Mapping the Narrative Landscape: A Critical Review of Storytelling-Based Pedagogical Models in 21st Century Education
Indonesia 
Brazil Brazil 
Afghanistan 
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Digital Storytelling, Learner Agency, Narrative Pedagogy
Abstract
Background. Storytelling has become an increasingly prominent pedagogical approach in twenty-first-century education, yet its diverse models, technologies, and instructional functions remain conceptually fragmented across disciplines.
Purpose. This study aimed to critically map storytelling-based pedagogical models, identify their defining characteristics, compare their learning functions, and clarify the conditions under which they support meaningful educational outcomes.
Method. A critical review design with a systematic search strategy was employed across major academic databases, followed by eligibility screening, structured data extraction, critical appraisal, comparative coding, and cross-model synthesis.
Results. The findings identified six major configurations: digital storytelling, learner-generated narrative, collaborative storytelling, narrative pedagogy or story-based instruction, interactive or game-mediated storytelling, and multimodal, immersive, or AI-supported storytelling. Learner authorship and agency were more consistently associated with creativity, critical thinking, reflection, collaboration, and knowledge construction, whereas receptive models more commonly supported comprehension, contextualization, engagement, and retention.
Conclusion. The study concludes that storytelling should be understood as a differentiated pedagogical landscape rather than a single method, requiring model-specific design, evaluation, and future research, particularly concerning emerging AI-supported narrative practices in diverse educational contexts and across culturally diverse learner populations and curricular domains.
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