Luận văn using short stories in teaching english in the context of vietnam australia school hanoi

Research question 2: Low do students percleve short stories as a source of language input in terms of interest and importance?. Research question 3: How do teachers exploit short stories

PHAM THU HA

USING SIIORT STORIES IN TEACITING ENGLISI IN TIE CONTEXT OF VIETNAM AUSTRALIA SCHOOL — HANOI

(VIỆC SỬ DỰNG TRUYỆN NGẮN TRONG GIẢNG DẠY TIÊNG ANH TẠI NGỮ CANH

TRUONG TRUNG HỌC VIỆT ÚC

MLA Minor thesis

Field: Methodology Code: 601410

HANOI-2009

(VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRUYỆN NGẮN TRONG GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH TẠI NGỮ CẢNH

TRƯỞNG TRUNG TIỌC VIỆT ỨC — TIÀ NỘI)

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

SUPERVISOR: PHÙNG IIÀ THANH, M.Bd

HANOI-2009

1.1 Rationale of the study

1.2, Aims of the stud;

2.2.25 Teaching higher-order thinking: B CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOG'

3.3 Procedure of data collection

4.1 Rescach question 1: How do teachers percieve the usc of short stories in teaching

4.2 Research question 2: Low do students percleve short stories as a source of language input in terms of interest and importance? .22

4 3 Research question 3: How do teachers exploit short stories in teaching English in torms of purpose, strategy and frequency? 23

a BF

43.1 The frequency of using short stories in teaching English

43.2 The purposes of using short stories in teaching English 3

we BF

43.3, The strategies to exploit short stories in teaching English

4.4, Research question 4: To what extent do teachers feel satistied with their use of short

4.5, Research question 3: What are the obstacles that have limited teachers’ use of short

4.6 Research question 6: What are the obstacles that challenge students in learning

47.2.2, Students’ expectations for the activities in V88 cả .eooeeooceeoeo 32

5.2.2.2 Activities for trang œ short siOry Et CÏq8S, ì cào,

5.3 Limitations of the study and sugpestions for further stuily

APPENDIX 3: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS

APPENDIX 4: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (Vietnamese version) x

APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE

'Table 4 8: Students’ expectations in terms of length, level of difficulty and theme of a short story

w3t Table 4.9: Students’ expectations for the aclivities in claS8 eceooeo 33

VAS: Vietnam Australia School- [anoi

for the study It also outlines the overall purpose and objectives of the study, desoribes the significance of the study, poses the rescarch questions to be answered and provides an overview of the research design

1.1 Rationale of the stuily

Today, English is the global means of communication It is now an official language in more than 75 countries, with a total population of over 2 billion speakers ‘Three quarters of the world’s nul are in English and 80% of tho world’s electrically stored information is also currently in English (Crystal, 1997) English is the working language of the Asian trade group ASLAN and the official language of the Lmropean Central Bank (Wallraff, 2000) Briefly, with the spread of globalization and the Tapid expansion of information tcclmologies lus come

an explosion in the demand for English worldwide

Unexceptionally, in Vietnam, English is considered the key to success in modem litt

‘The mumber of English learners has been increasing rapidly in the last fw decades ‘To meet the demand, a great deal of schools and centers with special English teaching and learning programs have been sct up cvcrywherc, especially in big cities Victnam Australia Sehoo!-

Hanoi (VAS), a private high school which is located in My Dinh, Hanoi, is one example

Fatablished in 2007, VAS is to offer an ideal environment for learning Fngtish Tt cooperates with PLC, a famous school in Australia in cuxriculum and education programs Students in VAS have to follow the English syllabus of Vietnam carried out by Vietnamese teachers Besides they have global English and glotal commerce classes with Anstratian teachers, henee, there are many chances for them fo practice and improve English in real life conversations with native speaking people All of the parents hope that their children can have the best Icarning, conditions, especially the best English learning environment so that their children will be able to go on studying overseas or to have the best preparation for their fisture

However, one of the challenges facing English teachers of VAS, including the author

of this study, is composing extra materials, In VAS, students have five to six periods a week

type of materials does seem to have attracted much interest Sometimes extra written practice

tests arc blamed for a boring atmosphere in many classes Thus, there should be variations so that students feel more interested in learning, In VAS, a number of sources of teaching malerials such as poems, short stories, drama, films, Finglish songs, ele have been exploited now and then, Among these, using short stories as teaching supplementary materials has been taken into consideration for some following reasons

