Using short stories in teaching English in the context of Vietnam Australia School - Hanoi.pdf

1. UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES-VNU, HANOI
POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT
PHAM THU HA
USING SHORT STORIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH IN THE
CONTEXT OF VIETNAM AUSTRALIA SCHOOL – HANOI
(VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRUYỆN NGẮN TRONG GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH TẠI NGỮ CẢNH
TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC VIỆT ÚC – HÀ NỘI)
M.A. Minor thesis
Field: Methodology
Code: 601410
HANOI-2009

2. UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES-VNU, HANOI
POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT
PHAM THU HA
USING SHORT STORIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH IN THE
CONTEXT OF VIETNAM AUSTALIA SCHOOL- HANOI
(VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRUYỆN NGẮN TRONG GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH TẠI NGỮ CẢNH
TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC VIỆT ÚC – HÀ NỘI)
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS
SUPERVISOR: PHÙNG HÀ THANH, M.Ed
HANOI-2009

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES, AND ABBREVIATIONS................................................... vii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................... 1
1.1. Rationale of the study................................................................................................ 1
1.2. Aims of the study....................................................................................................... 3
1.3. Scope of the study...................................................................................................... 4
1.4. Research methods...................................................................................................... 4
1.5. Significance of the study............................................................................................ 5
1.6. Structure of the study............................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................................. 6
2.1. Literature and language teaching............................................................................. 6
2.1.1. Concept of literature .......................................................................................... 6
2.1.2. Features of literature ......................................................................................... 6
2.1.3. Using literature in language classroom ............................................................. 7
2.2. Short stories in language classroom........................................................................... 9
2.2.1. Definition of a short story .................................................................................. 9
2.2.2. Benefits of using short stories in language classroom ....................................... 10
2.2.2.1. Reinforcing the skills............................................................................... 10
2.2.2.2. Motivating students ................................................................................. 11
2.2.2.3. Introducing literary elements................................................................... 11
2.2.2.4. Teaching culture ..................................................................................... 12

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2.2.2.5. Teaching higher-order thinking............................................................... 13
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY......................................................................................... 16
3.1. Sampling ................................................................................................................... 16
3.2. Data collection instruments....................................................................................... 16
3.2.1 Questionnaires.................................................................................................... 18
3.2.2 Interviews............................................................................................................ 17
3.3. Procedure of data collection...................................................................................... 18
3.4. Procedure of data analysis ........................................................................................ 20
CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................... 21
4.1. Reseach question 1: How do teachers percieve the use of short stories in teaching
English in terms of necessity?......................................................................... 21
4.2. Research question 2: How do students percieve short stories as a source of language
input in terms of interest and importance?.................................................................. 22
4. 3. Research question 3: How do teachers exploit short stories in teaching English in
terms of purpose, strategy and frequency? ............................................................... 23
4.3.1. The frequency of using short stories in teaching English.................................. 23
4.3.2. The purposes of using short stories in teaching English.................................... 24
4.3.3. The strategies to exploit short stories in teaching English................................. 25
4.4. Research question 4: To what extent do teachers feel satisfied with their use of short
stories in teaching English?........................................................................................ 27
4.5. Research question 5: What are the obstacles that have limited teachers’ use of short
stories in teaching English?........................................................................................ 28
4.6. Research question 6: What are the obstacles that challenge students in learning
English with short stories? ......................................................................................... 29

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4.7. Research quesetion 7: What are the recomendations and expectations for using
short stories in teaching English given by students and teachers? ......................... 31
4.7.1. Teachers’ recommendations .............................................................................. 31
4.7.2. Students’ expectations........................................................................................ 31
4.7.2.1. Students’ expectations in terms of length, level of difficulty and theme of a
short story ............................................................................................. 31
4.7.2.2. Students’ expectations for the activities in class ...................................... 32
4.8. Summary of the findings from the interview ................................................................. 34
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 37
5.1. Major findings of the study....................................................................................... 37
5.2. Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 38
5.2.1. Selecting and evaluating short stories................................................................ 39
5.2.2. Suggested techniques for integrating short stories in English teaching............. 40
5.2.2.1. Problems solving..................................................................................... 40
5.2.2.2. Activities for using a short story in class.................................................. 41
5.3. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study ..................................... 41
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 44
APPENDICES........................................................................................................................ I
APPENDIX 1: SOME SHORT STORIES USED IN THE STUDY .................................... I
APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS..................................... III
APPENDIX 3: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS...................................... VII
APPENDIX 4: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (Vietnamese version)...... X
APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE ......................................................................XIII

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LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES, AND ABBREVIATIONS
TABLES
Table 4. 1: Students’ practice with short stories ...................................................................23
Table 4. 2: Teachers’ purposes of using short stories in teaching English ............................24
Table 4. 3: Teaching strategies.............................................................................................25
Table 4. 4: Teachers’ satisfaction with the use of short stories in teaching English. ..............27
Table 4. 5: The obstacles in using short stories in teaching English. .....................................28
Table 4. 6: Obstacles challenging the students in learning with short stories.........................30
Table 4. 7: Teachers’ recomendations ..................................................................................31
Table 4. 8: Students’ expectations in terms of length, level of difficulty and theme of a short story
............................................................................................................................................31
Table 4.9: Students’ expectations for the activities in class ..................................................33
Table 4.10: Profile of the interviewees .................................................................................34
FIGURES
Figure 4. 1: The presense of short stories in the teaching practice of the teachers .................20
Figure 4. 2: Students’ perception of short stories in terms of interest ....................................21
Figure 2.3: The frequency of using short stories in teaching English ....................................23
ABBREVIATIONS
VAS: Vietnam Australia School- Hanoi

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the background information, and states the problems and reasons
for the study. It also outlines the overall purpose and objectives of the study, describes the
significance of the study, poses the research questions to be answered and provides an
overview of the research design.
1.1. Rationale of the study
Today, English is the global means of communication. It is now an official language in
more than 75 countries, with a total population of over 2 billion speakers. Three quarters of the
world‟s mail are in English and 80% of the world‟s electrically stored information is also
currently in English (Crystal, 1997). English is the working language of the Asian trade group
ASEAN and the official language of the European Central Bank (Wallraff, 2000). Briefly,
with the spread of globalization and the rapid expansion of information technologies has come
an explosion in the demand for English worldwide.
Unexceptionally, in Vietnam, English is considered the key to success in modern life.
The number of English learners has been increasing rapidly in the last few decades. To meet
the demand, a great deal of schools and centers with special English teaching and learning
programs have been set up everywhere, especially in big cities. Vietnam Australia School-
Hanoi (VAS), a private high school which is located in My Dinh, Hanoi, is one example.
Established in 2007, VAS is to offer an ideal environment for learning English. It cooperates
with PLC, a famous school in Australia in curriculum and education programs. Students in
VAS have to follow the English syllabus of Vietnam carried out by Vietnamese teachers.
Besides they have global English and global commerce classes with Australian teachers,
hence, there are many chances for them to practice and improve English in real life
conversations with native speaking people. All of the parents hope that their children can have
the best learning conditions, especially the best English learning environment so that their
children will be able to go on studying overseas or to have the best preparation for their future.
However, one of the challenges facing English teachers of VAS, including the author
of this study, is composing extra materials. In VAS, students have five to six periods a week

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with Vietnamese teachers, which is twice as much as other ordinary schools. Therefore,
besides the textbooks, extra materials are needed. Normally, many teachers select or compose
more written practice tests to drill what students have learned in the textbook. However, this
type of materials does seem to have attracted much interest. Sometimes, extra written practice
tests are blamed for a boring atmosphere in many classes. Thus, there should be variations so
that students feel more interested in learning. In VAS, a number of sources of teaching
materials such as poems, short stories, drama, films, English songs, etc. have been exploited
now and then. Among these, using short stories as teaching supplementary materials has been
taken into consideration for some following reasons.
Firstly, short stories can be seen as an interesting and suitable source of teaching
materials. As reading texts, short stories can serve the language skill drilling function quite
well. More importantly, short stories in particular and literary texts in general are favorable for
students‟ language and cultural development and personal involvement. Since literature
enables students to understand and appreciate other cultures and societies, it encourages
personal growth and intellectual development. According to Ibsen‟s view (1990), literary texts
appeal to students in term of emotion and personal experience because each student will meet
the text in his/her own way based on experiences and knowledge of literature and life. This
creates meaningful and interesting discussions among students and draws on personal
responses form learners. In other words, learners become more personally involved in the
process of language learning and can begin to own the language they learn more fully. It also
retains a good learning climate in a relaxing atmosphere.
Moreover, in comparison with other sources of teaching materials such as written
practice exercises, poems, films, English songs, short stories are believed to have several
advantages. Written practice exercises as mentioned above do not always interest students.
Poems seem rather complex and abstract for schoolchildren. Not every available English song
and film which suits the taste of students can serve the language skill drilling function
properly. Whereas, there is a variety of short stories to choose, ranging from elementary to
proficiency levels. Relatively short, fun, memorable and meaningful short stories are not too
difficult in terms of vocabulary, grammatical structures and syntax. Furthermore, they can

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bring about room for endless debate where students can live in the real human experience
world. Above language, they can learn many useful lessons about real life to develop their
personalities.
In Vietnam- Australia school, Hanoi, short stories are mostly used as supplementary
material for teaching by Australian teachers and sometimes applied by Vietnamese teachers.
However, there has been no official research on using them in teaching English. This study
has been conducted with the purpose to investigate how other teachers and students think
about the use of short stories in teaching English and to what extents they have employed them
in their teaching.
All these above explain why the author tries to do the research. It is hoped to result in
useful ideas of using short stories in language classroom, especially in the context of Vietnam
Australia School, Hanoi.
1.2. Aims of the study
Parallel with the reasons leading to the research are some following aims:
- To investigate the perception of students towards the use of short stories.
- To study on the current use of short stories by teachers in Vietnam Australia School,
Hanoi
- To discuss some suggestions of using short stories in classroom such as selecting
materials and using these materials in a way that is relevant to the students.
This study seeks the answers to the following questions.
1. How do teachers percieve the use of short stories in teaching English in terms of necessity?
2. How do students percieve short stories as a source of language input in terms of interest and
importance?
3. How do teachers exploit short stories in teaching English in terms of purpose, strategy and
frequency?
4. To what extent do teachers feel satisfied with their use of short stories in teaching English?

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5. What are the obstacles that have limited teachers‟ use of short stories in teaching English?
6. What are the obstacles that challenge students in learning English with short stories?
7. What are the recomendations for using short stories in teaching English given by students
and teachers?
1.3. Scope of the study
In this study, the author intends to deal with the question of using short stories
beneficially in language teaching. Other literary texts are not concerned in the study.
The study was conducted in VAS with the participation of 10 teachers, both
Vietnamese and Australian, and 100 senior high school students, who were chosen randomly
from the alphabetical list of names. The number of the teacher participants made up three-
fourths and the students participants accounted for five-sixths of the whole population.
However, the focus of the researcher was not put into junior high school students, so the
implication might be not applicable in classes of junior high school students.
1.4. Research methods
Data collection for analysis in the study are mainly gained through survey
questionnaires and interviews.
The questionaires aim at studying the students‟ and the teachers‟ attitude towards
using short stories in classroom and their feedbacks after having lessons with short stories.
Meanwhile, semi-structured interviews were conducted among the teachers to triangulate the
data collected from the questionnaires and to gather further information.
After that, the data collected were collectively analyzed to address the research
questions. Tables, charts and diagrams were used for clearer presentation and comparison.
1.5. Significance of the study
By looking into the perception of the use of short stories in English classes, the
satisfaction of both teachers and students with their achievements and improvement in
teaching and learning process, and the obstacles facing them, the study brings about an overall
picture of the exploitation of short stories in VAS. It is hoped to raise the awareness of

