Yangon University of Education Research Journal 2015, Vol. 5, No.

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Developing Students’ Speaking Skill through Short Stories

Khin Khin Aye1 and Khin Lay Phyu2

Abstract
This research tries to highlight the effects of the use of English short stories as an authentic
material for developing speaking skill, based on the rationale that short stories can provide
students with motivation necessary in speaking as well as in reading. The research intends
to provide some practical use of short stories to create lively and communicative lessons
with the occasional provision of forms and functions. It aims to integrate communicative
speaking activities with four short stories selected from second year English specialization
text book of the Yangon University of Distance Education. Exercises and activities are
devised according to the Communicative Language Teaching and Task-based Approach.
The research was carried out at a private class with twelve learners who had sat for the
first year English specialization study. Drawing upon the findings and results of the
students’ performance, the study showed that short stories help to improve students’
spoken fluency and the cultivation of interest in literature.

Introduction
Speaking is a very crucial part of English language teaching and learning. Because
of the globalization, the ability to communicate effectively in English becomes an
important necessity in all aspects of life. People often assume that the ability to speak is
the product of language learning. This study aims to make students aware of how short
stories can enhance speaking skill. The objectives of the research are to motivate the
students’ interest in learning the language; to promote their grammatical and
communicative competence and to develop their fluency in spoken English.

Literature Review
Short Stories for Developing Speaking Skill
Speaking is one of the most basic functions of communication. Despite its
importance, teaching speaking has been undervalued till the 1970s and speaking has been
continued to teach ranging from “a repetition of drills” or “memorization of dialogues” to
“teacher-led question and answer sessions” or formal activities such as “reading aloud”
and “prepared short speeches”. Nowadays, students play more interactive role unlike the
usual uncommunicative role from traditional approach. Teachers play a role as a facilitator
in learner-centered activities such as “problem- solving, discussion, role-plays and
debates”, etc. to provide opportunities for all students to participate actively.
The lack of motivation is one of the main difficulties in speaking classes.
Moreover, students are also too shy to speak with the classmates. Their interest, teaching
material and techniques also determine the success or failure of skill development.
Therefore, there is a need for authentic materials to use as comprehensible input.
Short stories can be easily understood and enjoyed by people of all ages due to its
universal themes such as love and hatred, war and peace, etc. Furthermore, the richness of
its genres, the shortness of its length to cope within one sitting and long-lasting impression
it has on people indicate the practicality to apply it in language classes as a teaching
learning tool. Interesting and communicative exercises and activities are devised upon the
use of short stories.

1. Lecturer, Dr., Department of Educational Theory, Yangon University of Education

2. Ma, MEd Student, Department of Educational Theory, Yangon University of Education
2 Yangon University of Education Research Journal 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1

The theoretical sources used for this research on effectiveness of using short stories
in English Language Teaching includes a large number of books and research
papers.Among them, '' Short Stories for Creative Language Classrooms" by Collie and
Slater (1993) includes vibrant and creative classroom activities on eleven authentic short
stories, “A Window on Literature” by Lazar(1999) provides different genres of literature
with variety of exercises for understanding of the text and skill development.
Moreover, some ideas for activities used in this research are drawn upon
“Literature and Language Teaching” by Brumfit and Carter (1986); “Literature” by Duff
and Maley (1990), “Literature and Language Teaching” by Lazar (1993) and the research
paper on “Benefits of Using Short Stories in The EFL Context” by O.R. Erkaya.
For the portion of the speaking theories, this research is inspired by resource books
such as “Teaching the Spoken Language” by Brown and Yule (1983), “A Course in
Language Teaching” by Penny Ur (1991), and “How to Teach Speaking” by Scott
Thornbury (2005).

Research Methodology
The research was carried out according to some of the core assumptions of the
Communicative Language Teaching Methodology; language learning is better facilitated
when learners are engaged in communicative interaction, which is meaningful and
relevant.
This study employs quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were
collected through pre-test and post-test. Pre-test and Post-test scores are rated according to
the analytical scoring procedure. Qualitative data are collected through the observation
from the pilot teaching.
Research Question
Knowing the importance of students’ attitude towards fluency and accuracy in
speaking, the present study addressed the following question:
How can students’ speaking skills be developed through the use of selected short
stories?
Subjects and Materials
The subjects are twelve first year English specialization students from the Yangon
University of Distance Education. They are at the ages of between seventeen and eighteen.
They have certain literary background knowledge on short stories such as ability to
differentiate plot, setting, characters, theme, etc. Their background exposure to the target
language is mainly in the forms of reading and writing.
The previous teaching and learning situation on short stories are carried out only in
mother tongue. Exercises that they are familiar with are mainly “close-ended answers and
questions on reading comprehension”. The students do not have the exposure to the
communicative activities such as “story completion, jigsaw reading, discussion”, etc.
There are eleven short stories prescribed in the Second Year English Specialization
Text. However, all the stories are not appropriate for designing speaking activities due to
their length, grammatical and lexical complexity.Therefore, two short stories: “An
Incident” and “The Donkey Cart”were chosen to devise speaking activities. The reasons
Yangon University of Education Research Journal 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 3

