USING CHILDREN SHORT STORIES TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION.

(1)

USING CHILDREN SHORT STORIES TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’

READING COMPREHENSION

A Research Paper

Submitted to Department of English Education of FPBS UPI as a Partial

Fulfillment of One Requirements of Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

Merli Puji Handayani

0807326

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUANGE AND ART EDUCATION

INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

(2)

PAGE OF APPROVAL

USING CHILDREN SHORT STORIES TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION

By:

Merli Puji Handayani 0807326

Approved by:

Supervisor I

Drs. Prawoto S. Purnomo, M.Pd.

195110081980021002

Supervisor II

Nia Nafisah, S.S, M. Pd.

197104242006042001

Head of English Education Department Faculty of Languages and Arts Education

Prof. Dr. Didi Suherdi, M. Ed

(3)

STATEMENT OF AUTHORIZATION

I hereby state that this research paper entitled Using Children Short Stories to

Enhance Students’ Reading Comprehension is completely my own work. I am

fully aware that I have quoted some statements and ideas from many kinds of

sources. All of the quotations are properly acknowledged.

June 2013

(4)

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The chapter starts with the background of the research in which the

reasons for choosing the topic are clearly stated. It includes the statement of the

problems, the aims of the study, scope of the study, significance of the study, and

organization of the paper.

1.1 Background

Reading in a foreign language, in this case English, is considered to be

difficult for most Indonesian students. This is supported by numerous research

that show the ability of Indonesian students in reading English texts was very low

(Syatriana, 1998; Hamra, 1993 and 1996; Mardiana, 1993; Kweldju, 2001; as

cited in Syatriana, 2010:28). An observation conducted by the researcher during

her fieldwork in a junior high school showed that the students’ capability in

comprehending English texts were poor. It can be seen from their narrative test,

eighty percent of the students’ scores were below the KKM. KKM requires score

of minimum 80 to be considered successful learner.

Furthermore, when they were interviewed, they answered that because

they did not know some words, it was difficult for them to understand the story.

Eventually, it led them to face difficulty in reorganizing the information from the

(7)

couldn’t answer the question correctly. It can be concluded that students had

difficulty in comprehending the reading text.

In fact, reading is a receptive skill that occurred as a mental process of the

readers as they actively engage in the creation of meaning (Barnett, 1989, cited in

Hadley, 2001:177). When the mental process occurred, there will be connections

between what they read with their previous knowledge (schemata). Those will

lead the readers to have different purpose of reading (Harmer, 1992:199). For

example, when they read a newspaper, they have different expectation to when

they read a novel.

However, the process of comprehension becomes more difficult for EFL

learners since it is influenced by grammar, vocabulary, and the prior knowledge of

the text (Hayashi, 1999 :125). Thus, Hayashi (1999) recommended teachers select

texts that stimulate students to read so that the difficulties of grammar,

vocabulary, and comprehension can be overcome. Yet, this raises a question on

how to make the students interested in reading English text and how the teacher

selects the reading material that encourages the students to read.

Therefore, reading children short stories can be a good learning material

since it is considered to be adequate for the learners from all levels (from the

beginner to the advanced learners) (Collin and Slater, 1991). Pardede (2011)

explained that short story seems to be the most suitable to use in public school as

it has these characteristics: it is short; it usually has one plot and a few characters;

(8)

students will follow the storyline easier. Moreover, the story is expected to make

the students interested in reading it.

Children short stories use simple language style, contain cultural

information, and are comfortable in length so that students will enjoy in reading it

(Chen, 2006). Besides, short stories are adequate to be used for EFL learners

because 1) the length of the story is appropriate for one or two class session; 2) it

is not complicated for the students; 3) it has variety of choices; and 4) it can be

used for all levels (from beginner to advance) and for all ages (young learners to

adults) (Collin and Slater, 1991:196). Thus, as long as the students read short

stories, they can improve their vocabulary, their comprehension, and their analysis

in submerging themselves into the story.