Firstly, short stories can be seen as an interesting and suitable source of teaching malerials, As teading texls, short slories can serve (he language skill driffimg limetion quite well More importantly, short stories in particular and literary texts in general are favorable for students’ langage and cultural development and personal involvement Since literature enables students to understand and appreciate other cultures and socisties, it encourages personal growth and intellectual development, According to Ibscn’s vicw (1990), litcrary texts appeal to students in term of emotion and personal experience because each student will meet the (ext in hivher own way based on experiences and knowledge of Hitsraiure and Tile This creates meaningful and interesting discussions among students and draws on personal responses form feamers, In other words, learners become more personally involved in the

personalities

In Vietnam- Australia school, Hanoi, short stories are mostly used as supplementary

imalzrial for teaching by Australian loachors and sometimes applied by Vietnamese Leachers However, there has been no official rescarch on using thom in teaching English This study has been conducted with the purpose to investigate how other teachers and students think about ths use of short stories in teaching English and to what extents they have employed them

in their teaching,

All these above explain why the author tries to do the research Hl is hoped to result in usetitl ideas of using short stories in language classroom, especially in the context of Vietnam Australia School, Tanoi

1.2 Alms of the study

Parallel with the reasons leading to the research are some following aims:

- To investigate the perception of students towards the use of short stories

- To study on the current use of short stories by teachers in Vietnam Australia School,

Hanoi

- To discuss some suggestions of usiryg short stories in classroom such as sclocling materials and using these materials in a way that is relevant to the students,

This study seeks the answers to the following questions

1 How do teachers percieve the use of short stories in teaching English in terms of necessity?

2 How do students percieve short stories as a source of language input in tanms of interest and importance?

3 How do teachers exploit short stories in teaching English in terms of purpose, strategy and

frequency?

4 To whal cxteut do teachers [ec! satisfied with (heir usc of short slorizs in (caching Frystish?

S Whal are the obstacles that have Timiled (oahers” use of short stories in teaching English?

6 What are the obstacles that challenge students in learning English with short stories?

7 What are the recomendations for using short stories in teaching Unglish given by students

1.4 Research metheds

Dala collection for analysis in the sindy are mainly gained through smvey

questionnaires and interviews

The questionaires aim at studying the students’ and the teachers’ attitude towards using short stories in classroom and their feedbacks after having lessons with short stories Meanwhile, semi-structured interviews were conducled among the teachers to triangulate the data collected from the questionnaires and to gather futher information

Affer that, the data collected were collectively analyzed to address the research questions Tables, charts and diagrams were used for elearer presentation and comparison

1.5 Significance of the study

By locking into the perception of the use of short stories in English classes, the

and students with their achievements and improvernent in teaching and learning process, and the obstacles facing them, the study brings about an overall picture of the exploitation of short stories in VAS It is hoped to raise the awareness of

ways of applying them in teaching English

1.6 Structure of the study

This study is divided into five chapters:

Chapter 1, Introduction, briefly presents the reasons for doing the study, its aims, scope, subjects as well as the research methodology

Chapler 4, Data analysis and Results, provides an arulysis of collected data and the findings

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Literature and language teaching

2.1.1 Concept of erature

The term "literature" has diffrent meanings depending on who is using it and in what context Different pcopic approach litcraturc in their own ways

Lazar (1993, p.1) introduced some definitions of literature

Litcrature is “ fectings” and “thoughts” in black and white Literature is the use of language to cvoke a personal response in the reader or listener Literature is the world of fantasy, horror, feclings, visions put into words Literate means 10 meet a lol of people, to know other

different points of view, ideas, thonghts, minds to know ourselves better

Ao

cording lo Tris Murdoch (1978), litcralure could be said lo be a sorl of disciplined technique tor arousing certain emotion, And for Ezra Pound (1981), great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree

From these definitions quoled above, il can be concluded that literature is as Tilerature docs In exploring what literature is, it is useful to look al sone of the things thal Hleralure does Literature is something that reflects society, makes us think about ourselves and our society, allows us to enjoy language and beanty, it can be didactic, and it reflects on the aman condition It both reflects idcology and changcs idcology, just like it follows genetic conventions as well as changing them Literature is the ereation of another world, a world that people can only see through reading lilerature

which strongly rcinforezs the message of (he lext (Brumfit and Carter, 1986).

means of relaxation, Because most of ESL teachers think literature is too structurally complex for learners to read, it is supposed by ESL teachers to contribute very little to their main goal -

to teach learners the grammar of the language so thal learners can nse the language in daily communivation However, in fact, literature is nol just for Titerature students, litcralure should

be sensibly used in a language classroom for a number of reasons

Literature- motivating and valuable authentic material

“Literature is “feelings” and “thoughts” in black and white Literature is the world of

fantasy, horror, feelings visions put into words Literature means to meet a lot of people, to

know other different points of vicw, idcas, thoughts, minds t0 know ourselves better

