Integrating short stories and poems in developing the reading skills for 2nd year students in haiphong university part 5

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Chapter I: Introduction
I.1.Rationale
Nowadays, in this industrial world, a person who wants to be successful needs to have a
profound knowledge. Thus, much time is spent on learning to widen and deepen the
understanding about culture, science, technology as well as social skills. It is not easy if he just
stays at home and fills himself up with thousands of books as they are only theory, in order to
get practical experiences he has to communicate, in other words, he has to know others and
make himself known by others. This can be done only if he speaks the language that they can
understand. The solution is he has to learn English.
People learn English in different ways, they try their best to master the language skills and
as teachers, we try our best to help them attain their goals. Many teachers have spent much time
on finding the ways to improve listening skills while the others focus their research on
developing students’ speaking skills, etc. Being teachers of English we do want to take part in
the teaching method improvement process.
The fact in Hai Phong University is that the students have to cope with many difficulties
when learning the language especially reading. Most of them think that reading well means they
have to know every word in the text and do the exercises correctly, so they spend most of the
time looking up new words and doing exercises. However, it is proved that effective reading
means there is an interaction between the reader and the text. More specifically, the students not
only have to understand the text but also response to it, thus they can get to the bottom of what
they read. Fortunately, we had a chance to take part in a course called “Literature in Language
Teaching” delivered by Mr. Brad Baurain- an English teacher and researcher. He helps us a lot
to realize the values of using literary texts in language teaching. After the course the superficial
thoughts about literature disappeared and we know that literary texts are now considered the


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valuable authentic material, which plays a very important part in students’ cultural enrichment,

language enrichment as well as personal involvement. The author, therefore, decides to carry
out a study on the integration of literary text in language teaching in order to improve students’
reading comprehension skills.
I.2.Aims
The focus of this study is on the specific use of literature in language teaching, it aims at:
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Studying the values of literature in language teaching.

•

Integrating short stories and poems in teaching reading comprehension.

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Introducing techniques to integrate literary texts reading comprehension class.

I.3.Scope
Literature field is large, it covers different genres: novels; short/long stories; non fiction;
poetry and drama. In this minor study, we just focus on the use of short stories and narrative
poems in improving the reading comprehension skills. The short stories are of 3 to 5 page long
while the narrative poems are only of 1 to 2 pages long, they are at upper-intermediate level
with topic various according to students’ likes such as love, friendship, family etc.
I.4.Objects
Though literature has certain positive effects on the beginners as it helps students relax
while learning the language, however, due to its difficult language and style, literature will
work best with students from intermediate and upper-intermediate levels up. Thus, we choose
the second year students who are learning at English Department of Hai Phong University as
the subjects of this study.
I.5.Method.

The method applied in this study is quantitative method. All data is collected from
questionnaires. Two questionnaires are conducted of which one investigates the students’


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attitude toward different genres of literature while the other aims at collecting students’
feedbacks after learning literary text using certain techniques. The former is carried out at the
beginning of the study whose result is the base for the author to choose the types of literary
texts to teach in class whereas the later is conducted at the end of each lesson using short stories
and poems in reading class. The data collected then is analyzed and based on the findings,
techniques in teaching reading comprehension integrating short stories and poems would be
recommended.
I.6.Design of the study.
This study is divided into five chapters:
Chapter I: Introduction: briefly presents the reasons for doing the study, its aims, scope,
subjects as well as the research methodology.
Chapter II: Literature Review: presents an overview of what is literature, its values in
language teaching and how literature relates to reading.
Chapter III: Methodology: studies the reason for choosing research methodology and the
description of the setting, subject and instrument for collecting data.
Chapter IV: Data analysis and Results: provides data description and analysis with
findings.
Chapter V: Conclusion and Recommendation: suggests teaching techniques and
conclusion.

