Upper Basic Stage Students’ Perspectives on the Importance of Using Story in Learning English

Abstract

This study shed light on the perspectives of the upper basic stage students toward the importance of using the story in learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Jordan. The methodology adopted in investigating the students’ perspectives was mainly based on distributing a questionnaire to 400 students of both genders from three basic upper grades; 8th, 9th, and 10th. Before administering the questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted to check the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. The study findings were based on three domains of the questionnaire and appeared as follows: first, students revealed their awareness of the importance and benefits of using stories to improve their learning of EFL; second, the majority of the students strongly agreed on the fact that using stories has proven helpful in improving the basic skills of language learning; third, the students’ perspectives showed variance concerning the difficulties that the students faced when reading the stories. The study concludes with the recommendation that further research should be conducted on a larger sample that comprises all education levels in Jordan.