(Lazar (1993, p.1) ‘Therefore, literature is human life In other words, literature reflects real

Ti all around the world, More than thal, if transcends the time and culling to speak directly to

areader of a differsn

courtry al a different perind of time (Collie & Slater, 1987) This is the

reason why many works of famous writers such as William Shakespears, Nguyen Du, Mark

Twain, ect are still alive despite the challenge of time What’s more, literature is not written for the specific purpose of teaching but the native readers There are many different linguistic

forms and uses used in daily life ‘hus, through the language of literature, learners can be exposed to such a kind of authentic language, which is [h6 aim of any langage teachers

Furthermore, once students are familiar with literature in their own language, then studying some literature in English can provide an interesting and thought-provoking point for comparison For example, teachers can ask students to retell short stories dom their own cullume before getting them to read an authenlic slory in Tinglish on a simnilar theme, IL could be highly motivating, Additionally, a good novel or short story can involve students in the suspense of unravelling the plot, When reading literary texts, readers are said to live with the characters they Tike, They respond lo what the characters say and do and keop sharing their cmotion fiom the beginning to the end Readers are absorbcd in the cvents of the story and eager to find out what happens next, Really, the students are well-motivated and willing to

take part in the journey af exploring the unknown language territory, which wil ercats the vary positive offects on the proczss of language learning

useful Lo find out imsights info the relationship, emotions, belic{s, atfilu

lifestyles of paopile fiom other cultures Hence, literature is considered as the best complimentary material that helps to incrsase learners” knowledge about other conmtries

Literature- an encouragement for language acquisition

In many countries in the world including Vietnam students have limited access to spoken English, and written English oftcn takes om primary importance for stimulating

language acquisition Literature may provide a particularly appropriate way of stimulating this

acquistion as it provides meamingfid and wernorable conlexts for processing and interpreting now language Obviously, at lower level, stulents may be unable to cape on their own with a genuie novel or short story in English Any extensive reading should be of graded material, However, at higher levels, students may be so absorbed in the plot and characters of an authentic novel or short story that they acquire @ great deal of now language Because literature is very rich in meaning, the use of literary texts within the classroom is often a particularly successful way of promoting activilies in which studsnis need 1o share their feelings and opinions such as discussion and groupwork Focussing on.a task which demands that students express their personal responses to multiple levels of meaning can only serve to improve the students" acquisition of language

the strongest and the most important cfffect on the language leamers It stinmlates thz imagination of students, develops their critical abilities and increases their emotional awarcness, For examnp

to relate it to the values and traditions of their own society

2.2 Short stories in language classroom

2.2.1, Definition of a short story

‘The following definition about short stories is extracted fiom the encyclopedia: “I'he short stary refers lo a work of fiction thal is usually written in prose, usually in narrative

format The short story is characterized by the number of words contained therein.”

Determining the actual length of a short story is problematic Short story detinitions based upon length differ somewhat even among professional writers Many short story writers define their work through a combination of creative, personal expr

jon and artistic inlogrity

As a result, definitions of the short story based upon length splinter even more when the writing process is taken into consideration A classic definition of a short story’s length is that

it nmst be able to be read in one sitting but in contemporary usage the term most often refers

to a piece of fiction up to 20,000 words In practice, however, a short story’s Jength is

determined by the publisher Tn the Uniled Slates, for example, short slories, which are called

“long short stories”, can be anything up to 10,000 words In the United Kingdom, short stories average around 5,000 words but in Australi, they are rarely more than 3,500 words Although some short stories called micro narratives can be just @ few hundred words long, there is an

expectation among contemporary rcaders that short storics are at Jeast 1,000 words in length

Short stoies are considered shorter than novels, Theretore, they are also less complex, Usually a short story focuses on only one incident, has a single plot, a single setting, a small

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nutnber of characters who are sorollow conneeiad with cach other, and covers 4 short period,

of fine and a sequenee of events

2.2.2, Benefits of using short stories in language classroom

2.2.2.1 Reinforcing the skills

Murdoch (2002) indicates that “short storics can, if sclccted and cxploited approptiately, provide quality text content which greatly enhances ELT courses tor Jearners "(p.9) In other words, short stories allow teachers to teach the four skills to leamers

of all language proficiency levels

Oster (1989) affirms that litcraturc helps students to writes morc crcatively Teachors can create a variety of writing activities to help students to develop their writing skills They can ask students to write dialogues or more complex writing activities if students have reached ahigh level of language proficiency