Chapter II: Literature Review
The emphasis of this chapter is mainly on exploring some of the issues relevant to the use
of literature in language teaching in general and introducing the advantages of short story and
poem in ESL classroom in particular. The links between literature and reading are also

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mentioned. However, as there are many different theories explain literature and the use of it in
classroom, the ideas generated in this chapter will not help to pinpoint an only right or correct
way to understand what literature is and its roles in improving language acquisition.
II.1. Literature
II.1.1. Definition
Defining literature is not an easy task; different people approach it in their own ways.
There are some definitions made by a group of teachers from all over the world. These
definitions are introduced by Lazar, 1993:
 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.
These definitions seem not scientific enough so the following is three of many definitions
defined scientifically by researchers:
“Literature could be said to be a sort of disciplined technique for arousing certain
emotion”- Iris Murdoch, 1978.
“Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree”
– Ezra Pound, 1981.
“Literature is a special use of language which achieves its distinctness by deviating from
and distorting ‘practical language’”- Selden, 1989.
As far as I understand it, literature is a mean of transferring both entertainment and lesson
to the reader. Literature readers can enjoy the language (read, share and response) and learn
something from it at the same time as well.

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II.1.2. Genres
Generally, there are three main genres of literature, which are poetry, story and drama.
People define them differently and the definitions introduced here, which seem very interesting,
are introduced by Baurain (2005).
 Poetry: “still picture”, showing a meaning.
 Story: “moving picture”, discovering meanings in actions.
 Drama: “living picture”, finding meanings in performance and dialogue.
II.1.3.What makes literature distinctive from other texts?
Literature surely enough involves a special, or unusual use of language. Its language has
certain features that you cannot find in any other types of language.
 Metaphor and simile: a connection made between things which are usually considered
to be unlike each other.
Eg: I think the idea is to bring Meg in as a new broom – you know, to revitalize the
department and get everything going again.
 Assonance: repetition of vowel sound.
Eg:

Three grey geese in a field grazing;

 Alliteration: repetition of consonants
Eg:

Grey were the geese and green was the grazing.

 Repetition of word or phrase
Eg: A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other.
 Unusual syntactic patterns (e.g. reversing the order of subject and verb)
Eg: Grey were the geese and green was the grazing

 Double or multiple meaning of a word
Eg: Just because we’re deaf, it doesn’t mean we’ve nothing between our ears.


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 Poeticism: poetic lexis
Eg: His breast of chicken with tarragon and girolles goes back to the classic French …
 Mixing of styles/registers
Eg: I had expected the usual insertion in the papers: “I, formerly known, called, addressed
as…”
II.1.4. Literature and language teaching
II.1.4.1. Why use literature in language classroom.
The use of literature in language teaching had been ignored since people treated it as a
mean of relaxation, they just read for fun. The main goal of ESL teachers is to teach the
grammar of the language, literature, due to its structural complexity and its unique use of
language, does very little to contribute to this goal. However, recently there was a strong
reawakening of interest in literature and language teaching. Literary texts are now considered
the valuable authentic material, which plays a very important part in students’ cultural
enrichment, language enrichment as well as personal involvement.
Literature – valuable authentic material
Literature on the one hand provides texts of different genres like novels, short stories,
poems and plays, which mainly say something about human life. On the other hand, it offers
culture and life styles all around the world and 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). More importantly, while the other texts seem losing their relevance with the
passing of time, hardly does literature. Till now, most British like Shakespeare’s plays as much
as Vietnamese like Truyen Kieu by Nguyen Du though none of the authors are alive and all the
events happened a long time ago.

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Literature is not written for a specific purpose of teaching. It means that, when reading
literary texts the learners are not supposed to learn grammar rules but the way to response to
what they read. As literature is often written for the native speakers, there are many different
linguistic uses as well as forms that used in their daily life, furthermore, many authentic
samples of language such as cartoons, advertisements or articles from magazine, etc are
included. Thus, the learners, through the language of literature can be exposed to a kind of
genuine language, which is the aim of any language teacher.
Literature- cultural and language enrichment
It is said that learning a foreign language is to learn a new culture; however, the best way
to deepen the knowledge about the culture of the language you are learning is to take a visit or a
long stay in the country where the language is spoken. It seems to be impossible for those who
cannot afford it, so what is the solution for the problem? The key lies in literature reading
because “literary texts can serve as open windows to the target culture” (Sage, 1987). As you
read literary texts you can find out much about cultural background information like life styles,
customs and beliefs as well. You will know about what people think, feel, believe, fear, like…
and how they behave inside doors. Literature is considered as the best complimentary material
that helps to increase the learners’ knowledge about the other country.
Besides, with rich context that makes vocabulary more memorable, literature plays an
important part in the contribution to the learners’ language enrichment. In literary texts there
always are different ways of expressing an idea with variety of possible structures, which can
improve the learners’ speaking skills. Writing skills are also broadened as literary texts provide
various ways of connecting ideas. Many stories and poems have interesting contents, which is
very useful for developing intensive reading. More than that, if literature is appropriately
introduced and taught it can be used to promote the students’ creativity from lower level to


