In a literacy intervention lesson, engagement is not always automatic. Some students may begin the lesson ready to learn, while others may feel tired, restless or unsure about the next task. For younger learners, especially those who find reading and writing challenging, sustaining attention across a two-hour lesson can be difficult.

This is where short, selected story clips can be useful. At first glance, they may look like simple screen time or a break from learning. However, when used with clear teaching intention, they can support students’ listening comprehension, curiosity, oral language, vocabulary and story understanding. The key is not the screen itself, but how the teacher uses it.

A story clip, when guided well, can become a bridge: from fatigue back to attention, from watching to wondering and from interest back to literacy.

 

Why Story Engagement Matters

Stories help students understand characters, emotions, events and consequences. However, for some learners, written stories can feel demanding. They may struggle to decode words, follow longer passages or visualise what is happening in the text. As a result, they may disengage before they have fully entered the world of the story.

A short audio-visual story clip can provide another way in. Students can listen, watch, notice and respond. They may observe a character’s facial expression, hear changes in tone of voice and follow the sequence of events more clearly. These experiences can later support discussion, comprehension questions and writing ideas.

This does not mean that videos replace reading. Print-based literacy remains important. Rather, selected story clips can be used as a bridge towards reading and writing.

 

Using Story Clips Purposefully

A story clip becomes meaningful when it is guided. For example, the teacher may pause and ask:

• What do you think the character is feeling? 
• What clue tells you that? 
• What do you think might happen next? 
• How would you describe this place? 
• What lesson can we learn from this part of the story? 

These questions encourage students to think actively. They are not simply watching. They are predicting, inferring, describing and connecting ideas. These are important comprehension skills.

At times, the story clip may also be part of the lesson itself, especially when the focus is listening comprehension, prediction, sequencing, vocabulary or inferencing. In this context, the clip functions as a multimodal text. Students access the story through listening, viewing and discussion before moving into reading or writing.

This links to Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, which explains how learners can learn from words and graphics when multimedia is designed and used meaningfully. Mayer also highlights that multimedia learning involves active processing, where learners select relevant information, organise it and connect it with what they already know. 

In other words, multimedia is most helpful when students are guided to think, not when they are left to watch passively.

 

Incidental Learning Through Story

Alongside explicit questioning, guided story moments may also provide incidental exposure to language and narrative patterns. Students may hear descriptive phrases, notice dialogue, observe character motivation, follow problem-solution structures and encounter emotional vocabulary.

These experiences may later support oral responses, sentence construction or writing ideas. This type of exposure should not replace explicit instruction, but it can complement it. When students are interested in a story, they may have more language, images and ideas to draw from when they return to reading or writing tasks.

 

A UDL-Informed Approach

This practice also connects with Universal Design for Learning, or UDL. CAST’s UDL Guidelines encourage educators to design learning through multiple means of engagement, representation and action and expression. 

In a literacy classroom, this means students may need different pathways to access learning. Some students may respond well to print immediately. Others may first need oral discussion, visuals, modelling or shared storytelling. A guided story clip can offer another point of access while still keeping the literacy goal in focus.

This is especially relevant in structured literacy intervention. Structure remains important, but flexibility helps students stay connected to the lesson. A recent DAS article explains that the Orton-Gillingham approach provides structured, explicit literacy instruction, while UDL adds flexible pathways for access, engagement and expression without weakening the integrity of structured literacy teaching. 

 

Supporting Attention and Learning Stamina

For primary learners, attention can vary across a lesson. In a two-hour class, moving continuously from one print-based task to another may cause some students to become restless or disengaged. A short story-based transition can help students pause briefly while still remaining connected to language and meaning.

This is different from using videos purely for entertainment or reward. In guided story moments, the clip is selected, paused, questioned and linked back to a literacy goal.

For example, after a spelling or reading activity, a short guided story moment may help students shift into comprehension. After the clip, the teacher may guide students back to a written task by asking them to describe a character, sequence events or write a sentence using vocabulary from the story.

When more than one clip is used, the excerpts should remain connected to the same story purpose, kept within a clear time frame and guided back to the literacy goal. The intention is not extended viewing. It is purposeful story engagement.

In this way, the pause still teaches. It gives students a moment to reset, but it does not disconnect them from literacy.

 

From Watching to Thinking

The teacher’s role is essential. Without guidance, a video may remain entertainment. With thoughtful questioning, it becomes a literacy stimulus.

The skill lies in knowing what clip to choose, when to pause, what questions to ask, how long to use it and how to link it back to the lesson. This requires classroom awareness and professional judgement. It is not simply pressing play. It is noticing when students need support, creating a safe and engaging transition and helping them return to the task with better readiness.

The pedagogical value is not in the screen alone. It is in how the teacher turns watching into thinking.

 

A Call to Action

In literacy intervention, engagement should not be seen only as a reward after learning. For some students, engagement is one of the pathways into learning.

When used thoughtfully, guided story clips can help students listen, imagine, infer, discuss and write. They can support curiosity while building comprehension. They can also help students experience stories as meaningful, not only as tasks to complete.

Small teaching decisions can make a meaningful difference. A short story clip, when used with purpose, can become more than a break. It can become a bridge back into literacy.

 

Questions to Bring Back to Practice

These questions may help guide reflection on how small teaching decisions can support students’ attention, curiosity and readiness to continue learning:

• When students lose focus during longer literacy lessons, what might they need in order to re-engage? 
• How can multimodal resources be used purposefully without replacing structured literacy instruction? 
• How can questioning turn a story clip from passive watching into active comprehension? 
• How can students’ interest in stories be connected back to reading, vocabulary and writing? 
• What short, intentional transitions help learners feel safe, curious and ready to continue? 

 

References

CAST. (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 3.0.

Dyslexia Association of Singapore. (2026). UDL Meets OG: Where Tech Bridges the Gap.

Mayer, R. E. (2024). The past, present and future of the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning.