Story Reading Research Articles

Pre-Service Teachers' Writing Accuracy and Fluency: The Role of Weekly Reading

The benefits of Extensive Reading (ER) have been extensively explored in the field of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), particularly in how this approach enhances writing skills. In Ecuador, writing represents one of the biggest challenges students face when acquiring language proficiency. Therefore, this study investigates the effects of weekly story reading (WSR) over an eight-week period on improving written accuracy and fluency among twenty-two EFL pre-service teachers at the Faculty of Education, Quevedo State Technical University, Ecuador. This action research employed a pre/post-test design to collect data before and after the pedagogical intervention. Written book reports were used as the pre- and post-test instruments to identify accuracy issues and measure words-per-minute (WPM) rates. The participants´ tokens of accuracy problems and WPM were quantitatively analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed, among the eight types of writing accuracy analyzed, the three most common errors made by students were punctuation, spelling, and syntax. Notably, they increased as more words were produced in writing. The findings indicate that weekly story reading assignments significantly improved writing fluency, with a mean difference of (M=5.24), and moderately reduced written accuracy problems. Extensive reading might magnify writing skills development among pre-service teachers in Ecuador or other contexts.

Using Latin Square Methodology to Test Vocabulary through Story Reading

Recognizing the need for objectivity when assessing readers' comprehension across multiple iterations and texts, the study explores how the traditional Latin Square design can be refined to accommodate such requirements. This paper delves into the application and adaptation of Latin Square methodology in vocabulary testing through multiple readings of stories. By examining the challenges and opportunities presented by multi-pass reading materials, the paper proposes strategies to enhance the validity and reliability of vocabulary assessments, ensuring that readers' performance is accurately captured and analyzed

Investigating the Effect of Reading English Short Stories in Developing Skills for EFL Students at some Selected Universities in Mogadishu, Somalia

This research aims to explore how reading English short stories contributes to the development of skills among EFL students in Mogadishu. Specifically, it seeks to understand how such reading enhances vocabulary acquisition, comprehension, pronunciation, and grammatical knowledge. Employing a quantitative research design with a descriptive method, the study utilized a questionnaire as its primary tool. It involved 100 English lecturers from five universities in Mogadishu, Somalia, with 80 selected as participants. The key findings suggest a significant correlation between reading English short stories and the development of language skills among EFL students. Additionally, the study highlights the effectiveness of this practice in enhancing vocabulary, comprehension, pronunciation, and grammatical understanding. The research holds potential for English lecturers aiming to enhance the skills of EFL students at the university level. It is anticipated to inspire students to engage in more reading of short stories, fostering their creativity and critical thinking. Furthermore, English lecturers encountering challenges in teaching EFL skills stand to benefit from the insights provided by this study.

A reading of Premchand's Urdu stories in Political, Social, Economic and Rural Contexts

Premchand is a famous writer of his time and era. Those who have used different dimensions in presenting their works, among which fiction and novels are considered in the forefront. Premchand's speeches on politics are also a basic and important reference, his sermon on the progressive movement is also a comprehensive and detailed document, but he earned his name in fiction writing and is known throughout the subcontinent for the same genre. are recognized. Basically, fiction writing is his real and best identity. It is only through his fiction writing that we can identify each of them as well as our own psychological study of Premchand, keeping in mind his creations. One can study the personality, habits and manners and their lifestyle without looking at the political life as well. In the following article, an attempt has been made to study the social, economic and psychological aspects of the legends written about their villages and shed light on their literary life. This article is also important because it contains important references for new writers.

Direct vocabulary teaching practices by preschool teachers

The purpose of the present study was to investigate preschool teachers’ practices. The sample consisted of 274 preschool teachers working in different regions of Crete in Greece. The data were collected via an online questionnaire comprised of 22 items inquiring about the sample teachers’ demographic characteristics and occupational status, as well as about the activity settings and the techniques they use to teach vocabulary directly in their classrooms. In relation to the indicated activity settings and the direct vocabulary teaching techniques, the sample teachers recorded the frequency of their use on 5-point Likert scales. The results showed that story reading was the most frequent activity setting for implementing direct vocabulary teaching. Furthermore, data analysis showed that contextualized and de-contextualized vocabulary teaching with an emphasis on the receptive aspect of vocabulary and multimodal vocabulary teaching with an emphasis on the productive aspect of vocabulary were the two basic dimensions that described the preschool teachers’ practices. In addition, the results showed that contextualized and de-contextualized vocabulary teaching was reported to be used more frequently than multimodal teaching, while both teaching practices were related more strongly to the other activity settings besides story reading.

