Saturday, June 19, 2010

The Direct Method

A. Brief History

The natural method, also known as the direct method is often associated with Stephen Krashen and the late Tracy Terrell, but in fact had its beginnings over a hundred years ago in Europe where it began as a response to the grammar translation method. It represents are critical reaction to the teaching methods of the ancient Grammar Translation Method which produced knowledge about language rather than knowledge of language. The general goal of the Direct Method is to provide learners with a practically useful knowledge of language. They should learn to speak and understand the target language in everyday situations.The core feature is its emphasis on the spoken language. Other characteristic features include:



  • ü Teaching vocabulary through pantomiming, realia and other visuals
  • ü Teaching grammar through an inductive approach
  • ü Focusing on question-answer patterns
  • ü Stressing teacher-centeredness 
If we view the word natural in its most generic form, certainly speaking and listening would qualify as natural activities more than reading and writing. All people (excepting those with certain disabilities) naturally acquire speaking and listening skills, while reading and writing have to be taught. Conveying meaning through total physical response, such as hand gestures and other body language, is also, arguably, a naturally occurring communicative feature. Assimilating grammar rules through exposure to language is also a naturally occurring phenomenon for native learners, and all languages, of course, have some form of question-answer pattern as filling in information gaps is a primary purpose of language. Teacher centeredness may be the only feature that could be classified as artificial when placed in a language learning model.



B. The principles of the Direct Method

  • The goal of teacher
The Direct Method has one very basic rule: no translation is allowed. In fact, the Direct Method receives its name from the fact that meaning is to be connected directly with the target language, without going through the process of translation into the student’s native language. The goals of teachers in using the Direct Method are teachers intend that students learn how to communicate in the target language. In order to do this successfully, students should learn o think in the target language.

  • The role of teacher and students
In the Direct Method the teacher direct the class activities and the student role is less passive. The teacher and the students are more like partners in teaching and learning process.

  • Characteristics of the teaching or learning process
There some characteristics of the teaching and learning process include teachers who use Direct Method believe students need to associate meaning and the target language directly. In order to do this, when the teacher introduces a new target language word or phrase, he demonstrates its meaning through the use of relia, pictures or pantomime: he never translates into students’ native language. Students speak in the target language a great deal and communicate as if they were in real situation. In fact, the syllabus used in the Direct Method is based upon situation (for example, one unit would consist of language that people would use at the bank, another of the language that they use when going shopping) or topics (such as geography, money or weather). Grammar is taught inductively; that is the students are presented with example and they figure out the rule or generalization from the examples. An explicit grammar rule may never be given. Students practice the vocabulary by using new words in complete sentences.

  • Interaction
In the Direct Method, the nature of students-teacher interaction and student-student interaction goes both ways, from teacher to students and from students to teacher, although the latter is often teacher-directed. Students converse with one another as well.

  • View of language and culture
Dealing with the language and culture viewed is that language is primarily spoken, not written. Therefore, students study common everyday speech in he target language. They also study culture consisting of the history of the people who speak the target language is spoken, and information about the daily lives of the speakers of the language.

  • Emphasis
The language skills that are emphasized are vocabulary over grammar. There was a marked change in teaching contents, however. The emphasis was now on knowledge of words and phrases useful for everyday life, and of factual knowledge about the target language country, its geography, major cities, industry, etc. In contrast to that the reading of great literary texts by the greatest authors, which is typical of the Grammar Translation Method, was given no priority. Note, however, that the still strong and influential faction of grammar school teachers considered this a debasing of the high principles of good education, and eventually many reformers were willing or forced to compromise when they fought for recognition of the new type of Oberrealschule as institutions entitled to issue school living certificates that granted access to university studies and were equal in status to grammar school diplomas. It is important to note this because for many years to come classroom reality was characterized by a mixture of methods and goals of teaching that had their origin no less in ancient grammar translation methods than in the reformist concepts of the Direct Method.

