using short stories in teaching english in the context of vietnam australia school - hanoi = việc sử dụng truyện ngắn trong giảng dạy tiếng anh tại ngữ cảnh trường trung học việt úc - hà nội

Reseach question 1: How do teachers percieve the use of short stories in teaching English in terms of necessity?. Research question 2: How do students percieve short stories as a source

PHAM THU HA

USING SHORT STORIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH IN THE CONTEXT OF VIETNAM AUSTRALIA SCHOOL – HANOI

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

TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC VIỆT ÚC – HÀ NỘI)

M.A Minor thesis Field: Methodology Code: 601410

HANOI-2009

POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

PHAM THU HA

USING SHORT STORIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH IN THE CONTEXT OF VIETNAM AUSTALIA SCHOOL- HANOI

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

TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC VIỆT ÚC – HÀ NỘI)

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

HANOI-2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES, AND ABBREVIATIONS vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Scope of the study 4

1.4 Research methods 4

1.5 Significance of the study 5

1.6 Structure of the study 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Literature and language teaching 6

2.1.1 Concept of literature 6

2.1.2 Features of literature 6

2.1.3 Using literature in language classroom 7

2.2 Short stories in language classroom 9

2.2.1 Definition of a short story 9

2.2.2 Benefits of using short stories in language classroom 10

2.2.2.1 Reinforcing the skills 10

2.2.2.2 Motivating students 11

2.2.2.3 Introducing literary elements 11

2.2.2.4 Teaching culture 12

2.2.2.5 Teaching higher-order thinking 13

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 16

3.1 Sampling 16

3.2 Data collection instruments 16

3.2.1 Questionnaires 18

3.2.2 Interviews 17

3.3 Procedure of data collection 18

3.4 Procedure of data analysis 20

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 21

4.1 Reseach question 1: How do teachers percieve the use of short stories in teaching English in terms of necessity? 21

4.2 Research question 2: How do students percieve 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 terms of purpose, strategy and frequency? 23

4.3.1 The frequency of using short stories in teaching English 23

4.3.2 The purposes of using short stories in teaching English 24

4.3.3 The strategies to exploit short stories in teaching English 25

4.4 Research question 4: To what extent do teachers feel satisfied with their use of short stories in teaching English? 27

4.5 Research question 5: What are the obstacles that have limited teachers’ use of short stories in teaching English? 28

4.6 Research question 6: What are the obstacles that challenge students in learning English with short stories? 29

4.7 Research quesetion 7: What are the recomendations and expectations for using

short stories in teaching English given by students and teachers? 31

4.7.1 Teachers’ recommendations 31

4.7.2 Students’ expectations 31

4.7.2.1 Students’ expectations in terms of length, level of difficulty and theme of a short story 31

4.7.2.2 Students’ expectations for the activities in class 32

4.8 Summary of the findings from the interview 34

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 37

5.1 Major findings of the study 37

5.2 Recommendations 38

5.2.1 Selecting and evaluating short stories 39

5.2.2 Suggested techniques for integrating short stories in English teaching 40

5.2.2.1 Problems solving 40

5.2.2.2 Activities for using a short story in class 41

5.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 41

REFERENCES 44 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: SOME SHORT STORIES USED IN THE STUDY I APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS III APPENDIX 3: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS VII APPENDIX 4: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (Vietnamese version) X APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE XIII

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES, AND ABBREVIATIONS TABLES

Table 4 1: Students’ practice with short stories 23

Table 4 2: Teachers’ purposes of using short stories in teaching English 24

Table 4 3: Teaching strategies 25

Table 4 4: Teachers’ satisfaction with the use of short stories in teaching English 27

Table 4 5: The obstacles in using short stories in teaching English 28

Table 4 6: Obstacles challenging the students in learning with short stories 30

Table 4 7: Teachers’ recomendations 31

Table 4 8: Students’ expectations in terms of length, level of difficulty and theme of a short story 31

Table 4.9: Students’ expectations for the activities in class 33

Table 4.10: Profile of the interviewees 34

FIGURES Figure 4 1: The presense of short stories in the teaching practice of the teachers 20

Figure 4 2: Students’ perception of short stories in terms of interest 21

Figure 2.3: The frequency of using short stories in teaching English 23

ABBREVIATIONS

VAS: Vietnam Australia School- Hanoi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background information, and states the problems and reasons for the study It also outlines the overall purpose and objectives of the study, describes the significance of the study, poses the research questions to be answered and provides an overview of the research design

