STRATEGIES FOR READING SHORT STORIES
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M.Hum) Degree
in English Language Studies
by
DIYAH AYU RIZQIANI Student Number: 056332011
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
STRATEGIES FOR READING SHORT STORIES
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M.Hum) Degree
in English Language Studies
by
DIYAH AYU RIZQIANI Student Number: 056332011
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to dedicate this thesis to my late father and also to my lovely daughter, Muhammada Ditia Bella Diena. They always encouraged me in everything that I did. It was their love that has kept me going this far and their love that will keep me going further.
First of all, I would like to thank Allah, the inspiration of my life, for blessing my wonderful journey. My special thanks go to my beloved mother for the invaluable support and help. For the never-ending love and support, I am indebted to my brothers, sisters, and also my cousin, Adib Abdilla. I am most grateful also to my heri who has so generously offered his love and moral support.
My sincere thanks go to my advisor, Dr. F.X. Mukarto, M.S. for his patience and fatherly guidance during the thesis writing process. I am deeply grateful to Dr. B.B Dwijatmoko, M.A and Dr. J. Bismoko who guided and supported me during my academic journey at the English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
I would also like to acknowledge the support of the head of STBA-LIA Yogyakarta, Dr. Stefanus Djawanai. I wish to thank the English Literature lecturers, Hesti Herusatoto, Fitri Ratna Nadia, Once Helena Manurung, Nugraha Krisdiyanta, and most of all, Alwin Nazarudin, for the fruitful discussion during the data gathering process.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ……… i
APPROVAL PAGE ……….. ii
DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE ……… iii
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ………... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………... v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ………... vi
LIST OF TABLES ………. ix
LIST OF FIGURES ……… x
LIST OF APPENDICES ……… xi
LIST OF ABBREVIATION ………... xii
ABSTRACT ……….. xiii
ABSTRAK ……… xiv
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION……… 1
A. Background of the Study ……… 1
B. Problem Identification ……… 3
C. Problem Limitation ………. 4
D. Research Question ………. 5
E. Research Goals and Objectives ……….. 5
F. Research Benefits ………... 6
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 7
A. Theoretical Description ……….. 7
1. Reading ………. 7
a. What is Reading? ……….. 7
b. Reading Narrative Literary Texts ……… 9
2. Reading Strategy ……… 11
a. Oxford’s Taxonomy ……… 12
1) Metacognitive Strategies ……….. 12
2) Cognitive Strategies ………. 19
b. Factors Affecting the Choice of Strategies ……… 27
4. English Literature Department ……… 30
B. Related Research ……… 31
C. Theoretical Framework ……….. 34
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ……… 37
A. Research Design ……… 37
B. Research Setting ……… 39
C. Research Participants ……… 40
D. Types of Data and Data Sources ……… 42
E. Data Collection ……….. 42
F. Technique of Data Analysis ……… 48
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS ……… 51
A. Data Presentation and Analysis ………... 51
1. Data Analysis Process ……….. 51
a. Think-Aloud Protocol ……… 51
b. Self-Report ……… 53
c. Interview ……… 55
d. Data Coding and Thematizing ……… 57
2. Constructing Individual Profile of Reading Strategy ……… 60
B. Findings ……….. 64
1. Budi’s Profile of Reading Strategy ……….. 64
a. Metacognitive Strategies ……… 64
b. Cognitive Strategies ……….. 68
2. Rachel’s Profile of Reading Strategy ……… 71
a. Metacognitive Strategies ……… 71
b. Cognitive Strategies ……….. 75
3. Ade’s Profile of Reading Strategy ………. 79
a. Metacognitive Strategies ……… 79
b. Cognitive Strategies ……… 82
4. Conclusion of the Findings ……… 86
C. Discussion ……….. 87
1. Metacognitive Strategies ……….. 87
b. Monitoring Reading Process ………... 91
c. Evaluating Reading Process ……… 94
2. Cognitive Strategies ………... 96
3. Overlapping Strategies ……….. 100
a. Metacognitive Strategies……… 101
b. Cognitive Strategies ……….. 103
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ……….. 108
A. Conclusion ……….. 108
B. Implication ……….. 110
C. Recommendation ……… 111
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………... 112
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Metacognitive Strategies ……… 13
Table 2.2 Cognitive Strategies ……… 19
Table 2.3 Some English Formulas and Patterns ………. 21
Table 2.4 Research Construct Mapping ………. 35
Table 3.1 Research Participants ………... 41
Table 3.2 Types of Data and Data Sources ……… 42
Table 3.3 Short Stories’ Distribution ………... 43
Table 4.1 Sample of Ade’s Think-Aloud Protocol ………. 52
Table 4.2 Sample of Ade’s Self-Report ………... 54
Table 4.3 Sample of Ade’s Interview I ………... 55
Table 4.4 Sample of Ade’s Interview II ………. 56
Table 4.5 List of Data Coding ……… 58
Table 4.6 List of Overlapping Strategies ……… 58
Table 4.7 List of Further Data Coding ………... 59
Table 4.8 Sample of Ade’s Tentative Profile I of Reading Strategy ... 61
Table 4.9 Sample of Ade’s Tentative Profile II of Reading Strategy ... 62
Table 4.10 Sample of Ade’s Profile of Reading Strategy ……… 63
Table 4.11 List of Budi’s Metacognitive Strategies ………. 65
Table 4.12 List of Budi’s Cognitive Strategies ……… 68
Table 4.13 List of Rachel’s Metacognitive Strategies ………... 72
Table 4.14 List of Rachel’s Cognitive Strategies ………. 75
Table 4.15 List of Ade’s Metacognitive Strategies ………... 79
Table 4.16 List of Ade’s Cognitive Strategies ………. 83
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3.1 Data Collection Process ………... 43
Figure 3.2 Think-Aloud Procedures ………... 44
Figure 3.3 Self-Report Procedures ………... 45
Figure 3.4 Interview Procedures ………... 47
Figure 3.5 Data Triangulation Process ………... 50
Figure 4.1 Process of Constructing Individual Profile of Reading Strategy ……… 60
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A: Short Story ……… 117
1. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty ……… 117
2. The Grave ……….. 120
Appendix B: Blueprint of Interview I ………... 123
Appendix C: Blueprint of Interview II ………... 127
1. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty ……… 127
a. Budi ……… 127
b. Rachel ………. 128
c. Ade ………. 129
2. The Grave ……….. 131
Appendix D: Think-Aloud Protocol ………... 133
Appendix E: Self-Report ……… 136
Appendix F: Interview I ………... 137
1. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty ……… 137
a. Budi ……… 137
b. Rachel ………. 139
c. Ade ………. 141
2. The Grave ……….. 143
a. Budi ……… 143
b. Rachel ……… 144
c. Ade ………. 146
Appendix G: Interview II ……… 148
1. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty ……… 148
a. Budi ……… 148
b. Ade ……… 149
2. The Grave ………. 151
a. Rachel ………. 151
b. Ade ……… 152
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CEN-PAY Centering Learning Paying Attention
CEN-OVE Centering Learning Overviewing with already Known
Materials.