  • Student’s native language
The teaching methods recommended by the new reform movement followed logically from the emphasis on providing a useful knowledge of target knowledge, because that can only be developed by the direct use of the target language in class. Rather than forcing learners to accumulate abstract knowledge about rules of grammar, declensions and conjugations, with translations as a test of knowledge, reformers proposed that the target language should be learnt like children learn their first language that is by using it in class. The students’ native language should not be used in the classroom.

  • Evaluation
The evaluation is used in this method is students are asked to use the language, not demonstrate their knowledge about the language. They are asked to do so using both oral and written skills. For example, the students might be interviewed orally by the teacher or might be asked to write a paragraph about something they have studied.


  • Error correction
When the teachers face students’ error, they employ various techniques; try to get students self-correct whenever possible.

C. The Techniques of the Direct Method



1) Reading Aloud

Students take turns reading section of a passage, play or dialog out aloud. At the end of each student’s turn, the teacher uses gestures, pictures, relia, examples, or other means to make the meaning of the section clear.



2) Question and Answer Exercise

The exercise is conducted only in the target language. Students are asked questions and answer in full sentences so that they practice with new words and grammatical structure. They have the opportunity to ask questions as well as answer them.



3) Getting Students to Self-Correct

The teacher of this class has the students self-correct by asking them to make a choice between what they said and an alternate answer the supplied. In other ways, for example, a teacher might simply repeat what a student has said; using a questioning voice to signal to the student that something was wrong with it. Another possibility is for the teacher to repeat what the student said, stopping just before the error. The student knows that the next word was wrong.



4) Conversation practice

The teacher asks students a number of questions in the target language, which the students have to understand to be able to answer correctly. For example, the teacher asked individual students questions about themselves. The questions contain a particular grammar structure. Then, the students were able to ask each other their own question using the same grammatical structure.



5) Fill in the blank Exercise

All the items of the exercises in this method are in the target language; furthermore, no explicit grammar rule would be applied. The students would have induced the grammar rule they need to fill the blanks from examples and practice with earlier parts of the lesson.



6) Dictation

The teacher read the passage three times. The first time the teacher it at normal speed, while the students just listen. The second time he reads the passage phrase by phrase, pausing long enough to allow students to write down what they have heard. The last time he teacher again reads at a normal speed, and students check their work.



7) Map Drawing

The students were given a map with the geographical features unnamed. Then the teacher gave the students instructions for all the geographical features of the map so that students would have a completely labeled map if they followed the instructions correctly. The students then instructed the teacher to do he same thing with a map he had drawn on the blackboard. Each student could have a turn giving the teacher instructions for finding and labeling one geographical feature.



8) Paragraph Writing

The teacher in this class asked the students to write a paragraph in their own words on the major geographical features of the map. They could have done this from their memory, or they could have used the reading passage in the lesson as a model.

References

Larsen-Freeman, Diane. 1986. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford University Press, Inc

Schackne, Steve. 2004.. The Common Sense Approach: How One Teacher Organized a Speaking Course for 200 Chinese Graduate Students at www.DevelopingTeachers.Com.

www.uni-wuppertal.de\4_direct_method.htm

Summary of “The Return of the Native” A Novel by Thomas Hardy

The novel opens with the action of the plot already underway. The reddleman Diggory Venn rides onto the heath with Thomasin Yeobright in the back of his wagon: her marriage to Damon Wildeve was delayed by an error in the marriage certificate, and Thomasin collapsed. We soon learn that Wildeve orchestrated the error himself. He is infatuated with Eustacia Vye, and is, at least to some extent, using Thomasin as a device to make Eustacia jealous. When Venn learns of the romance between Eustacia and Wildeve, his own love for Thomasin induces him to intervene on her behalf, which he will continue to do throughout the novel. But Venn's attempts to persuade Eustacia to allow Wildeve to marry Thomasin, like his own marriage proposal to Thomasin, are unsuccessful.

Eustacia Vye has one desire. That is to be loved by a man who is worthy of her and who will take her to exotic places. Living in Egdon Heath, Eustacia considers only one man worthy enough to love--Damon Wildeve, a former civil engineer turned owner of an inn. She and Wildeve share a passionate, wild nature and enjoy toying with each other's affections. However, the sweet, simple Thomasin Yeobright has also caught Wildeve's attentions and is engaged to him. On their wedding day, the marriage license is discovered to be invalid, either by Wildeve's intent or mistake, leaving Thomasin utterly humiliated and Eustacia, who believes that Wildeve loves her more than he loves Thomasin.

Thomasin's aunt, Mrs. Yeobright, tries to get Wildeve to marry Thomasin to save her niece from public disgrace, even though she has made it clear to her niece that Wildeve is not worthy enough. Diggory Venn, the heath reddleman, also vows to get Thomasin and Wildeve together, but secretly tells Mrs. Yeobright that he would like to marry her niece. Venn is in love with Thomasin, even though she had refused his marriage proposal two years ago. He is determined that Thomasin will marry the man she loves, Wildeve.

Meanwhile, Wildeve has proposed to Eustacia, but Eustacia believes that Wildeve is not good enough for her and rejects him. She is too proud to accept the marriage proposal of a man whom Thomasin, a rival she considers inferior, has rejected and who asked Thomasin to marry before he asked her. Eustacia then sets her sights on Clym Yeobright, Mrs. Yeobright's son and Thomasin's cousin and former sweetheart. Clym has returned to Egdon from Paris, where he's been making a living in the diamond trade. Eustacia believes that educated, genteel, handsome Clym is her match--and her ticket out of the heath.

However, Eustacia has to ensure that Clym does not fall for Thomasin again, so she joins Mrs. Yeobright and Venn in bringing about the wedding of Thomasin and Wildeve. She tells Venn that she does not want Wildeve, so Thomasin can marry him. Mrs. Yeobright turns to Wildeve and informs him that another suitor would like to marry her niece. Wildeve, faced with a romantic rival for Thomasin and rejected by Eustacia, proposes to Thomasin.

Thomasin and Wildeve marry. Wildeve believes that he is getting revenge on both Eustacia and Mrs. Yeobright--Eustacia for rejecting him and Mrs. Yeobright for believing him not worthy of Thomasin. Eustacia is satisfied that Thomasin and Wildeve are married, for Thomasin is now free from Clym's affections. She and Clym each scheme to meet each other; after a period of courtship, they marry despite Mrs. Yeobright's deep objections to their marriage. Mrs. Yeobright is opposed to Clym and Eustacia's marriage, for she thinks that Eustacia is not good enough for her son and that the villagers tend to think ill of her.

Although Clym makes it known that he plans to stay on the heath and become a schoolteacher, Eustacia does not believe that Clym's plan will go through. Despite his mother's and wife's wishes, Clym prepares for teaching by staying up late to study. When Clym's eyesight deteriorates, he takes on a furze-cutting job to keep him busy. His new job humiliates and shames Eustacia and shocks his mother. Both Mrs. Yeobright and Eustacia are horrified that Clym would degrade himself so as to be a furze-cutter, but he finds the job to be useful and comforting.

Venn manages to thwart Wildeve in his attempts to avenge Eustacia and cause ill for Thomasin. He wins back the money Mrs. Yeobright had sent over to Thomasin and Clym by a heath-boy, money that's been gambled from the heath-boy to Wildeve to Venn, and gives the money to Thomasin, not knowing that half the money belongs to Clym. Mrs. Yeobright mistakenly believes that Wildeve has given Eustacia half the money as a gift and demands to know why Eustacia never told Clym about the money. An enraged Eustacia declares that she does not have any money belonging to her husband and certainly not any money Wildeve has given her. Although the subject of the money is later cleared up, their argument is the climax of Eustacia's volatile, estranged relationship with her mother-in-law and leads to Eustacia and Clym's separation.

Mrs. Yeobright, determined to make up with her son, goes to call on Clym and Eustacia. Through a misunderstanding, no one answers the door when she knocks, even though she knows that Clym, Eustacia, and another man are inside. Feeling cast off by her son, Mrs. Yeobright heads back home in the sweltering heat, growing extremely exhausted and weary from the length of the walk and heat. When Clym finds his mother, she is exhausted and her weak heart is suffering, and she dies with Clym present. Her last words are that she is a, "broken-hearted woman cast-off by her son."