for choosing them are having interesting topics that can be discussed, no prior teaching of
new vocabulary and the universal themes.
Tests
In order to determine the students’ progress from the research, Pre-test is used to
measure students existing proficiency in speaking skill and their literary background, and
post-test is to determine students’ progress after the teaching.
The duration of the both tests last about fifteen minutes for each student. Pre-test is
aimed for assessing the students’ proficiency of speaking and literary background
knowledge. The test is given before the pilot teaching. First part is concerned with
interviewing with the examiner on some questions of general topics such as family,
friends, food, hobbies etc. The first part lasted not more than five minutes. In the second
part, the students’ literary background knowledge was assessed by asking questions on
their favourite stories and authors, the elements of short story and different genres of short
stories. In the final part, students are provided with three extracts from three different
genres of story; that is, comedy, horror and romance. After that, they are asked to guess
what the stories are about, and to express their feelings. The second part of the test lasted
about ten minutes.
Post-test, on the other hand, was used to assess students’ achievement and progress
on speaking skill they had made after the pilot teaching. In the first part of the test,
students were required to speak within five minutes on slightly more difficult topics than
from the pre-test. The second part was concerned with discussion on four questions which
required longer turn on the part of the test taker. They were given one minute as
preparation time for each question. This portion lasted about 10 minutes.
The criteria used to assess student speaking performance in this research are
grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency. For each criterion, students receive
scores ranging from 4 to 0. Moreover, a rubric, was developed according to analytic
scoring procedures.
Table 1. Rubrics for Assessing Speaking Skill
Scoring Vocabulary Grammar Pronunciation Fluency
Very good range High No Speech effortless
of vocabulary. grammatical conspicuous and smooth with
Strong command accuracy. Very mispronun- speed that is
of idiomatic good use of ciation. similar to a
4 expressions, structures with Approaches native speaker.
collocation and hardly any native-like Contributes fully
native-like errors of tense, pronunciation and actively
expression. word order, with little throughout the
articles, etc. native accent. interaction.
Good range of Good Some Speech mostly
vocabulary. grammatical occasional smooth but with
Limited use of accuracy. Good mispronun- some hesitation
idiomatic use of ciation. Not and unevenness
expressions and structures, few interfere with caused mainly
collocation. errors of tense, understanding. by rephrasing.
3 Some non-native word order, Native accent Able to take an
4 Yangon University of Education Research Journal 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1

Scoring Vocabulary Grammar Pronunciation Fluency

but compre- articles, etc. Not may be active part in the
hensible impede compre- evident. interaction for
expression. hension. most of the
times.
Adequate range Some Evident Speech slow and
of vocabulary. inaccuracies. mispronun- often hesitant.
Some distinctly Errors of tense, ciation that Sentences may
non-native word order, leads to be left
expressions or articles, etc. occasional uncompleted.
error in word May sometimes misunderstand- Sometimes
2 choice. impede ing. Non- unable to take an
Sometimes comprehension. native accent active part in
impede which requires interaction.
comprehension. careful
listening on the
part of listener.
Limited range of Numerous With frequent Speech very
vocabulary. inaccuracies pronunciation slow and
Frequent errors even within the errors with a extremely
in word choice. very limited heavy dose of halting and
Often impede range of non-native stumbling except
compre-hension. grammar. accent that for short
1 Frequent errors make memorized
of tense, word understanding expressions.
order, articles, difficult. Mostly unable to
etc. Often take an active
impede compre- part in
hension. interaction.
0 Sample of language inadequate to gain even the lowest mark.