1.1 Rationale of the study

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 mail are in English and 80% of the world‟s electrically stored information is also currently in English (Crystal, 1997) English is the working language of the Asian trade group ASEAN and the official language of the European Central Bank (Wallraff, 2000) Briefly, with the spread of globalization and the rapid expansion of information technologies has come

an explosion in the demand for English worldwide

Unexceptionally, in Vietnam, English is considered the key to success in modern life The number of English learners has been increasing rapidly in the last few decades To meet the demand, a great deal of schools and centers with special English teaching and learning programs have been set up everywhere, especially in big cities Vietnam Australia School- Hanoi (VAS), a private high school which is located in My Dinh, Hanoi, is one example Established in 2007, VAS is to offer an ideal environment for learning English It cooperates with PLC, a famous school in Australia in curriculum 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 global commerce classes with Australian teachers, hence, there are many chances for them to practice and improve English in real life conversations with native speaking people All of the parents hope that their children can have the best learning 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 future

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

with Vietnamese teachers, which is twice as much as other ordinary schools Therefore, besides the textbooks, extra materials are needed Normally, many teachers select or compose more written practice tests to drill what students have learned in the textbook However, this type of materials does seem to have attracted much interest Sometimes, extra written practice tests are 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 materials such as poems, short stories, drama, films, English songs, etc 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 materials As reading texts, short stories can serve the language skill drilling function quite well More importantly, short stories in particular and literary texts in general are favorable for students‟ language and cultural development and personal involvement Since literature enables students to understand and appreciate other cultures and societies, it encourages personal growth and intellectual development According to Ibsen‟s view (1990), literary texts appeal to students in term of emotion and personal experience because each student will meet the text in his/her own way based on experiences and knowledge of literature and life This creates meaningful and interesting discussions among students and draws on personal responses form learners In other words, learners become more personally involved in the process of language learning and can begin to own the language they learn more fully It also retains a good learning climate in a relaxing atmosphere

Moreover, in comparison with other sources of teaching materials such as written practice exercises, poems, films, English songs, short stories are believed to have several advantages Written practice exercises as mentioned above do not always interest students Poems seem rather complex and abstract for schoolchildren Not every available English song and film which suits the taste of students can serve the language skill drilling function properly Whereas, there is a variety of short stories to choose, ranging from elementary to proficiency levels Relatively short, fun, memorable and meaningful short stories are not too difficult in terms of vocabulary, grammatical structures and syntax Furthermore, they can

bring about room for endless debate where students can live in the real human experience world Above language, they can learn many useful lessons about real life to develop their personalities

In Vietnam- Australia school, Hanoi, short stories are mostly used as supplementary material for teaching by Australian teachers and sometimes applied by Vietnamese teachers However, there has been no official research on using them in teaching English This study has been conducted with the purpose to investigate how other teachers and students think about the 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 It is hoped to result in useful ideas of using short stories in language classroom, especially in the context of Vietnam Australia School, Hanoi

1.2 Aims 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 using short stories in classroom such as selecting 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 terms of interest and importance?

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

4 To what extent do teachers feel satisfied with their use of short stories in teaching English?

5 What are the obstacles that have limited teachers‟ 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 English given by students and teachers?

1.3 Scope of the study

In this study, the author intends to deal with the question of using short stories beneficially in language teaching Other literary texts are not concerned in the study

The study was conducted in VAS with the participation of 10 teachers, both Vietnamese and Australian, and 100 senior high school students, who were chosen randomly from the alphabetical list of names The number of the teacher participants made up three-fourths and the students participants accounted for five-sixths of the whole population However, the focus of the researcher was not put into junior high school students, so the implication might be not applicable in classes of junior high school students

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

1.5 Significance of the study

By looking into the perception of the use of short stories in English classes, the satisfaction of both teachers and students with their achievements and improvement 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

teachers, especially those teaching in VAS, of one possible source of teaching material, short stories It also informs teachers of the benefits of using short stories and suggests some useful 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

Chapter 2, Literature review, presents an overview of literature and short stories in language teaching

Chapter 3, Methodology, states the reason for choosing research methodology and the descriptions of the setting, subjects, instruments and the procedure of data collection and analysis