PLA-ORG Planning Organizing
PLA-SET Planning Setting Goals and Objectives
PLA-FIN Planning Finding Out about Language Learning
PLA-CHE Planning Checking Out the Framework
PLA-REA Planning for Reading Process
SEV-MON Evaluating Learning Monitoring Process SEV-EVA Evaluating Learning Evaluating Process
PRA-REP Practicing Repeating
PRA-ADJ Practicing Adjusting Reading Speed
REC-GET Receiving Massages Getting the Ideas Quickly
REC-REF Receiving Massages Using References
ANA-REA Analyzing Reasoning Deductively
ANA-TRA Analyzing Translating
ANA-PAR Analyzing Paraphrasing
CRE-HIG Creating Structures Highlighting
CRE-TAK Creating Structures Taking Notes
CRE-VIS Creating Structures Visualizing Information CRE-QUE Creating Structures Self-Questioning
CRE-INT Creating Structures Interpreting Information CRE-GRA Creating Structures Integrating Information
ABSTRACT
Diyah Ayu Rizqiani. 2008. Strategies for Reading Short Stories. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program of English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
The study of reading strategy grows rapidly along with the development of language teaching. The emphasis in the study of language teaching and learning has shifted from teachers and teaching into learners and learning. In line with this new shift of interest, the researchers who concern in foreign language teaching and learning focus their inquiries on how learners process new information and what kind of strategies they employ to understand, learn to remember the information. This study investigates metacognitive and cognitive strategies used in reading short stories as reflected in the English literature students’ reading process.
This study was conducted by using progressive qualitative research. The participants of this study were three undergraduate students of STBA-LIA Yogyakarta. All of them were semester IV students and majoring in English literature. Data were obtained from the participants’ think aloud protocol and self-reports when they read two different short stories. Data from the verbal reports were supported by semi-structured interviews which meant to confirm the findings in the verbal reports. Ultimately, all data were transcribed, extracted, reduced, categorized, and coded based on their themes used as the basis for the arguments in the narrative data interpretation.
The findings of this study show that the aims of reading influence the choice of reading strategies used for reading the texts. Students employed metacognitive and cognitive strategies for reading the short stories. Metacognitive strategies were used to make reading process more effective by planning, monitoring, and evaluating the reading process. Cognitive strategies, on the other hand, were used to comprehend the internal structures of the short stories such as plot, setting, conflict, character, point of view, and theme.
ABSTRAK
Diyah Ayu Rizqiani. 2008. Strategies for Reading Short Stories. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program of English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
Kajian strategi membaca berkembang pesat seiring dengan perkembangan pembelajaran bahasa. Titik berat dalam penelitian pengajaran dan pembelajaran bahasa telah mengalami sebuah perubahan dari guru dan proses mengajar menjadi murid dan proses belajar. Seiring dengan perubahan ini, para peneliti yang bergerak dalam bidang pengajaran dan pembelajaran bahasa asing pun memusatkan penyelidikan mereka untuk mengetahui bagaimana seorang murid mengolah sebuah informasi dan strategi apa yang mereka gunakan untuk memahami informasi itu, serta bagaimana murid belajar untuk mengingat informasi baru tersebut. Penelitian ini menyelidiki strategi metacognitif dan cognitif yang digunakan saat membaca cerita pendek seperti tercermin dalam proses membaca mahasiswa sastra Inggris.
Penelitian ini dilakukan menggunakan metode penelitian progresif kwalitatif. Partisipan dalam penelitian ini adalah tiga orang mahasiswa Sekolah Tinggi Bahasa Asing LIA Yogyakarta. Mereka adalah para mahasiswa semester IV dengan pengutamaan Sastra Inggris. Data dalam penelian ini didapatkan dari think-aloud protocol dan self-report para partisipan ketika mereka membaca dua buah cerita pendek. Data dari laporan lisan didukung oleh data dari wawancara semi terstruktur yang dimaksudkan untuk memperkuat hasil temuan di laporan lisan. Pada akhirnya, semua data akan dituliskan, disarikan, dikurangi, dikategorikan, dan diberi kode sesuai dengan tema masing-masing yang kemudian akan digunakan sebagai dasar uraian dalam proses menginterpretasikan data naratif.
Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa tujuan membaca mempengaruhi pilihan strategi membaca yang digunakan saat membaca teks. Para mahasiswa menggunakan strategi metakognitif dan kognitif saat membaca cerita pendek. Strategi metacoknitif digunakan agar proses membaca menjadi lebih efektif dengan merencanakan, memantau, dan mengevaluasi proses membaca. Dilain pihak, strategi kognitif digunakan untuk memahami struktur internal dalam cerita pendek seperti plot, setting, konflik, penokohan, sudut pandang, dan tema.
Hasil penelitian ini diharapkan tidak saja berguna bagi para mahasiswa sastra Inggris, tapi diharapkan berguna juga bagi para dosen mata kuliah sastra Inggris. Dengan menggunakan strategi membaca yang tepat, mahasiswa sastra Inggris akan mampu mengatur proses membaca mereka sendiri. Demikian juga, para dosen satra Inggris juga dapat menggunakan hasil penelitian ini untuk menyiapkan materi perkuliahan yang sesuai dengan tingkat kemahiran membaca para mahasiswa mereka dan mempertimbangkan pentingnya diberikan pembelajaran tentang strategi membaca untuk meningkatkan ketrampilan membaca para mahasiswa.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This introductory chapter was divided into six sections: (1) Background of the Study,
the rationales of this study, (2) Problem Identification, coverage issues in the study of reading
strategies, (3) Problem Limitation, the research boundaries, (4) Problem Statements, the
research questions to be answered in this study, (5) Research Goals and Objectives, the aims
of this study, and also (6) Research Benefits, the contribution of this study.
A. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Compare to the other language skills, reading is considered as the most important skill
for university students (Noora, 2006; Tercanliouglu, 2004; Wisaijorn, 2003). Reading skill
may determine the students’ success in the academic setting. Since they learn new
information from the printed materials, they should be able to synthesize, interpret, and
evaluate texts. Reading skills become more essential for EFL students. As the students who
learn English as a foreign language, they undergo two challenges. They should have sufficient
reading skills since most of learning materials are printed in English. Likewise, they should be
able to employ critical thinking while reading the texts (Kusumarasdyati, 2006:1).
English literature students are demanded to have sufficient reading skill for their
academic success. Since studying literary texts are the significant features in the language
department, they usually read literary texts for their literary and linguistic purposes (Bouvet,
2002:2). Due to the incompleteness of linguistic and cultural knowledge, English literature
students in EFL setting have comprehension gaps in reading literary texts. Consequently,
students need transitional stages to read the simplification of literary texts before reading their
Reading literary texts is different from other reading activities for learning new
information (www.sasked.gov.sk.ca). Literary texts involve the use of language and
imagination to represent human experiences. As readers read the literary texts, they focus on
their first impression and association. Furthermore, they should also be able to explore the
authors’ ideas and essential assumptions found in the texts. In order to sharpen the
understanding, students should think, talk, and write about the literary texts after reading the
texts. Therefore, teachers need to use instructional strategies to promote reflection, discussion,
and critical thinking.
Wenden (1985) as cited in Griffith (2004:2) stated that equipping students with the
tools may help students survive to face the challenges in the academic setting. Teaching
strategies is very important to empower students manage their learning process. As students
become more aware of the meaning of learning, they are responsible for their own learning
process.
In reading research, the reading researchers started to focus their inquiries on reading
process since the late 1970’s. They focused their inquiries to figure out the ways readers make
sense of what they read and also strategies employed to facilitate comprehension(Song, 1998).
Since literary texts are considered have few connections with academic discourse, research on
strategies for reading literary texts are not well-documented (Parera, 2006:70). Most of the
existing reading research deal with strategies for reading non-literary texts (Zhang, 2001;
Cabral & Tavarez, 2002; Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002; and Salataci & Akyel, 2002).
The importance of literary text understanding process rose along with the development
of literature curriculum. The current trend in the literature curriculum tends to focus on the
interaction between texts and readers, on the development of reading skills, and on
students-centered instructions rather than on the memorization of historical facts about periods, genre,
more process-oriented for developing students’ literary texts understanding process (Janseen,
Braaksma, and Rijlaarsdam, 2006:36).
In conclusion, doing research on strategies for reading literary texts is very important.
Readers may need different strategies as they read different literary texts. As different texts
have different text organizations, readers may need different strategies to understand literary
texts which have different plots. Additionally, considering different authors may have
different writing styles, readers may need to use different strategies to understand different
writing’s styles.
B. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
The issues on the study of reading strategies may cover various aspects of inquires
such as factors affecting reading strategies, the product of reading strategies, readers as the
active agents, and the classification of the reading strategies itself. In the discussion of factors
affecting reading strategies, Oxford & Nyikos, (1989:291) stated that some variables
influence the choice of reading strategies. Researchers could take up that topic for developing
research in order to reveal the way certain factors such as individual learner differences, social
setting, and nature of reading influence students in determining reading strategies used in
reading process.
Investigating the product of reading strategies focuses to generate patterns of reading
strategies used in reading certain text types. By generating reading strategies’ patterns,
researchers would find the collective, partly-shared, and unique strategies possessed by
students. Furthermore, seeing the pattern of reading strategies can help researchers to figure
out the way students regulate their reading process.
Based on the readers’ point of view, the study of reading strategies could examine
comprehension, the roles of reading strategy instructions in improving reading performance,
understanding the essence of reading strategies, or finding the factors affecting the choice of
reading strategies.
The study of reading strategies could be analyzed using the theories from the other
reading strategy’s scholars such as Chamot and O’Malley (1987), Rubin (1987), Skehan
(1989), and Stern (1992). Besides investigating metacognitive and cognitive strategies,
researchers could also emphasize on the other strategies for example memory, affective,
compensation, and social strategies.
Among the coverage issues on the study of reading strategies, investigating literary
text reading process was chosen to be developed in this study. Furthermore, the inquiry would
focus on revealing the way students control their reading process; the uses of metacognitive
strategies to make their reading process more effective and also cognitive strategies to
construct meaning from the reading texts.
C. PROBLEM LIMITATION
Among several theories on reading strategies, Oxford’s taxonomy is considered as the
most comprehensive classification of reading strategies. The comprehensiveness of Oxford’s
taxonomy lies on the distinction between indirect and direct strategies (Ghadessy, 1998:103).
For that reason, I decided to use Oxford’s taxonomy as the basis for analyzing data in this
study.
Oxford presented several strategies both in indirect and direct strategies. Direct
strategies cover memory, compensation, and cognitive strategies. Indirect strategies, on the
other hand, involve metacognitive, affective, and social strategies. Due to the setting of this
study which was in EFL setting, I decided to focus only on metacognitive and cognitive
strategies for L2 reading comprehension. He found that metacognitive and cognitive strategies
are viewed as relevant for L2 reading performance.
In reading literary texts, readers do not only deal with cognitive strategies but also
emotional strategies to build mental representation of the situation, events, and characters
presented in the texts (Janseen, Braaksma, and Rijlaarsdam, 2006). As I intended to reveal the
ways students control their reading process by using metacognitive and cognitive strategies, I
decided not take into account the emotional strategies used during reading process.
As students who studied in the language department, English literature students read
different literary works such as prose, poem, and play for their academic purposes. In this
study, I decided to focus only on understanding short story reading process. Considering the
participants were the fourth semester students, they usually read the simplification of the
canon narrative literary texts for their Prose I course.
D. RESEARCH QUESTION
This study mainly addressed this following question:
What metacognitive and cognitive strategies did students use in reading short stories as
reflected in their reading process?
E. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
There were two objectives attained by conducting this study:
1. To figure out the English literature students’ short stories reading process.
F. RESEARCH BENEFITS
The results of this study gave contributions for the development of reading skills
particularly in the field of English literature. The benefits of this study were favorable for:
1. The Study of Reading Strategy.
This study gave contribution to develop the study of reading strategy. Text type and
readability level of a text did not influence the choice of reading strategy. In this study,
students’ motivation played important roles in determining strategies used for reading the
texts. As students were highly motivated to read the texts, they used more varieties of
reading strategy.
