Virtual Booth

StoryPath is a branching narrative teaching aid designed to support low-proficiency English language learners through contextualised and story-driven learning. The innovation responds to the difficulties many ESL learners experience when vocabulary, reading comprehension, listening comprehension and sentence structure are taught as separate exercises with limited connection to meaningful communication. StoryPath aims to integrate these language components within a continuous narrative in which learners must understand and use English to progress through the story. In the prototype episode, learners accompany a pet dog to a convenience store, interact with characters, identify vocabulary, form WH-questions, paraphrase information, interpret short texts, listen for specific details and construct accurate sentences. When the dog later goes missing, learners use information gathered from conversations, notices and witnesses to make decisions that determine the next narrative path. Its novelty lies in linking language performance to story consequences, whereby sufficient comprehension allows learners to progress, while incomplete responses trigger an additional support scene before they reattempt the task. Therefore, StoryPath transforms conventional language exercises into purposeful narrative actions and provides repeated exposure to language in meaningful situations, with the intention of preparing learners for more advanced language and communication skills. The teaching aid can benefit schools, colleges and language centres by providing an engaging, low-pressure and adaptable approach to ESL practice. Its flexibility also supports commercialisation as printable story kits, classroom teaching packs, interactive digital modules and graded CEFR-based narrative collections for varied themes, proficiency levels and learning contexts across individual and collaborative settings.