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91Oriental Renaissance: Innovative, R VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 4
educational, natural and social sciences О ISSN 2181-1784
Scientific Journal Impact Factor SJIF 2021: 5.423
THE USE OF SHORT STORIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH
TO TEENAGERS
Salimova Nozima
UzSWLU, the senior teacher of the department of English teaching methodology,
nozima1273@gmail.com
Abstract: Considering the importance of continuous progress and innovation in language teaching methods on one hand and the advantages of using short stories in language classes on the other hand, a new language teaching method as Short Story based Language Teaching (SSBLT) is introduced here. Story based Language Teaching (SSBLT) is a humanistic literature-based language teaching method that aims to promote the teenagersл personal, cultural and linguistic awareness. The main purpose of SSBLT is to help teenagers to learn language by enjoying and using language for communication through using short stories as the materials in a friendly atmosphere. It develops the teenagersл communicative competence and critical thinking.
Key words: Short Story based Language Teaching, communicative competence, teenagers, learner-centered, language proficiency, literary genre, critical thinking, linguistic awareness.
Аннотация: Учитывая важность постоянного прогресса и инноваций в методах обучения языку, с одной стороны, и преимущества использования рассказов на языковых курсах, с другой стороны, здесь представлен новый метод обучения языку - Обучение языку на основе коротких рассказов (SSBLT). Обучение языку на основе рассказов (SSBLT) - это метод обучения языку, основанный на гуманистической литературе, который направлен на повышение личной, культурной и языковой осведомленности подростков. Основная цель SSBLT - помочь подросткам выучить язык, получая удовольствие и используя язык для общения, используя короткие рассказы в качестве материалов в дружеской атмосфере. Развивает у подростков коммуникативную компетентность и критическое мышление.
Ключевые слова: обучение языку на основе рассказов, коммуникативная компетенция, подростки, ориентация на учащегося, владение языком, литературный жанр, критическое мышление, языковая осведомленность.
INTRODUCTION
The need to learn foreign languages is almost as old as human history itself. The field of foreign language teaching has undergone many fluctuations and dramatic shifts over the years. This is the field where fads and heroes have come and gone together with the changes in youth culture. So the sphere feels a great impact of time
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and society. The requirements of time and society dictate how to teach foreign languages as throughout history foreign language learning has always been an important practical concern. If a foreign language is so important for practical purposes the most favorable teaching approaches are those which encourage students using language in order to acquire it. If the society is not interested in practical implementation of language, then comes the time of analyzing it. Over the centuries, language teaching methodology has been vacillating between these two types of approaches: one which focuses on using a language; the other which focuses on analyzing it. At the beginning of the 20th century, this distinctive pattern was observable in the shift from the analytical Grammar Translation Approach to the use-oriented Direct Method. Later the shift was connected with the rise of popularity of communicative approaches which emphasize language use over rules of language usage. Labeling this or that approach as good or bad is not fruitful. Success and effectiveness of different approaches or methods depend on whether they meet the requirements of time and society or not.
In the middle of the 20th century new challenges and pressures of historical situation made imperative to teach people to speak and understand the target language quickly and efficiently. That helped to erect the Audio-Lingual approach, which advocated departure from the traditional reading and translating procedures and stressed maximum opportunity to practice the target language. It is evident that nowadays a foreign language is used for communicative purposes, and the acquisition of communicative competence is the main aim of teaching. In this connection we are speaking about the Communicative Approach an umbrella term which covers a wide range of classroom practices and which focuses on language as a medium of communication. This time again the next cycle in foreign language learning has been shifted from language analysis to language use, from linguistic focus to communicative, practical view of a foreign language.
All the shifts and changes are historically approved as, being extremely practically-oriented science, studying foreign languages reflects the needs and demands of society.
This article focuses on teaching the English language to teenagers through stories, especially using short stories in an effective way. Short stories are the most suitable literary genre to use in English teaching due to its shortness, is supported by Collie and Slater when they list four advantages of using short stories for language teachers.
Moreover, the work focuses on roles of teacher, one of which is assessing and the usage of short stories in the process of teaching language. The use of short story
METHODS USED
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in English teaching should be aimed to encourage the teenagers to use what they have previously learnt. By doing this, the learning process will be learner-centered. However, the teacher plays a great role. She/he must choose a suitable text to use in class, and should help her/his teenagers understand the story with various activities.
In using short stories to teach English, story selection is indeed one of the most important roles of the teacher. Since the lengths of short stories quite vary, choose a story short enough to handle within course hours. The shortness of the text is important for the teenagers because they will see that they can read, understand and finish something in English, and it will give the teenagers a feeling of achievement and self-confidence. Besides the length of the text, Hill points out three other basic criteria of choosing the text:
(1) the needs and abilities of the teenagers;
(2) the linguistic and stylistic level of the text;
(3) the amount of background information required for a true appreciation of the material.
