Short stories and efl reading comprehension

Abstract

Short stories are important materials that refer to the narrative text which is shorter than a novel and usually deals with only a few characters. The use of short stories helps students to understand effectively and improve reading comprehension in the English language. In addition, it has been one of the materials that make students feel motivated to read. In this way, through short stories, students become critical and reflective within the teaching-learning process. The main objective of this research is to analyze if the use of short stories improves EFL reading comprehension in 1st B.G.U students at Unidad Educativa "Vicente León". The study was carried out under a quantitative method and with a pre-experimental design, in which it focused on a single group of 36 students who were evaluated through the pre-posttest taken from the KET exam (Key English Test) designed by Cambridge English. The treatment of this research lasted approximately 7 weeks with a total of 12 interventions. After the treatment, the result showed an improvement of 3.1 points. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. To conclude, the use of short stories improved students' reading comprehension.