The effectiveness of using short stories in teaching vocabulary

Abstract

The present study entitled The Effectiveness of using Short Stories in Teaching Vocabulary presents the effectiveness of using short stories as the resources in teaching vocabulary in short stories at lower secondary level. The study aimed to find out the effectiveness of using short stories in teaching vocabulary. To carry out this study, 30 students of Shree Karnali Education Foundation of Jhapa district were selected as the sample. The sample was selected by using purposive non-random sampling procedure. Test items related to the vocabulary exercises based on short stories included in the textbook ‘My English’ of grade seven were used as the tools for data collection. A pre- test was taken before starting teaching to determine the proficiency of the students. Then, they were divided into control and experimental group on the basis of the odd-even number according to the individual scores obtained in the pre-test. After dividing them into two groups, both groups were taught the same subject matter using the materials. The only difference between groups ‘A’ and ‘B’ was that short stories were used for teaching vocabulary in group ‘A’ and the usual technique was used for group ‘B’. After the completion of the teaching for one month, a post-test (the same used in pre-test) was given. Then, the results of both pre-test and post-test were compared to determine the effectiveness of using short stories. The main finding of this study is that teaching vocabulary through short stories at grade seven is more effective than teaching without short stories. In holistic comparison, the score of experimental group in post test is excelled by 14.2% average percentage in holistic comparison. This thesis has been subsumed under five chapters. The first chapter includes the introduction with background of the study, problem statement, objectives, research question, significance, delimitations and operational definitions of the key terms. The second chapter includes the review of both theoretical and empirical literature, implications of the review for the study and conceptual framework. The third chapter is the discussion of methods and procedures of the study. The fourth chapter is about analysis and interpretation of the data and the summary of the findings. Finally, chapter five presents the conclusions and recommendations. The recommendations are further presented in policy, practice and further research related aspects. The chapter is followed by references and appendices used in the study.