In addition, storics can be used to improve students’ vocabulary and reading, Lao and Krashen (2000) compared a group of students that read literary texts and another group that

read nor-hiterary texts at a university in Hongkong The group who read literary texts showed

improvement in vocabulary aul reading Whal they read gave them the oppotunily te came ap with their own insights and helped them to speak the language in a more imaginative way They became more creative since they faced with their own point of view, that/those of the

main character(s) of the story and those of their peers

Focusing on point of view in Tterature entargas studenls” vision and fosters critical thinking by dramatizing the various ways Therefore, when students read, they interact with the text By interacting with the text, they interpret what they read By interpreting what they

read, they can work toward speaking English more creatively

In reference ta lislening, teachors can toad the story oul loud or play the slory out loud

so students have the oppotunity to listen to the story and correct their pronunciation first Students listen and find answers to questions given to them prior to the listening activity Vor

students to understand the story when they listen to it for the first time, the questions can be

Tomscđ on lilerary strnelares such as “who is the main character of the story? Whers/when docs

the story lake place?; whal is Ihe problem in the story?”

thoughts and emotions and apprecite its aesthetic qualitites” (p.197) He stresses the

imporlance of developing student-response (individual and group tevels) and competence in literature In addilion, tilerature qotivates studznis “lo explore their feckings through experiencing those of others” (p.1) Besides, according to the Internet article (author not named) “Using Literature in Teaching English as a Foreign’Second Language” (2004),

“Literature is motivating Litcraturc holds high status in many cultures and countries For this reason, students can feel a real sense of achievement at understanding a piece of highly respected lierature Also, Hlerature is often more interesting than the Lexls found in coursebooks”, As a result, teachers should agree that literary texts encourage students to read, and most literary texts chosen according to students’ language proficisney levels and preferences will certainly be motivating

2.2.2.3 Introducing literary elements

Teachers can introduce literary elements with short stories With beginning and low intermediate levels, teachers can cach simple clements such as characters, sctting and plot

‘The same and more complex elements, such as conflicts, elimax, resolution, etc can be inlrodueed 1o more advanced Tevels, Gajdusck (1988) explains how tileralure cam be introduced by describing the order of activities; pre-reading activities, factual in-class work,

analysis and extending activities In the pre-reading activities, students have the oppotumity to

Jearn about the background af the story and vocabulary Tn factuatin class activities, students

should be introduced to who, what, when, where of the story, or the point of view, chatractcr, setting and action, ‘The question should be placed next to the paragraph in which the answer is found so slndents cam begin 1a understand each literary element means with the help of the

2.2.2.4 Teaching culture

Short stories are effective when teaching culture to LPL students Short stories transmit

the cutture of the people about whom the slorics were written By learning abont the cultw, students leam about the past and present, and about people’s customs and traditions Culture teaches students 10 understand and respect people’s differences When using titerary texts, teachers must be aware that the culture of the people for whom the text was written should be studied As students face a new culture, they become more aware of their own culture ‘They

1nay slarl comparing Ihei culture lo others’ lo see whethe they find simitaritios andéon differences Mismterpretation may occur due to differences between the two cultures (Gajdusek, 1988}, To avoid misinterpretation, teachers should introduce the culture to the students or ask them to find relevant information about it

For instance, before reading/listening to the story “The Wisdom of Solomon”, students should

read some information about King Solomon: If students have access to the Internet, teachers

http://www geocities.convthekingsofisrael/biography_Solomon.html before they read/listen to

the story:

Solomon became king of Israel after the death of his father, David The Old Testament account of his

life tells of how he had a special dream early in his reign In his dream God told him that he could ask

for anything he desired Solomon answered that he wanted nothing more than to have an understanding

heart in order to rule wisely over his people According to the account, God then praised Solomon for asking for wisdom rather than riches and honor The Old Testament writer says that Solomon subsequently became the wisest leader in the world Many came to seek his advice, even leaders of other countries The most famous story of the wisdom of Solomon, however, is the one in which he settles a dispute between two women about questions of motherhood (Janssen, 1981, p 123)