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teachers, especially those teaching in VAS, of one possible source of teaching material, short
stories. It also informs teachers of the benefits of using short stories and suggests some useful
ways of applying them in teaching English.
1.6. Structure of the study
This study is divided into five chapters:
Chapter 1, Introduction, briefly presents the reasons for doing the study, its aims, scope,
subjects as well as the research methodology.
Chapter 2, Literature review, presents an overview of literature and short stories in language
teaching.
Chapter 3, Methodology, states the reason for choosing research methodology and the
descriptions of the setting, subjects, instruments and the procedure of data collection and
analysis
Chapter 4, Data analysis and Results, provides an analysis of collected data and the findings.
Chapter 5, Conclusion and recommendations, suggests teaching techniques and conclusion

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Literature and language teaching
2.1.1. Concept of literature
The term "literature" has different meanings depending on who is using it and in what
context. Different people approach literature in their own ways.
Lazar (1993, p.1) introduced some definitions of literature:
Literature is “feelings” and “thoughts” in black and white. Literature is the use of language to
evoke a personal response in the reader or listener. Literature is the world of fantasy, horror,
feelings, visions...put into words. Literature means....to meet a lot of people, to know other
different points of view, ideas, thoughts, minds....to know ourselves better.
According to Iris Murdoch (1978), literature could be said to be a sort of disciplined
technique for arousing certain emotion. And for Ezra Pound (1981), great literature is simply
language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.
From these definitions quoted above, it can be concluded that literature is as literature
does. In exploring what literature is, it is useful to look at some of the things that literature
does. Literature is something that reflects society, makes us think about ourselves and our
society, allows us to enjoy language and beauty, it can be didactic, and it reflects on the human
condition. It both reflects ideology and changes ideology, just like it follows generic
conventions as well as changing them. Literature is the creation of another world, a world that
people can only see through reading literature.
2.1.2. Features of literature
Literary texts are distintive from other texts. Its language involves a special, or unusual
use of language. Many linguists have pointed out that there are a number of features of literary
language which can be isolated. Many of these features occur in other forms of discourse as
well, but in many literary texts they combine to form a highly unified and consistent effect,
which strongly reinforces the message of the text. (Brumfit and Carter, 1986).

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2.1.3. Using literature in language classroom
The use of literature in language teaching tends to be ignored since it is treated as a
means of relaxation. Because most of ESL teachers think literature is too structurally complex
for learners to read, it is supposed by ESL teachers to contribute very little to their main goal -
to teach learners the grammar of the language so that learners can use the language in daily
communication. However, in fact, literature is not just for literature students; literature should
be sensibly used in a language classroom for a number of reasons.
Literature- motivating and valuable authentic material
“Literature is “feelings” and “thoughts” in black and white. Literature is the world of
fantasy, horror, feelings, visions...put into words. Literature means....to meet a lot of people, to
know other different points of view, ideas, thoughts, minds....to know ourselves better...”
(Lazar (1993, p.1). Therefore, literature is human life. In other words, literature reflects real
life all around the world. More than that, it transcends the time and culture to speak directly to
a reader of a different country at a different period of time (Collie & Slater, 1987). This is the
reason why many works of famous writers such as William Shakespears, Nguyen Du, Mark
Twain, ect are still alive despite the challenge of time. What‟s more, literature is not written
for the specific purpose of teaching but the native readers. There are many different linguistic
forms and uses used in daily life. Thus, through the language of literature, learners can be
exposed to such a kind of authentic language, which is the aim of any language teachers.
Furthermore, once students are familiar with literature in their own language, then
studying some literature in English can provide an interesting and thought-provoking point for
comparison. For example, teachers can ask students to retell short stories from their own
culture before getting them to read an authentic story in English on a similar theme. It could be
highly motivating. Additionally, a good novel or short story can involve students in the
suspense of unravelling the plot. When reading literary texts, readers are said to live with the
characters they like. They respond to what the characters say and do and keep sharing their
emotion from the beginning to the end. Readers are absorbed in the events of the story and
eager to find out what happens next. Really, the students are well-motivated and willing to

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take part in the journey of exploring the unknown language territory, which wil create the very
positive effects on the process of language learning.
Literature- a good access to cultural background
Literature can provide students with access to the culture of the people whose language
they are studying. Sage (1987, p9) said “literary texts can serve as open windows to the target
language.” When reading literature students can find out much information about the social,
political and historical events which form the background of the literary work. Besides,
literature “does seem to provide a way of conextualising how a member of a particular society
might behave or react in a specific situation” (Lazar, 1993, p.17). It is very interesting and
useful to find out insights into the relationship, emotions, beliefs, attitudes, lifestyles of people
from other cultures. Hence, literature is considered as the best complimentary material that
helps to increase learners‟ knowledge about other countries.
Literature- an encouragement for language acquisition
In many countries in the world including Vietnam students have limited access to
spoken English, and written English often takes on primary importance for stimulating
language acquisition. Literature may provide a particularly appropriate way of stimulating this
acquistion as it provides meaningful and memorable contexts for processing and interpreting
new language. Obviously, at lower level, students may be unable to cope on their own with a
genuie novel or short story in English. Any extensive reading should be of graded material.
However, at higher levels, students may be so absorbed in the plot and characters of an
authentic novel or short story that they acquire a great deal of new language. Because
literature is very rich in meaning, the use of literary texts within the classroom is often a
particularly successful way of promoting activities in which students need to share their
feelings and opinions such as discussion and groupwork. Focussing on a task which demands
that students express their personal responses to multiple levels of meaning can only serve to
improve the students‟ acquisition of language.