Ill and grief-stricken for weeks, Clym struggles to come to grips with his mother's death. He does not understand why his mother believed he would cast her off, until he learns from a neighbor that it was Eustacia who shut his mother out because she had another visitor. Outraged, Clym demands to know who the other visitor was, but Eustacia does not give in to his inquiries. Eustacia then accuses Clym of deceiving her, and Clym suddenly realizes that Eustacia wants to leave the heath. Eustacia then leaves Clym, returning to her grandfather's.

Eustacia meets with Wildeve, who agrees to help her escape the heath. He agrees to drive her to Budmouth, where she can find her way to Paris, but he really plans to flee with her. Having inherited a large amount of money, he plans to elope with her.

Thomasin suspects that Wildeve is eloping with Eustacia and tells Clym, so that he might stop them. Clym still cherishes a hope that Eustacia will return to him. He hurries to catch up with Wildeve, while Thomasin seeks the help of Diggory Venn to take her to Clym and Wildeve. When Thomasin and Venn arrive, they discover that Eustacia has fallen into the weir and Clym and Wildeve are trying to save her. Venn jumps in to help and drags in Clym's, Wildeve's, and Eustacia's bodies. Only Clym is revived; Eustacia and Wildeve are dead.

A year after the deaths of Eustacia and Wildeve, Diggory Venn comes to call on Thomasin and Clym, who live together at Blooms-End. Venn is no longer a reddleman, but a dairy farmer. He proves his love for Thomasin, who finally recognizes Venn as a worthy romantic suitor. Venn proposes to Thomasin, and she accepts. At first, Clym is against the idea of Thomasin and Venn marrying because he has contemplated marrying Thomasin himself, but he decides that Thomasin should marry who she loves.

The last part of the novel sees the growth of an affectionate relationship, and an eventual marriage, between Thomasin and Diggory. Clym ends up alone, but he is content with his life: he finds his vocation as an wandering preacher.

Using Children’s Literature for Reading and Writing Stories

A. Introduction

This research was conducted by Yuh-Mei Chen, an associate professor at National Chung Cheng University and the journal is available at www.asian-efl-journal.com December 2006, volume 8, issue 4.

The main purpose of this research is stated in its abstract. This paper first discusses the advantages of using literature in language learning, explains why children’s literature is suitable for EFL learners, and then illustrates a project which used children’s literature to engage EFL university students in reading and writing stories. The paper concludes with some suggestions for classroom practice in the EFL university classroom.



B. Content

In the beginning, Yuh Mei Chen explains the benefit of using literature. The use of literature has been acknowledged as conducive to academic, intellectual, cultural, and linguistic learning. Palardy (1997) states that through literature, student readers “will have the opportunity to develop insights and understandings of the cultures and people of the world; to develop their imagery and visualization abilities; and to gain new perspectives by testing their ideas with those found in books”. In addition to the linguistic benefit, literature especially opens the door for EFL learners to the target culture.

After explaining about the advantages of using literature, the writer gives explanation why children’s’ literature is suitable for EFL learners. The researcher states that children’s’ literature is suitable for EFL learners due to its simple language style, embedded cultural information, and comfortable length.

Adeyanju (1978) argues that the language of literature text should not be stylized, dialectal, or otherwise difficult. This does not mean simplifying the text by limiting the length of sentences or the number of words within the text. The input should not be so simple as to kill readers’ interest, nor so difficult as to hinder their understanding. The text should be challenging but not frustrating. It is agreed that readers do not have to comprehend everything they read; general comprehension occurs though they cannot grasp some difficult structures.

With regard to content, Adyanju (1978) recommends three criteria: cultural information, material accessible to students’ schemata, and strong story lines. The first

two are concerned with students’ affective involvement, and parallel. Good literature should involve the reader at three levels: personal, cultural, and universal. Priority must be placed on stories that enable students to relate their own experiences and feelings to the reading. Students’ interests and backgrounds may influence their responses to and comprehension of the stories. To be involving, the story line should be strong enough to carry the students onto the next page. If the plot is too flat, or does not satisfy the students’ expectations, the story is not good.