2.2.2.5 Teaching higher-order thinking

Of all the benefits of short stories, developing higher-order thinking skills is significant High intermediate/advanced students can analyse what they read; therefore, they

start thinking critically when they read stories Young (1996) discusses that “stories have two

crucial advantages over traditional content: First, because they are entertaining,

students’pervasive apprehension is reduced, and they learn from the beginning that critical thinking is natural, familiar, and sometimes even fun Second, the stories put issues of critical

thinking in an easiy remembered context” (p.90) Howie (1993) agrees on the use of short stories to teach critical thining, He points out that teachers have the responsibility to help students to develop cognitive skills because everyone needs to “make judgement, be decisive, come to conclusions, synthesize information, organize, evaluate, predict, and apply knowledge” (p 24) By reading and writing, students develop their critical thinking skills

According to Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain, thinking skills include

both lower-order and higher-order thinking Depending on students’ level of profiency,

teachers can activate students’ lower- order or higher-order thinking Beginners are able to recall information and respond to questions about dates, events, and places Thus, when asked

about names of characters, setting and plot of the story, they will have no difficulties

responding to the questions This is level 1 of the taxonomy-knowledge As students become

more proficient in the language, they can move to level 2-comprehension In this level, they

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must demostrate their comprehension by comparing, interpreting, giving descriptions and stating main ideas When students become even more proficient, they move to level 3-

appplication in which they try to solve problem by using the knowledge they have about the

story In level 4-analysis, students mmist have Yeached the high intetmediate level to succeed,

The reason is that students must analyse, compare, contrast, explain, infer, ect, facts and ideas

about the story Upon reaching the advanced level of proficiency, students can synthesize and

evaluate what they read, the last two levels of the taxonomy (synthesis and evaluation)

Teachers can then ask questions such as “How would you change the plot?”, “What would happen if ?°, “What changes would you make to solve ?”, “Do you agree with the action 2, with the outcome ?” (Bloom's critical thinking questioning strategies) Such

questions added to each story should train the students to think critically

Bloom’s Taxonomy (Revised)

ae fw ope ne Moen Ma

Based on an APA adaptation of Anderson, LW, & Krathwohl, D.R (Eds.) (2001)

With the short story “The Wisdom of Solomon”, teachers may raise some questions like below:

1 What would have happened if the real mother of the baby who was about to be cut in half had stayed quiet instead of pleading to King Solomon not to cut him and give him

to the other woman?

who claimed to be the real mother?

3 Do you agree with the way King Solomon acted? Do you agree with the way the real mother acted?

4, Do you agree with the resolution of the story?

‘The questions 1 and 2 require students to think of a different and to the same story and probality

they were portrayed in the original story Question 3 and 4 require students to make judgement

both the real mother of the baby and King Solomon in different ways from how

Different stories may elicit different questions ‘The questions will depend on the plot, conflict, limax, complicatans and 1

ohulion of cach story The more qu requiring higher-order thinking students answer, the better prepared they will be to fice in the

real world.

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

In the previous chapter, a brief overview of the literature on the research topic was

given, which laid the theoretical basis for the whole study In this chapter, the methods

employed to answer the research questions would be described in details The participants, the instruments and the procedure of data collection and analysis would be justified

3.1 Sampling

The study was conducted in Vietnam Australia School, Hanoi (VAS) where the author

is doing the teaching job The school has totally 350 students including 120 senior high school students According to their English level and their grade in other subjects in Vietnamese,

these students are catergorized and assigned into classes from Al to A3 or V1 to V3

This study was carried out with the participation of 10 teachers and 100 senior high school students in VAS The students were chosen randomly from the alphabetical list of names.They accounted for five-sixths of the whole students in year 10 and year 11 of VAS (the school has not had any students in year 12 yet) Moreover, the students participating in the study came from different classes taught by different teachers with various teaching methods and techniques Therefore the data collected can be believed to be representative

There ate totally twenty teachers of English in VAS but only ten teachers (five Vietnamese ans five Australian ones), who were in charge of English classes in senior high school, were chosen to take part in the survey questionnaire Due to the shortage of time, four teachers were interviewed after the survey

3.2, Data collection instruments

To achieve the research objectives, a combined data collection process using both survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews was employed

3.2.1 Questionnaires

In order to obtain stifficient data, the survey questionnaire was chosen as a main

instrument

First of all, thơ structining of questiors was húenfiơnal corrospording lo the rescarch questions lo obtain factual, behavioral and altitutinal information for the participants (lhe situation of using short stories in teaching English in VAS, the perception of teachers and students and its benefits in teaching and learning in English classes)

