AWEJ Volume,4 Number.1, 2013 pp. 28 – 41
Advantages of Using Short-stories in ELT Classroom and the Libyan EFL Learners’ Perceptions towards them for Developing Reading Comprehension Skill
Mustafa Mubarak Pathan
Department of Linguistics and Translation Studies
Faculty of Arts, the University of Sebha,
Sebha, Libya
Abstract
Short-stories have been the center of attraction for centuries for various people for various reasons but mainly due to fascinating pedagogical aspects embedded in them. For many ELT professionals and pedagogues, they have been important topics of debate and discussion in the recent years due to numerous pedagogical benefits and implications for developing language skills of EFL learners. The advocates of the use of the short-stories for developing language skills argue that the use of short –stories offers the material which is real, creative and rich in language selection, as well as is amusing and motivational in nature. It is also considered as a highly effective approach for teaching and learning of foreign language like English and is recommended for the same reasons by eminent intellectuals. In the background of this effectiveness of the use of short-stories for developing language skills in EFL classrooms, the present paper investigates the attitudes of the Libyan EFL learners towards the use of short-stories for developing reading comprehension skill. The present status of the use of short-stories in the Libyan EFL classrooms and the researcher’s perspective on the use of short-stories in the Libyan context also form an important part of the discussion in the paper.
Keywords: Short-stories, ELT, advantages, implications, EFL teachers and learners, learners’ perceptions