Short stories for enhancing reading comprehension skills in EFL: schema theory activities at A2.1 level in “La Inmaculada” high school in Cuenca, Ecuador

Abstract

Based on the author’s experience, the students of the Inmaculada Public High School were not used to reading frequently, and thus, they didnot have adequate reading comprehension skills. This thesis wanted to assist EFL students who thought that reading in another language is about literal translation and doing mechanical activities leading to frustration and demotivation rather than enjoying the richness of the text itself. Two intact classes of the same characteristics, number of students and language background were chosen as the experimental and the control groups. A questionnaire to measure the construct of reading motivation (MRQ) was administered, followed by a pre-test for reading comprehension based on the CEFR (Common European Framework). After having established a benchmark, the application of the treatment using short stories and Schema Theory activities took place with the experimental group. The participants read a set of five texts in the first stage while in the second stage they did extensive reading of an adaptation of George Eliot’s “Silas Marner”. At the end of the treatment, a post-test of the same complexity as the pre-test was administered to both groups, as well as a survey about the experimental group’s reading attitudes. The findings showed a certain degree of effectiveness of the use of short stories and Schema Theory activities for enhancing reading comprehension skills. Furthermore, the findings indicated that the use of short stories created an enhanced level of motivation to read in English. The thesis is arranged as follows: Chapter One provides an overview of the literature including Schema Theory and the principles linked to the cognitive process of developing reading comprehension skills. The Literature Review also looks at short stories as the most suitable genre for working with teenagers. Chapter Two describes the research methodology. Chapter Three presents the findings and also analyses the data gathered during the treatment. The thesis concludes with recommendations and conclusions related to the findings of the experiment.