Research Procedure
Lesson Planning
To provide students with opportunity to practice speaking in every lesson,
organization forms such as pair work and group work are used. The following is the
sample teaching procedures used in this research.
The first two periods are concerned with teaching the students with useful
classroom expressions, reviewing the story elements, carrying out the activities to
familiarize the students, free discussions on books, authors and short stories, eliciting their
literary background knowledge. Both short stories were taught within ten hours-duration
taking five hours for each story.
Pre-teaching or Warm-up Activities
At the beginning of the class period, the teacher lets the students spend at least five
minutes speaking the target language on any topic with their partner (Chit Chat). If the
Yangon University of Education Research Journal 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 5

students are not speaking, the teacher selects light topics such as movies, music, shopping
or daily routines.
Brainstorming is a type of warm-up activity used to generate ideas in a small
group. This activity recalls the existing knowledge of the students concerning the theme,
characterization or the plot through questions, important words or phrases, and titles or
even some paragraphs or sentences from the story. The students enjoyed brainstorming
because they were not criticized for their ideas.
While-teaching Activities
After the input, a discussion was held simply to share ideas about a topic. Before
the activity, the teacher clearly explained the goal and defined period of time: not more
than 8- 10 minutes so that students did not spend their time chatting with each other about
unnecessary things. Input (both vocabulary and language forms) were provided.
In Jigsaw reading, each member had one or a few pieces of the “puzzle” or story
and all the members cooperated to fit all the pieces of the story into a whole.
Students also did a presentation on a concise version of the story they had studied
beforehand. This enhanced students’ creative thinking. Teacher provided students with the
part of the story. Then, each student narrated from the point where the previous one
stopped.
Story completion was set as a small group activity in which students were provided
with some information of the story in order to guess the ending of the story.
Retelling story was in a form of telling a story in one’s own words rather than
reading it aloud a text or from memory. Students worked in pairs to interpret the text.
Then, they retold the story to other groups. It was enjoyable when another member in the
group mimed while his partner was retelling the story.
In reading aloud the text, students were told to read either as an individual or as a
chain reader. It was used at the beginning of the course where some of the students were
not able to speak the target language. It helped to practice pronunciation not only on
individual sounds but also on linking words or contractions; intonation and rhythm. As the
activity was easy, it was helpful for the shy students to overcome their fears.
A presentation in this research was informal presentation where one student acted
as a spokesperson of a group. Each student spoke only for 3-5 minutes. In order to prevent
the same student from doing the presentation, when a student had done once, he or she did
not have to do the presentation again unless the whole class had done it.
Actual Teaching
An Incident
The story is linguistically easy and has short length; not challenging enough for the
readers to read the whole story so the input of the story is devised as jigsaw reading. The
language used in the story is simple enough for the students to cope without pre-teaching
vocabulary. Another reason is that the theme of this story which is concerned with
“shameful” deed and “reform” the author had done is universal and can be appreciated by
the students of seventeen to eighteen years old.
Apart from the jigsaw activity, other activities devised from this short story are
reading comprehension, vocabulary exercises and providing functional language
6 Yangon University of Education Research Journal 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1

discussion activity to relate the background knowledge of the students with the story,
reading the text aloud to practice linking words as a chain activity. Also guessing the
meaning of the words from the context, and extensive reading on the story review were
done; followed by discussion questions.
The Donkey Cart
The story “The Donkey Cart” was chosen due to its interesting factors such as
characters, plot and theme. The story can be understood without historical or cultural
background. However, in order to make the students more interested in the story and the
activities; to create authentic situation, brainstorming questions are prepared for pre-
reading activity.
The story is presented in dialogue form. Since asking the students line by line until
the story finished was boring for the students, distinct story lines were extracted for story
input. Activities involved the plot and theme of the story are guessing game, story
completion, discussion on favourite quotes from the story as a whole class work.
As language input, forms on the functions of “Agreeing” and “Disagreeing” were
provided. Other activities devised upon this story were short discussion on Lin Ng and
presentation of the story synopsis.
The main speaking activities in the story are story completion, retelling and
miming and discussion.
Data Collection
Quantitative data collected through pre-test and post-test were rated as scores
according to the analytical scoring procedure which is shown in table (2). Qualitative data
collected through the observation from the pilot teaching. The data collected from pre-test
is shown in table (3) and the data collected from post-test is shown in table (4).
Table 2. Achievement Percentage Data for Pre-test Results
Achieve-
Vocabulary Grammar Pronunciation Fluency Total
No. Students ment
(4) (4) (4) (4) (16) percen-
tage
1 A 2 2 3 2 9 56 %
2 B 3 2 1 2 8 50%
3 C 2 2 4 2 10 63%
4 D 2 3 3 2 10 63%
5 E 1 1 1 1 4 25%
6 F 2 1 2 2 7 44%
7 G 3 3 2 3 11 69%
8 H 2 2 3 2 9 56%
9 I 2 1 2 1 6 38%
10 J 1 2 3 2 8 50%
11 K 1 1 2 1 5 31%
12 L 2 3 2 3 10 63%
Yangon University of Education Research Journal 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 7