Few studies that have investigated the use of literature for teaching the

students confirming their positive result (Rudman, 1993). Palardy (1997:67)

stated that through literature, students “will have the opportunity to develop

insights and understandings of the cultures and people of the world; to develop

their imagery and visualization abilities; and to gain new perspectives by testing

their ideas with those found in books”. Davis (1995, cited in Harmer, 2001:204)

also said that giving enough exposure to L2 reading can lead students to enhance

their comprehension skill and add their active and passive vocabulary.

From the statements above, the research is aimed to conduct a study

related to the use of children short stories as a reading material to enhance

(9)

It is expected that children short stories can help students to comprehend

English text easier and increase their automatic recognition toward the

vocabulary.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The research statements of this study are:

1. How can reading children short stories improve students’ reading

comprehension?

2. What are students’ responses toward the use of children short stories in

teaching reading?

1.3 The Aims of the Study

The aims of the study are:

1. To find out how the use of children short stories can help students improve

their reading comprehension

2. To find out students’ responses toward the use of children short stories in

teaching reading.

1.4 Scope of the Study

The present study focuses on the use of children short stories in teaching

(10)

the students’ responses toward the use of children short stories whether it helps

them to improve their reading comprehension.

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study is expected to bring benefits for several aspects:

1. Theoretical benefit

The present study hopefully can provide information for further research

regarding the use of literature especially children short stories in English

language teaching.

2. Practical benefit

The present study is expected to give description regarding the use of

children short stories in teaching reading comprehension in one of junior

high schools in Bandung. Hopefully, this study will help English teachers

to be able to provide appropriate teaching strategies to improve students’

reading comprehension.

1.6 Clarification of Terms

To avoid misconception, clarification of terms is provided as follow.

1. Reading comprehension can be defined as “an active thinking process

through which a reader intentionally constructs meaning to form a deeper

understanding of concepts and information presented in a text” (Blanton et

(11)

2. Short story can be described as a short piece of fiction aiming at unity of

characterization, theme and effect. A short story usually focuses on one

incident; it has a single plot, a single setting, and a small number of

characters; and covers a short period of time (Wikipedia).

3. Children short story here referred to the short story that intended for the

children in the native language country. The children short story used in

this study is fantasy tales.

1.7 Organization of Paper

The Paper consists of five chapters:

Chapter I

This chapter is the introduction that consists of the background of this study,

the statements of the problem, the aims of the study, the scope of the study, the

significance of the study, the clarification of terms and the organizations of the

paper.

Chapter II

This chapter describes the theoretical framework of the study which is the

theory of reading, reading comprehension, reading strategies, teaching reading

and the use of literature in English language teaching especially in teaching

reading comprehension. Besides, this chapter also provides a review of the

(12)

Chapter III

This chapter contains the research method of the study including research

design, site and participants, data collection, research procedures, and data

analysis.

Chapter IV

This chapter provides the findings related to the statement of the problems

stated in chapter one. Then, it is followed by the discussion of the study.

Chapter V

This last chapter covers the conclusion of the study and the suggestions for

(13)

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the method used in this study with the intention of finding

the answers of the questions stated in Chapter I. The chapter includes research

design, site and participants of the study, data collection, research procedures, and

data analysis.

3.1 Research Design

Design of this research was qualitative approach which used classroom

action research design. Qualitative approach is “a kind of research paradigm

which emphasizes inductive, interpretive methods applied to the everyday world

which is seen as subjective and socially created” (Anderson, 1987, cited in Hatch,

2002:6). Meanwhile, classroom action research is essentially a research that is

based from discontented of the situation, later on there are some efforts conducted

to improve situation which is being investigated (Scott and Morrison, 2000).

Classroom action research was used in this study as the researcher tried to

emphasize on action applied for improving some problems found especially

reading comprehension. The classroom action research used was participatory

classroom action research (Carr & Kemmis, 1986) as it involved all the

participants on the study from the students, the researcher as the teacher, and the

(14)

classroom action research can enlighten the way of teaching reading especially in

improving students’ predicament in reading comprehension.

Qualitative study was used in this study since the study was trying to

capture the process that happened from the actors involved in the study. This

process includes making sense of actions, intentions, and grasping the meanings

from those were being investigated (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992; Hammersley

&Atkinson, 1983; Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Spradley, 1979, cited in Hatch,

2002:7). In this study, the process captured were how the learning process by

using children short stories helped students’ reading comprehension and the

students’ responses toward the use of children short stories. Those data which

were collected by means of the instruments were then generalized as Lincoln &

Guga (1985, cited in Hatch, 2002:10) asserted. They explained that the data

analysis in qualitative research is inductive that moved from specific into

generalizations.

There are many kinds of classroom action research model. However, the

model used in this study was Kemmis and Mc. Taggart model (1988, cited in O’

Brien, 1998). Kemmis and Mc. Taggart (1988, cited in O’ Brien, 1998) proposed

that every component in a cycle is viewed as steps and there are 4 steps in a cycle,

which are: Plan, Act, Observe, and Reflect. After a cycle has been implemented, a

reflection will be performed whether the result has reached the expectation or not.

If it is still under expectation, a revision will be made. The revision that consists

(15)

3.1.1 Site and Participants

Site of this study was in one of junior high schools in Bandung. This

school was chosen since it was the place where the researcher did fieldwork

before. It was assumed that the researcher and the school staff in that school

become acquaintances to each other, so it would be easier to have permission for

the study.

Participants of this study were the students of VIII D. The total of the

students were 43 students comprising 17 male students and 26 female students.

They were between 13 until 15 years old. Most of them come from Sundanese

ethnics. It can be assumed that most of the students spoke two languages in their

regular interaction which were Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Sunda; and they

treated English as a foreign language which was uncommon to use in the daily

life.

Besides the students, the participants were also the researcher who acted as

the teacher when the study was held and the teacher of the class who acted as the

observer. The teacher was choosen as the observer since she understood clearly

about the situation of her class. It was expected that reliability of the research

would be attained by relating the teacher’s observation data and the researcher’s

notes.

(16)

the study. To inform, the study was taken on ongoing and natural class since the

researcher entered the class as the schedule assigned by the school.

3.2 Data Collection

In collecting the data, this study used three cycles of treatment which was

conducted from October 24th 2012 until November 30th 2012. The three cycles of

treatment was adapted from Action Research model of Kemmis and Mc. Taggart

(1988, as cited in O’Brien, 1998). Description of the action research model which

was proposed by Kemmis and Mc. Taggart can be seen in the subsequent picture:

Picture 3.1

Action Research model

(17)

Then, the three cycles which had been applied in the study can be accessed in the

following table

Table 3.1

Three Cycles of Treatment

No Step Description

1 Planning After holding a survey in the class and interviewing the English teacher, the planning was designed so that it can be conducted in the class. The result of planning can be seen in the lesson plan. (see appendix A)

2 Implementing the treatments

Treatments in the class consisted of three cycles of treatment. It was intended to help students in advancing their reading comprehension. Each treatment used children short stories that the students would read during the learning. The details of the treatment can be seen in appendix A.

3 Observing The students’ learning process in the class was observed by an observer which is the English teacher of the class. It was aimed to know the situation in the class so that it can be reflected afterwards. The observation sheet of the learning process can be seen in the appendix B.

Besides that, the assessments were held to see students’ improvement in reading comprehension. The assessment were shown by asking students some literal questions during the discussion:

1) Who are the characters

2) Where does the story take place? 3) When does the story take place? 4) What conflicts happen in the story? 5) How does the conflict end?

Besides, the questions were also written in a story-structure analysis worksheet. It was asked in two forms which were in the group work and in the individual work. In the individual work, the students were asked to do an outside reading for their homework and they were asked to answer the questions.