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Literature- personal education
Besides linguistic benefits, literature has an educational function, which is considered
the strongest and the most important effect on the language learners. It stimulates the
imagination of students, develops their critical abilities and increases their emotional
awareness. For example, if we ask students to respond personally to the texts we give them,
they will become incresingly confident about expressing their own ideas and emotions in
English. They will feel empowered by their abilities to deal with the text and its language and
to relate it to the values and traditions of their own society.
2.2. Short stories in language classroom
2.2.1. Definition of a short story
The following definition about short stories is extracted from the encyclopedia: “The
short story refers to a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, usually in narrative
format. The short story is characterized by the number of words contained therein.”
Determining the actual length of a short story is problematic. Short story definitions
based upon length differ somewhat even among professional writers. Many short story writers
define their work through a combination of creative, personal expression and artistic integrity.
As a result, definitions of the short story based upon length splinter even more when the
writing process is taken into consideration. A classic definition of a short story‟s length is that
it must be able to be read in one sitting but in contemporary usage the term most often refers
to a piece of fiction up to 20,000 words. In practice, however, a short story‟s length is
determined by the publisher. In the United States, for example, short stories, which are called
“long short stories”, can be anything up to 10,000 words. In the United Kingdom, short stories
average around 5,000 words but in Australia, they are rarely more than 3,500 words. Although
some short stories called micro narratives can be just a few hundred words long, there is an
expectation among contemporary readers that short stories are at least 1,000 words in length.
Short stories are considered shorter than novels. Therefore, they are also less complex.
Usually a short story focuses on only one incident, has a single plot, a single setting, a small

16. 10
number of characters who are somehow connected with each other, and covers a short period
of time and a sequence of events.
2.2.2. Benefits of using short stories in language classroom
2.2.2.1. Reinforcing the skills
Murdoch (2002) indicates that “short stories can, if selected and exploited
appropriately, provide quality text content which greatly enhances ELT courses for
learners....”(p.9). In other words, short stories allow teachers to teach the four skills to learners
of all language proficiency levels.
Oster (1989) affirms that literature helps students to writes more creatively. Teachers
can create a variety of writing activities to help students to develop their writing skills. They
can ask students to write dialogues or more complex writing activities if students have reached
a high level of language proficiency.
In addition, stories can be used to improve students‟ vocabulary and reading. Lao and
Krashen (2000) compared a group of students that read literary texts and another group that
read non-literary texts at a university in Hongkong. The group who read literary texts showed
inprovement in vocabulary and reading. What they read gave them the oppotunity to come up
with their own insights and helped them to speak the language in a more imaginative way.
They became more creative since they faced with their own point of view, that/those of the
main character(s) of the story and those of their peers.
Focusing on point of view in literature enlarges students‟ vision and fosters critical
thinking by dramatizing the various ways. Therefore, when students read, they interact with
the text. By interacting with the text, they interpret what they read. By interpreting what they
read, they can work toward speaking English more creatively.
In reference to listening, teachers can read the story out loud or play the story out loud
so students have the oppotunity to listen to the story and correct their pronunciation first.
Students listen and find answers to questions given to them prior to the listening activity. For
students to understand the story when they listen to it for the first time, the questions can be

17. 11
based on literary structures such as “who is the main character of the story? Where/when does
the story take place?; what is the problem in the story?”
2.2.2.2. Motivating students
Since short stories usually have a beginning, development and ending, they encourage
students at all levels of language proficiency to continue reading them until the end to find out
how the conflict is resolved. Elliott (1990), for example, affirms that literature motivates
advanced students and is “motivationally efective if students can genuiely engage with its
thoughts and emotions and apprecite its aesthetic qualitites” (p.197). He stresses the
importance of developing student-response (individual and group levels) and competence in
literature. In addition, literature motivates students “to explore their feelings through
experiencing those of others” (p.1). Besides, according to the Internet article (author not
named) “Using Literature in Teaching English as a Foreign/Second Language” (2004),
“Literature is motivating....Literature holds high status in many cultures and countries. For this
reason, students can feel a real sense of achievement at understanding a piece of highly
respected literature. Also, literature is often more interesting than the texts found in
coursebooks”. As a result, teachers should agree that literary texts encourage students to read,
and most literary texts chosen according to students‟ language proficiency levels and
preferences will certainly be motivating.
2.2.2.3. Introducing literary elements
Teachers can introduce literary elements with short stories. With beginning and low
intermediate levels, teachers can teach simple elements such as characters, setting and plot.
The same and more complex elements, such as conflicts, climax, resolution, etc can be
introduced to more advanced levels. Gajdusek (1988) explains how literature can be
introduced by describing the order of activities: pre-reading activities, factual in-class work,
analysis and extending activities. In the pre-reading activities, students have the oppoturnity to
learn about the background of the story and vocabulary. In factual-in class activities, students
should be introduced to who, what, when, where of the story, or the point of view, chatracter,
setting and action. The question should be placed next to the paragraph in which the answer is
found so students can begin to understand each literary element means with the help of the

18. 12
teacher. The questions can be: Who is the main character of the story? Where does the story
take place? When does the story happen? Who is narating the story?
Extending activities, on the other hand, deals with “why”, that is, “involvement and
experience” (Gajdusek, p. 245). Students must be able to use their knowledge of the language
to express their ideas. Thus, only students who have reached a high intermediate/advanced
level of language profiency should be introduced to these activities. For him, these activities
ask for “creative and relevant response from the readers” (p. 251). Role-play is one of the
extending activities that can get students more involved in the story. Teachers can ask students
to play the role of several characters. For example, with the story “The wisdom of Solomon”,
teachers can ask students to do the following tasks:
 Imagine you are the guard who is told by the King to cut the child in half. If you don‟t
think you can do what the King asks you to do, tell him how you feel. Make sure you
are convincing.
 Suppose you are the guard who is told by the King to cut the child in half. After cutting
the child in half, tell the King how you feel about his decision. Make sure you are
convincing.
2.2.2.4. Teaching culture
Short stories are effective when teaching culture to EFL students. Short stories transmit
the culture of the people about whom the stories were written. By learning about the culture,
students learn about the past and present, and about people‟s customs and traditions. Culture
teaches students to understand and respect people‟s differences. When using literary texts,
teachers must be aware that the culture of the people for whom the text was written should be
studied. As students face a new culture, they become more aware of their own culture. They
may start comparing their culture to others‟ to see whether they find similarities and/or
differences. Misinterpretation may occur due to differences between the two cultures
(Gajdusek, 1988). To avoid misinterpretation, teachers should introduce the culture to the
students or ask them to find relevant information about it.