2. English Literature Students.
This study empowered students to manage their reading process. By reflecting in their
own reading process, students could figure out their reading problems encountered during
reading and also the effective strategies used for facilitating comprehension. As they had
more awareness on their understanding process, they could control their own reading
process by employing appropriate strategies to achieve their reading goals.
3. Lecturers
The vivid pictures of the English literature students’ reading process helped lecturers to
reconsider the importance of giving reading strategy instructions. Additionally, examining
the students’ process for understanding short stories assisted lecturers to provide
appropriate literature materials which were appropriate to the students’ reading
proficiency levels.
4. Curriculum Designers
This study described that reading was seen as a product and also process. For that reason,
curriculum designers could use the results of this study as the basis to create materials for
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presented the review of some theories relevant to this study. I formed my
standpoint by reading, comparing, contrasting, and synthesizing the relevant theories
perceived from books and journals. The formulation of my perspectives on reading strategies
could be seen in this section. This chapter was divided into three parts: (1) Theoretical
Description, and (2) Related Research, and (3) Theoretical framework.
A. THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION
This section reviewied some constructs used to answer research questions
theoretically, namely: (1) Reading, (2) Reading Strategy, (3) Short Story, and (4) English
Literature Departments.
1. Reading
Discussing reading activities is very interesting. Reading means different things to
different people. Some people read a text for pleasure; however, others read texts for their
academic purposes. The constructs of reading were presented in two parts: (1) What is
Reading?, and (2) Reading Narrative Literary Texts.
a. What is Reading?
As in English language teaching, there is also a prominent shift in defining what
reading activity is. The traditional views on reading are influenced by Goodman’s theory
(1967) in Kong (2006). He defined reading as a ‘guessing game’, in which readers construct
the massages which are encoded by the writer. Readers are passive since they only rely on the
existing syntactic and semantic knowledge structures, rather than on the knowledge on the
printed text. This process shows that Goodman emphasized reading as a one way process.
Readers do not bring their own expectation when they come to a reading text as they just
interpret the massages which are conveyed by the writers.
Additionally, La Berge and Samuels (1974) also support the traditional view on
reading. They stated that reading is a linear process. Readers focus on the aspect of
automaticity on the reading function through memorization. As the previous traditional view
on reading, their reading definition also emphasized reading process as the decoding process
using memorization. There is no interactive process among reader, text, and context since
readers’ aim in reading is mastering isolated skills such as grammar, vocabulary, and sentence
structure.
Goodman made a breakthrough in the middle of 1970’s by proposing a new
perspective on reading as described by Grabe (1991) as cited in Alyousef (2005): “…reading
is the active process where the students need to be thought strategies so that they can read
more efficiently…” Looking at his new reading perspective, he really emphasized that reading
is the active process by involving readers in the process of constructing meaning. Unlike his
traditional view on reading, readers could regulate their own reading process which helps
them in making interpretation and inferences.
The new perspective on reading emphasizes reading as an active process. Yun (1993)
as cited in Kong (2006) argued: “Reading is the interactive communication between reader
and the text. Readers encode the massage from the texts and get the meaning from it”. The
term ‘interactive communication’ indicates that readers are considered as the active agent.
The present of the term ‘interactive communication’ has emphasized the two ways
communication between reader and its text. Readers interpret the massage encoded by readers
not only based on the printed page, but also based on their knowledge on the related topic
Similarly, Barnett (1988) argued that reading is the interactive process between
readers and the text in which meaning encoded is by the writer. During the comprehension
process, reader’s mental process works at different level to interpret the written text. In her
reading definition, she stated clearly that the process of interpreting massages involve the
readers’ mental processing. In other words, supportive skill and knowledge are needed to be
involved in mental processing for producing comprehension.
The needs of other skills and knowledge areas in reading process are also affirmed by
Grabe (1991) as cited in Alyousef (2005:144) which affirmed …
“Reading can be seen as an ‘interactive’ process between a reader and a text which leads into automaticity or (reading fluency). In this process, the reader interacts dynamically with the text as she/he tries to elicit the meaning and where various kinds of knowledge are being used…”
There is a dynamic interaction when readers make sense of the reading text. At this phase,
various kinds of knowledge such as automatic recognition skill, world background
knowledge, and formal discourse structure knowledge are used. This process results in the
product of reading process in which the meaning representation that they have constructed
becomes the result of their mental interaction with the text.
To sum up, I really see reading as an active process. As readers read a reading text,
they make sense what they read. Through two ways interactive process which take place in
the readers’ mind, readers gain the massages conveyed in the written texts.
b. Reading Narrative Literary Texts
Parera (2006) said the differences in the language complexity and level of meaning
between literary and non-literary texts make literary texts are more difficult to be understood
than non-literary ones. For that reason, readers may need to employ strategies to help them
1). Before Reading
Before reading the stories, readers employ previewing and activating prior knowledge
strategies to get the hints about the stories. They preview the texts by using the text features
such as pictures, titles, chapter headings, and subtitles to predict the stories in advance.
Additionally, readers also look at the beginning and end of the stories as the important parts of
the texts. They try to figure out the characters, plot, and setting of the stories. After that, they
activate their prior knowledge by identifying how the topic of the stories relates to their past
experiences or even their previous reading experiences.
2) During Reading
During reading the stories, readers employ various strategies such as self-questioning,
taking notes, rereading, predicting, and monitoring comprehension strategies to help them
comprehend the stories.
As readers read the stories, they ask questions about the conflicts or development of
the characters. To answer their questions, readers reread the texts to check their
understanding. After getting the answer of their questions, they take a piece of paper to
summarize their understanding. Finally, readers keep reading the texts and use the
information to predict the stories in advance.
3) After Reading
After finishing reading, readers employ summarizing strategy. They summarize their
understanding about the plots, conflicts including the climax, denouement, and resolution.
Additionally, readers also should be able to reflect and retell the stories by using their own
words. Employing summarizing strategy after reading the stories is meant to measure readers’
2. Reading Strategy
Reading is the key success for learning at university level. Academic life at university
is different from that at high school. Students could not expect to get the ‘spoon-feed’ of the
learning materials from their lecturers. Conversely, they are supposed to become active
students by reading the materials before attending the courses. This condition is dilemmatic.
On the one hand, university students do not like having reading courses. On the other hand,
they have to read learning materials which are mostly written in English (Noor, 2006:66).