(18)

In addition, this study used diagnostic test and therapeutic test to know

students’ improvement in comprehending the reading material. Diagnostic test

was held at the beginning of the cycle, while therapeutic test was held at the end

of every cycle.

3.3 Research Procedures

In the following section, procedure when the study was conducted would be

explained:

1) Identifying the problems by doing pre-observation in the school

A survey was held regarding students’ predicament in reading

comprehension by asking the English teacher. There were some points that

found such as limited vocabulary, difficulty in understanding the meaning

of the text as a whole, and lack of motivation to read especially reading in

English. Moreover, it was noticed that the class is a little bit exceptional

because they were too talkative during the class and some students had

loud voice that intruded learning process.

2) Designing a plan for the study

The researcher did some steps as suggested by (Cohen, Manion, Morrison,

2000:74):

a) Determining the general research aims and purposes

b) Generating research questions

(19)

in the classroom. For the study, it was decided to use children short

stories as a reading material for the students. To begin with, the

researcher chose some children short stories that will be used during

the lesson. The children short stories were fairytale that rather

uncommon for the students. The children short stories were explored

more for the content and vocabulary so that the activity will be

directed to the text from pre-reading activity, while reading, until

post-reading activity. By emphasizing the use of the literature in the class, it

was expected that the students could be better in terms of reading story

and their vocabulary would be increased.

d) Approaching the research design

Read about the information regarding research design that the study

used. In this study, classroom action research design was used.

e) Designing the instrument

This study used some instruments such as observation sheets, reading

tests, lesson plan, questionnaire, and interview (see Appendix B). The

explanation of the research instrument would be explained in the next

section.

f) Audiences the research

Administer the research permission by contacting the school. Then,

the researcher contacted the teacher of the class regarding the study

(20)

Before the research began, the researcher informed the students about

the research and purposes of the research.

3) Implementing the action.

During the action, the researcher acted as the teacher in the class, while an

observer monitored the learning process. In this study, the researcher

conducted the learning by using children short stories. For checking their

reading comprehension, the teacher administered some reading tests. In

the end, the teacher administered questionnaire and interview to the

students regarding their responses toward the learning process by using

children short stories. The details of implementation of the action can be

Narrative text: The Scatter Brained Fairy

Homework reading: The Selfish Giant

Homework reading: The Ant and the Grain 7 November 28th 2012 Therapeutic test for 3rd cycle

(21)

During the action, the observer who was the teacher of the class paid

attention to the learning process. When every cycle had been done, the

teacher and the researcher reflected regarding the learning process. The

reflection includes the result of the observation, students’ test result, and

students’ worksheet of the stories.

4) Data analysis

After the three cycles had been performed, the data that had been collected

were analyzed. Then, they were connected to the relevant literature. The

data then were connected to each other to see reliability and validity by

doing triangulation process.

5) Presenting the result of the study

The result of the study was presented in Chapter 4.

3.3.1 Research Instrument

There were four instruments in this study. They were observation sheet,

tests, questionnaire, and interview.

A. Observation sheets

As reflection in teaching process was needed, the teacher was

accompanied with an observer to make it objective. The observer filled an

observation sheet in every meeting. The observation sheet enriches data analysis

since it is designed to understand the context when the situation took place

(22)

The observation sheet used in this study was structured observation

(Cohen, Mannion, Morrison, 2000:306) with rating scales in judging the

observable behavior (see Appendix B). The observation sheet was created by

focusing on students’ act in the class and how they responded their teacher. In

observation sheet, there was a note column for the observer to conclude overall

learning process and a reflection column in which the observer gave comments to

the weakness of the learning process.

These comments would be discussed together between the teacher and the

observer so that some reflections would be made. The reflection was developed

into the form for next cycle so that the next cycle is expected to run better.

