia Creative
Commons, Atribución-NoComercial 4.0
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Abstract:
Rural English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction in Ecuador faces persistent
challenges related to limited technological infrastructure, scarce qualified teachers,
and reduced exposure to authentic language input. This study examined the
implementation of AI-enhanced digital storytelling as a pedagogical strategy for English
language teaching in a rural educational context in Ecuador. A qualitative case study
design was employed, with 30 upper basic education students (8th to 10th grade) at
the Unidad Educativa San Pablo, commune of San Pablo, Santa Elena province, as
participants. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire combining Likert-
scale items and open-ended questions administered upon completion of a three-phase
ChatGPT-assisted storytelling intervention. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis
were applied to quantitative and qualitative data respectively. Results showed that
83.3% of participants perceived ChatGPT as helpful for expressing ideas in English,
and three recurring qualitative themes emerged: language practice through narrative,
motivation through creative ownership, and awareness of AI as a learning support. The
primary barriers identified were limited internet connectivity and unfamiliarity with
prompt writing in English. These findings suggest that AI-enhanced digital storytelling
constitutes a viable and contextually adaptive strategy for rural EFL instruction,
provided that infrastructural constraints are addressed and explicit prompt literacy
training is incorporated into the instructional design.
Keywords: digital storytelling; artificial intelligence; rural education; ChatGPT;
Ecuador.
1. Introduction
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education has reshaped pedagogical
practices across diverse global contexts, transforming how languages are taught and
learned at all educational levels (Jha & Atif, 2025; Wessels, 2025). Over the past
decade, the proliferation of digital technologies in educational settings has created
conditions for a profound renegotiation of what it means to teach and learn a language.
From rule-based intelligent tutoring systems and automated writing evaluation
platforms to neural machine translation and, more recently, large language model-
powered conversational agents, the trajectory of AI in education reflects an
accelerating convergence between computational capacity and pedagogical design
(Jiang & Meng, 2025).
This convergence has not been uniform across disciplines, but its effects have been
particularly pronounced in language education, where the communicative, interactive,
and adaptive demands of learning align naturally with the generative and responsive
properties of AI tools. Scholars and practitioners alike have increasingly turned their
attention to understanding not merely whether AI can be integrated into language
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teaching, but how such integration can be designed to serve meaningful, equity-
oriented, and educationally sound purposes (Jha & Atif, 2025).
In the field of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), AI-powered tools are increasingly
recognized for their potential to enhance learner engagement, personalize instruction,
and support the development of communicative competence (Lee & Cho, 2025; Liu,
2025). The emergence of generative AI models, and in particular large language
models such as ChatGPT, has introduced a qualitatively distinct set of possibilities for
language learners. Unlike earlier AI-assisted language learning tools, which were
primarily designed for discrete skill practice (e.g., vocabulary flashcards, grammar
drills, or pronunciation feedback), generative AI systems are capable of sustaining
open-ended dialogue, producing contextually coherent extended texts, responding to
prompts in multiple languages, and adjusting register according to communicative
context (Luo & Zou, 2025).
These properties make generative AI tools uniquely suited to support the kind of
authentic, meaning-focused language use that communicative language teaching has
long identified as central to language acquisition. Learners interacting with ChatGPT
in an EFL context are not merely practicing isolated grammatical forms; they are
engaged in situated communicative acts that require them to formulate intentions,
structure arguments, select vocabulary, and evaluate responses, all of which constitute
productive conditions for language development (Lee & Cho, 2025).
The growing body of empirical research on AI-mediated EFL instruction reflects
considerable optimism regarding the educational potential of these tools, alongside
important caveats related to implementation conditions, teacher preparation, and
learner readiness. Lee and Cho (2025) demonstrated through an empirical study in a
blended learning environment that generative AI-assisted tasks produced significant
improvements in both productive and receptive language skills, as well as in learner
motivation and self-efficacy. Liu (2025) further documented that AI-mediated
gamification and storytelling approaches generated nonlinear dynamic increases in
EFL learning outcomes, suggesting that the motivational affordances of AI tools may
operate through complex feedback loops between engagement, persistence, and
performance.
Critically, these studies have underscored that the pedagogical framing of AI tool use,
rather than the technology itself, is the primary determinant of educational outcomes.