Regarding this condition, teaching reading at university level need to focus on process
of reading rather than product of reading. In other words, the learning process emphasizes on
the way students understand the texts rather than on the ability to answer the questions about
the texts as the final product of reading comprehension. It may be more effective to provide
students with strategies to make them able to comprehend the text, rather than to give them
direct solutions to their learning problems.
The reading researchers realized the importance of strategy used during reading since
the late 1970’s. At that time, there was a prominent shift from the reading product into the
reading process. Through reading process, people can reveal the ways readers make sense of
what they read and what they do when they meet reading problems. Additionally, choosing
the appropriate reading strategy could help readers achieve their reading goals.
Hismanoglu (2000) reported several scholars who classified reading strategy such as
Wenden and Rubin (1987), O’Malley & Chamot (1987), Skehan (1989), Oxford (1990), Stern
(1992). Among different classification of reading strategy, Oxford (1990) is considered
providing the most comprehensive taxonomy (Ellis, 1994:529). The discussion of reading
strategy in this part is divided into two parts: (1) Oxford’s Taxonomy, and (2) Factors
a. Oxford’s Taxonomy
Oxford (1990:1) defined learning strategy as steps taken by students to enhance
learning process. The term ‘Strategy’ refers as learning techniques, behaviors, or actions
which make learning process more effective and efficient (Oxford & Crookal, 1989:404).
Oxford classified learning strategy into six categories: metacognitive, cognitive, memory,
compensation, affective, and social strategies. The following discussion focuses only on
metacognitive and cognitive strategies.
1) Metacognitive Strategies
Metacognitive strategy is a strategy that functions to regulate learning process in term
of planning, monitoring, and evaluating (Oxford, 1990:135). Chamot & O’Malley (1990)
argued that when readers loose their chances to plan their reading, to monitor their progress,
and to evaluate their own learning process, they are like boats without rudders. Metacognitive
strategy is called indirect strategy because they support learning process without directly
involving target language.
Bostas & Padeliadu (2003:479) identified the important roles of metacognitive
strategy in the reading process. They defined metacognitive strategy as purposeful
unconscious action to plan, monitor, and regulate performance. The term ‘indirect strategy’
refers to the unconsciously used of the metacognitive strategy during reading process. Bostas
& Padeliadu found out students, who have access to metacognitive strategy, would control,
regulate, and master their comprehension better compared to those who are lack of access to
metacognitive strategy. Consequently, they could improve their reading achievement and
Table 2.1: Metacognitive Strategies
(Source: Oxford (1990))
Theme Category Sub Category
Paying Attention Centering Learning
Overviewing and Linking with Already Known Materials Finding Out about Language Learning Organizing
Setting Goals and Objectives
Identifying the Purposes of Reading Tasks
Planning for Reading Arranging and Centering
Learning
Seeking Practice Opportunities
Self-Monitoring Metacognitive
Strategy
Evaluating Learning
Self-Evaluating
Oxford (1990) as cited in Griffiths (2004:4-5) said overlapping may occur in her
taxonomy. For instance, reasoning is part of planning in the metacognitive strategy, but it
could also be included in cognitive strategy. Additionally, Oxford underwent conflicting
opinion for determining the taxonomy. She realized that there were still hundreds of strategies
which were possible to be included in the taxonomy. Furthermore, in terms of labeling the
strategy, she was confused to decide compensation strategy whether it became learning
strategy or communication strategy.
a) Centering Learning
Before starting learning process, learners should know what would become the center
of their learning process. In order to do so, they should understand the aspects in the texts that
need to be paid more attention such as characterization, language, plot, or other aspects which
could improve learners’ comprehension toward the literary texts. Students’ abilities to decide
belong to this area: (1). Overviewing and Linking with already known materials, and (2).
Paying attention.
(1) Overviewing and Linking with Already Known Materials
Oxford stated “This strategy involves previewing the basic principles and/or materials
(including the new vocabulary) for an upcoming language activity and linking these with what
learners already know” (1990:152). Overviewing and linking with already known materials
strategy encourages students to assess the content of the reading texts
(http://www.greece.k12.ny.us). As students read the title and the first paragraph, they activate
their prior knowledge to preview the texts.
Porter stated that activating prior knowledge is the important component in reading
process http://departments.weber.edu/teachall/reading/prereading.html Prior knowledge
could be developed by using students’ real-life experiences and somebody else’s experiences.
Furthermore, the ways they make meaning of the experiences influence the ways they
interpret the texts.
(2) Paying Attention
Oxford (1990) argued that there are two modes involved in this strategy: directed and
indirect attention. Directed attention means to give attention to the task and to avoid irrelevant
distructors. Selective attention means to decide in advance particular details. By applying this
strategy for reading short story, students determine in advance their reading focus before
starting reading the texts. By doing this, they can make their reading activities more effective
as they can leave irrelevant information and focus on the important information.
Since different reading purposes would have different reading focuses, readers should
figure out their reading purpose before determining their focus in their reading activity. In
other words, knowing reading purposes means understanding the relevant information that
reading purpose in reading short stories is reading for pleasure, he did not need pay attention
on the intrinsic elements in detail.
b) Arranging and Planning Learning
Before starting reading activities, readers should plan and arrange their reading
process to help them achieve their reading purposes. Making appropriate planning for the
reading process means preparing appropriate strategies used to comprehend the text. Berill,
Doucette, and Verhaulst (2006:69) affirmed that arranging and planning reading is part of
pre-reading activity. The function of this action is to help students make prediction and personal
connections to reading texts. There are six strategies in this area: (1). Finding out about
language learning, (2). Organizing, (3). Setting Goals and Objectives, (4). Identifying the
Purpose of Reading Text, (5). Planning for Reading, and (6). Seeking Practice Opportunities.
(1) Finding Out About Language Learning
Learners often do not know what makes them become effective learners and how to
find out language learning. Teachers give chance to their students to talk about their learning
problems, ask questions, and share ideas about the effective strategies used in their learning
process. By doing so, students would understand the ways to develop their reading skills
(Oxford, 1990:156).
In literature class, teachers may give opportunities for their students to express their
thought at the preliminary discussion. This activity is expected reveal the reading problems
coming up during reading short stories. Additionally, students could also share their
experiences in using reading strategies during the short story reading process. It is important
(2) Organizing
This strategy provides tools for students to improve reading process. Organizing
strategy is a personal thing. Therefore, something which is organized for some students may
not work in the same way to other students. This strategy helps students to focus on the
reading task at hand (http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/organization.html).