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advanced level. So, using literature in language teaching, the teacher can easily find out a new
path way to language improvement and make the lessons more interesting.
Literature – personal involvement
Personal involvement is perhaps the strongest effect that literature has on the language
learners. When reading a literary text, the readers are said to live with the characters they like.
They response to what characters says and do and keep sharing their emotion from the
beginning to the end. Collie & Slater (1987) pointed out that at this time “what individual words
or phrases may mean becomes less important than pursuing the development of the story”. In
other words, they are absorbed into the book and eager to find out what happens next. It is true
that people are really curious, thus if the students are well motivated they’ll be willing to take
part in the journey of exploring the unknown language territory. Obviously, this will create the
very positive effects on the process of language learning.
II.1.4.2. Literature in the ESL classroom
Due to a long period using Translation Teaching Method in language classroom, there
was negative attitude toward the teaching of literature in foreign language classroom as it was
considered far removed from everyday communication and it does not contribute to ESL
students’ practical goal of achieving linguistic proficiency. However, it is proved that the
interaction of language and literature can lead to numerous advantages in language teaching and
learning. It helps increase all language skills, it is the link toward the culture, it gives one
awareness and human insight and guides students toward their own creativity. Thus, it
obviously is an effective tool in learning a foreign language.
II.1.4.2.1. Poetry in the ESL classroom
Whenever the word poetry is mentioned there appears a hesitation on the face of both
teachers and learners as:


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 The language in the poem is quite difficult (metaphoric and complex).

 “Beauty is harder to analyze than truth”; “the whole poem or story says something
that none of its words say or can say”; “what a lyric poem ‘states’ cannot be found in
any of its sentences”; “a lyric tells its story primarily in terms of a single emotional
experiences” (J.Adler & Doren,1972).
So in order to understand a poem fully and be able to interpret its inner meanings,
students need a good knowledge of language and a fine experience of life.
However: “the entry into a poem, under the guidance of appropriate teaching, brings about
the kind of participation that almost no other text can produce” (Hess, 2003). For her, when we
read, understand and interpret a poem we learn language through the expansion of our
experience with a larger human reality. Poem can arouse the students’ strong feeling and
provoke their positive reaction to what they read. The whole poem is a picture made of words,
so if the teacher exploits it appropriately he/she could involve the students into many activities
such as reading, as well as active listening tasks and communicative activities intended to make
learning fun and memorable.
According to Nilsen, 2004: “poetry can contribute so much to making any language class
enjoyable, but it has even more to offer the ESL classroom in terms of poetry – centered
language activities”. For him, those activities are student – centered and allow students to
explore the language in enjoyable ways. Besides, teachers can apply them normally as they
often do with prose texts if he/she realizes the values poetry offers and wants to take advantage
of that. The learners, as a result, have a relaxed learning environment in the classroom.
II.1.4.2.2. Short story and its advantages in language classroom
“Short stories are particularly well suited to current instructional trends in ESL
classrooms” (Harper, 1993). Most traditional short stories have a plot, it involves a


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chronological ordering of events and there is a relationship of cause and effect between these
events. It provides authentic samples of language use, where the focus is on meaning and not on
language form.

According to many researchers the reading of short stories, especially the unsimplified
ones, in the second language helps to develop vocabulary and cultural knowledge, as well as
greater proficiency in critical reading and creative writing skills. Harper (1990) noted that the
“original version of a short story evoked more elaborate responses from adult ESL readers”.
Besides, the language in a short story is somehow different from other forms of discourse
that it sometimes breaks the language norms, so through reading students will have a chance to
approach the language outside the classroom, which not only increases the students’ reading
skills but also helps solving the problem that a student though learns the grammar rules very
well still gets confused when talking to the native speakers. It is said that “short stories are an
ideal vehicle for developing automaticity in processing written language through independent,
sustained silent reading and for developing critical reading through individual and teacher –
directed group interaction with texts” (Harper,1993).
II.2. Reading comprehension
II.2.1. Reading comprehension and its roles in language learning.
Goodman (1971) defined reading as “a psycholinguistic process by which the reader,
reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display”
In the teaching and learning of reading it is proved that reading comprehension plays a
key role as it enhances the students’ skills in extracting the required information from a written
text as efficiently as possible. According to Swam (1975) “a student is good at comprehension
when he can read accurately and efficiently so as to get the maximum information of a text”.


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In addition, Richard and Thomas (1987) noted “reading comprehension is best described
as an understanding between the author and the reader”. It means that reading comprehension is
the process that the readers, as they read, can not only figure out the “graphic display” of the
text but also understand the hidden meaning implied by the writer.
II.2.2.The reader and the text
The reading process is currently seen as an interaction between the reader and the text.

The reading of a text is not just to get the information but also to response to what is written.
But it was implied that the meaning of a text can never be fixed or frozen because different
readers of the same text make sense of it in their own way and there is no correct routine. It
depends much on the historical period in which the reader is living, his social position and
religious beliefs. For Rosenblatt (1987), the interaction between the readers and the text is “an
event in time involving a specific reader and a specific text at a specific time and place, if any
of these are changed, there is a different event”.
Thus, having an appropriate relationship with the text depends much on the reader’s
language proficiency, motivation and interest, the cohesive and the structural qualities of the
text; and the readers’ understanding about the topic. The readers have to base on their
background knowledge, the clues given by the author and the situational context to work out the
meaning hidden behind the text. So, the more knowledge of the world the readers have the more
accurate are their inferences and judgments; and naturally the closer they get to the text.
II.2.3. Students’ difficulties with reading
Students probably have far more difficulties with reading than most teaching staff are
aware of. Within the limitation of the study the author just focuses on the difficulties with
cultural and background knowledge, which relates to the use of literature in reading.


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Reading comprehension is said to be a function of cultural background knowledge. It
means that if readers possess the schemata, which is the abstract cognitive structure incorporate
generalized knowledge about objects and events, assumed by the writer, they will easily
understand what is said in the text and also make the necessary inferences about what is
implicit. Unfortunately, these schemata differ cross – culturally and researchers have pointed
out that readers invariably interpret texts in the light of their own world-view and cultural
experience. The result, obviously, leads to many problems in the comprehension of a text.
English now is the language of international communication and is taught and learnt
everywhere. Vietnam is not an exception; however, Vietnamese students have to deal with

many problems in understanding the language because of the differences in cultural background
knowledge between European and Asian. Even the advanced language learners feel confused
and say they cannot work out the meaning of the text even when they master the meaning of all
the single words. For them, learning reading when the cultural background is unfamiliar is
really a hard task.
II.3. Literature and Reading
II.3.1.Some links between reading skills and literary skills
Ruth Spack, (1985) “An examination of research on the activities of reading, composing,
and responding to literature reveals that these three areas of study, usually taught separately, can
be viewed as similar processes”.
In the course “Literature in language teaching” we learnt that there exist a relationship
between literature and reading. It can be expressed via the following points:
 Skimming, scanning, and summarizing skills also apply to literary texts, focusing on
basic literary elements.
 Learners remember words in meaningful context, aiding vocabulary acquisition.


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 Figurative language is a bridge from literature to both reading and writing.
 Reading literature requires imagination which can help develop the prediction skills.
 Analyzing features such as point of view helps develop the skills of reading between
the lines.
 Discussing about themes helps develop the skills of reading beyond the lines.
According to Brumfit (1986) “reading is the most autonomous and individualizable ability
in language work, and literature is a rich and widely – appealing source of material for
reading”. For him, if reading is to be viewed as an integrated process, the teaching of reading
must do more than simply exercise reading in the target language. With literature, the students
are not asked to translate the text exactly but in order to understand the text they are required to
discuss questions which force them to see the text as a coherent piece of discourse. It in turn

helps develop the interaction between the readers and the text.
II.3.2. Efferent reading and aesthetic reading
There is no one way to deal with a text in the reading classroom. This part focuses on
differentiating the two methods: efferent reading and aesthetic reading. According to Rosenblatt
(1978) efferent reading is reading in which the reader is concerned with what she will carry
away whereas in aesthetic reading the reader’s primary concern is with what happens during the
actual reading. The purpose of the former is using the text to gain information while that of the
later is exploring the language usage through the relevance to the experience. Thus, to readers
in aesthetic reading the enjoyment is attained by interacting with the text, they often relate their
world of experience to the text. After reading they might be asked whether something similar
have ever happened to them. As a result, they get involve in the text and interact with the text
by sharing their feelings or experience. Furthermore, if a reader in efferent reading is supposed
to carry the information away, he, in aesthetic reading often makes judgments about the


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characters or giving his opinion if he was the character. This activity helps him understand the
text thoroughly or in other words, he can get to the bottom of the event.
It is true that literature to some extents is a key to motivate the students to read. Besides
providing an ideal vehicle for illustrating language use, it also offers a mean of introducing
cultural assumptions. But with the desire to promote truly aesthetic reading, the using of
literature should be approached not efferently, but in a manner which establishes a personal and
aesthetic interaction between a reader and a text.

Chapter III: Methodology.
The study aims at measuring the hypothesis that how effective the integration of short
story and poem into reading comprehension class is, so the quantitative research method is
used. Theoretically, this method includes using questionnaires and interviews to collect data;
however, the author, after considering the specific situation of the university decided to choose

questionnaires as:
Questionnaires often seem a logical and easy option as a way of collecting information
from people (Wisker, 2001). They gather information directly by asking people questions and
using them as data for analysis.
Questionnaires are often used to gather information about attitudes, behaviors, activities,
and responses to events whereas the study aims at investigating the students’ attitude toward the
use of short story and poem in developing reading skills and their responses to certain activities
carried out in class. So, it is appropriate to use questionnaires.
According to Wallace (1998) using questionnaires is more economical and time saving
than interviews. There is often a list of questions and respondents can complete questionnaires
in timed circumstances and it is a method of gathering large numbers of responses.


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Furthermore, in the English Department, Hai Phong University both students and teachers
do not have the habit of teaching and learning with literary texts, thus if using interviews the
answers may be passive and of little use.
In order to get reliable responses from students, the author has taken advice from an
experienced supervisor and pilot questions thoroughly before carrying out. Following is the
description of the university, students and the data collection instruments.
III.1.The setting
The study was conducted at the English Department, Hai Phong University where the
author is teaching. English is only one of the many subjects taught such as Maths, Literature,
Physic, Music and Arts, etc. The students have to go through four years learning both
background and specialized knowledge.
In the English Department, students spend the first two years studying general English
which focuses on the four language skills. At this stage, most of students’ time is for practicing
the language skills in class under the guidance of teachers. If they pass the tests at the end of
this stage, they will spend the last two years on subjects like Semantic, Grammar, Phonetic,

Methodology, Translation, and so on. At this second stage, students have to use the language
skills they have mastered to read a lot of materials and most of class time devotes to discussion
and presentation.

III.2.The subjects
This study was carried out with the participation of 40 full time students who are learning
at the English Dept. of Hai Phong University.
As mentioned in the premise, although literature is very interesting and literary texts are
really helpful when integrated to develop language skills, they are still not popularly used in


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Viet Nam, especially in Hai Phong University where the translation approach still dominates the
teaching methodology. Except one teacher in the staff who is teaching English literature, others
have almost no idea about using literature in language teaching especially the four skills. That is
the reason why the author does not include the teachers in this study and she really wants to
make a new path way in language teaching in general and in reading comprehension teaching in
particular.
The students under investigation were in their second term of the second year. They are
between 19 and 22 including both male and female students whose background knowledge is
almost of the same level. They had all passed the test of the first term and their language level is
between the upper-intermediate and advance.
Students have English class every weekday and they have five hours for reading skills per
week. Within each class, normally 45 minutes long, they learn and practice reading skills such
as skimming, scanning, reading for main ideas or for specific information, etc. The reading
materials mostly are taken from course books like: Think First Certificate, Reading 2, IELT
Reading, Insight and Ideas, etc. Some are downloaded from the Internet or taken from
newspapers.
III.3.Data collection instruments

There are two questionnaires; one investigates the attitude of students toward the literary
texts in general and the other aims at finding out the effects of using short stories and poems in
teaching and learning reading in particular. In the first questionnaire three questions are given,
of which Q1 is to get the rank of different types of literature according to students’ preference.
Q2 focuses on the aspects that cause difficulties in reading literary texts and the purpose of Q3
is to investigate the topics that students are interested in.


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The second questionnaire is a little more complicated, it focuses on activities students do
in the reading class. The emphasis of most questions is on the reaction of students toward
different activities using short stories and poems in class reading. The questions are for stages in
teaching reading like pre-reading (Q1), while-reading (Q2, Q3) and post-reading (Q4). Q3 is
specially divided into six smaller ones which aim at finding the effects of activities used with
short stories and poems from the first stage to the last stage of a reading lesson. To get extra
information, question (Q5) is designed for suggestions and feedbacks from the students. While
the first four questions are designed with multiple choices which students can choose more than
one, the last question is for open answers with suggestions like : The teacher should…. and :
The students should… Thus, the teacher will know what his/ her students think and those
suggestions will help teachers adjust the activities more effectively.
To prepare for the study, reading comprehension lessons integrating short stories and
poems were conducted at the beginning of the term but the data were collected just two weeks
before the final exam. By doing so, it was hoped that enough time was given to introduce the
new teaching method to the students and they could be confident when they did the
questionnaires and knew what to do and how to answer.

Chapter IV: Results and Discussion
In this chapter, data collected is described and analyzed. Separate findings come after the
discussion of each question.

IV.1.Students’ attitude towards literary texts (Q1,2,3)


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IV.1.1 (Table 1) Students’ preference towards certain genres of literature (Q1)
Genres
Short stories
Novel

Data
82.5%

Reasons
- easy to read and understand

57.5%

- interesting, relaxing and time saving
- romantic, interesting and adventurous
- famous, rich content

Poetry

62.5%

- long, thus take time
- interesting & romantic
- imaginative, short

Drama

7,5%

- hidden meanings, strange words so difficult to understand.
- very difficult to understand
- far from real life, boring, not natural

- lots of slang words
Short stories seem to be the most favorite kind of literary text with 82.5% of choice. It is
because among the four genres, short stories, beside their interesting content and reasonable
length, are suitable for the students’ language level. In contrast, drama can attract very few
students to read with only 7.5%. According to the majority of students, drama is strange to
them; moreover, they are often very long with words that hardly appear in real life.
Poetry comes after short stories with 62.5% students’ choice. Although most of students
state that poetry is really interesting and romantic, they all agree that understanding a poem is
really difficult. They need to be sensitive, imaginative and creative to discover the hidden
meaning of the poem or let their mind fly with the pictures made of words.
Students also like reading novel (57.5%) due to its rich content. The only reason that
prevents students to go to the bookshelf to take a novel is that novel is too long, reading novel is
said to be luxurious with students who always complain about lacking time for so many things.
From the figures we can infer that it is reasonable to use short stories and poetry in
language classroom in general and in reading classroom in particular. The burden now is on the


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teacher’s shoulders as the choice of texts and the techniques be applied in class play a very
important part in attracting and involving students in the lesson.
IV.1.2. (Table 2) Aspects that cause difficulties when reading literature (Q2)

Unfamiliar

Cultural

Literary styles and

vocabulary

differences

Others

structures
-

75%

30%

Poor knowledge
Limited

77%

foreign

language

competence
-

Unfamiliar

with

reading

literature in foreign language
It was expected at first, many students would treat cultural differences as a feature that
causes the most difficulties in reading literature; the result is that only 30% of students share the
idea. Students believe that the cultural differences bring them chances to learn about cultures of
other countries, some consider this aspect as one of the factors that promote them to read.
According to the majority of the students (more than 70%), literature reading is really
difficult when the text consists of too many unfamiliar words with difficult literary styles and
structures. They also add up to the list some aspects such as their poor knowledge about the
theme and limited language competence. Specially, many students express that they do not have
the habit of reading literature, thus they often feel frustrated when dealing with a poem or a
short story. This revelation is very important and necessary to teachers who want to exploit
literature in the language classroom.
IV.1.3. (Table 3) Topics students are interested in
Personal relationship (love, friendship,…)
People (hero, famous people,…)
Nature and animal
Social issues (crime, politic,…)
Mystery
Others

77%

-

52%
62%
15%
52%
Cultures, students’ life

-

Science, adventure


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The data shown in table 3 indicates that using literary texts of the students’ preference is
likely to be more successful than using texts nonselective.
Most students like literary texts about personal relationship (77%) while social issues are
rejected (only 15%). It is easy to understand why students like reading about love, friendship…
more than crimes, politics…; as in the youth’s mind nothing is more beautiful and attractive
than love or relationship between friends. They like texts which express their thinking and their
ideal dreams whereas literary texts about social issues are often boring and out of their thoughts.
Next to the personal relationship is the topic about nature and animal with 62% of
students interested in. Topics like the mysterious and people attract quite an equal percentage of
students: 52%. Some other topics that students add to the list are cultures, students’ life, science
and adventures.
IV.2.The effects of short story and poem in teaching reading comprehension.
IV.2.1. (Table 1) Things students find most difficult when reading short stories and poem
(Q1).

Unclear theme

Vocabulary
Language
Cultural background
Others

-

48%
73%
75%
28%
implied meaning

- metaphor and simile
Comparing table 2 in 4.1.2 and table 1 in 4.2.1 it can be concluded that students’
difficulties in reading literature generally and reading short story and poem particularly are
caused by vocabulary (73%) and the language styles (75%). This explains why most students
tend to read literature for fun rather than for improving language skills. Looking up unfamiliar
words takes a lot of time and causes boredom. Furthermore, foreign literature writing styles are


21

very different from what they get used to at school. Thus, the carelessness in introducing
vocabularies and guiding students with activities often leads to strange feeling in class.
IV.2.2. (Table 2) Things students often do when reading short stories and poems (Q2).
Take notes
Look up new words in the dictionary
Just read to understand the plot
Response to what the characters say and do

Others

-

28%
28%
50%
50%
Find implied meanings

-

Translate it into Vietnamese

-

Guess the meaning of words, idioms.

-

Think of new ideas

-

Imagine to be one character

The data in table 2 show that students do different things when reading short stories and
poems. They do not seem to be keen on what the author provides. Just 28% note sentences or
ideas that they feel interested in when reading. The same percentage of students looks up new
words in the dictionary. 50% of students read short stories and poems for gist without caring

much about what the characters actually say and do. These students often read very fast, and
also forget as fast as they read. An equal number of students answer that they like responding to
what the characters say and do. So, most students choose their own way of doing things when
reading; this suggests that the teacher should not limit the activities to what is written in the
teacher’s book. He/she should spend some time for students doing what they like and help them
develop their own creativity. The lesson will therefore be more interesting and its effectiveness
will also be enhanced.
IV.2.3. Students’ reaction toward activities in class (Q3)
This question aims at finding the effectiveness of activities using short stories and poems
in reading class. The activities presented here are what the author and her students have done
during the term. Each one has multiple possibilities that students can choose according to their


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own thinking. Space was given to let students express what they really want or like to do, which
is very useful for the teacher to improve her teaching method. Following is the result and
findings.
•

Activity 1: Guessing vocabularies in the context.
I find it a w aste of time
(10%)
It help us learn w ords more
easily and remmember them
longer (72%)
others (18%)

The chart shows that though guessing words in context is considered a very good activity
and teacher should encourage students to do this in reading class, 10% of respondents regard it

a waste of time. It indicates that students have their own way to learn new words, and it may not
be effective if teacher carelessly applied it subjectively. Only 18% of the students like guessing
words in the context provided by the teacher and then create a context themselves to remember
the words. This is a good idea; however teachers have to control the time properly. Some of the
students reveal that they work more eagerly when words are put into interesting contexts,
especially those related to their life. This finding encourages teachers to be creative in preparing
contexts for students.
•