AI tools that are embedded within structured, goal-oriented tasks with clear linguistic
objectives and reflective components tend to produce more robust learning gains than
those introduced without explicit instructional design (Jiang & Meng, 2025). This insight
has important implications for the design of AI-integrated interventions in resource-
constrained settings, where teacher guidance may be limited and learners may lack
prior experience with digital educational tools.
As generative AI tools become more accessible, educators are exploring innovative
pedagogical frameworks that integrate these technologies into meaningful learning
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experiences, including digital storytelling as a multimodal instructional strategy (Wang
et al., 2025; Chu et al., 2025). The convergence of AI and multimodal pedagogy
represents one of the most productive frontiers of contemporary EFL research
precisely because it responds simultaneously to calls for authentic task design, learner
agency, and technological integration. Multimodal approaches to language learning
recognize that communication in the twenty-first century is rarely monomodal, and that
preparing learners for real-world English use requires exposure to and production of
texts that combine linguistic, visual, gestural, and digital semiotic resources (Wessels,
2025).
Digital storytelling, as one of the most established multimodal pedagogical approaches
in language education, offers a natural site for the integration of AI tools, enabling
learners to harness computational assistance for the linguistic and structural demands
of narrative composition while retaining creative ownership over the thematic and
expressive dimensions of their stories.
Digital storytelling has emerged as a robust pedagogical approach that combines
narrative construction with digital media to promote language production, critical
thinking, and student agency (Fan & Chen, 2023; Fan, 2024). Rooted in the broader
tradition of narrative as a cognitive and communicative scaffold for meaning-making,
digital storytelling extends the classical functions of storytelling into the digital domain,
enabling learners to compose, revise, and share narratives using a range of digital
tools and platforms. Grounded in sociocultural theories of learning, and in Vygotsky’s
concept of mediated learning and the zone of proximal development, digital storytelling
creates authentic communicative tasks in which learners negotiate meaning, make
purposeful linguistic choices, and develop narrative voice within a socially situated
creative context (Yan et al., 2025).
The collaborative and iterative character of digital storytelling processes, which
typically involve planning, drafting, peer feedback, revision, and presentation, mirrors
the recursive nature of real-world written and oral communication, thereby providing
learners with structured opportunities to develop the metacognitive and linguistic
strategies associated with proficient language use.
Research indicates that when learners engage in storytelling tasks supported by digital
tools, they demonstrate improvements in speaking proficiency, content knowledge,
and motivation (Yan et al., 2025; Vice et al., 2024). These improvements have been
documented across diverse learner populations, educational levels, and disciplinary
contexts, reflecting the broad applicability of digital storytelling as a pedagogical
strategy.
Fan (2024) documented significant gains in language proficiency and academic
competence among first-year university students in health-related programs who
engaged in digital storytelling projects, underscoring the approach’s capacity to bridge
disciplinary content and language learning objectives. The study also revealed that
learner perceptions of digital storytelling were overwhelmingly positive, with
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participants reporting heightened engagement, greater confidence in English
production, and a sense of intellectual ownership over their academic output.
These findings are consistent with a broader pattern in the literature: digital storytelling
tends to activate motivational processes that are often absent in decontextualized
language practice activities, precisely because it situates language use within
meaningful creative and communicative purposes that learners can identify with and
take pride in (Vice et al., 2024).
In cooperative learning environments, Fan and Chen (2023) demonstrated that digital
storytelling enhanced both English speaking performance and subject-specific
financial knowledge among elementary school students in a Content and Language
Integrated Learning (CLIL) context. This finding is particularly significant because it
illustrates the capacity of digital storytelling to serve simultaneously as a language
development vehicle and a content learning tool, a dual function that makes it
especially valuable in educational settings where curriculum time for English instruction
is limited.
More recently, the incorporation of generative AI into digital storytelling workflows has
opened new and transformative possibilities for scaffolding complex language tasks,
providing immediate and contextually responsive feedback, and enabling learners with
limited prior digital or linguistic experience to produce multimodal narratives of genuine
communicative value (Wang et al., 2025; Liu, 2025). Wang et al. (2025) demonstrated
that a GenAI-enhanced digital storytelling instructional system for civic education
empowered student voices and facilitated the production of substantive, personally
meaningful narratives among learners who would otherwise have struggled with the
linguistic demands of extended English composition.
