Extent of Using Fiction Short Stories in Teaching English and their Effect on Primary Stage Students' Communicative Competence

Abstract

This paper attempted to trace the effectiveness of teaching fiction short stories on EFL learners' communicative competence in English at the primary stage at school level. More specifically, this study aimed to determine whether teaching fiction stories has any effect on EFL sixth grade learners' communicative competence or not. It also tried to investigate if language productive skills (speaking and writing) are improved due to discussing the elements of fiction stories orally or in writing. Furthermore, the study tended to identify which elements of fiction stories (character, setting, plot, conflict or theme) the learners focused on more in their communicative sessions as a result of reading fiction stories. The sample of the study consisted of 54 EFL learners at a private school in the primary stage who were already divided into two sections A and B (27 learners in each); and were assigned as control (A) and experimental (B) groups. A pre-post test was administered for both groups to test their communicative competency of oral and written skills. The findings revealed that using discussion sessions and activities about fiction stories has a positive impact on the learners' communicative competence. Participants who attended the communicative sessions performed better on certain elements of fiction stories than those in the control group. It was recommended that teaching fiction stories should be included in the curriculum for all stages at schools.