B. Tests

There were two kinds of tests given namely diagnostic test and therapeutic

test (see Appendix B). Diagnostic test was given only in Cycle 1 before teaching

process began. While therapeutic tests were conducted at the end of every cycle

from Cycle 1 to Cycle 3. In diagnostic test, there were 25 questions, while

therapeutic tests from Cycle 1 until Cycle 3 contain 20 questions for each. It was

decided to be 20 questions because the test was done in two sections where each

group of students had 30 minutes in doing the test.

To see their improvement in reading comprehension, students’ average

score from diagnostic test until Cycle 3 therapeutic test were compared. It is

(23)

whether the use of children short stories can help them to improve their reading

comprehension.

C. Questionnaire

In order to know students’ responses to the teaching learning process,

questionnaires were administered to the students after finishing Cycle 3 on

November 30th 2012. Before administering the questionnaire, the researcher

informed the students about the questionnaire (why it was given and how to

answer).

Type of the questionnaire used in this study was structured questionnaire

(Cohen, Mannion, Morrison, 2000:247) with attitudes scales from strongly agree

(sangat setuju) until strongly disagree (sangat tidak setuju) (see Appendix B).

The attitudes scale was used as a measurement for the students for 10 statements

given.

The structured questionnaire chosen because it was easier to be coded

based on the frequency of the answers that the students gave. Here are the steps in

processing the questionnaire:

1) Clarifying the general purposes of the questionnaire, then translating it

into specific aims

2) Creating the questions that covered the purposed of the study

3) Administering the questionnaire to the lecture for checking its validity

(24)

6) Analysing the data then generalizing the data.

D. Interview

Besides questionnaire, interview was also employed in this study.

Interview is a verbal interaction between two persons which are the interviewer

and interviewee with the purpose of gathering relevant information for the

research (Cannell and Kahn, 1968, cited in Cohen, Mannion, Morrison,

2000:268). Besides, the interview facilitates the participants to describe their

interpretation about the situation from the participants’ point of view (Cohen,

Mannion, Morrison, 2000:267).

The type of interview used was semi-structured interview with open-ended

questions (see Appendix B). Semi-structure interview was chosen because the

interviewer could expound the topics by modifying the questions so that the

interviewee could catch the meaning easier; moreover, the interviewer could ask

the participants to elaborate the answers. The elaboration of the answers would

add the richness, depth of the response, comprehensiveness, and honesty (Patton,

1980:238 as cited in Cohen, Mannion, Morrison, 2000:278). In addition, the

open-ended questions were selected for giving the interviewee a determination to

answer the question in their own way.

In this study, the interview was used to elicit students’ responses towards

(25)

the students that improved significantly during the study, while the other one was

the student who did not improve significantly. The interview was done after

finishing 3rd cycle on November 30th 2012 when the school time was over. It was

performed as one by one interview between the researcher and a student in a

classroom. The interview was conducted in Bahasa Indonesia so that the students

would be at ease in answering the questions.

3.4 Data Analysis

The data that would be analyzed were students’ test result, observation

sheet, questionnaire, and interview result. These data were processed from the

beginning until the end of the cycle.

There are two methods in presenting the data, they are based on research

questions and data instruments (Rudestam & Newton, 1992; Thomas, 2000;

Paltridge & Stairfield, 2007, cited in Emilia, 2009:245). In this case, the

researcher presents the data based on the instruments.

The students’ test result and observation sheet were administered to

answer first research question, while questionnaire and observation sheet were

administered to answer second research question. Later, the data analysis was

processed and presented through descriptive study.

Descriptive study is “a study that tries to reveal patterns associated with a

specific disease without an emphasis on pre-specified hypothesis” (Simon, 2002).

(26)

hypothesis, but it tends to explain an informal information about condition that

happened during the study.

Below were the procedures in analyzing data:

1. Analyzing students’ diagnostic test and therapeutic test

All of students’ data were scored. Those score were calculated to know

students’ average score entirely. Then, in every cycle, there would be a calculation

for students who pass KKM score in form of percentage.