Teachers should support students to build comfortable environment for reading the
texts. In line with this Oxford said “Listening and reading especially need comfortable place,
peaceful setting without too much background noise” (1990:156). Referring to her idea,
organizing leads learners to establish environment which help them enhance their reading
comprehension. Readers are likely to understand the text well when there are less distractors
in their surrounding.
(3) Setting Goals and Objectives
As discussed in the previous sections, readers should have reading goals and
objectives before reading. Oxford said “Goals and objectives are the expressions of the
learners’ aims of a language learning process” (Oxford, 1990:157). She defined goals as short
term aims and objectives as long term aims. In reading skills, without having reading goals
and objectives, readers could not determine reading texts that they are going to read and also
strategies used for achieving reading comprehension. Setting goal and objective strategy
relates with the previous strategy, organizing. By developing language learning notebook,
students may be able to manage their reading schedule and reading targets.
Berill, Doucette, and Verhaulst (2006:68) stated that activating background knowledge
and formulating questions could help students set their reading goals and objectives. As they
come to a text, previewing the text and creating questions may encourage students to identify
(4) Identifying the Purposes of Reading Task
Before reading a text, students should be able to recognize the purpose of the reading
tasks to make their reading activity more effective. Oxford (1990:158) said “The strategy of
considering the purpose is an important one, because knowing the purpose for doing
something enables learners to channel their energy in the right decision”. To put it another
way, the purpose of the reading tasks closely relates to the choice of strategies used to
facilitate comprehension. For example, teachers provide newspaper advertisements as the
reading material. It means that students need to employ scanning technique to figure out the
information in the advertisement columns.
(5) Planning for Reading Task
Students should know the nature of the reading text before starting reading. They
should also figure out the specific requirements for comprehending the text in order to get
further aids. By doing so, they can prepare the anticipation steps to help them comprehend the
reading text.
Skilled readers do not read the text directly as the struggle readers do, but they identify
the nature of the reading text to help them prepare the anticipation steps. For example, before
reading a medical journal, readers bring a dictionary which contains plenty of medical terms
since she knows she would find several medical terms.
(6) Seeking Practice Opportunities
“Language learners should seek out or create opportunities to practice any and all of
the four language skills” (Oxford, 1990:160). Since reading class does not provide adequate
spaces for practicing reading, students have their own responsibility for practicing their
reading skills. In this case, teachers have responsibility to encourage students to find the
accustomed to reading short stories in their early semester by reading the simplification of the
famous novel to make them familiar to the cannon literature.
c) Evaluating Learning
Besides centering and planning reading process, readers should evaluate their reading
process. It is not merely the process of identifying strength and weakness, but it is the phase
for improving reading process. There are two strategies in this area: (1). Self-monitoring and
(2). Self-Evaluating.
(1) Self-Monitoring
Bostas & Padeliadu (2003:478) defined monitoring strategy as students’ on line
awareness of comprehension process and achievement. This strategy plays important roles in
reading process. Successful reading performance is influenced by students’ abilities to
monitor their reading process in term of orchestrating every single thing that they read in the
text with the concept that they have in their mind.
During reading process, learners use monitoring strategy for identifying errors. In this
case, teachers’ roles are assisting students to identify difficulties in language learning.
Teachers could encourage students to identify their learning problems by writing down their
problems in a diary. Moreover, by using language learning notebook, students could record
their learning problems and also the causes of those problems. By understanding the causes of
their problems, they could eliminate similar problems coming up in different occasion.
(2) Self-Evaluating
Evaluating reading process is essential for monitoring reading progress. In order to
figure out the reading progress, students should be able to identify their strengths and
weaknesses of their reading activities. In other words, evaluation process relates with
process may help students determine reading targets in the following reading activities.
Students may manage the progress of their reading progress and achievement by using
language learning notebook, diary, or journal.
In literary text reading activities, students evaluate their reading process by
summarizing the story and reflecting the events written in the passages. The students’
understanding is identified by their abilities to reveal their thought of what they read in the
texts (http://www.greece.k12.ny.us).
2) Cognitive Strategies
Rubin (1987) as cited in Ellis (1994:536) defined cognitive strategy as “the steps or
operations used in problem-solving that require direct analysis, transformation or synthesis of
learning materials”. Students use cognitive strategy to solve reading problems on reading
tasks. Cognitive strategy is called a direct strategy because it supports the reading process
directly. The success of reading process is the combination between the use of metacognitive
and cognitive strategies (Oxford, 1990:151). Cognitive strategy is categorized into (1)
Practicing, (2) Receiving and Sending Massages, (3) Analyzing and Reasoning, (4) Creating
Structure for Input and Output.
Table 2.2: Cognitive Strategies
(Source: Oxford (1990))
Theme Category Sub Category
Repeating
Recognizing and Using Formulas Patterns
Practicing
Practicing Naturalistically Using Resources for Sending and Receiving Massages
Sending and Receiving Massages
Getting the Ideas Quickly Reasoning Deductively Analyzing Expression Analyzing Contrastively Cognitive Strategy
Transferring Taking Notes
Summarizing Creating Structures for Input and
Output
Highlighting
a) Practicing
In this set of cognitive strategy, readers are taught to use strategies for producing
target language. Oxford (1990) considered strategies in this category as the most important set
of cognitive strategies. Practicing contains three strategies: (1). Repeating, (2). Recognizing
and Using Formulas, and (3). Practicing Naturalistically.
(1) Repeating
This strategy does not seem meaningful for adult learners. Oxford (1990:70) argued
“Although the strategy of repeating might not at first sound particularly creative, important, or
meaningful, it can be used in highly innovative ways…” Associating with behaviorism
technique, students consider repeating become less meaningful compare to the other cognitive
strategies. By using repeating strategy, students are taught to repeat the target language in
order to make them familiar with the tasks.
Oxford stated that repeating strategy could be used in innovative ways because it
contains different degree of understanding. Applying this strategy for reading activity could
improve learners’ comprehension toward the reading text. As they have difficulties in
understanding paragraphs, they would repeat reading several times until they could
comprehend the information. In this case, it can be assumed that they would have better
understanding when they read the texts five times rather than when they read the text twice.
(2) Recognizing and Using Formulas and Patterns
Oxford (1990:74) defined formula as unanalyzed expression and pattern as one slot
which could be filled with more than one alternative word. The use of this strategy would
text, they would find several patterns and formulas. Teachers’ roles are assisting students to
recognize patterns and formulas as they read the text.