Sccondly, using questionnaircs is particularly

effort, and financial resources” (Hoang and Nguyen, 2006, p.1U) By admiznstrating the

cfficicnt in terms of rescarcher time,

questionnaire, a huge ammount of information can be collected from a large number of people within a short period of time, and the personal investment required is a mere faction of other

instruments such as observation Furthermore, the questionnaire construction is made

convenient for the data to be processed Specifically, the Likert scals is adopted to reveal the participants’ attitudes and behaviors, Likert sealc is belicved not only to save space and thuc but also to enable the respondents to give more specific answers which increases the accuracy

of the interpretation of data

However, there are some weaknesses of questionnaires such as the “simplicity and

210) and the “fatigue effect” or

towards the end of the questionnaire In order

superficiality generated in questionnaires” (Dornyei 2003,

The survey questionnaire for teachers consists of 8 questions organized into five parts

which correspand to the five research questions Part 2 with 3 questions focusses on the

exploitation of stunt slories in leaching English ineluding the purpose and the frequency of the use of short stories and the techniques applied to exploit a short story Part 3 studres the satisfaction with the use of short stories in teaching English Part 4 investigates the obstacles

in using short stories in tcaching English, In part 5, respondents can make any recommendations to ensure the better use of short stories in teaching English [he teachers who have already applied short stories in teaching English have to answer all the questions in the five parts whereas those who have not used short slorics in teaching English skip part 2 and 3 and answer the questions in part 1, part 4 and part 5 Part 1 aims to elicit the teachers” perceptions of using short storiss in teaching English in VAS

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‘The student survey questionnaire is designed similarly but shorter (2 pages in length) and Simple It is translated into Vietnamese so that the students can understand the questions

clearly to give correct answers The questionnaire for students is organized into three parts

with five questions It concamis the perceptions of the use of short stories in learning English,

the obstacles in using short stories in English class as supplementary materials and their

expectations

3.2.2 Interviews

Together with the survey questionnaire, the interview was exploited as a valuable

research instrument to examine the research problem

In light of research methodology, “interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant’s experiences The interviewer can pursue in-depth information

around the topic Interviews may be useful as follow-up to certain respondents to

questionnaires, e.g., to further investigate their responses” (Hoang and Nguyen, 2006, p.47) In

this study, the interviews were conducted after the collection of the survey questionnaires, and

its content mostly focuses on interesting or controversial aspects noted fiom the

questionnaires

Semi-structured interviews were adopted with the participation of four teachers The

researcher entered the interview with a general idea of the areas to focus on rather than a fixed

list of questions As this research tool allows the interviewer a certain degree of both control

and flexibility while it still leaves the interviewee some power over the course of the interview

(Hoang and Nguyen, 2006, p.45), it could elicit rich information from the respondents and

help address the research questions effectively Its purpose is to triangulate the data collected from the survey and obtain in-depth information, so clarifications and firther explanations are

fiequently provided to the respondents

3.3 Procedure of data collection

‘The procedure of data collection consists of three main phases as follows:

Phase 1: Preparation

During this period, the survey questionnaire and intervicw schedule were designed based on the conceptual framework established in the Literature Review Each research question was further divided into sub-questions In any of these instruments, personal information of participants was kept confidential and anonymous for cthical reasons These forms were then sent to the supervisor of the researcher for feedback Besides, the survey forms and inlerview schedules were piloted on five voluntary starlents Thanks to this step, the layout of the whole questionnaire and the wording of several questions had been considerably improved to avoid possible ambiguity and misunderstandings of respondents, Also, the pilot survey highlighted the nsed to establish strict supervision and consistent understanding of terms to participants to cusurc the reliability of data collcctod,

Phase 2: Administering the questionnaires

The second phase was ta conduct the survey questionaire Due to difficulties in making drect contact and time constraints, questionnaures for teachers were mostly delivered via email so that the participants could complete it at their convenience

As for the studznts, it took the mí

appropriate time and place to camry out the survey The introduction about the study,

archer an enormous amount of time to arrange

instructions and definitions of key terms were given elearly and the researcher was ready to answer any questions that arose i order fo guarantee the qualily of the information All the questionnaires delivared were retumed,

Phase 3: Conducting interview:

In the uhird slage, some Leachors were inviled lo join an intsrvicw This was to triangulate the data collected through questionnaires and, at the same time, gather tither information about their thoughts and expectations The interview was conducted in the teachcr’s room during after class Permission was asked for int advance to record the interview Besides, the researcher was ready to take note of any special non-verbal behaviors of the

interviewees

Phase 4: Transcribing the interviews

In this final stage of the data collection procedure, all the interviews were transcribed Since data ftom the interviews came in large amount, the transcripts wers then summarized