Length is another important element in choosing literature. Sage (1987) explains that shorter stories make the students’ reading task and the teacher’s coverage easier. Overly long stories often make the students impatient and unwilling to wait till the end to know what happens to the protagonist. Students’ anxiety may also increase consequently. In other words, the story should be short but long enough to stimulate students’ interests and feelings.

The third section of this journal is the illustrations of the researcher’s project which used children’s literature to engage EFL university students in reading and writing stories. This project was intended to use children’s literature to promote EFL university students’ narrative thinking and enhance their writing ability through a task of story reading and writing. It lasted for four weeks: the first week focused on reading stories, the second, drafting stories, the third, peer review and revising, and the fourth, conference and revising.

Participants of the project were two cohorts (n= 24, 19) of first-year English majors from a national university in southern Taiwan. Altogether there were 43 students, 33 females and 10 males. Cricket Magazine was used as the reading material and writing prompt for the course which contain universal theme, and use simple language, direct, and natural.

In her class reading stories consists in observing the essential elements and learning how stories are best told. It is to comment on the title and first line, explore voices woven in the plot, visualize characters through their remarks, identify the conflict, and notice the ending. Then she demonstrates her reading with the technique called “think aloud”. After her reading, she brings students’ attention to some story writing strategies by asking questions. She stresses especially on the elements of voice and dialogue because she assumes they compose the soul of a story.

In the EFL writing classroom, language is doubtlessly one of the major concerns. To help her students get immediate linguistic feedback in the first draft, she asks them to read out loud their drafts to their group members and give each other comments on language use and usage. My suggestions are provided in the second draft; extra assistance is sought through the Internet too.

The evaluation of the project was supported by three themes: stories selected for reading, process of writing stories, and liked and disliked activities.



C. Conclusion

I note several point as my conclusion of this journal. They are;


  1. The use of literature has been acknowledged as conducive to academic, intellectual, cultural, and linguistic learning.
  2. Children’s literature can be suitable material for literacy development due to its simple language style, embedded cultural information, and comfortable length.
  3. Time, support, and practice can provide scaffolds for unskilled or low self-esteemed writers.


D. Comment

I can say that this is a good journal. It stands for some reasons. First, this journal is written systematically and has complete composition / content, also the author biography and references are provided. It means that this journal can be used for academic usage. The second reason, it provides data of the study to ensure the credibility of the analysis. This also will let the readers raise their own analysis on the data. So, the reader can examine the validity of the researcher’s analysis. The last reason, I assume that this is a good journal because this journal provides a study which gives a new finding important to the development of teaching activity.

Lexical Collocation Errors Made by Students of English Study Program in Riau University

Author
Tony Anggadha

A student of English Study Program in Riau University



Abstract

Since vocabulary has been rarely given any attention by others student in my class, I want to concentrate in this article on the problems non-native speakers may have with English vocabulary use especially in the use of appropriate combinations of words. This is an aspect of language called collocation. This study presents empirical data verifying the informal observations and theoretic assertions that EFL learners produce 'unnatural' word combinations. Multiple choice test consist of 20 questions were given to ten students. They made 128 or 64 % incorrect answers, and only 72 or 36% correct answers. Some of the incorrect answer may be due to negative transfer from Indonesian, and confusion with similar words in English.

Literature Review

The "father" of collocation is usually considered to be J.R. Firth, a British linguist who died in 1960. It was he that first used the term "collocation" in its linguistic sense. Mahmoud (2005) defines collocations as two words belonging to different grammatical categories to exclude binomials where the two words are from the same category and are connected implicitly or explicitly by a conjunction or a preposition.

Lexical collocation itself include: Verb + Noun (e.g. break a code, lift a blockade), Verb + Adverb (e.g. affect deeply, appreciate sincerely), Noun + Verb (e.g. water freezes, clock ticks), Adjective + Noun (e.g. strong tea, best wishes), Adverb + Adjective (e.g. deeply absorbed, closely related).