19. 13
For instance, before reading/listening to the story “The Wisdom of Solomon”, students should
read some information about King Solomon:If students have access to the Internet, teachers
can ask them to read information about the King from
http://www.geocities.com/thekingsofisrael/biography_Solomon.html before they read/listen to
the story:
Solomon became king of Israel after the death of his father, David. The Old Testament account of his
life tells of how he had a special dream early in his reign. In his dream God told him that he could ask
for anything he desired. Solomon answered that he wanted nothing more than to have an understanding
heart in order to rule wisely over his people. According to the account, God then praised Solomon for
asking for wisdom rather than riches and honor. The Old Testament writer says that Solomon
subsequently became the wisest leader in the world. Many came to seek his advice, even leaders of other
countries. The most famous story of the wisdom of Solomon, however, is the one in which he settles a
dispute between two women about questions of motherhood. (Janssen, 1981, p. 123)
2.2.2.5. Teaching higher-order thinking
Of all the benefits of short stories, developing higher-order thinking skills is
significant. High intermediate/advanced students can analyse what they read; therefore, they
start thinking critically when they read stories. Young (1996) discusses that “stories have two
crucial advantages over traditional content:...First, because they are entertaining,
students‟pervasive apprehension is reduced, and they learn from the beginning that critical
thinking is natural, familiar, and sometimes even fun. Second, the stories put issues of critical
thinking in an easiy remembered context” (p.90). Howie (1993) agrees on the use of short
stories to teach critical thining. He points out that teachers have the responsibility to help
students to develop cognitive skills because everyone needs to “make judgement, be decisive,
come to conclusions, synthesize information, organize, evaluate, predict, and apply
knowledge” (p. 24). By reading and writing, students develop their critical thinking skills.
According to Bloom‟s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain, thinking skills include
both lower-order and higher-order thinking. Depending on students‟ level of profiency,
teachers can activate students‟ lower- order or higher-order thinking. Beginners are able to
recall information and respond to questions about dates, events, and places. Thus, when asked
about names of characters, setting and plot of the story, they will have no difficulties
responding to the questions. This is level 1 of the taxonomy-knowledge. As students become
more proficient in the language, they can move to level 2-comprehension. In this level, they

20. 14
must demostrate their comprehension by comparing, interpreting, giving descriptions and
stating main ideas. When students become even more proficient, they move to level 3-
appplication in which they try to solve problem by using the knowledge they have about the
story. In level 4-analysis, students must have reached the high intermediate level to succeed.
The reason is that students must analyse, compare, contrast, explain, infer, ect, facts and ideas
about the story. Upon reaching the advanced level of proficiency, students can synthesize and
evaluate what they read, the last two levels of the taxonomy (synthesis and evaluation).
Teachers can then ask questions such as “How would you change the plot?”, “What would
happen if.........?”, “What changes would you make to solve...?”, “Do you agree with the
action....?, with the outcome....?” (Bloom‟s critical thinking questioning strategies). Such
questions added to each story should train the students to think critically.
With the short story “The Wisdom of Solomon”, teachers may raise some questions like
below:
1. What would have happened if the real mother of the baby who was about to be cut in
half had stayed quiet instead of pleading to King Solomon not to cut him and give him
to the other woman?

21. 15
2. What would have happened if King Solomon had heard the real mother of the baby
and cut the baby in half, giving half to the real mother and half to the other woman
who claimed to be the real mother?
3. Do you agree with the way King Solomon acted? Do you agree with the way the real
mother acted?
4. Do you agree with the resolution of the story?
The questions 1 and 2 require students to think of a different end to the same story and
probably see both the real mother of the baby and King Solomon in different ways from how
they were portrayed in the original story. Question 3 and 4 require students to make
judgement.
Different stories may elicit different questions. The questions will depend on the plot,
characters, conflict, limax, complicaions and resolution of each story. The more questions
requiring higher-order thinking students answer, the better prepared they will be to face in the
real world.

22. 16
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
In the previous chapter, a brief overview of the literature on the research topic was
given, which laid the theoretical basis for the whole study. In this chapter, the methods
employed to answer the research questions would be described in details. The participants, the
instruments and the procedure of data collection and analysis would be justified.
3.1. Sampling
The study was conducted in Vietnam Australia School, Hanoi (VAS) where the author
is doing the teaching job. The school has totally 350 students including 120 senior high school
students. According to their English level and their grade in other subjects in Vietnamese,
these students are catergorized and assigned into classes from A1 to A3 or V1 to V3.
This study was carried out with the participation of 10 teachers and 100 senior high
school students in VAS. The students were chosen randomly from the alphabetical list of
names.They accounted for five-sixths of the whole students in year 10 and year 11 of VAS
(the school has not had any students in year 12 yet). Moreover, the students participating in the
study came from different classes taught by different teachers with various teaching methods
and techniques. Therefore the data collected can be believed to be representative.
There are totally twenty teachers of English in VAS but only ten teachers (five
Vietnamese ans five Australian ones), who were in charge of English classes in senior high
school, were chosen to take part in the survey questionnaire. Due to the shortage of time, four
teachers were interviewed after the survey.
3.2. Data collection instruments
To achieve the research objectives, a combined data collection process using both
survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews was employed.
3.2.1 Questionnaires
In order to obtain sufficient data, the survey questionnaire was chosen as a main
instrument.