The importance of considering these criteria could be perceived by realizing that the vocabulary and sentence structure of the short story to be studied must be suitable to the level of the teenagers. The short stories with archaic, slang, foreign words, and allusions, having sentences imitating the speech of a particular locality or ignorant people or foreigners should be avoided if the text is intended for teenagers below intermediate level. Similarly, very long sentences are difficult for teenagers to understand. As teenagers will not understand these sentences and words, they will get bored and not read the work. Therefore, before giving the short-story, the teacher should decide the readability of the text.
In order to meet that readability criterion, using graded or simplified stories is possibly the most practical way. According to Ur, "... the use of 'authentic' text with less proficient learners is often frustrating and counter-productive". Therefore, the use of simplified text with less proficient readers is highly suggested for the sake of suiting the texts with the level of teenagers.
In addition to the previous criteria, Spack suggests the aspect of interest to be considered. According to him, it is important for the teacher to choose stories that would interest teenagers that he/she most likes to read and teach, and that have been made into film to provide visual interpretation. McKay and Rivers point out that learner read and enjoy a text if the subject-matter of the text is relevant to their life experience and interests.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
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Short story like other literary texts can raise cultural awareness, linguistic awareness, motivation, and etc. Short stories are claimed to improve all four skills. Ur, P. believes that reading literary text can lead learners to be critical thinkers.
Sanderson, P believes that short stories can have the following pedagogical advantages:
a) making the teenagers' reading task easier because they are simple and short;
b) giving teenagers a better view of other cultures;
c) requiring more attention and analysis;
d) presenting a fictional and interesting world;
e) helping teenagers to be more creative and raising the critical thinking skills;
f) raising cultural awareness;
g) reducing teenagers anxiety and helping them feel more relax;
h) providing multicultural contexts because of its universal language
SSBLT aims at cultivating all language skills cooperatively. Characteristics of Short Story based Language Teaching (SSBLT)
I.The primary function of language is interaction and communication.
2.SSBLT is based on humanism and cooperative learning.
3.Personal, cultural and linguistic awareness should be developed.
4.Short stories are used as learning and teaching materials.
5.Linguistics, sociolinguistic and communicative competence are emphasized.
6.All four language skills receive attention and are practiced integratively.
7.The student's native language should be avoided in the classroom but can be used to talk about the procedure and cultural points.
8.All of the class activities should be done in a stress-free friendly environment.
9.Vocabulary is taught in the context of the short story.
10.Grammar is taught based on focus on form.
II.All types of interaction: Teacher-student, student-teacher and studentstudent interaction exist.
12.One of the main purposes of SSBLT is to help leaners to be critical thinkers.
Short stories allow teachers to teach the four skills to all levels of language proficiency. Murdoch indicates that "short stories can, if selected and exploited appropriately, provide quality text content which will greatly enhance ELT courses for learners at intermediate levels of proficiency". According to him, short stories could be very beneficial materials in language teaching reinforcement by using them in learning activities such as, discussion, writing and acting out dialogues.
The short story is one of the most common narratives that is used in the language classroom. Of course, one of the characteristics of the short story is that it is
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CONCLUSION
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short. The short story disposes of limited time and space dimensions. It concentrates on one section of the characters' lives and offers a direct access to the action. Many aspects support the use of short stories in English language teaching. A few of the characteristics mentioned above already give an impression what the advantages of short stories are. Based on the findings, it could be concluded that using short stories and activities for developing all four language skills could improve language mastery of teenagers. Studying short stories has a number of benefits for the students such as broadening their perspectives, enabling them to think about the reasons rather than the result, showing them different life styles, providing them with a comparison between their own culture and other cultures.
l.Sanderson, P. "Using Short stories in the classroom"-, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.2012.
2.Ur, P. "Teaching listening comprehension while implementing short stories"-, New York: Cambridge University Press.2006.
3.Lee, W. "Short stories revisited text authenticity and learner authenticity"-. ELT Journal, 49 (4).2014.
4.Holten. C &Marasco. J. Looking ahead: "Mastering to deal with short stories"-, Boston 2011.
5.Adams, T. "What Makes Materials Effective for teaching?"- Cambridge University Press. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 391389) 2012.
6.Riber, D. "Variation across speech and reading"-, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.2016.
7.McNeill, A. "What Makes Short stories Different? The Case of English Language Materials for Educational Television. Papers presented at the Annual International Language in Education Conference"-, Hong Kong.2014.
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