These results suggest that generative AI does not merely assist learners in completing
storytelling tasks; it fundamentally expands the range of learners who can meaningfully
participate in those tasks, with particular relevance for those whose language
proficiency, digital skills, or access to instructional support has previously excluded
them from technology-mediated learning experiences.
Rural educational contexts present unique and persistent challenges for EFL
instruction, including limited access to trained and qualified teachers, inadequate
technological infrastructure, and severely reduced exposure to authentic English
language input (Dinata et al., 2025; Espartinez, 2025). Unlike urban learners who may
encounter English through informal channels such as digital media, international
tourism, commercial signage, and peer interaction with multilingual communities, rural
learners in many Global South contexts experience English almost exclusively through
formal classroom instruction.
This restricted exposure significantly limits the quantity and variety of comprehensible
input available to rural EFL learners, making it difficult to create the conditions for
naturalistic acquisition that immersion and extensive input approaches have
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consistently identified as conducive to language development. Moreover, the quality of
formal classroom instruction in rural areas is frequently compromised by teacher
shortages and underqualification.
In many rural schools across Latin America, English is taught by educators whose own
language proficiency falls short of the communicative targets they are expected to help
learners achieve, creating a structural paradox in which the instructional mediator of
language learning is herself or himself linguistically constrained (Pratiwi et al., 2025).
These conditions make the introduction of supplementary AI-based tools particularly
compelling, as they can provide learners with access to competent, responsive, and
infinitely patient linguistic interlocutors regardless of the teacher’s proficiency level.
In Ecuador, these challenges are particularly pronounced in peripheral and rural
regions, where English language teaching often depends on underqualified instructors
and outdated materials (Pratiwi et al., 2025). The Ecuadorian educational system has
undergone significant reform over the past two decades, with the government
implementing policies aimed at expanding English proficiency as a competency
essential for economic development, international integration, and higher education
participation. A particularly consequential policy development has been the
establishment of B1-level
English proficiency as a graduation requirement for university students, a standard that
has created institutional pressure to improve English outcomes across all levels of the
educational pipeline, including in rural and coastal communities where the foundational
conditions for language learning remain severely underdeveloped. Despite this policy
ambition, the resources, teacher training, and infrastructure required to achieve B1-
level outcomes in rural contexts remain unevenly distributed. Schools in rural provinces
such as Santa Elena, Esmeraldas, Manabí, and the Amazonian regions frequently
operate with minimal technological equipment, unreliable or absent internet
connectivity, and classrooms that serve large, heterogeneous groups of students with
widely varying levels of prior English exposure (Dinata et al., 2025).
These conditions create a structural mismatch between the aspirational standards of
national language policy and the material realities of rural English teaching, a mismatch
that can only be addressed through pedagogical strategies designed specifically for
low-resource implementation.
The digital divide that characterizes rural education in Ecuador extends beyond the
availability of hardware or internet access and encompasses deeper disparities in
digital literacy, teacher digital competence, and institutional readiness to integrate
technology into the curriculum. Research conducted in comparable Latin American and
Southeast Asian rural contexts has consistently documented that the introduction of
digital tools into low-resource classrooms, however well-intentioned, frequently fails to
achieve its intended pedagogical outcomes when it is not accompanied by adequate
teacher professional development, technical support, and a pedagogical framework
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that contextualizes the technology within learners’ existing knowledge and cultural
experience (Espartinez, 2025).
This pattern underscores that technology alone is not a solution to the structural
inequities of rural EFL instruction; rather, technology must be embedded within
carefully designed pedagogical interventions that account for the specific barriers,
motivations, and learning histories of rural student populations. The challenge for
researchers and practitioners is therefore to develop, test, and document approaches
that are simultaneously responsive to the affordances of new technologies and
sensitive to the constraints of the educational environments in which those
technologies must operate.
The intersection of AI-enhanced digital storytelling and rural EFL instruction remains a
substantially underexplored area of research, particularly in Latin American contexts,
where the combination of linguistic, socioeconomic, and infrastructural challenges
creates a distinctive set of constraints and possibilities. The existing literature on digital
storytelling in language education has largely been produced in urban, technologically
well-resourced settings, or in higher education institutions with the capacity to provide
robust technical support and reliable internet connectivity.