23. 17
First of all, the structuring of questions was intentional corresponding to the research
questions to obtain factual, behavioral and attitudinal information from the participants (the
situation of using short stories in teaching English in VAS, the perception of teachers and
students and its benefits in teaching and learning in English classes).
Secondly, using questionnaires is particularly “efficient in terms of researcher time,
effort, and financial resources” (Hoang and Nguyen, 2006, p.10). By administrating the
questionnaire, a huge amount of information can be collected from a large number of people
within a short period of time, and the personal investment required is a mere fraction of other
instruments such as observation. Furthermore, the questionnaire construction is made
convenient for the data to be processed. Specifically, the Likert scale is adopted to reveal the
participants‟ attitudes and behaviors. Likert scale is believed not only to save space and time
but also to enable the respondents to give more specific answers which increases the accuracy
of the interpretation of data.
However, there are some weaknesses of questionnaires such as the “simplicity and
superficiality generated in questionnaires” (Dornyei 2003, p.210) and the “fatigue effect” or
tiredness and boredom that influence responses towards the end of the questionnaire. In order
to minimize these drawbacks of questionnaire, the researcher has attempted to make the
questionnaire items clear and brief. Besides, interviews have been conducted to get more
detailed information.
The survey questionnaire for teachers consists of 8 questions organized into five parts
which correspond to the five research questions. Part 2 with 3 questions focusses on the
exploitation of short stories in teaching English including the purpose and the frequency of
the use of short stories and the techniques applied to exploit a short story. Part 3 studies the
satisfaction with the use of short stories in teaching English. Part 4 investigates the obstacles
in using short stories in teaching English. In part 5, respondents can make any
recommendations to ensure the better use of short stories in teaching English.The teachers
who have already applied short stories in teaching English have to answer all the questions in
the five parts whereas those who have not used short stories in teaching English skip part 2
and 3 and answer the questions in part 1, part 4 and part 5. Part 1 aims to elicit the teachers‟
perceptions of using short stories in teaching English in VAS.

24. 18
The student survey questionnaire is designed similarly but shorter (2 pages in length)
and simple. It is translated into Vietnamese so that the students can understand the questions
clearly to give correct answers. The questionnaire for students is organized into three parts
with five questions. It concerns the perceptions of the use of short stories in learning English,
the obstacles in using short stories in English class as supplementary materials and their
expectations.
3.2.2 Interviews
Together with the survey questionnaire, the interview was exploited as a valuable
research instrument to examine the research problem.
In light of research methodology, “interviews are particularly useful for getting the
story behind a participant‟s experiences. The interviewer can pursue in-depth information
around the topic. Interviews may be useful as follow-up to certain respondents to
questionnaires, e.g., to further investigate their responses” (Hoang and Nguyen, 2006, p.47). In
this study, the interviews were conducted after the collection of the survey questionnaires, and
its content mostly focuses on interesting or controversial aspects noted from the
questionnaires.
Semi-structured interviews were adopted with the participation of four teachers. The
researcher entered the interview with a general idea of the areas to focus on rather than a fixed
list of questions. As this research tool allows the interviewer a certain degree of both control
and flexibility while it still leaves the interviewee some power over the course of the interview
(Hoang and Nguyen, 2006, p.45), it could elicit rich information from the respondents and
help address the research questions effectively. Its purpose is to triangulate the data collected
from the survey and obtain in-depth information, so clarifications and further explanations are
frequently provided to the respondents.
3.3. Procedure of data collection
The procedure of data collection consists of three main phases as follows:

25. 19
Phase 1: Preparation
During this period, the survey questionnaire and interview schedule were designed
based on the conceptual framework established in the Literature Review. Each research
question was further divided into sub-questions. In any of these instruments, personal
information of participants was kept confidential and anonymous for ethical reasons. These
forms were then sent to the supervisor of the researcher for feedback. Besides, the survey
forms and interview schedules were piloted on five voluntary students. Thanks to this step, the
layout of the whole questionnaire and the wording of several questions had been considerably
improved to avoid possible ambiguity and misunderstandings of respondents. Also, the pilot
survey highlighted the need to establish strict supervision and consistent understanding of
terms to participants to ensure the reliability of data collected.
Phase 2: Administering the questionnaires
The second phase was to conduct the survey questionnaire. Due to difficulties in
making direct contact and time constraints, questionnaires for teachers were mostly delivered
via email so that the participants could complete it at their convenience.
As for the students, it took the researcher an enormous amount of time to arrange
appropriate time and place to carry out the survey. The introduction about the study,
instructions and definitions of key terms were given clearly and the researcher was ready to
answer any questions that arose in order to guarantee the quality of the information. All the
questionnaires delivered were returned.
Phase 3: Conducting interview
In the third stage, some teachers were invited to join an interview. This was to
triangulate the data collected through questionnaires and, at the same time, gather further
information about their thoughts and expectations. The interview was conducted in the
teacher‟s room during after class. Permission was asked for in advance to record the interview.
Besides, the researcher was ready to take note of any special non-verbal behaviors of the
interviewees.
Phase 4: Transcribing the interviews
In this final stage of the data collection procedure, all the interviews were transcribed.
Since data from the interviews came in large amount, the transcripts were then summarized

26. 20
according to the research questions. The detailed notes regarding interviewee‟s background,
and the setting of the interview were added. To avoid potential rigid summary without context
and enable reference when necessary, the page number of the quotations in the transcripts was
added.
3.4. Procedure of data analysis
After the data collection process, the information obtained from both the survey
questionnaires and interviews was classified according to the research questions. Since
previously the researcher had intentionally arranged the questions in the questionnaires and
interviews corresponding to the research questions, the task became less complicated.
Consequently, for each research question, participants‟ responses were calculated and
transferred into numerical form, for example the percentage of participants who shared similar
ideas or their average rating. The data were then tabulated and charted for clearer presentation
and easier comparison and synthesis. Qualitative data like participants‟ answers to the open-
ended questions in the questionnaire or during the interviews were summarized and presented
in the form of quotations when necessary to provide more insights into the issue

27. 21
CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The previous chapter has presented the methodology exploited in this study. The
selection of the participants, the research instruments as well as the process of data collection
and data analysis have been described in detail and justified. In this chapter, the data obtained
from the questionnaires and interviews will be collectively analyzed and discussed to address
the research questions.
4.1. Reseach question 1: How do teachers percieve the use of short stories in teaching
English in terms of necessity?
From the beginning, the respondents had to answer the questions “Have you ever used
short stories besides those in the textbook in your English teaching process?”. Nine out of ten
respondents said they had used short stories in their teaching process. Only one teacher had
never applied short stories in teaching.
Figure 4. 1: The presense of short stories in the teaching practice of the teachers
90%
10%
Yes
No
From the data collected, one fact was drawn out that the teachers not only fulfilled the
syllabus but also had great enthusiasm in teaching. They took great effort to find
supplementary teaching sources besides the textbook. Among many sources, short stories were
taken into consideration.
The teacher‟s perceptions of using short stories in teaching English in terms of
necessity was studied. Almost everyone can realize the necessity of using short stories in