Below are the formula for calculating students’ average score and students’

success percentage who has exceeded KKM score:

In calculating students’ average score (Sudjana: 2009):

Description: = Average score

= Total of the students’ score

N = Total of the students

In calculating students’ success percentage based on their test score, (Sudjana:

2009):

Description:

P = Students’ success percentage

= students who fulfill KKM criteria

= total of students in the class

After calculating students’ average score, the researcher compared students’

(27)

2. Analyzing observation sheet

Observation sheet focused on teaching learning process especially on

observing whether students could understand the text in the learning process and

how they responded their teacher during learning process. The observation sheet

consists of 8 statements and it has range from 4 until 1, where 4 is excellent, 3 is

above average, 2 is average, and 1 is unsatisfactory. Thus, the maximum score of

every cycle is 4x8 = 32 points. Afterwards, the result of scoring, note column, and

reflection column from the observation sheet then were reflected so that the whole

process which happened in the class can be portrayed and reported descriptively.

3. Analyzing questionnaire

The questionnaire consists of 10 closed questions and it has range from 4

to 1. The description of those number comprising: 4 for strongly agree, 3 for

agree, 2 for disagree, and 1 for strongly disagree. The maximum point of the

questionnaire is 4x10 = 40 point.

The questionnaire was processed by coding the statements into three main

categories: 1) students’ opinion towards children short stories as an interesting

media in learning English 2) students’ opinion towards the use of children short

stories for increasing their participation in the learning process 3) students’

opinion toward the use of children short stories in helping students improve their

(28)

Then, the frequencies of students’ total response for each main category

would be displayed in percentage form by using chart.

4. Analyzing interview

After conducting the interview, the researcher trancribed the interview result.

Then, it was coded into several themes. Those themes would lead into description

of few students’ opinion related to teaching learning process in the class.

Interview enriched the description since it gave more detail information of

students’ attitude toward the learning process.

3.4.1 Data Validation

Validity and reliability is crucial in developing a study. It is supported by

Creswell & Miller (2000 cited in Creswell, 2009: 191) who believed that validity

is one of strong points in qualitative research since accuracy of the findings is

taken from the researcher and participants of the study.

In this study, triangulation process was used to check the reliability and

the validity of the data. Triangulation is a strategy to improve reliability and

validity of the study by linking the data that taken from different sources

(Golafshani, 2003:7). The triangulation is used because the study used multiple

instruments which are observation, reading test, questionnaire and interview.

All of data that had been analyzed would be connected to each other and

(29)

3.5 Concluding Remark

This chapter portrayed the research design, the site and participants, data

collection, research procedures, and data analysis. In the next chapter, findings

(30)

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter presents the conclusions of the study and suggestion for further

research. At first, this chapter presents conclusions of the study related to the

theories used. Next, this chapter presents suggestion for further researchers who

are interested in conducting similar study, the use of children short stories to

enhance students’ reading comprehension.

5.1 Conclusions

This study was concerned with the use of children short stories to enhance

students’ reading comprehension. The purposes of the study were to investigate

whether the use of children short stories had elevated students’ reading scores and

how it helped the students to improve their reading comprehension.

The findings of this study suggested that the use of children short stories

improved the students’ reading comprehension. It can be seen from students’

average scores which are slightly improved from diagnostic test until Cycle 3. The

diagnostic test score which is 61.09 increased to 76.28 in the Cycle 3 therapeutic

test . Furthermore, the amount of the students who have scores above KKM also

elevated from 20.93% (9) of students in the diagnostic test become 58.14% (25)

of students at the end of cycle 3.

(31)

their reading comprehension. The characteristic of children short stories which is

intended for native language learner revealed to be an authentic material for the

students. It provides real examples of grammatical structure and vocabulary items

which provide the students an exposure of native language that could not be

encountered in EFL setting. The content of the story which is appealing made the

students motivated to read and increased their personal growth to read the story

until finish. Their engagement to the story facilitated them to construct meaning

magnificently which leads them to achieve comprehension.