Table 2.3: Some English Formulas and Patterns
(Adapted from Oxford (1990))
English Formula English Pattern
How are you? What is the matter? Nice to see you
I would like to … We are going to … I have got …
(3) Practicing Naturalistically
This strategy leads students to the actual use for communication. So it emphasizes on
the ways learners practice the language skills in their daily lives. Since classroom does not
provide adequate space for practicing language skills, teachers have roles in creating
opportunities for learners to practice their skills.
In reading activity, Oxford (1990:76) mentioned “Practicing naturalistically also
means using the language in an authentic way for reading comprehension”. Therefore,
teachers could start building students’ reading habit by encouraging them to read short stores
or poems in a newspaper or magazine. By making them accustomed to read literary texts, it is
expected that it would help them comprehend literary texts in the classroom.
b) Receiving and Sending Massages
There are two strategies belong to this set of cognitive strategy: (1). Getting the Idea
Quickly, (2). Using Resources for Receiving and Sending Massages.
(1) Getting the Idea Quickly
“This strategy helps students understand rapidly what they hear or read in a new
language” (Oxford, 1990:46). Strategy for getting the idea quickly seems effective for reading
using those two strategies, students could avoid irrelevant information and become more
focused on the relevant information.
In reading passages, getting the idea quickly is useful for monitoring students’
comprehension. Students usually repeat reading by using scanning in order to check their
understanding. In line with monitoring comprehension, students would reread passages using
scanning when they realize that they have misinterpreted the story. To employ getting the
ideas quickly strategy, note taking strategy could be used as a supportive strategy which helps
learner comprehend the information.
(2) Using Resources for Receiving and Sending Massages
This strategy helps students to understand incoming massages or produce outgoing
massages. Students use dictionary when they have difficulties for understanding sentences,
particularly the vocabularies. This strategy is useful for understanding what is written, but
also understanding what is heard in the target language.
Oxford (1990) pointed out that there are two kinds of resources: printed and
non-printed resources. Printed resources are books, encyclopedia, newspaper, and journal. While
non-printed resources are cassette, radio and TV. When applying this strategy in reading
literary texts, students could use dictionary and internet as the effective resources to
understand the incoming massages.
c) Analyzing and Reasoning
When students read a reading text, sometimes they find new vocabularies. Besides
opening dictionary, students could understand the meaning of those new words by making
logical analysis to words. This set of cognitive strategy leads students to make logical analysis
and reasoning to the new vocabularies found in the reading text. In line with this, Oxford
and vocabularies” (1990:82). By using this strategy, students would be able to understand and
make new expressions. Although this strategy is useful for students to understand new
vocabularies and grammar rules, it will cause problems if it is overused. This set of cognitive
strategy consists of five strategies: (1). Reasoning Deductively, (2). Analyzing Expression,
(3). Analyzing Contrastively, (4). Translating, (5). Transferring.
(1) Reasoning Deductively
This strategy is useful and commonly used to understand the meaning of new
vocabularies. The basic principal of this strategy is understanding the meaning of new words
based on the general rules which are understood by the students. As stated earlier, sometimes
the application of this strategy results in error. Since students comprehend the new words
based on their prior knowledge on grammatical rules, they often make overgeneralization.
Students could use reasoning deductively strategy when they find new vocabularies in
a passage. As they find new words, they analyze those new vocabularies based on their prior
grammatical rules. For example, Rachel finds the word ‘flew’. Having grammatical
knowledge from her previous course, she understands that it is the irregular form of the past
tense verb ‘fly’.
(2) Analyzing Expression
Analyzing expression is the strategy used to understand spoken expression in a new
language. Oxford (1990:46) argued “This strategy used to determine the meaning of a new
expression by breaking down the word based on based its part, using the meaning of various
parts to understand the meaning of the whole expression” A new word, the words, phrases, or
sentences need to be broken down into component parts to analyze and find their meaning.
This strategy is almost similar to analyzing deductively strategy. In comparison, analyzing
words. For example, Budi finds the phrase ‘premeditated crime’. Then he breaks down the
word into crime (bad act), mediate (think about), and pre- (before).
(3) Analyzing Contrastively
Analyzing contrastively is the easiest strategy compare to the other cognitive
strategies. This strategy is also used naturally by the learners (Oxford, 1990:84). In the early
step of learning language, learners usually compare and contrast the elements of the new
language (sound, vocabulary, and grammar). They try to find the differences and similarities
between the new language and their native language. It is the way to remind and understand
the meaning of a new word that they heard or read. For example, as Ann reads reading
passage, she finds the word January. She understands automatically the meaning of that word
since it corresponds to the word Januari in Indonesian.
(4) Translating
Like analyzing contrastively strategy, translating strategy is also used in the early step
of language learning. Beginner language learners usually rely on translating strategy to
produce massages in target language. Oxford asserted “This strategy allows learners to
convert a target language expression into a native language and vice versa” (1990:46). In
other words, this strategy needs the native language as the basis for understanding. The
misuse of this strategy usually results in error especially when learners make direct translation
of the target language. Anthony, for example, has misunderstanding when he tries to
comprehend the phrase flesh and blood in this sentence Joan and Patrick are my flesh and
blood. This is because he makes Indonesian direct translation of the phrase flesh and blood
into daging dan darah, which should be translated into anak kandung.
(5) Transferring
Transferring strategy leads learners to apply their previous knowledge from certain
work well if the two languages are parallel, so that learners could apply linguistic knowledge
from one aspect of the new language to another aspect of the new language. For example,
since there are similarities in the name of month in English and Indonesian, Ricky feels easier
to remember the name of month as he learns English.
d) Creating Structure for Input and Output
This set of cognitive strategy leads learners to sort and organize information in the
target language found during reading process. Using this set of cognitive strategy becomes the
way to create input and output which are important for comprehension and production of a
new language. Therefore, it does not merely create structure for language learning, but
become a reflection of students’ understanding toward the target language. This set of
cognitive strategy consists of three strategies: (1). Taking Notes, (2). Summarizing, and (3)
Highlighting.
(1) Taking Notes
Taking notes are not merely collecting information. Students write down the main idea
of specific points. This strategy is designed to improve students’ understanding about learning
material by recording the materials correctly in an organized manner to be used at a later time
(http://www.muskingum.edu). To associate with metacognitive strategy, taking notes strategy
links with organizing strategy. Students write their progress and target systematically in the
language learning notebook.
Oxford (1990) claimed taking notes strategy as the advanced tool since it is mostly
used properly by high proficient level students. For students at the early step of language
learning, writing notes either in the target language or in their native language is, indeed,
systematic form of note taking such as shopping list, T-formation note form, and semantic
map.