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according lo the rescarch questions, The detailed notes regarding intsrvicwoo’s background, and (he sclling of the intsrview wore added To avoid polontial rigid suramary wilhoul context and enable reference when necessary, the page number of the quotations in the transcripts was added

3.4 Procedure of data analysis

Afier the data collection process, the information obtained fiom both the survey questionnaires and interviews was classificd according to the rescarch questions Since previously the researcher had intentionally arranged the questions in the questionnaires and julerviews corresponding to the research questions, the lask became fess complicated

Conscquenlly, for cach research question, participants’ responses were alcutated and

transferred into numerical form, for exemple the percentage of participants who shared similar ideas or their average rating The data were then tabulated and charted for clearer presentation and casicr comparison and synthesis, Qualitative data like participants’ answers to the open- ended questions in the questionnaire or during the interviews were summarized and presented

in the form of quolations whan necessary lo provide more insights inlo the issue

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The previous chapter has presented the methodology exploited in this study The

selection of the participants, the research instruments as well as the process of data collection and data analysis have been described in detail and justified In this chapter, the data obtained

from the questionnaires and interviews will be collectively analyzed and discussed to address

the research questions

4.1 Reseach question 1: How do teachers percieve the use of short stories in teaching

English in terms of necessity?

From the beginning, the respondents had to answer the questions “Have you ever used

short stories besides those in the textbook in your English teaching process?” Nine out of ten

respondents said they had used short stories in their teaching process Only one teacher had

never applied short stories in teaching

Figure 4, 1: The presense of short stories in the teaching practice of the teachers

supplementary teaching sources besides the textbook Among many sources, short stories were

taken into consideration

The teacher’s perceptions of using short stories in teaching English in terms of necessity was studied Almost everyone can realize the necessity of using short stories in

teaching English, but how necessary it is depends on individual evaluation None of the teachers (0%) in VAS disapproved of its necessity and also none of them agreed with the fact

that using short stories in teaching English was compulsory Only one teacher said that it was

not very necessary to use short stories in teaching English Four teachers accepted it was necessary and the rest (five teachers) agreed that it was very necessary It can be concluded

fiom the data that all teachers realized the necessity of using short stories, which led them to use short stories in their teaching

4.2 Research question 2: How do students percieve short stories as a source of language

input in terms of interest and importance?

As can be seen from the chart below, most of the students (75%) were intersted in the

teacher’s use of short stories 20% of them were only interested sometimes However, there

‘was a small number of students who didn’t care much about it

Figure 4 2: Students’ perception of short stories in terms of interest

TINot interested at]

all Not very interested Dinterested

‘sometimes:

Very interested

Referring to the personal information in the questionnaire, those who didn’t care much about

the teachers” use of short stories mostly came from A3 classes which were regarded as lower

level They might be a bit lazy or have some difficulty in learning English with short stories,

which will be looked into later on Anyway, three quarters of the students felt very interested

in short stories, which means that they themslves had motivation and wiould try their best to

overcome any challenges to reach their goals of learning Being interesed in learning English

with short stories, the students themselves realized its benefit very clearly It can be revealed

in the table below.

Table students’ practice with short stories

a I can practice listening and speaking skills more 3.4 4 4 b._ I can practice reading and writing skills more 3.3 3,5 4

¢ Tcan learn more new words and expressions in context | 3.4 4 4

d I can enrich my background knowledge about people, | 3.24 3 4

cultures, countries and the world

e I have more chances to discuss with my friends and | 3.88 4 4

express my ideas

f£ I feel relaxed and interested in short stories, 3.8 5 5

g I find myself more imaginative and creative 32 E 3

‘The mean scores were all over 3, and nearly 4 (3.88 and 3.8) for items *e” and “f° Also most of mode scores were 4, especially maximum 5 for item “f*, Most of them felt relaxed and intersted to express their ideas and discuss with their friends However, among these investigated items, items “g” and “h” got lower scores (mean around 3 and mode=3) They did not think much about the improvement and development in imagination, creativeness and critical thinking Perhaps, it was fairly hard for students themseleves and even for teachers

to realize the improvement and development in imagination, creativeness and critical thinking Mote importantly, the teachers themselves might not consider these their main aims when using short stories

4 3, Research question 3: How do teachers exploit short stories in teaching English in terms of purpose, strategy and frequency?