The problem for the learner of English is that there are no definite collocation rules that can be learned. The native English speaker intuitively makes the correct collocation, based on a lifetime’s experience of hearing and reading the words in set combinations. The non-native speaker has a more limited experience and may frequently collocate words in a way that sounds odd to the native speaker.

Correct production of such word combinations is a mark of an advanced level of proficiency in a language. Sonaiya (1988) says that lexical errors are more serious because effective communication depends on the choice of words.

Data Analysis

The data for this study is taken by giving a test to ten students. Each test consists of 20 questions. The students are not told that the test is collocation test. The sum of questions done by ten students was 200 questions. There were 128 or 64% incorrect answers and only 72 or 35% correct answers.

Table .1 and chart .1 shows that most of students have problem when make lexical collocation type V; Adverb + adjective. The students produced 33 (26) incorrect collocation. The correct collocations could have been acquired through exposure to the language or they might have been positively transferred from Indonesian, for instance; painfully slow, absurdly easy, widely believe, time goes by, absent-minded professor, frightened children, lions roar, pay attention. One of the incorrect answers could be due to negative transfer from Indonesian example, sound of the clock. Some of incorrect answer could be influenced by generalizing in others grammar rule; they are right in lexical meaning but contextually incorrect.

For example:

1. I hate loneliness because it is very soundless. Even the ticking clock can be heard (clock ticks).

2. You should try to get more attention in class (pay)

3. The situation in Gaza is very terrible. In every second, what we hear is booms exploding ruin the building (booms explode).

4. I’m going to have chance and ask her if she wants to go out somewhere.



Some of the incorrect collocations could be due to interlingual errors. Confusion with similar words in English could be the reason behind incorrect collocations such as;

1. I don’t know why you could not follow his directions. They were virtually clear (clearly).

2. Our test this week is quite challenging in places but the one we got last week was highly easy (absurdly).
Hugh Tomlinson is greatly believed to be the best director of his generation in Hollywood at the moment (widely)

Interlingual transfer is an indispensable learning communication strategy employed by foreign language learners at all levels of proficiency, (see e.g. Bhela, 1999; Mahmoud, 2000; Odlin, 1989; Ringbom, 1987; Sheen, 2001; Tang, 2002).

Discussion

This paper contributes for study in the area of lexical errors of foreign language learners in general and the errors of students of English Study Program in Riau University in particular. It provides empirical data verifying the belief that collocations constitute an area of difficulty in learning English as a foreign language. This finding is in line with Mahmoud (2005) study which state that “collocation is an area of difficulty in learning English as foreign language”.

This study also supports the claims that students commit errors when producing collocations in English, especially the lexical combinations. Errors indicate that English learners depend on interlingual and intralingual strategies to facilitate learning. Such strategies help in case of perceived linguistic similarities and lead to problems in case of differences.

Confusion with similar words also the cause of errors made by English learners. This can be happened when the student can not differentiate the use of words which is quite have the same in meaning but have different usage. In addition to that, the errors are caused by negative interlingual transfer form Indonesian to English. It may be due to the influences of students’ first language as their mother tongue.

As stated in Mahmoud’s paper (2005) that there is no magic formula for correction of collocation errors. In addition to exposure to the language through reading and listening, learners of EFL could benefit from direct teaching and exercises aimed at raising awareness of collocations, (see Ellis, 1997; Williams, 2002). Depending on the students' cognitive development, simplified contrastive comparisons between English and Indonesian collocations might help students see when to transfer and when not to transfer.

In addition to that, this study suggests the English teacher may give more attention to the lexical collocation lessons, especially type 5; Adverb + Adjective.

