Abstract
In the Nepalese community school context, EFL teachers often experience challenges teaching listening, speaking, and vocabulary due to a lack of resources, including technology. Consequently, the students are relatively less competent, particularly in listening and speaking and vocabulary knowledge. Also, their performance in these areas is hardly in line with the learning outcomes as targeted in the high school English curriculum (Curriculum Development Center [CDC], 2014). In this scenario, using short stories in EFL classes can be a beneficial tool to enhance students’ listening and speaking skills and vocabulary knowledge. To this end, this brief literature review paper highlights how short stories help students improve their listening and speaking skills and vocabulary knowledge.
Keywords: short stories,EFL class, listening and speaking skills, vocabulary knowledge
Using Short Stories in EFL Classes
As an ELT practitioner, I sometimes discuss with my colleagues how a particular genre of literature contributes to teaching and learning English at secondary schools in Nepal. In particular, I believe that short stories play a great role in developing the students’ English language skills. Regarding what role short stories play for ELT classroom context, Collie and Slater (2009) mention that short stories are the reliable means of introducing learners to literature in EFL classes as short stories fit into the courses due to short length appealing themes and contents. Likewise, Pardede (2011) states that using short stories helps learners develop four language skills more effectively.
Realizing the significance of using short stories, most English language educators advocate using literary texts such as short stories, poetry, and other genres (Collie & Slater, 2009; Pardede, 2011). Likewise, Vural (2013) states that the “use of short stories enhances learning and maybe good motivational means in second and/or foreign language teaching settings through developing integrated reading, speaking, writing and listening skills” (p. 15). The argument by Vural favors using short stories for promoting meaningful learning and motivating students to carry on the classroom activities for integrated learning, reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The students also enjoy reading short stories because they consist of setting, characters, plot, dialogue, progression, and closing representing society in totality.
English Language Teaching Practices in Community Schools in Nepal
I have experienced that EFL teachers in Nepal generally teach short stories through the lecture method. They mainly explain short stories in simple language that is easy to comprehend. When I teach short stories, I narrate the sequential events in English, translate them into Nepali, and then explain students’ language. I ask them some comprehension questions to evaluate their understanding of the short stories, theme, characters, and setting. Apart from those questions, I also ask them to find out the difficult words in the story to know their meaning and use in the texts. The activities I conduct in my EFL class represent the average classroom English language teaching practices in community schools in Nepal. Highlighting the EFL teachers’ current pedagogy in Nepal, Thapaliya (2012) states that EFL teachers in community schools in Nepal do not use learner-centered methods, nor do they make classes interactive and students active for teaching and learning. Instead, they employ grammar translation to explain the content in students’ L1.
However, why teachers do not use student-centered teaching and learning methods in the EFL classes requires further inquiry and critical analysis. In my teaching and learning experience in an EFL setting, class size and teaching resources trigger problems for teachers in using student-centric teaching techniques. The class I take mostly consists of 75 students and does not have audio-visual materials, projectors, and computers. When I try to apply the student-centered method of teaching English and involve them to participate in group and pair work activities based on the plot and events of the stories, the class goes uncontrolled and unmanaged due to its large size. What I experienced in my EFL class is precisely like the conclusion made by Thapalia (2012), who claims that teachers mostly use the grammar-translation and lecture delivery method in EFL class not because they like to do, but because classrooms are crowded and poor in infrastructures and other resources. While conducting teaching and learning activities in EFL classes, Nepalese schools oblige to run controlled classes because of the adverse situation.
Although the current secondary curriculum for English (Ministry of Education, 2014) in Nepal prescribes self-initiating learning, role play, dramatization, simulation, and acting out in dialogue for teaching English, aiming to develop linguistic and communicative competence in students, the majority of EFL teachers do not entirely follow the guidelines to teach English through literary texts. In addition to emphasizing the use of student-centered teaching methods in English language teaching, the curriculum has focused explicitly on using short stories to teach all four skills of the English language: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The curriculum prescribes short stories to teach the English language not only to develop English language skills but also to develop critical and creative thinking skills in students.
Despite the guidelines, the curriculum, and syllabus prescribed for English language teachers, English language teaching in Nepalese community schools has been limited within the controlled instructions of the teachers. Concerning the use of literary texts in ELT, Dhakal (2002, cited in Thapaliya 2012) concludes that EFL teachers in Nepal use literary texts and materials to teach English in a controlled way to make classes well organized and smooth. The objectives set by the curriculum for English as to using literature, particularly stories in ELT, require rigorous practice and procedures. Apart from the infrastructural and policy-related problems, EFL teachers can handle the issues of using stories in ELT with some pedagogical strategies and self-convictions of the teachers. Therefore, this short literature review paper showcases the effectiveness of using short stories to develop listening and speaking skills and vocabulary knowledge of the EFL students in Nepal.