While this body of work has generated valuable theoretical frameworks and empirical
findings regarding the pedagogical potential of digital storytelling, its direct applicability
to rural contexts is limited by the assumption of conditions that do not obtain in low-
resource educational environments (Nation & Elzie, 2025; Alisoy et al., 2025).
Similarly, research on AI tools in EFL instruction has predominantly focused on
learners in East Asian, European, and North American contexts, with comparatively
little attention to the specific challenges and opportunities faced by learners in Latin
American rural settings where English occupies a different sociolinguistic and cultural
position than in many previously studied contexts.
The role of AI tools in facilitating storytelling tasks among learners with restricted digital
literacy remains insufficiently documented and theoretically underspecified (Tour &
Zadorozhnyy, 2025; Luo & Zou, 2025). A particularly undertheorized dimension of this
issue is the relationship between prompt literacy, that is, the ability to formulate
effective instructions for AI systems in the target language, and broader language
proficiency development.
Tour and Zadorozhnyy (2025) have argued persuasively that prompt literacy
constitutes an emerging twenty-first-century competency that intersects digital literacy
with language proficiency in ways that have important implications for EFL pedagogy.
For learners who are simultaneously developing their English proficiency and their
digital skills, the challenge of constructing effective ChatGPT prompts in English
represents a cognitively demanding but potentially highly productive form of authentic
language use: one that requires learners to think carefully about lexical choice,
syntactic clarity, and communicative intent in order to elicit the AI responses that will
advance their creative and linguistic objectives.
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The integration of explicit prompt literacy instruction into AI-enhanced language
teaching frameworks therefore appears as both a practical necessity and a
theoretically motivated pedagogical priority, particularly for learners in rural contexts
where prior exposure to digital literacy practices may be minimal (Luo & Zou, 2025).
Understanding how rural EFL learners navigate, adapt to, and benefit from AI-
enhanced digital storytelling tasks is therefore both timely and necessary for
generating the context-specific empirical knowledge required to inform equitable and
pedagogically grounded educational interventions in Ecuador and comparable settings
across Latin America. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the
implementation and outcomes of AI-enhanced digital storytelling as a pedagogical
strategy for English language teaching in rural contexts in Ecuador.
2. Materials and Methods
This study adopted a qualitative case study design to examine the implementation of
AI-enhanced digital storytelling as a pedagogical strategy for English language
teaching in a rural educational setting in Ecuador. The case study approach was
selected because it allowed for an in-depth, contextually grounded exploration of a
specific educational phenomenon within its real-world environment, which is
particularly appropriate when the aim is to understand how an innovative instructional
practice unfolds under constrained conditions such as those present in rural public
schools.
Context and Participants
The study was conducted at the Unidad Educativa San Pablo, located in the commune
of San Pablo, Santa Elena province, Ecuador. This institution serves a rural community
characterized by limited access to digital infrastructure and English language
resources, making it a representative case for examining technology-mediated
language instruction in low-resource contexts (Dinata et al., 2025). The participants
were 30 students enrolled in upper basic education (8th to 10th grade), selected
through purposive sampling based on their enrollment in the English language subject
and their availability to participate in the full intervention cycle. Purposive sampling was
considered appropriate given the exploratory nature of the study and the need to
engage participants with direct experience of the instructional intervention (Pratiwi et
al., 2025).
Instructional Intervention
The intervention consisted of a digital storytelling project in which students used
ChatGPT as the primary AI tool to support the construction of short narratives in
English. The pedagogical sequence followed three phases: (1) a preparation phase, in
which students were introduced to the concept of digital storytelling and guided in the
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basic use of ChatGPT for idea generation and language scaffolding; (2) a production
phase, in which students drafted, revised, and finalized their stories using ChatGPT-
assisted prompts; and (3) a presentation phase, in which students shared their digital
stories with peers and the teacher. The intervention was designed to align with
communicative language teaching principles and the students' current English
proficiency level (Fan & Chen, 2023; Wang et al., 2025).
Data Collection Instrument
Data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to all participants
upon completion of the intervention. The instrument captured students' perceptions of
the digital storytelling experience, including their attitudes toward using ChatGPT for
English learning, perceived difficulties during the process, and the overall usefulness
of the activity for language skill development. It was adapted from validated scales in
prior AI-assisted language learning studies (Lee & Cho, 2025; Alisoy et al., 2025) and
combined a five-point Likert scale with open-ended items.