Table 4. Achievement Percentage Data for Post-test Results

Pronun- Achieve-
Vocabulary Grammar Fluency Total
No. Students ciation ment
(4) (4) (4) (16) percentage
(4)
1 A 3 3 4 3 13 81%
2 B 3 3 3 4 13 81%
3 C 3 3 4 4 14 88%
4 D 3 4 3 4 14 88%
5 E 2 2 2 3 9 56%
6 F 3 2 3 3 11 69%
7 G 4 4 3 4 15 94%
8 H 2 3 3 3 11 69%
9 I 2 2 3 2 9 56%
10 J 2 3 3 3 11 69%
11 K 2 2 3 2 9 56%
12 L 3 3 3 3 12 75%

Data Analysis
Data gathered from the two tests are analyzed by comparing the achievement
percentage of the students’ scores. The comparison of the results from the two tests is
shown in figure (1).

Figure 1. A Comparison of the Achievement Percentage on Pre-test and

Post-test results
8 Yangon University of Education Research Journal 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1

By comparing the two achievement percentages, it can be summarized that the

recent research can show the subjects’ evident progress in speaking through the use of
short stories.
Results of the Study
At the beginning of the course, the students had little confidence to share their
ideas and participate in the activities. As the course went on, more and more students
participated in the activities and they became curious of what other students’ points of
views were. Finally, all the students were friendly to each other and every student wanted
to talk and involve in the activity.
The course, however, had problems encountered in the classroom throughout the
pilot teaching. However, the most common problems in the classroom were as follows.
Some students were usually less enthusiastic than others to take part in group and
pair works partly because they were new to student-centred activities. These unmotivated
students were less likely to involve actively when they were asked to work together in the
target language. Another problem was that some students preferred to work with friends or
with people whom they usually got along with. They did not like being paired up with
people they were not friendly with or those who did not equal language skills.
Some students wanted to speak in their native language and sometimes resisted to
speak in English. In the activity like jig-saw reading, which was a very new experience for
the students, nobody started talking; being puzzled or embarrassed. No matter how hard
the students were persuaded, English was only spoken when the teacher was nearby and
their native language was used when unsupervised.
In the language classroom, the personality, knowledge, interest, strengths and
weaknesses and learning styles of the students vary considerably. All these factors can
affect participation which took place among the whole class or in small groups, the teacher
always encouraged all the students to participate actively.
In peer domination, while some students were too shy to speak, other talkative and
outgoing students tended to dominate the whole conversation. When one student
dominated a group, he/she did most of the talking and interrupting when others tried to
speak. Bystanders became bored and even demotivated because they did not get any
chance to open their mouths.
Another situation was where one student in a group might not participate in group
discussion at all. He/she was happy to be a “passenger” and generously let the others do
all the talking. His/her mere expressions were just simple utterances such as “Yes, I
agree”; “No”, “I don’t know what to say” or “I think your idea is the best”, etc. The
reason was simply because they were too shy or they had no motivation to use the target
language or they did not know how to speak in English.
Therefore, the activities were designed in a way so that outspoken students did not
dominate the discussions.
Lack of confidence was another common problem encountered in the speaking
classroom which can be built up only by speaking and more speaking. The most common
reasons are fear of losing face, shyness and fear of making mistakes.
At the beginning of the course, most students became very nervous or embarrassed
when they were asked to share their opinions in discussions and brainstorming activities
Yangon University of Education Research Journal 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 9

