Name: Shafitri Indah Pratiwi Stud. Number: 06121001012 MID EXAM WRITING 3: Two Advantages of Using Short Stories for Reading Comprehension Skill in the ELT Classroom English Language Teaching (ELT) is the formal way of transferring English knowledge which is done by the English teachers at school. Specifically, this formal learning activity is for non-native English students from all over the world. There are many means related to English that can help the learning process in ELT classroom, including the use of textbooks, technology and etc. One of those means is the use of literature in the ELT classroom. Therefore, Literature takes part as an effective tool in ELT for students whose first language is not English. According to ELT Voices of India Journal, “Literature is not only a tool for developing the written and oral skills of the students in the target language but also is a window opening into the culture of the target language, building up a cultural competence in students.” In addition, there are many kinds of literature, such as novel, drama, short story, and many more. However, short story plays the interesting role in improving students’ reading skill in ELT class. Short story, an attractive kind of literature, has two advantages to improve students’ reading skill in the ELT classroom. First of all, short stories can enrich students’ vocabularies which become an important aspect of reading skill. Knowing a lot of vocabulary would be very useful to students in helping their deep understanding of texts. The learners who have poor vocabulary knowledge are led into having problems with reading (Zamzam E. M Al- Dersi, 2013). Consequently, the lack of vocabularies will disrupt the students’ understanding of passages in English. For example, they get stuck in the middle of reading because of the unknown vocabulary and they might forget the previous ideas of particular passage they read. In this case, short stories are an effective way to attract students to read because this literary genre is easy to finish and interesting. It is similar to what Brumfit and Carter stated, “stories are easy to finish, definite to understand and attract the students’ attention more than any other normal passage” (qtd. in Mustafa and Zamzam p. 5). Furthermore, short stories build the students’ critical thinking and creativity in reading. Oster (1989), insisted, “Focusing on point of view in literature enlarges students vision and fosters critical thinking by dramatizing the various ways a situation can be seen” (qtd. in Parlindungan Pardede Journal, p. 21). Through reading many kinds of short stories, the students would have much knowledge, such as getting moral lessons, knowing the characterization of the characters, and even they are able to get themselves into the situation in the stories. As the result, students will become more critical because they interact with the text. Not only getting much knowledge, short stories also raise students’ critical thinking which leads to their intelligence in taking decisions. Equally important, this literary genre is able to build students creativity towards the other language skills, besides reading. For instance, students are able to interpret the ideas in the short stories in the form of drawing or else. So, it can be seen that short stories are very useful aids in helping learning process activity for all language skills, especially reading for students. To conclude, literature is certainly a useful means for helping the English Language Teaching (ELT) activity. Many kinds of literature, especially short stories, have many advantages to learning process. Enriching students’ vocabulary in reading is one of them. Students would have a lot of benefits of having rich vocabularies in helping their reading skill. Another advantage of short stories is to help students think critically and be creative. They are pushed to be creative and critical people, depending on their understanding of the short stories they read. It will become reality if the English teachers apply this method for teaching and learning activity in the ELT classroom.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 14:00:23 +0000
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