Data Analysis
Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency distributions
and mean scores). Qualitative responses were analyzed through thematic analysis
following the six-phase process: familiarization, initial coding, theme identification,
review, refinement, and interpretation in context.
Ethical Considerations
Informed consent was obtained from students' legal guardians prior to data collection,
and institutional authorization was secured from the school administration of the
Unidad Educativa San Pablo. Participants were informed of the voluntary nature of
their involvement, the confidentiality of their responses, and their right to withdraw at
any time without consequence.
3. Results
This section presents the findings obtained from the structured questionnaire
administered to the 30 upper basic education students at the Unidad Educativa San
Pablo following the digital storytelling intervention. Results are organized around three
thematic dimensions: (1) student perceptions of ChatGPT as a language learning tool,
(2) perceived difficulties during the digital storytelling process, and (3) overall
assessment of the activity's usefulness for English learning.
3.1 Student Perceptions of ChatGPT as a Language Learning Tool
Descriptive analysis of the Likert-scale items revealed predominantly positive
perceptions toward the use of ChatGPT in the English classroom. As shown in Table
1, 83.3% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that ChatGPT helped them express
their ideas in English more easily, while 76.7% reported that interacting with the tool
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increased their confidence when writing in English. A mean score of 4.21 (SD=0.67)
was obtained for the item "ChatGPT was useful for completing the storytelling task."
Notably, 70% of participants indicated they would like to use AI tools again in future
English classes.
Table 1
Student Perceptions of ChatGPT Use (n=30)
Agree/Strongly Agree
Mean
SD
83.3%
4.21
0.67
76.7%
4.05
0.74
80.0%
4.18
0.71
70.0%
3.97
0.82
Note: Five-point Likert scale: 1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree (Author, 2026).
3.2 Perceived Difficulties During the Digital Storytelling Process
Despite the positive perceptions above, participants identified several challenges. The
most frequently reported difficulty was limited internet connectivity (60%, n=18),
followed by unfamiliarity with prompt writing in English (50%, n=15), and difficulty
understanding ChatGPT's vocabulary (43.3%, n=13). A smaller proportion reported
difficulty organizing story structure (26.7%, n=8), and only 16.7% (n=5) found the
overall task too complex. These findings suggest that infrastructural and linguistic
barriers — rather than cognitive overload — were the primary obstacles faced by rural
learners.
3.3 Usefulness of Digital Storytelling for English Learning
Thematic analysis of open-ended items yielded three recurring themes. The first,
language practice through narrative, captured students' perceptions that constructing
stories provided a meaningful context for vocabulary use and grammar application.
The second, motivation through creative ownership, reflected student engagement
derived from producing their own stories, with several participants noting that the
creative freedom made English feel more relevant and enjoyable. The third, awareness
of AI as a learning support, documented students' emerging understanding of
ChatGPT as a tool that assists rather than replaces their own language effort.
4. Discussion
The findings of this study offer relevant insights into the potential of AI-enhanced digital
storytelling as a pedagogical strategy for English language teaching in rural contexts
in Ecuador. The results are discussed across three dimensions: the perceived value
of ChatGPT as a language learning scaffold, the infrastructural and linguistic barriers
in low-resource settings, and the motivational and metacognitive dimensions of AI-
mediated storytelling among young EFL learners.
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ChatGPT as a Scaffolding Tool for Rural EFL Learners
The high levels of perceived utility reported by participants align with a growing body
of evidence supporting generative AI in language learning. Lee and Cho (2025) found
that AI-assisted tasks in blended learning significantly enhanced both productive and
receptive language skills, resonating with the perceptions documented here. Similarly,
Liu (2025) demonstrated that AI storytelling-based approaches positively influenced
EFL outcomes and motivation, suggesting that the affordances of ChatGPT observed
in this rural context are consistent with broader international trends. The fact that 83.3%
of participants perceived ChatGPT as helpful for expressing ideas in English indicates
that even in low-resource environments, AI tools can function as effective linguistic
scaffolds within a structured pedagogical sequence.