Activity 2: predicting the plot of the story or poem
I find it no use
(10%)
It is interesting
and promote our
creativity (75%)
others (15%)

Predicting the plot of a story or poem before reading is an activity that helps students to be
more creative. Most students (75%) agree with this and think it is interesting and helpful, some


23

even consider it as an activity to make them get fascinated in the story and understand the story
more easily. Only 10% find this activity of no use as they think predicting can distract them
from the real story. Other 15% state that they do not care about the prediction, they still read the
story whether they can predict the plot or not.
The finding suggests that teachers should conduct this activity in class as it is really good
to raise students’ motivation.
•

Activity 3: Answering comprehension question
It is boring and useless (8%)

It takes time and of little use (18%)

It make us look back at the story or the
poem to find information so w e can
understand w hat w e read more
thoroughly.(64%)
others (10%)

From the chart, we can see that students have different ideas about this activity. 64% think
that it is good because it helps students know how deep they understand the story. However, 8%
consider it boring and useless and 18% think it is of little use. According to these, the
comprehension questions are often very easy and students do not have to think much to find out
the answers. Another 10% prefer other methods of checking comprehension like acting or
reordering pictures which relate to the content of the story. Some others like questions that
make them think rather than just looking for answers in the story.
This result leads to a conclusion that choosing what questions to ask and how to ask them
are very important in teaching reading and that teacher should verify the ways of checking
students’ understanding in order to encourage the students’ participation in the lesson.
•

Activity 4: Skimming for idioms and expressions in the full sentence.


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It is useless, w e can

look them up in a
dictionary (20%)
It is useful, w e can
learn them in contexts,
thus w e can remember
them longer and
others (8%)

As can be seen in the chart, this activity is good for applying in class as 72% of students
think it is useful for learning and remembering idioms and expressions. Nevertheless, many
students (20%) state that teacher should not waste time doing this activity because they can
learn those idioms and expressions in a dictionary and remember them as well. Other 8% have
the opinion that this activity is a good way to enrich vocabulary and they would like to make
their own sentences with those idioms rather than just skimming for them in the text.
This finding suggests that instead of bounding to the instructions in the teacher book,
teachers should give more consideration to students’ need.
•

Activity 5: Interpreting characters in the short story or figurative meanings in the
poem.
I think understanding the content is
enough (25%)
This activity is intersesting, w e
can look at different features of
the event (30%)
It is helpful, w e can think in our
ow n w ays, w e can be
independent from the text.(45%)
Others (0%)

In the answers to this, none of the students choose to add other ideas. It may be because
this activity is new comparing to activities often conducted in reading class. 25% please with
understanding the content only while the rest 75% like interpreting, in which 30% give the
reason that they can look at different features of one event, other 45% agree as they can make


25

up ideas in their own ways. The problem here is that if the teacher cannot control the students’
imagination properly, the class will get lost with different ideas.
•

Activity 6: The activity I like most in post-reading phase
Creating the end of the poem or
short story (32%)
Changing the poem into a short
story or a song (27%)
Write diary about w hat I have read
(27%)
others (13%)

It can be entailed from the chart that students have positive responses to post reading
activities. The same percentage of students (27%) chooses to change the poem into a short story
or a song or write diary about what they have read. Creating the end of the story or the poem is
the activity that students like most (32%). 13% choose other activities, for example, the teacher
changes some details of the story and asks students to correct the mistakes or the students work
in groups to translate the poem or story into mother tongue. Some others are eager with creating
a new story or a new poem basing on the feeling inspirited by what they have read.
From this finding, instead of ending the lesson right after the students have understood the
story or the poem, teachers should spend some minutes on post activities and ask students to

work in groups and give them chance to choose the activities they like.
IV.2.4. Students’ reaction after reading short story and poem with activities in the
premise (Q4)
After reading I find:
a. My vocabulary is enlarged
b. My reading speed is improved
c. My guessing skill is better
d. My analyzing skill is improved
e. I can answer comprehension questions more quickly
f. I can get to the bottom of the story and poem
g. Others

Percentage
65%
60%
62%
83%
50%
90%
3%