Enhancing Students' Reaction Writing via Short Stories: A Pedagogical Perspective

Enhancing Students' Reaction Writing via Short Stories Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics Vol. 1 No. 2, 2016 eISSN: 2503-4197, pISSN: 2527-5070 www. indonesian-efl-journal.org DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21462/ijefll.v1i2.13 Enhancing Students' Reaction Writing via Short Stories: A Pedagogical Perspective Ainon Omar Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia e-mail: Ezatul Marini Mohd. Ghazali Sultan Azlan Shah Polytechnic, Malaysia e-mail: Abstract: Studies have shown that literary texts such as short stories have been able to develop students’ interpretative skills as well as provide opportunities for students to enhance their critical thinking skills. This study aimed at investigating the use of short stories on enhancing students’ reaction writing. The purpose of the study was to look into a new method that can assist students in expressing their views and opinions about current issues. Thus, a study was conducted to investigate whether the use of short stories as an authentic material can assist students in enhancing their reaction writing. An experimental study was employed on a group of technical students. A pre-test was administered followed by treatment sessions and finally a post-test before a semi-structured interview was conducted on lecturers. The study gathered data on the lecturers’ perceptions towards the idea of incorporating literary texts in their English language lessons. The findings showed that the use of the short story had assisted students to generate ideas to write their reaction paper although a lot of guidance had to be given by the lecturer. The students as well as the lecturers were optimistic on the idea of incorporating literature in the English language course. However, the choice of literary texts needs to be carefully selected and also students’ interests and needs are taken into consideration in order for them to write their reaction paper. Keywords: reaction writing, literary texts, language learning, interpretive skills Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics, Vol. 1 (2), 2016 145 Enhancing Students' Reaction Writing via Short Stories 1. INTRODUCTION The use of literary texts is known to have multiple benefits for learners in the English language classroom (Collie & Slater, 1987; Duff and Maley 1992; Lazar 1993, Erkaya, 2005; Chiang, 2007). Collie and Slater (1987), Duff and Maley (1992), Lazar (1993), Erkaya (2005) and Chiang (2007) revealed that using literary texts as a language teaching resource can be beneficial in developing students’ language development, personal growth and cultural enrichment. Through the incorporation of the literature component in the language instruction certain language skills among language learners, especially in developing their reading and writing skills can be enhanced (Saraceni, 2007). Short stories are suitable for classroom use as the length is manageable and there is a wide range of choices to choose from depending on students’ interest and proficiency level ( Erkaya, 2005; Chiang, 2007). Besides that, through the utilisation of short stories learners’ interpretative skills can be developed using the Reader Response Theory (Sanchez, 2009) which provides them with ample opportunities to voice their views and opinions. Since reaction writing involves students identifying the author's main ideas and main supporting evidence, as well as stating their own responses to those ideas backed by their own evidence and thinking, therefore, using literary texts such as short stories would be a good resource to exploit in the English language classroom. The ability for the students to interpret the multiple meanings in the texts and express their views would assist the students in improving their reaction writing skills. As such, this paper examined the potential of using short stories in enhancing students’ ability to express their views and opinions when writing a reaction paper. It is hoped that the study will help language educators in understanding the advantages of incorporating literature especially short stories in their English language lessons.. The study also aimed at exposing the potential of using short stories in language teaching so that students’ ability in understanding the meaning as well as interpreting and reacting to the text will be better enhanced and developed. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW It is very important for educators to understand the importance of incorporating literature component in the language instruction as well as its usefulness in enhancing certain language skills among language learners, especially in developing their reading and writing skills (Saraceni, 2007). In the Malaysian Education system, literature has been taught as a subject or used as a means of learning English language from independence to date (Curriculum Development Centre, 2003). Though the Malaysian education has experienced several waves of change in the medium of instruction regarding the use of language, continuous efforts have been carried out in developing students’ English language competency, where various literature-based reading programmes were implemented at primary and secondary levels (Ganakumaran, 2003). The incorporation of a tested literature component in the secondary school English syllabus made the point that the study of literature benefits language learners. Thus, the inclusion of literature component or as suggested by Rosenblatt (1985) to teach literature as aesthetic experience should be Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics, Vol. 1 (2), 2016 146 Enhancing Students' Reaction Writing via Short Stories included in the English Courses in tertiary level so that students can be further guided and exposed to the “beauty” of appreciating literature for the purpose of enriching their language competencies as well as developing their creativity especially in communicating as in voicing out their views and opinions be it orally or in written form ( Ganakumaran, Shahizah & Koo, 2003). In addition, the students’ ability to be critical in their interpretations will assist them in writing their reaction paper as a reaction paper requires a close reading of the text that goes beyond the surface meaning. Students are required to imply on the ideas presented, evaluate and analyse the author’s purpose and main points (Scoggins, 2015). According to Chiang (2007 as cited in Khatib & Nasrollahi, 2012) mentioned that using literature as an authentic source in language classes provides ample opportunities for students to practice as well as improve the four language skills. His views was supported by Stern (2001) who points out that literature can be an being an ideal source for writing tasks as ideas and views can be generated through discussions on the different elements of literary texts such as characters, plots and themes. Chiang (2007as cited in Khatib & Nasrollahi, 2012) further reiterates that appropriate exploitation of short stories can provide quality text content which (...truncated)