These results also complement Fan and Chen (2023), who reported that digital
storytelling tasks enhanced students' English proficiency when embedded in
cooperative learning frameworks. The three-phase design — preparation, production,
and presentation — appears to have provided sufficient structure for students to
engage meaningfully with ChatGPT despite limited prior experience, which is
particularly significant in rural Ecuador where technology-mediated English instruction
remains scarce (Dinata et al., 2025).
Infrastructural and Linguistic Barriers in Low-Resource Contexts
The difficulties reported by participants — particularly limited internet connectivity and
unfamiliarity with prompt writing in English — reflect systemic challenges well
documented in the literature. Espartinez (2025) highlighted similar barriers in Philippine
rural higher education, noting that infrastructural constraints significantly mediated the
effectiveness of AI integration even when student attitudes were positive. The present
findings corroborate this pattern, confirming that the digital divide remains a critical
variable in rural Ecuador.
The challenge of prompt literacy deserves particular attention. Tour and Zadorozhnyy
(2025) argue that constructing effective prompts in a target language constitutes an
emerging competency intersecting language proficiency with digital literacy. For
students at the Unidad Educativa San Pablo, prompt writing simultaneously demanded
linguistic and technological skills not previously developed, pointing to the need for
explicit prompt literacy instruction as a preparatory component of future AI-integrated
interventions (Luo & Zou, 2025).
Motivation, Creative Ownership, and AI Awareness
The theme of motivation through creative ownership is consistent with Wang et al.
(2025), who demonstrated that GenAI-enhanced digital storytelling effectively
empowered student voices through personalized narrative production. In the present
context, creating stories rooted in students' own experiences generated a sense of
relevance particularly valuable in rural settings where English is often perceived as
distant from everyday life.
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The most theoretically significant finding concerns students' emerging awareness of
ChatGPT as a learning support rather than a replacement for their own effort. This
metacognitive distinction aligns with AI literacy as discussed by Uygun (2026), who
emphasizes developing critical dispositions toward AI in EFL contexts. The fact that
rural learners with limited prior AI exposure could articulate this distinction suggests
that well-designed pedagogical interventions can foster responsible AI use even in
constrained environments (Kasinidou et al., 2025; Alisoy et al., 2025).
5. Conclusion
This study examined the implementation of AI-enhanced digital storytelling as a
pedagogical strategy for English language teaching at the Unidad Educativa San
Pablo, a rural institution in Santa Elena province, Ecuador. The findings contribute
empirical evidence to an underexplored area of EFL research by documenting how
generative AI tools, specifically ChatGPT, can be meaningfully integrated into
storytelling-based instruction in low-resource educational contexts.
The results indicate that digital storytelling supported by ChatGPT was perceived
positively by the majority of participants, who reported increased confidence, greater
ease of expression in English, and a heightened sense of creative engagement. These
outcomes suggest that AI-enhanced storytelling constitutes a viable pedagogical
approach for rural EFL settings, provided that the instructional design is sufficiently
structured to guide learners through the creative and linguistic demands of the task.
At the same time, the study identified persistent barriers related to internet connectivity
and prompt literacy that must be addressed for this type of intervention to reach its full
potential. Future implementations should incorporate explicit digital literacy
components prior to the storytelling activity, with particular attention to developing
students' ability to construct effective prompts in English as a foundational competency
for AI-assisted language learning.
The emergence of metacognitive awareness regarding the appropriate use of AI tools
represents one of the most educationally significant findings of this study. The ability
of rural learners to distinguish between AI-assisted language production and
independent language use points to the broader pedagogical value of integrating AI
tools within reflective, task-based learning frameworks. This finding carries important
implications for teacher training programs in Ecuador, where preparing educators to
design responsible and contextually appropriate AI-integrated lessons remains an
urgent professional development priority.
This study is not without limitations. The single-case design restricts the
generalizability of the findings to other rural educational contexts. Future research
should employ larger samples across multiple institutions, incorporate pre- and post-
intervention measures of language proficiency, and triangulate questionnaire data with
classroom observations and teacher interviews to yield a more comprehensive
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Artículo Científico
Abril – Junio 2026
understanding of the conditions under which AI-enhanced digital storytelling produces
meaningful EFL learning outcomes.
CONFLICTO DE INTERESES
“Los autores declaran no tener ningún conflicto de intereses”.
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