Moreover, the employment of reading strategies helped in improving

students’ reading comprehension. The use of multiple reading strategies showed

that it can helped the students’ reading comprehension. The reading strangegies

used in this study are: activating background knowledge of the students,

pre-teaching vocabulary, using predictive skill, sequencing text, cooperative learning,

asking and generating question, identifying main idea and synthesizing, and

story-structure analysis.

In addition, the result of the questionnaire and the interview showed that

children short story is an interesting reading material for them and it motivates

them to be actively engaged during the learning process.

In this study, the use of children short stories displayed some advantages:

it facilitates the students to enrich their vocabulary; it encourages the students to

have critical thinking; it increases students’ motivation; and it accommodates the

(32)

However, there was a disadvantage in using children short stories in terms

of level of the text which is difficult especially for struggling readers since it is

actually intended for the children in native language country. Nevertheless, it can

be overcome by carefully selecting children short stories and planning the

activities creatively to make the students have direct experience to the reading

process.

Finally, the findings from this study hopefully will influence the teacher to

use literature such as children short stories in teaching English. Though this study

may be restricted to small scales participants, the implications are clear especially

for the teachers who want to use children short stories in teaching reading

comprehension.

5.2 Suggestions for Further Research

The suggestions provided below are addressed to English teachers and to

researchers who want to conduct similar study.

It is suggested to vary the kind of children short stories which would be

used in teaching reading comprehension, for examples, fable, modern short

stories, fantasy tales and so on. Moreover, it is suggested that English teachers use

group work especially in a big class so that high proficient students can help low

proficient students in comprehending the text.

It would be better to select the stories carefully in terms of the text-length,

(33)

in planning activities for the learning process so that the students can enjoy the

(34)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principles: an interactive approach to

language pedagogy. San Francisco State University: Longman.

Berry, James H.. (2005). Levels of Reading Comprehension. In http://sc4.edu.

Current as of February 15th , 2013.

Carr, W., Kemmis, S., (1986). Becoming Critical: Education, Knowledge, and

Action Research. Routledge.

Chen, Y.M. (2006). ‘Using Children’s Literature for Reading and Writing

Stories.’ In Asian EFL Journal. Vol8. No. 4 page 210-232. http://asian-efl-journal.com. Current as of October 5th , 2012.

Cohen, Mannion, & Morrison. (2005). Research Methods in Education. (5th ed.).

London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Collie, J., & Slater, S. (1991). Literature in the language classroom. (5th ed.).

Glasgow: Cambridge University Press.

Creswell, J.W.. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed

Methods Approaches. California: Sage Publications.

Elliott, R. (1990). ‘Encouraging reader-response to literature in ESL situations.’ In

ELT Journal. Vol 44. No. 3 page 191-198.

(35)

Erkaya, O. R. (2005). ‘Benefits of using short stories in the EFL context’. In

Asian EFL Journal. Vol8. page 38-49. http://asian-efl-journal.com.

Current as of January 5th , 2013.

Gascoigne, Carolyn. (2005). ‘Toward an Understanding of the Relationship between L2 Reading Comprehension and Grammatical Competence’.

In The Reading Matrix Vol.5, No.2. Page 1-14. Current as of January

15th , 2013.

Ghasemi, P. and Hajizadeh, R. (2011). ‘Teaching L2 Reading Comprehension through Short Story.’ In the IPEDR journal. Vol. 26. Page 69-73.

Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L.. (2002). Teaching and Researching reading. London:

Pearson Education Longman.

Hadley, A. O. (2001). Teaching Language in context. Third Edition. USA:

Thomson Learning.

Harmer, Jeremy. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Pearson

Education.

Hasbún, Leyla. (2006). ‘The Role of Vocabulary Acquisition in Students’ Attitudes toward Reading.’ In Communicatión enero-julio. Vol. 15. número 001. http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/pdf/166/16615106.pdf. Current as of December 15th , 2012.