(2) Summarizing
This strategy is more challenging than taking notes strategy. It allows students to
structure input and needs more condensation of thought. Summarizing strategy shows one
understands on what they heard or read by making more condensed and shorter version of the
original version. It allows students for more writing practice. For advanced students, they can
write summary in the target language.
Summarizing strategy is part of post-reading activity. Students summarize what they
have read and contemplate their first impression of the texts. In order to summarize the texts,
students reflect their thought and take a second look to develop more thoughtful and critical
interpretation of the texts. Therefore, this strategy leads students to improve their
understanding of the texts (http://www.sasked.goz.sk.ca/docs/ela20/teach5.html).
(3) Highlighting
Oxford (1990:47) defined highlighting strategy as “Using a variety of emphasis
technique to focus on important information”. Students usually give marks such as bold
writing, big writing, giving * (star), box, and circle. In some cases, students use three structure
strategies at the same time; taking notes, summarizing, and highlighting, together. For
example, as Rachel read a history book, she took notes on important information and gave
underlines to some sentences. After reading, she made a short written summary.
Learning skill program at York University (1997) claimed that highlighting strategy
tends to be a time consuming activity. Students employ this strategy while reading the text.
They mark information found in the passage to identify important information by marking the
eye-catching. In fact, since student feel overwhelmed with important information that they have,
they would not go back to the texts to reread them.
b. Factors Affecting the Choice of Strategies
The uses of reading strategies are varied among learners. There were some scholars
who conducted studies on investigating the variables affecting the choice of strategies
(O’Malley et.al 1985, Chamot et.al 1987, Ehrman 1990). There are four variables which
influence the uses of learning strategies as reported by Ellis (1994:541-545):
1) Belief about Language Learning
Wenden (1987) as cited in Ellis (1994:477) stated that students come to the classroom
by bringing their personal belief about language learning such as belief about the use of
language, learning about language, and importance of personal factors. Furthermore, those
beliefs would influence the student’s motivations for determining the steps in language
learning. Therefore, Wenden found that students who emphasized on the importance of
learning tended to use cognitive strategies to help them understand specific items of language.
Students who emphasized on the importance of using language, on the other hand, tended to
use few strategies.
2) Learner’s Factors
The discussions of learner’s factors cover several elements such as motivation, age,
and sex.
Oxford & Nyikos (1989) considered motivation is the most powerful factor which
influences the choice of learning strategies. It considers the facts that motivation drives the
students’ behaviors for language learning. Therefore, Oxford and Nyikos found that highly
The roles of age in influencing the choice of strategies are crystal clear. When students
are getting older, they would be able to identify their needs for language learning. Ehrman and
Oxford (1989) as cited in Ellis (1994:541) found the differences between children and adult.
Their study showed that children tended to employ simple strategies. Adult, on the other hand,
used more sophisticated strategies which helped them learnt faster than children.
Oxford and Nyikos (1989:296-297) found the roles of sex for determining the choice
of strategies. The study showed that women tended to use more various strategies than men.
The aim of the women to use more strategies was to show that they had different social
orientation by getting better grades than men.
3) Learner’s Personal Background
The personal backgrounds of the students have significant roles for influencing the
choice of strategies. The study conducted by Ehrman (1990) as as cited in Ellis (1994)
showed that the professional linguist tended to use more strategies than untrained teachers or
instructors. The differences in the learner’s personal background generate different learning
goals. Furthermore, those learning goals would determine the choice of strategies used by
students for learning language.
4) Situational Factors
There are many elements involve in situational factors as stated by Ellis (1994: 545)
such as the language being learnt, type of the tasks, and the setting. Students would use
different strategies when they learn L1 and foreign languages. Similarly, different strategies
are also used when students learn language inside or outside the classrooms. To put it another
way, students adjust their strategies with the situational factors to help them achieve their
3. Short Story
The definition of short story is still debatable. Kurtus stated that short story is a
fictional narrative prose which consists of 2000 to 7500 words (
http://www.school-for-champions.com). Menrath (2003) presented some characteristics of short story which make
this literary genre different from novel or other narrative literary texts. Short story is a
narrative prose which can be read in single sitting. Among the differences, short story also has
similarities with the other narrative literary texts. Short story presents unique union of ideas
and structures which describe the objective facts, both of them are presented in the texts with
the combination of the poetic atmosphere. Considering the length of the texts, short story
usually is limited in one setting, simple plot, single action, and also limited characters.
Therefore, readers hardly find the development of the characters and conflicts
(http://www.menrath-online.de/documents/shortst2.pdf).
Similarly with the other literary texts, short story also has the internal structures which
are defined as follows (http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca):
1. Character: a person presents in the story whose existence originates from fictional work of
performance.
2. Plot: the story lines, the sequence of events in a story. It is a logical series which has
beginning, middle, and end.
3. Setting: the time and location when the story takes place.
4. Conflict: the opposition of force which fasten one incident with the other incidents, so that
the plot could move.
5. Point of View: the angle used to narrate the story
4. English Literature Department
After having experience in English education in Indonesia for fifty years, LIA
Foundation established formal educations which are located in Jakarta and Yogyakarta.
STBA-LIA Yogyakarta itself was set up in 28 September 2000. English Literature
Department is the bachelor program which has two major concentrations: English Literature
and Translation. In 2004, STBA-LIA developed a new concentration on English Teaching in
English Literature Department.
For students whose major are in English Literature, literature course is introduced
since they are in the third semester. Students would be awarded the degree of Sarjana Sastra
after completing 110 credits, having minimum TOEFL score 450 (paper-based test), and also
GPA 2.00 (Panduan Akademik STBA-LIA Yogyakarta, 2001/2002:17)
The curriculum in STBA-LIA is almost similar to the other English literature
departments. The skill courses such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing are given
since students at the first semester. For the complementary course, English literature students
should complete French subject during the six semesters (Panduan Akademik STBA-LIA
Yogyakarta, 2001/2002:32). The department expects students could win the competition in
the work field by having capabilities to speak two international languages.
The English Department offers several literary courses such as Introduction to Literary
Studies, Prose I/II, Drama I/II, Poetry I/II, Theory of Literary Criticism, and History of
English Literature. Students must read different genre of literary texts such as prose, poem,
and play in every literary course. Due to the limited helps from their lecturers, they should be
able to comprehend the texts and also read between the lines.
Students are expected to be able to use their knowledge which perceived from their