Chapter 4, Data analysis and Results, provides an analysis of collected data and the findings Chapter 5, Conclusion and recommendations, suggests teaching techniques and conclusion

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Literature and language teaching

2.1.1 Concept of literature

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

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

Literature is “feelings” and “thoughts” in black and white Literature is the use of language to evoke a personal response in the reader or listener 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 view, ideas, thoughts, minds to know ourselves better

According to Iris Murdoch (1978), literature could be said to be a sort of disciplined

technique for arousing certain emotion And for Ezra Pound (1981), great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree

From these definitions quoted above, it can be concluded that literature is as literature does In exploring what literature is, it is useful to look at some of the things that literature does Literature is something that reflects society, makes us think about ourselves and our society, allows us to enjoy language and beauty, it can be didactic, and it reflects on the human condition It both reflects ideology and changes ideology, just like it follows generic conventions as well as changing them Literature is the creation of another world, a world that people can only see through reading literature

2.1.2 Features of literature

Literary texts are distintive from other texts Its language involves a special, or unusual use of language Many linguists have pointed out that there are a number of features of literary language which can be isolated Many of these features occur in other forms of discourse as well, but in many literary texts they combine to form a highly unified and consistent effect, which strongly reinforces the message of the text (Brumfit and Carter, 1986)

2.1.3 Using literature in language classroom

The use of literature in language teaching tends to be ignored since it is treated as a 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 that learners can use the language in daily communication However, in fact, literature is not just for literature students; literature 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 view, ideas, thoughts, minds to know ourselves better ” (Lazar (1993, p.1) Therefore, literature is human life In other words, literature reflects real life all around the world More than that, it transcends the time and culture to speak directly to

a reader of a different country at a different period 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 Thus, through the language of literature, learners can be exposed to such a kind of authentic language, which is the aim of any language 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 from their own culture before getting them to read an authentic story in English on a similar theme It 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 like They respond to what the characters say and do and keep sharing their emotion from the beginning to the end Readers are absorbed in the events 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 of exploring the unknown language territory, which wil create the very positive effects on the process of language learning

Literature- a good access to cultural background

Literature can provide students with access to the culture of the people whose language they are studying Sage (1987, p9) said “literary texts can serve as open windows to the target language.” When reading literature students can find out much information about the social, political and historical events which form the background of the literary work Besides, literature “does seem to provide a way of conextualising how a member of a particular society might behave or react in a specific situation” (Lazar, 1993, p.17) It is very interesting and useful to find out insights into the relationship, emotions, beliefs, attitudes, lifestyles of people from other cultures Hence, literature is considered as the best complimentary material that helps to increase learners‟ knowledge about other countries

Literature- an encouragement for language acquisition

In many countries in the world including Vietnam students have limited access to spoken English, and written English often takes on primary importance for stimulating language acquisition Literature may provide a particularly appropriate way of stimulating this acquistion as it provides meaningful and memorable contexts for processing and interpreting new language Obviously, at lower level, students may be unable to cope 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 a great deal of new language Because literature is very rich in meaning, the use of literary texts within the classroom is often a particularly successful way of promoting activities in which students need to 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

Literature- personal education

Besides linguistic benefits, literature has an educational function, which is considered the strongest and the most important effect on the language learners It stimulates the imagination of students, develops their critical abilities and increases their emotional awareness For example, if we ask students to respond personally to the texts we give them, they will become incresingly confident about expressing their own ideas and emotions in English They will feel empowered by their abilities to deal with the text and its language and

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 from the encyclopedia: “The

short story refers to a work of fiction that 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 definitions based upon length differ somewhat even among professional writers Many short story writers define their work through a combination of creative, personal expression and artistic integrity

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 must 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 length is determined by the publisher In the United States, for example, short stories, 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 Australia, they are rarely more than 3,500 words Although some short stories called micro narratives can be just a few hundred words long, there is an expectation among contemporary readers that short stories are at least 1,000 words in length

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

number of characters who are somehow connected with each other, and covers a short period

of time and a sequence 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 stories can, if selected and exploited appropriately, provide quality text content which greatly enhances ELT courses for learners ”(p.9) In other words, short stories allow teachers to teach the four skills to learners

of all language proficiency levels

Oster (1989) affirms that literature helps students to writes more creatively Teachers 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

a high level of language proficiency

In addition, stories 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 non-literary texts at a university in Hongkong The group who read literary texts showed inprovement in vocabulary and reading What they read gave them the oppotunity to come up 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 literature enlarges students‟ 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 to listening, teachers can read the story out loud or play the story 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 For students to understand the story when they listen to it for the first time, the questions can be

based on literary structures such as “who is the main character of the story? Where/when does the story take place?; what is the problem in the story?”

