Created by M.

Weaver-Hightower

Pecha Kucha Planner

Mauro David Villacrs
Topic

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SLIDE 1

TITLE OF
STUDY,AUTHOR
NAME AND LINKS OR
JOURNAL WHERE
YOU CAN FIND IT

Use of Short Stories as a Tool of Teaching

Reading in English as Foreign Language
Aziz Ahmad
JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

SLIDE 2

AIM OF THE STUDY

It aims at getting the opinions of students about

the effectiveness of using short stories as a tool
for teaching Reading in EFL class as compared
to information based text already being used in
the ELC of Yanbu Industrial College

SLIDE 3

RESEARCH
QUESTION(S)/
OBJECTIVE(S)

The purpose of the change of reading curricula

was not to introduce students to literature but to
use short stories in a thoughtful and purposeful
language learning process.

SLIDE 4

METHODOLOGY

The questionnaire using a five point Likert scale was used

to gauge students attitude toward short story and its
effectiveness as tool for teaching Reading in EFL class.

SLIDE 5

RESEARCH FINDINGS

The data obtained was carefully studied and analyzed.

Short stories seemed to be an effective reading material in
reading class of EFL. 96% Students considered information
based text uninteresting, inflexible and boring. 83.5 %
agreed that language used in information based text was far
from real life English. On contrary to it, 80% of the students
agreed that they enjoyed reading the short stories chosen
for the purpose of research. Interestingly, none of the
students strongly disagreed with the statement. Students
found them easier to read and less demanding, which
enabled them to take an active part in other co-curricular
activities. Students also mentioned that the language of the
stories was mostly manageable and therefore quite easy to
understand like a movie.

SLIDE 6

STATEMENT OF
RESEARCH
CONTRIBUTION

Short stories are the best literary text that can be effectively
used in Reading class. It motivates the students to
participate in the class actively. It enables them to discover
for themselves what is significant in the story. A better
selection of short stories is the best way to motivate
students in Reading class of EFL. The most important
criterion in text selection is probably students interest and
their level of proficiency in English language. It never means
that the texts should only be about teenagers issues.

Created by M. Weaver-Hightower

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SLIDE 7

SOMETHING NEW

The inclusion of short fiction in the EFL Reading curriculum

offers the following educational benefits (Aroul 2001);
Short stories make the students reading task easier as
compared to the other literary genres.
Short stories enlarge the readers worldviews about
different cultures by providing them creative and challenging
texts.
Short stories offer a world of wonders and a world of
mystery which motivate learners to read a lot and reap
maximum linguistic benefits from authentic literary material.
gives students the chance to use their creativity,
Short stories sharpen the critical faculties of the learners
and give them insight in understanding and solving real life
problems.
Short stories help students coming from various
backgrounds to communicate with each other because of its
universal language.
Short stories encourage the students to go beyond the
surface meaning and dive into underlying meanings.

SLIDE 8

SOMETHING OLD

In English language class in general and Reading class in

particular, short stories are used to encourage the learners
to use what they had already learnt. Short stories are an
excellent resource for learning not only language but also
observing and feeling real life. In short stories, characters
act and behave like real people.

SLIDE 9

SOMETHING COOL

A six steps strategy is proposed to help teachers of Reading

for making reading a pleasurable, rewarding and learning
activity. The proposed strategy is as under:
Pre-reading activities
Silent reading
Developing a story map
Comparison and contrast
Writing personal response
Theme/Moral lesson

SLIDE 10

TITLE OF
STUDY,AUTHOR
NAME AND LINKS OR
JOURNAL WHERE
YOU CAN FIND IT

Topical knowledge and ESL writing

Ling He and Ling Shi
DOI: 10.1177/0265532212436659
LANGUAGE TESTING

SLIDE 11

AIM OF THE STUDY

To investigates the effects of topical knowledge on ESL

(English as a Second Language) writing performance in the
English Language Proficiency Index (LPI), a standardized
English proficiency test used by many post-secondary
institutions in western Canada.

SLIDE 12

RESEARCH
QUESTION(S)/
OBJECTIVE(S

Do ESL students across different proficiency levels perform

differently in terms
of overall and component scores when responding to a
prompt requiring general
knowledge and specific knowledge respectively?
Do the two prompts have different effects on specific textual
features in ESL
students writing in terms of content (quality of ideas,
position taking, idea development, and idea wrap-up),
organization (coherence and cohesion), and language
(length, accuracy, and academic words)?
How do participants perceive their writing performances for
the prompts requiring general and specific knowledge
respectively?

Created by M. Weaver-Hightower

Topic
SLIDE 13

METHODOLOGY

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Writing prompts
Prompt A (about what to study) was rated by 97% of the
participants as an easy prompt, and Prompt B (about
federal politics) was rated by 100% of the participants as a
difficult prompt. Notably, Prompt A was a general topic while
Prompt B required some specific prior knowledge:
Prompt A: If you plan to attend a college or a university,
what factors will influence your choice of what to study?
Provide reasons.
Prompt B: Explain why you do OR do not take an interest
in federal politics. Be specific. The two prompts were then
used in the main study.

SLIDE 14

RESEARCH
FINDINGS;

Prompt type effects and overall scores

The differences in the indicator scores led to textual
analysis of the students writing to trace differences in
specific textual features related to each prompt. Apart from
the differences in length, error-free T-units and use of
academic words, a major difference between students
writing for the two prompts concerned idea quality and
position taking.
Many students were observed to have problems taking a
position pertaining to federal politics when writing for
Prompt B. For example, Bob, a beginning-level student,
failed to present a fully developed position in response to
Prompt B by writing about how he came from China and
knew little about federal politics.
In contrast, like many other participants, Bob responded to
Prompt A (the choice of what to study) in greater depth and
with a clearly stated author position at the beginning.
Although the essay had visible grammar problems, Bob
did incorporate some features valued in the Englishspeaking context.
.

SLIDE 15

STATEMENT OF
RESEARCH
CONTRIBUTION.

The present data consistently show significant effects of

prompt types on students writing performances. The overall
writing scores showed that students across proficiency
levels performed significantly better on the general topic
than they did on the specific 460 topic. The knowledgespecific task produced lower scores on the content
component due to poor idea quality, insufficient idea
development, implicit position taking, and weak conclusions.
Students also scored lower on organization and language
on the topic-specific task because of weaker coherence and
cohesion, shorter essay length, more syntax and lexical
errors, and less frequent use of academic words.

SLIDE 16

SOMETHING NEW

The study suggests that test users need to distinguish

deficiencies in L2 writing ability from L2 writers
interpretations of writing topics resulting from their prior
knowledge and L1 cultural backgrounds.

SLIDE 17

SOMETHING OLD

Based on our finding that writing is influenced by ones prior

knowledge of the topic, the present study rejects the
assumption that language proficiency is the main factor
determining performance in impromptu essay writing.

Created by M. Weaver-Hightower

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SLIDE 18

SOMETHING OLD

Relevant authorities should subject essay topics used in the

LPI to critical scrutiny and rigorous trialling in order to
ensure a topic-fair writing test.

SLIDE 19

SOMETHING COOL

Also worth exploring would be the value of using integrated

writing tasks, such as those utilized in CAEL and TOEFL
iBT, that require students to use information provided in the
reading texts and audio materials and thereby potentially
reducing the effect of topic unfamiliarity on performance.

SLIDE 20

THANK YOU