Incidence of short stories in the development of English reading comprehension.

Abstract

The objective of this research was to establish the incidence of short stories in the development of reading comprehension in students from seventh year of Basic Education from "San Pio X” School in Ambato city; those with a low level of reading comprehension in the English area. The study was conducted under a quantitative method, quasi experimental design applied in two pre and post- test moments by Key English Test (KET) Cambridge. To determine the statistical differences in the process of reading comprehension among groups of students, a reading project based on the use of short stories was applied; a population of 60 students, of which 30 represents the control group and the experimental group remaining. The control group was evaluated after using the textbook as the only teaching materials, while the experimental group was then evaluated after receiving classes using a manual carefully chosen short stories. The results indicate that students in the experimental group showed at the end of the project, a remarkable development in reading comprehension through increased capacity of reading comprehension, vocabulary, detailed and comprehensive understanding. Therefore, through this research, it was determined that the use of short stories directly influences the development of reading comprehension, and requires teachers to start using short stories as supporting the teaching - learning English.