Why Use Short Stories in EFL Classroom?
Developing Listening and Speaking Skills Through Short Stories
The different activities used to teach short stories in EFL classrooms help students enhance their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. In line with this argument, Pardede (2011) maintains that EFL students can develop mainly speaking and listening skills when they involve their students in different activities about short stories. For example, teachers use pre-reading activities which encourage them to say or share their understanding. Another activity that develops students’ listening and speaking skills is recording pictures to form a story.
Regarding using pictures to teach stories to EFL learners, Fantika and Ratmanida (2016) state that using pictures in a series improves students’ speaking and listening skills while they are involved in listening and telling stories. In addition to developing listening and speaking skills, this activity also helps students build their self-confidence in speaking in class and during daily social events.
Roleplay is one of the major activities in teaching short stories. The students are provided with different roles and are asked to act out in various settings. When they perform roles, they can practice their speaking skills naturally. This claim is also supported by a previous study done by Robertson (2000) that indicates that role-play enhances students’ ability which helps handle effective communication in different social settings.
Developing Vocabulary Knowledge Through Short Stories
The short stories consist of a variety of vocabulary items. To understand the meaning of the short stories, the EFL teachers involve the students in various activities to develop their vocabulary skills. The teachers may ask the students to underline or highlight the difficult words that they find in the stories, and if there are many difficult words in the stories, they pre-teach them using several ways/techniques. Consequently, the students develop vocabulary knowledge to comprehend the content of the texts. Corroborating these ideas, Kirsch (2016) concluded that EFL students develop rich vocabulary knowledge through short stories that help them recall numerous words and sentences. The exciting plots and events in short stories stimulate them to learn vocabulary in context. When students find difficult words in the stories, the teachers ask them to guess their meaning in context. This step also requires students to work in pairs or groups to find out the meaning using printed or online dictionaries. After that, the teachers let them use those words in their sentences. Similarly, İnal and Cakir (2014) report that teaching short stories helps students learn new vocabulary items amusingly and can retain them for a long time.
Conclusion
In sum, using short stories in EFL classrooms in Nepal effectively develops students’ listening and speaking skills and vocabulary knowledge. Also, various activities such as pre-reading activities, reordering pictures to form a story, and role-plays can develop their listening and speaking skills as they are involved in pair or small group works. The story’s plot, setting, and characters make them curious to produce their ideas and experiences, linking their real-world experiences with fictional ones. The role plays help the students develop their communication skills and confidence to speak in the mass.
References
Collie, J., & Slater, S. (2009). Literature in the language classroom. Cambridge University Press.
Fantika, S., & Ratmanida, R. (2016). Using pictures to tell stories in teaching speaking narrative text to senior high school students. Journal of English Language Teaching, 5(1), 25-31.
İnal, H., & Cakir, A. (2014). Story-based vocabulary teaching. Procedia-Social and Behavioural Sciences, 98, 675-679.
Kirsch, C. (2016). Using storytelling to teach vocabulary in language lessons: does it work? The Language Learning Journal, 44(1), 33-51.
Ministry of Education. (2014). Secondary education curriculum grade 9-10. Curriculum Development Centre.
Pardede, P. (2011). Using short stories to teach language skills. JET (Journal of English Teaching), 1(1), 14-27.
Robertson, J. (2000). The effectiveness of a virtual role-play environment as a preparation activity for story writing. [Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Edinburgh]. https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/589?show=full
Thapaliya, M. P. (2012). Teaching short stories through critical thinking (CT) strategies. Journal of NELTA, 17(1-2), 93-103.
Vural, H. (2013). Use of literature to enhance motivation in ELT classes. Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 3(4), 15-23.
About the Author
Mr. Prakash Rai is a lecturer in English Education at Bhojpur Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. Besides, Mr. Rai is the Head of the English Department. He has earned a Master’s Degree in English Literature from Tribhuvan University and a Master’s Degree in ELT from Kathmandu University, Nepal. Besides his teaching job, he is involved in research and writing activities under Research Management Cell and other non-profit professional organizations. His research interests include literature and language teaching, critical thinking in teaching and learning, and cultural studies.
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