For this research question, nine teachers who have used short stories in their teaching were

under investigation The teachers’ exploitation of short stones in teaching English were

examined in terms of frequency, purpose and strategy

43.1 The frequency of using short stories in teaching English

Although all of them said they had used short stories besides the textbook in their

teaching process, only three teachers (33%) used short stories in their teaching practice almost

24

every week Six out of nine teachers (67%) used short stories just from time to time, about

several times ina semester

Figure 2.3:The frequency of using short stories in teaching English

43.2, The purposes of using short stories in teaching English

As reviewed in chapter two, short stories have many benefits such as reinforcing language skills, motivating students, introducing literary elements, teaching culture, and higer

—order thinking The purposes of using short stories in teaching English of the teachers in VAS have been investigated The question “how often is your use of short stories motivated by the {following purposes?” has been raised and the details for the items are as follows

Table 4.2: Teachers’ purposes of using short stories in teaching English

a To develop the four basic language skills, especially | 4.44 4 4

reading and writing,

Db To develop the four basic language skills, especially | 3.55 4 4

speaking and listening

¢ To develop students’ language components such as| 3.66 4 4

vocabulary and grammar

e To improve students’ creative expressions in the target | 4.55 4 4

language

Ê To improve students’ interest in learning and involve 5 5 5

them in class activities,

g._ To develop their critical thinking 222 2 2

aims of using short stories were to improve students’ creative expressions in the target

language, to develop the tour language skills, especially reading and writing skills with the mean of 4, and to develop students’ language components such as vocabulary and grammar However, the use of shorl stories in English classes in VAS ovcusionally aimed al raising students’ cullural awarcness and developing their critical thinking This resull was quite consistenl with the students'pcrception of thek (cacheis` usc of shơn slories in tcaching mentioned in the previous ãnalysis of research question 2

In short, though the teachers had various aims when using short stories in their teaching practice, all of them had the same long-term goal, that is to form an instrinsie motivation in their students so that they will leam for their excellence, autonomy, and self- actuativation, which enlunoes their taster of the tanguage

43.3 The strategies to exploit short stories in teaching Linglish

The exgioilation of shor! stories in teaching English was sxamincd basing ơn the techniques applied in pre-teaching, while-teaching and post-teaching

‘Table 4 3: ‘Leaching stratepies

b Underline or highlight all the unknown words and |” 4 4 4

phrases in the story

Guess the meaning of the unknown words and | 3.66 4 4

phrases and explain their use in context

@ Call out the names of the characters in the story 233 2 2,3

2, Do drilling tasks to get more details of the stories 455 4 5

£ Ask and answer questions about the story 444 5 5

g Summarize or retell the story 277 3 3

h Translate the story into the target language 144 I I

i Diseuss and express opinions and attitudes toward the | 3.33 3 3,4 story and its characters, etc

k Continue the story by imagining what would happen | 2 2 2

next

L_ Retell the story with a new ending 7 2 2

26

In pre-teaching, students need to get familiar with the story by understanding the

setting of the story or some new words and phrases in the story A variety of techniques are

applied in different situations Here, only four techniques were looked into Item “b” and “¢”

received high mean Seores of 4 and 3166 and the median and mode scores of 4 It means that

the teachers frequently asked their students to “underline or highlight all the unknown words

and phrases in the story and guess the meaning of the unknown words and phrases and explain their use in context” In other words, in pre-teaching the unknown words were mainly focused

on because they are considered to be the most challenging barrier for the majority of students

when learning English At times, stories were read aloud in class (with mean=2.55 and

median=mode=3) The names of the characters in the story were generally assumed to be easy

to remember, therefore, only occasionly students were asked to call out the names of the

characters in the story except for a little more difficult ones with a number of characters

In while-teaching, almost all the respondents exploited a short story in the same way Normally, after explaining the unknown words, phrases and expressions, a range of tasks were

used to make students understand more about the story With/Very high mean scores (4.55,

of exploiting a short story in while-teaching by the teachers in VAS They usually used a set of

excercises or comprehension questions to check their students’understanding of the story

Post teaching is regarded as a very important phase in teaching After students have already undertood the story, in post-teaching, students are given chances to discuss with their friends, retell the story in their own words, express their ideas more freely about what they

know and what they think about the story and the characters in the story In brief,

students*competence in the target language, students’ creativeness, and higher-order thinking

ability are believed to be enhanced in post-teaching phase As can be seen in the table, item

“h” (translate the story into the mother tongue) got the lowest mean of 1.44, median and mode

of 1 Very few teachers asked their students to translate the story into their mother tongue It is

quite easy to understand this result in the context of VAS First of all, grammar translation

approach seems unsuitable in the morden context of language teaching Moreover, four in ten

teachers investigated are Australians, hence, it is meaningless and useless to ask their students