28. 22
teaching English, but how necessary it is depends on individual evaluation. None of the
teachers (0%) in VAS disapproved of its necessity and also none of them agreed with the fact
that using short stories in teaching English was compulsory. Only one teacher said that it was
not very necessary to use short stories in teaching English. Four teachers accepted it was
necessary and the rest (five teachers) agreed that it was very necessary. It can be concluded
from the data that all teachers realized the necessity of using short stories, which led them to
use short stories in their teaching.
4.2. Research question 2: How do students percieve short stories as a source of language
input in terms of interest and importance?
As can be seen from the chart below, most of the students (75%) were intersted in the
teacher‟s use of short stories. 20% of them were only interested sometimes. However, there
was a small number of students who didn‟t care much about it.
Figure 4. 2: Students’ perception of short stories in terms of interest
5%
20%
75%
0%
Not interested at
all
Not very
interested
Interested
sometimes
Very interested
Referring to the personal information in the questionnaire, those who didn‟t care much about
the teachers‟ use of short stories mostly came from A3 classes which were regarded as lower
level. They might be a bit lazy or have some difficulty in learning English with short stories,
which will be looked into later on. Anyway, three quarters of the students felt very interested
in short stories, which means that they themslves had motivation and wiould try their best to
overcome any challenges to reach their goals of learning. Being interesed in learning English
with short stories, the students themselves realized its benefit very clearly. It can be revealed
in the table below.

29. 23
Table 4. 1: Students’ practice with short stories
Items Mean Median Mode
a. I can practice listening and speaking skills more. 3.4 4 4
b. I can practice reading and writing skills more. 3.3 3,5 4
c. I can learn more new words and expressions in context. 3.4 4 4
d. I can enrich my background knowledge about people,
cultures, countries and the world.
3.24 3 4
e. I have more chances to discuss with my friends and
express my ideas.
3.88 4 4
f. I feel relaxed and interested in short stories. 3.8 4,5 5
g. I find myself more imaginative and creative. 3.2 4,3 3
h. My critical thinking gets better. 2.8 2,3 3
The mean scores were all over 3, and nearly 4 (3.88 and 3.8) for items “e” and “f”.
Also most of mode scores were 4, especially maximum 5 for item “f”. Most of them felt
relaxed and intersted to express their ideas and discuss with their friends. However, among
these investigated items, items “g” and “h” got lower scores (mean around 3 and mode=3).
They did not think much about the improvement and development in imagination, creativeness
and critical thinking. Perhaps, it was fairly hard for students themseleves and even for teachers
to realize the improvement and development in imagination, creativeness and critical thinking.
More importantly, the teachers themselves might not consider these their main aims when
using short stories.
4. 3. Research question 3: How do teachers exploit short stories in teaching English in
terms of purpose, strategy and frequency?
For this research question, nine teachers who have used short stories in their teaching were
under investigation. The teachers‟ exploitation of short stories in teaching English were
examined in terms of frequency, purpose and strategy.
4.3.1. The frequency of using short stories in teaching English
Although all of them said they had used short stories besides the textbook in their
teaching process, only three teachers (33%) used short stories in their teaching practice almost

30. 24
every week. Six out of nine teachers (67%) used short stories just from time to time, about
several times in a semester.
Figure 2.3:The frequency of using short stories in teaching English
67%
33%
Sometimes
Usually
4.3.2. The purposes of using short stories in teaching English
As reviewed in chapter two, short stories have many benefits such as reinforcing
language skills, motivating students, introducing literary elements, teaching culture, and higer
–order thinking. The purposes of using short stories in teaching English of the teachers in VAS
have been investigated. The question “how often is your use of short stories motivated by the
following purposes?” has been raised and the details for the items are as follows.
Table 4.2: Teachers’ purposes of using short stories in teaching English
Items Mean Median Mode
a. To develop the four basic language skills, especially
reading and writing
4.44 4 4
b. To develop the four basic language skills, especially
speaking and listening.
3.55 4 4
c. To develop students‟ language components such as
vocabulary and grammar.
3.66 4 4
d. To raise students‟ cultural awareness. 2 2 2
e. To improve students‟ creative expressions in the target
language.
4.55 4 4
f. To improve students‟ interest in learning and involve
them in class activities.
5 5 5
g. To develop their critical thinking 2.22 2 2
As can be seen, the items for this question received a wide range of mean, mode and
median, from 2 to 5. Item “d” and “g” got the lowest scores (mean=2 and 2.22 and mode =
median=2), whereas the highest ones belongs to item “f” (5). Except for items “d” and “g”,
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31. 25
the rest items got very high scores with mean higher than 3.5, mode and median equal to 4. It
means that for all teachers, the purpose of using short stories in teaching English was to
improve students‟ interest in learning and involve them in class activities. Frequently, their
aims of using short stories were to improve students‟ creative expressions in the target
language, to develop the four language skills, especially reading and writing skills with the
mean of 4, and to develop students‟ language components such as vocabulary and grammar.
However, the use of short stories in English classes in VAS occasionally aimed at raising
students‟ cultural awareness and developing their critical thinking. This result was quite
consistent with the students‟perception of their teachers‟ use of short stories in teaching
mentioned in the previous analysis of research question 2.
In short, though the teachers had various aims when using short stories in their
teaching practice, all of them had the same long-term goal, that is to form an instrinsic
motivation in their students so that they will learn for their excellence, autonomy, and self-
actualization, which enhances their master of the language.
4.3.3. The strategies to exploit short stories in teaching English
The exploitation of short stories in teaching English was examined basing on the techniques
applied in pre-teaching, while-teaching and post-teaching.
Table 4. 3: Teaching strategies
Items Mean Median Mode
a. Read aloud the stories. 2.55 3 3
b. Underline or highlight all the unknown words and
phrases in the story.
4 4 4
c. Guess the meaning of the unknown words and
phrases and explain their use in context.
3.66 4 4
d. Call out the names of the characters in the story. 2.33 2 2, 3
e. Do drilling tasks to get more details of the stories. 4.55 4 5
f. Ask and answer questions about the story. 4.44 5 5
g. Summarize or retell the story. 2.77 3 3
h. Translate the story into the target language. 1.44 1 1
i. Discuss and express opinions and attitudes toward the
story and its characters, etc.
3.33 3 3, 4
j. Role-play the story. 2 2 2
k. Continue the story by imagining what would happen
next.
2 2 2
l. Retell the story with a new ending. 2 2 2