2.2.2.2 Motivating students

Since short stories usually have a beginning, development and ending, they encourage students at all levels of language proficiency to continue reading them until the end to find out how the conflict is resolved Elliott (1990), for example, affirms that literature motivates

advanced students and is “motivationally efective if students can genuiely engage with its thoughts and emotions and apprecite its aesthetic qualitites” (p.197) He stresses the

importance of developing student-response (individual and group levels) and competence in literature In addition, literature motivates students “to explore their feelings 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 Literature 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 literature Also, literature is often more interesting than the texts 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 proficiency 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 teach simple elements such as characters, setting and plot The same and more complex elements, such as conflicts, climax, resolution, etc can be introduced to more advanced levels Gajdusek (1988) explains how literature can 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 oppoturnity to learn about the background of the story and vocabulary In factual-in class activities, students should be introduced to who, what, when, where of the story, or the point of view, chatracter, setting and action The question should be placed next to the paragraph in which the answer is found so students can begin to understand each literary element means with the help of the

teacher The questions can be: Who is the main character of the story? Where does the story take place? When does the story happen? Who is narating the story?

Extending activities, on the other hand, deals with “why”, that is, “involvement and experience” (Gajdusek, p 245) Students must be able to use their knowledge of the language

to express their ideas Thus, only students who have reached a high intermediate/advanced level of language profiency should be introduced to these activities For him, these activities

ask for “creative and relevant response from the readers” (p 251) Role-play is one of the

extending activities that can get students more involved in the story Teachers can ask students

to play the role of several characters For example, with the story “The wisdom of Solomon”, teachers can ask students to do the following tasks:

 Imagine you are the guard who is told by the King to cut the child in half If you don‟t think you can do what the King asks you to do, tell him how you feel Make sure you are convincing

 Suppose you are the guard who is told by the King to cut the child in half After cutting the child in half, tell the King how you feel about his decision Make sure you are convincing

2.2.2.4 Teaching culture

Short stories are effective when teaching culture to EFL students Short stories transmit the culture of the people about whom the stories were written By learning about the culture, students learn about the past and present, and about people‟s customs and traditions Culture teaches students to understand and respect people‟s differences When using literary 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 may start comparing their culture to others‟ to see whether they find similarities and/or differences Misinterpretation 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.com/thekingsofisrael/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

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 must have reached the high intermediate 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 ?, with the outcome ?” (Bloom‟s critical thinking questioning strategies) Such questions added to each story should train the students to think critically

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?

2 What would have happened if King Solomon had heard the real mother of the baby and cut the baby in half, giving half to the real mother and half 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 end to the same story and probably see both the real mother of the baby and King Solomon in different ways from how they were portrayed in the original story Question 3 and 4 require students to make judgement

Different stories may elicit different questions The questions will depend on the plot, characters, conflict, limax, complicaions and resolution of each story The more questions requiring higher-order thinking students answer, the better prepared they will be to face in the real world

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 A1 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 are 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 sufficient data, the survey questionnaire was chosen as a main instrument

First of all, the structuring of questions was intentional corresponding to the research questions to obtain factual, behavioral and attitudinal information from the participants (the 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)

Secondly, using questionnaires is particularly “efficient in terms of researcher time, effort, and financial resources” (Hoang and Nguyen, 2006, p.10) By administrating the questionnaire, a huge amount 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 fraction of other instruments such as observation Furthermore, the questionnaire construction is made convenient for the data to be processed Specifically, the Likert scale is adopted to reveal the participants‟ attitudes and behaviors Likert scale is believed not only to save space and time 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 superficiality generated in questionnaires” (Dornyei 2003, p.210) and the “fatigue effect” or tiredness and boredom that influence responses towards the end of the questionnaire In order

to minimize these drawbacks of questionnaire, the researcher has attempted to make the questionnaire items clear and brief Besides, interviews have been conducted to get more detailed information