References

Koosha, Mansour and Ali Akbar Jafarpour. 2007. Data-driven Learning and Teaching Collocation of Prepositions; The Case of Iranian EFL Adult Learners. www.asian-efl-journal.com

Mahmoud, A. 2005. Collocation Errors Made by Arab Learners of English. www.asian-efl-journal.com

Tim Hsu, Jeng-yih and Chu-yao Chiu. 2008. Lexical Collocations and their Relation to Speaking Proficiency. www.asian-efl-journal.com

Tim Hsu, Jeng-yih. 2010. the Effect of Collocations Instruction on the Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Learning of Taiwanese College English Major. www.asian-efl-journal.com

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Critique of Odilea Rocha Erkaya in “Benefits of Using Short Stories in the EFL Context”

Critique of Odilea Rocha Erkaya in “Benefits of Using Short Stories in the EFL Context”

This study was written by Odilea Rocha Erkaya and published on 2005. The purpose of this article is to familiarize EFL instructors with the effectiveness of using literature in language instruction. Short stories help students to learn the four skills—listening, speaking, reading and writing-- more effectively because of the motivational benefit embedded in the stories. In addition, with short stories, instructors can teach literary, cultural, and higher-order thinking aspects. Well, I think this journal is very interesting and needs to read carefully to get full understanding.
Researchers who advocate the use of short stories to teach ESL/EFL list several benefits of short stories. These include motivational, literary, cultural and higher-order thinking benefits. Short stories allow instructors to teach the four skills to all levels of language proficiency. Instructors can create a variety of writing activities to help students to develop their writing skills. They can ask students to write dialogues (Murdoch, 2002, p. 9) or more complex writing activities if students have reached a high level of language proficiency. Short stories help instructors to teach literary, cultural and higher-order thinking aspects. Henning (1993) believes that culture should be integrated into the curriculum and “literature is one feature in the cultural domain that provides added value beyond the level of language acquisition.” Literature helps students to expand their “linguistic and cognitive skills, cultural knowledge and sensitivity” (quoted in Shanahan, 1997, p. 165).

Form this journal, I know that many researchers have realized that literature can be used to reinforce the skills and complement language teaching. The researcher affirms that with students at the beginning and intermediate levels, instructors can use literary texts for “language practice, reading comprehension, and possible aesthetic appreciation”. I agree with this opinion. In my point of view, by reading short story, students can gain insight into literature by gaining entrance to a world familiar or unfamiliar to them due to the cultural aspects of stories, and taking a voyage from the literary text to their own minds to find meanings for ideas, leading to critical thinking.
Moreover, I think that by reading short story, which is categorized in children’s literature, student will have more understanding than just receiving from the instructor. My opinion is also based on Murdoch (2002) idea which says that “if selected and exploited appropriately, short stories can provide quality text content which will greatly enhance ELT courses for learners at intermediate levels of proficiency” (p. 9). Oster (1989) affirms that literature helps students to write more creatively (p. 85).
It is also stated that High-intermediate and advanced students also profit from literary texts. What they read gives them the opportunity to come up with their own insights, helping them to speak the language in a more imaginative way. I can say that this statement is true. It stands for some reason. First, they become more creative since they are faced with their own point of view, that/those of the main character of the story and those of their peers. This thoughtful process leads to critical thinking. Second, as Oster confirms, “Focusing on point of view in literature enlarges students' vision and fosters critical thinking by dramatizing the various ways a situation can be seen”. Therefore, when students read, they interact with the text and interpret what they read. So, they can work toward speaking English more creatively. And the third is that Elliott (1990) affirms that literature motivates advanced students and is “motivationally effective if students can genuinely engage with its thoughts and emotions and appreciate its aesthetic qualities”. In addition, one of the reasons Vandrick (1997) lists for using literature with students is that literature motivates students “to explore their feelings through experiencing those of others” (p. 1).
Overall, short stories help instructors to develop students’ creativity. Also it can gain cultural and higher-order thinking aspects. It is believed that culture should be integrated into the curriculum and “literature is one feature in the cultural domain that provides and added value beyond the level of language acquisition.” Literature helps students to expand their “linguistic and cognitive skills, cultural knowledge and sensitivity”. Consequently, the integration of short stories into the curriculum will help EFL students to become professionals and human beings since short stories teach more than the skills necessary for survival in the target language. Short stories teach literary, cultural and higher-order thinking benefits.