because the students had presumptions that they might be criticized if they wrongly
suggested an idea or an opinion. Some students found themselves at a loss for words when
they had to do the presentation in front of the whole class.
The problems of lack of confidence, uneven participation, and students’
unwillingness which hindered the development in speaking skill were solved by pairing
and grouping the students.
Firstly, by designing speaking activities to be completed within small groups and
pairs, students’ fear of criticism or losing face or their shyness about speaking in the target
language in front of the whole class were lessened tremendously.
New experiences with different partners also helped students to develop more
confidence. Therefore, the teacher made sure that the same students were not paired up or
grouped together in order to make the whole class familiar with each other. Familiarity
between classmates lowered the students’ stress and reduced anxiety to speak in the
classroom. Encouraging them to practice with the classmates or friends outside the class in
their free time also increased their confidence.
To tackle with the problem with uneven participation, the teacher first identified
which students were dominant or which uninvolved. The three or four dominant students
were put together in one group. Another way, they were appointed as team-leaders who
had responsibility to make sure everyone in their groups get equal opportunity to speak,
and to report back to the whole class afterwards. “Team leader” was alternately given to
other students in order not to make the weak students feel left out.
For weak or shy students, the teacher helped them built confidence by pairing or
grouping with different partners. Pairing usually made the students feel more protective
and private than grouping. Most students shared more personal feelings, ideas and
experiences in pairs than they were in a small group because they often felt less inhibited
in a pair. Therefore, pair work helped such students.
When a student resisted cooperating with students who were not his/her friends,
that student was advised to be tolerant and inclusive of everyone in the class. The students
who were very friendly to each other were less likely to have different opinions that
needed to be settled as well as experiences to be shared in the speaking activity. In real
life, these students would be speaking not to their friends in English but to strangers from
other countries. To avoid this problem, the class was reseated on regular basis so that
students did not usually have the same partners.
To maximize the students’ participation and confidence, supportive atmosphere
was created through language support, emotional support or encouragement or praise and
providing friendly atmosphere in the classroom. Almost every student who was new to
interactive nature of Communicative Approach had difficulty to express his/her ideas to
the classmates. The teacher was to welcome all ideas from the students as long as they are
not off-topic. Furthermore, the teacher explained on every activity that there were no
absolute right or wrong answers or solution in speaking activities.
When necessary, the students who had nothing to say were helped by asking some
questions and helping them with vocabulary and grammar. Some very stubborn students
resisted speaking the target language even when the one minute rule was applied, telling
them to sing a song or asking them to act like the characters from the story as a
punishment created a friendly atmosphere and a happy experience to language learning.
10 Yangon University of Education Research Journal 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1

By using short stories, all the students worked together in English to share their
opinions, learn from each other, were involved and used the language in a meaningful and
authentic context, and last but not least; they enjoyed reading literary texts.
However, using short stories does always work out on every student; some students
felt nervous, were embarrassed or shy to speak-up. Some students resisted speaking in
English in activities and not enjoying working in group or pair work. Students may tend to
be overly dependent on the teacher. Therefore, the role of the teacher was very important
in a way she must be able to act as a manager or organizer of activity, a lecturer, a
facilitator, a monitor and feedback giver.
However, in implementing speaking activities from short stories, the teacher can
act as a facilitator or manager of the students’ learning. The more responsibility and
freedom was given to the students, the greater attention was required on the part of the
teacher to be able to provide opportunities for students to arouse their interests and
motivation to engage in speaking activities. When students are motivated, the teacher can
easily train them to work independently and to get used to working cooperatively.

Conclusion
In speaking classrooms, students’ lack of motivation and a need to provide
meaningful context for communication to be carried out are the main challenges that
teachers face.
By using short stories as tool to create meaningful opportunities for the students to
practice oral proficiency, this study shows that not only the students become fluent in the
target language but their appreciation of the literature has also been promoted. Throughout
the course, the students have learned many items of new vocabulary and grammar from
the selected stories.
For English Language teachers who are to use short stories as teaching materials
for developing speaking skill, the stories should be selected very well to receive the utmost
beneficial result. The teacher needs to consider the students’ interest, literary knowledge
and the level, the difficulty of the text, whether the content is historically or culturally
remote from the students.
This research only focuses on integrating the speaking skill with reading. For the
further studies of this kind, it is suggested that listening materials for the short stories,
biography of famous authors, cultural and historical information can be easily downloaded
from the internet and used to provide listening practice. Moreover, pictures that portrayed
the story, setting or characters can be used as visual aids to make the students interested in
the activities.
The research shows that literature can not only be studied as a subject but also be
used as a resource for language teaching. By integrating reading short stories to speaking
skill, what is used to be mechanical drills and reading aloud practices can be transformed
into warm, stimulating and loving environment. Short stories are authentic materials which
can provide meaningful context for speaking exchange between the students. Finally,
using short stories in the classroom can aid the process of emotional development, self-
discovery and understanding of the different societies and cultures in the world.
Yangon University of Education Research Journal 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 11

Acknowledgements

We wish to express our sincere thanks to Rector, Dr. Aye Aye Myint, Yangon University of
Education for her permission to do this work. We would like to thank Dr. Htay Htay Win, Professor and
Head of Department of English, Yangon University of Education, for her encouragement and supervision in
carrying out this research. Thanks are also due to all the students and participants of this study without
whom our research work cannot come into existence.

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