The survey questionnaire for teachers consists of 8 questions organized into five parts which correspond to the five research questions Part 2 with 3 questions focusses on the exploitation of short stories in teaching English including the purpose and the frequency of the use of short stories and the techniques applied to exploit a short story Part 3 studies the satisfaction with the use of short stories in teaching English Part 4 investigates the obstacles

in using short stories in teaching English In part 5, respondents can make any recommendations to ensure the better use of short stories in teaching English.The 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 stories 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 stories in teaching English in VAS

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 concerns 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

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 further explanations are frequently 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 interview 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 ethical reasons These forms were then sent to the supervisor of the researcher for feedback Besides, the survey forms and interview schedules were piloted on five voluntary students 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 need to establish strict supervision and consistent understanding of terms to participants to ensure the reliability of data collected

Phase 2: Administering the questionnaires

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

As for the students, it took the researcher an enormous amount of time to arrange appropriate time and place to carry out the survey The introduction about the study, instructions and definitions of key terms were given clearly and the researcher was ready to answer any questions that arose in order to guarantee the quality of the information All the questionnaires delivered were returned

Phase 3: Conducting interview

In the third stage, some teachers were invited to join an interview This was to triangulate the data collected through questionnaires and, at the same time, gather further information about their thoughts and expectations The interview was conducted in the teacher‟s room during after class Permission was asked for in 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 from the interviews came in large amount, the transcripts were then summarized

according to the research questions The detailed notes regarding interviewee‟s background, and the setting of the interview were added To avoid potential rigid summary without context and enable reference when necessary, the page number of the quotations in the transcripts was added

3.4 Procedure of data analysis

After the data collection process, the information obtained from both the survey questionnaires and interviews was classified according to the research questions Since previously the researcher had intentionally arranged the questions in the questionnaires and interviews corresponding to the research questions, the task became less complicated

Consequently, for each research question, participants‟ responses were calculated and transferred into numerical form, for example the percentage of participants who shared similar ideas or their average rating The data were then tabulated and charted for clearer presentation and easier 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 quotations when necessary to provide more insights into 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

90%

10%

Yes No

From the data collected, one fact was drawn out that the teachers not only fulfilled the syllabus but also had great enthusiasm in teaching They took great effort to find 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 from 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

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 4 1: 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

c I can learn more new words and expressions in context 3.4 4 4

d I can enrich my background knowledge about people,

cultures, countries and the world

e I have more chances to discuss with my friends and

express my ideas

f I feel relaxed and interested in short stories 3.8 4,5 5

g I find myself more imaginative and creative 3.2 4,3 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 More 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 stories in teaching English were examined in terms of frequency, purpose and strategy

4.3.1 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

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

several times in a semester

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

67%

33%

Sometimes Usually

4.3.2 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

reading and writing

b To develop the four basic language skills, especially

speaking and listening

c To develop students‟ language components such as

e To improve students‟ creative expressions in the target

language

f To improve students‟ interest in learning and involve

them in class activities

As can be seen, the items for this question received a wide range of mean, mode and median, from 2 to 5 Item “d” and “g” got the lowest scores (mean=2 and 2.22 and mode = median=2), whereas the highest ones belongs to item “f” (5) Except for items “d” and “g”,

the rest items got very high scores with mean higher than 3.5, mode and median equal to 4 It means that for all teachers, the purpose of using short stories in teaching English was to improve students‟ interest in learning and involve them in class activities Frequently, their aims of using short stories were to improve students‟ creative expressions in the target language, to develop the four 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 short stories in English classes in VAS occasionally aimed at raising students‟ cultural awareness and developing their critical thinking This result was quite consistent with the students‟perception of their teachers‟ use of short stories in teaching mentioned in the previous analysis 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 instrinsic motivation in their students so that they will learn for their excellence, autonomy, and self-actualization, which enhances their master of the language

4.3.3 The strategies to exploit short stories in teaching English

The exploitation of short stories in teaching English was examined basing on the techniques applied in pre-teaching, while-teaching and post-teaching

Table 4 3: Teaching strategies

b Underline or highlight all the unknown words and

c Guess the meaning of the unknown words and

phrases and explain their use in context

d Call out the names of the characters in the story 2.33 2 2, 3

e Do drilling tasks to get more details of the stories 4.55 4 5

h Translate the story into the target language 1.44 1 1

i Discuss and express opinions and attitudes toward the

k Continue the story by imagining what would happen

next

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 “c” received high mean scores of 4 and 3.66 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, and 4.44), median (=4 and 5) and maximum mode (=5), items “e” and “f” show the tendency

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