Hatch, A.J. (2002). Doing Qualitative Research in Education Setting. New York:

State of University New York Press.

(36)

http://rel.sagepub.com/content/30/2/114. Current as of December 28th ,

2013.

Jalilehvand, Maryam. (2011). ‘The Effects of Text Length and Picture on Reading Comprehension of Iranian EFL Students’. In Asian Social Sciences.

Vol. 8, No. 3. Page 329-337. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v8n3p329.

Khatib, Muhammad. (2012). ‘Enhancing Reading Comprehension through Short Stories in Iranian EFL Learners.’ In Theory and Practice in Language Studies. Vol.2. No.2. http://academypublisher.com. Current as of January 15th , 2013.

Littlewood, William (2000). ‘Literature in the School Foreign-Language Course.’

In Brumfit, C.J. & Carter, R.A.. (2001). Literature and Language

Teaching. Oxford: OUP.

Lunzer, E.A., and Gardner, K. (1979) The Effective Use of Reading, Edinburgh,

Oliver and Boyd.

Moreillon, Judi. (2007). Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading

Comprehension: Maximizing Your Impact. Chicago: American Library

Association.

McGinnis, D. J., & Smith, D. E. (1982). Analysing and Treating reading

problems.

New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching

(37)

Nunan, D. (2001). Second language teaching and learning. Boston: Heinle &

Heinle Publishers.

O’ Brien, Rory. (1998). An Overview of the Methodological Approach of Action research. [Online]. Available at:

http://www.web.net/~robrien/papers/arfinal.html. Current as of October

3rd , 2012.

Palardy, J. M. (1997). ‘Another look at literature-based instruction.’ Education,

118(1), 67-70.

Pardede, P. (2011). Using Short Stories to Teach Language Skills [Online].

Available at:

http://parlindunganpardede.wordpress.com/articles/language-teaching/using-short-stories-to-teach-language-skills/. Current as of

January 15th , 2013.

Patel, M.F., & Jain, P.M.. (2008). English Language Teaching. Jaipur: Sunrise

Publishers & Distributors.

Puspita, Intan Dwi. (2007). Using Mind Mapping Technique to Improve Students’

Ability in Reading Descriptive Text: A Quasi Experimental Study at Seventh Grade in One Junior High Schools in Bandung.

http://repository.upi.edu. Current as of January 5th , 2013.

Rice, Melinda. (2009). ‘Making Connections: Reading Comprehension Skill and Strategies’. In www.fcrr.org/FCRRReports. Current as of January 20th , 2013.

Rudman, M.K. (Ed.). (1993). Children's literature: Resources for the classroom

(38)

Sharzad, A. & Derakhsan, A. (2011). ‘The Effect of Instruction in Deriving Word Meaning on Incidental Vocabulary Learning in EFL Context.’ In World Journal of English Language Vol. 1 No. 1. Current as of February 3rd, 2013.

Sudjana, Nana. (2009). Penilaian Proses Hasil Belajar Mengajar. Bandung:

Remaja Rosdakarya.

Slavin, R.E.. (2009). Instruction Based on Cooperative Learning. [Online].

Available at:

www.successforall.org/.../Instruction-Based-on-Cooperative-Learning-09. Current as of November 2nd , 2012.

Syatriana, Eny. (2010). ‘Developing a Model of Teaching Reading

Comprehension for EFL Students’. In TEFLIN Journal. Vol. 3821, No.

1. Page 27-40. Current as of January 10th , 2013.

Urbancová , Žaneta. (2006). Using Stories in Teaching English. [Online].

Available at: http://is.muni.cz/th/104208/?lang=en. Current as of

January 20th , 2013.

Wallace, Catherine. (2001). ‘Reading.’ In Carter, R., & Nunan, D.. (2001). The

Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

New York: Cambridge University Press.

Westwood, Peter. (2008). What Teachers Need to Know About Reading and

Writing Difficulties. Victoria: Acer Press.