32. 26
In pre-teaching, students need to get familiar with the story by understanding the
setting of the story or some new words and phrases in the story. A variety of techniques are
applied in different situations. Here, only four techniques were looked into. Item “b” and “c”
received high mean scores of 4 and 3.66 and the median and mode scores of 4. It means that
the teachers frequently asked their students to “underline or highlight all the unknown words
and phrases in the story and guess the meaning of the unknown words and phrases and explain
their use in context”. In other words, in pre-teaching the unknown words were mainly focused
on because they are considered to be the most challenging barrier for the majority of students
when learning English. At times, stories were read aloud in class (with mean=2.55 and
median=mode=3). The names of the characters in the story were generally assumed to be easy
to remember, therefore, only occasionly students were asked to call out the names of the
characters in the story except for a little more difficult ones with a number of characters.
In while-teaching, almost all the respondents exploited a short story in the same way.
Normally, after explaining the unknown words, phrases and expressions, a range of tasks were
used to make students understand more about the story. With very high mean scores (=4.55,
and 4.44), median (=4 and 5) and maximum mode (=5), items “e” and “f” show the tendency
of exploiting a short story in while-teaching by the teachers in VAS. They usually used a set of
excercises or comprehension questions to check their students‟understanding of the story.
Post teaching is regarded as a very important phase in teaching. After students have
already undertood the story, in post-teaching, students are given chances to discuss with their
friends, retell the story in their own words, express their ideas more freely about what they
know and what they think about the story and the characters in the story. In brief,
students‟competence in the target language, students‟ creativeness, and higher-order thinking
ability are believed to be enhanced in post-teaching phase. As can be seen in the table, item
“h” (translate the story into the mother tongue) got the lowest mean of 1.44, median and mode
of 1. Very few teachers asked their students to translate the story into their mother tongue. It is
quite easy to understand this result in the context of VAS. First of all, grammar translation
approach seems unsuitable in the morden context of language teaching. Moreover, four in ten
teachers investigated are Australians, hence, it is meaningless and useless to ask their students

33. 27
to translate into the mother tongue. Among the other items, item “i”(discuss and express
opinions and attitudes toward the story and its characters, etc) and item “g” (summarize or
retell the story) had relatively higher scores (with the mean scores around 3, median=3,
mode=3, 4), which revealed that half of the times the teachers asked their students to discuss
and express opinions and attitudes toward the story and its characters, etc or summarise or
retell the story. These ways were seen as effective ones to get feedbacks from the students.
4.4. Research question 4: To what extent do teachers feel satisfied with their use of short
stories in teaching English?
About 67% (six out of nine) of the respondents said that they were satisfied with their
use of short stories in teaching because they had achieved their teaching purposes and most of
their students liked their use of short stories in class. However, it is rather surprising that no
teachers felt completely satisfied. The rest about 33 % were not very satisfied because their
students sometimes got bored or too lazy to take part in any extra activities.
The table below shows how the teachers rate the achievements of their purposes when
using short stories.
Table 4. 4: Teachers’ satisfaction with the use of short stories in teaching English.
Items Mean Median Mode
a. My students‟ language skills, especially reading and
writing skills are improved.
3.33 4 4
b. The students‟ language skills, especially speaking and
listening are improved.
3.44 4 4
c. My students‟ language competence is enhanced. 3.66 4 4
d. My students‟ background knowledge about cultures,
countries, ect is enriched.
3.11 3 3
e. My students‟ creativeness in expression is bettered. 3.55 4 4
f. My students are really motivated by short stories. 4 4 4
g. The critical thinking ability of my students is
developed.
3.11 3 3
As can be seen form the table, the results collected are comparatively high. Especially,
item “f” (my students are really motivated by short stories) got mean, median, and mode of 4.
It means that all the teachers agreed that short stories could motivate students in learning.
Besides, most of them agreed on the benefits of short stories in improving students‟ language
components, language skills and creativity. Nevertherless, there was suspicion of the fact that
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34. 28
short stories could develop the critical thinking ability and enrich students background
knowledge of cultures and countries because many responded “undecided”. In fact, students‟
interest in learning can be realized very clearly through their attitude and participation in the
class activities. Students‟ progress and improvement in their language competence can be
accessed very regularly. However, their critical thinking ability and background knowledge
may be more difficult to realized or accessed in a short period of time and teachers need to be
more sensitive to decide whether they have achieved these purposes or not. In conclusion, the
achievements of the seven purposes were rated very high. In other words, most goals have
been gained in either a short term or a long-term.
4.5. Research question 5: What are the obstacles that have limited teachers’ use of short
stories in teaching English?
Though, as said above, the majority of the teachers were satisfied and rated their
achivements of the purposed relatively high, there are still some obstacles that have limited
their use of short stories in teaching English such as oversized classes with mixed levels, the
lack of time, materials and official management, guides or strategies, the inconsistency in
cirriculum and evaluation among the teaching staff and so on. Below are the findings from the
data collected.
Table 4. 5: The obstacles in using short stories in teaching English.
Items Mean Median Mode
a. The time is limited. 2.77 2 2
b. The class is too big with mixed levels. 2 2 2
c. Looking for suitable short stories for students takes
too much time and effort.
4 4 4
d. There are no official management, guides or
strategies from the department for the use of short
stories in teaching English.
3.77 4 4
e. Designing tasks for students are challenging and
time-consuming.
4.55 5 5
f. It is not easy to evaluate students‟ performance on the
given tasks.
3 3 2,3,4
Unlike the circumstances in many high school in Vietnam, where the biggest difficulty
is normally oversized classes with multi levels of students, in VAS it doesn‟t cause much
trouble to the teachers. With 20 students in one class classified according to their language
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