A Ghanaian Approach to Disability Literature in Picture Books

In this study, we examined how Ghanaian picture books present disabilities. Using a content-analysis approach, the primary goal was to deduce how picture books serve to promote positive attitudes and inclusion of students with disabilities in schools in Ghana. Data included the text and visuals of seven picture books published in 2016 by Curriculum Research and Development Division of Ghana Education Services (now known as the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment), a branch of the Ghana Ministry of Education. The findings show that picture books provide an opportunity to address issues of stigma related to learning and physical disabilities, while explaining disability to non-disabled readers and disabled readers, who identify with stories about children who are like them. The process of reading stories to and with children can act as a cultural-awareness indicator. This study of children’s literature, and others like it, serve as an educational support for the inclusion of students with disabilities in inclusive classroom settings. Picture books can help to increase disability awareness in young people.

Pola Fungsi Kalimat pada Novel “Pulang” Karya Tere Liye dan Kelayakannya sebagai Materi Pengayaan Siswa Kelas Xll SMA

Understanding sentence function patterns plays a major role in reading a novel, especially in class XII. By studying the understanding of sentence function patterns, class XII students can understand the important role of sentence function patterns in a novel. This research aims to be an informative and interesting learning resource for class XII students to use novels as enrichment material and improve their language skills. This research considers the function patterns of sentences in the novel "Pulang" by Tere Liye and the feasibility of sentence readability as enrichment material for class XII students. The method used in this research is a qualitative-descriptive method. Qualitative descriptive methods do not rely on evidence-based systematic logic, numerical principles, or statistical methods. This research helps determine the function patterns of sentences through the functions, categories, and roles of sentences in the novel, as well as the data and data sources in this research in the form of collections of sentences in the novel "Pulang" by Tere Liye. The data analysis technique used in this research uses the AGH method. The results of this research found sentence function patterns in the novel "Pulang" by Tere Liye. There are two S-P sentence patterns; there are three S-P-O sentence patterns; there are three S-P-Pel sentence patterns; there are four S-P-O-Pel sentence patterns; there are three S-P-K sentence patterns; there are four S-P-O-K sentence patterns; there are five S-P-O-Pel-K sentence patterns; and there are five S-P-O-Pel-K sentence patterns. Analysis of sentences based on function found the following sentence function patterns: S, P, O, and K. Analysis of sentences based on categories found in sentences is as follows: Function S is in the noun category. Function P is categorized as an adjective or verb. Function O is in the noun category. Ket functions are categorized as verbs, adjectives, and verb phrases. The analysis of sentences based on the roles found in the sentences is as follows: S's function is to act as an actor. Function P acts as a command or action. Function O acts as a sufferer. The functions of information are time, nature, and circumstances. Apart from that, the sentence function patterns in the novel "Pulang" by Tere Liye are suitable as enrichment material for class not good, accuracy in finding sentence function patterns, inaccuracy in finding sentence function patterns, accuracy in preparing sentence function patterns, inaccuracy in preparing sentence function patterns, effectiveness in reading story text narratives in novels, and ineffectiveness in reading story text narratives in novels. The results of this research can provide knowledge and insight into an understanding of In this research, understanding sentence function patterns for class XII students is very important to ensure that the teaching materials presented can be understood and applied by the class.

Short takes on disjointed times: literary form and social thought in Graham K. Riach’s The Short Story After Apartheid

This essay reviews Graham K. Riach’s recently published monograph The Short Story After Apartheid: Thinking With Form in South African Literature (2023) against the background of a growing preoccupation with temporality, in recent years, in South African writing and criticism. The mode of political formalism Riach espouses in this significant new contribution to the field of South African literature threads together aesthetic and social concerns to propose the post-apartheid short story as a critical vector for making sense of our disjunctive times. Through close readings of stories by Nadine Gordimer, Ivan Vladislavić, Zoë Wicomb, Phaswane Mpe and Henrietta Rose-Innes, Riach opens important new discursive terrain in our apprehension of the social in South Africa, while at the same time advancing our understanding of, and appreciation for the short fiction of these important writers.

DISORIENTING EASTERN EUROPE: JUDITH HERMANN'S AFFECTIVE GEOGRAPHY

ABSTRACTThis article presents a geocritical interpretation (based on the methodological approach developed by Robert Tally) of two of Judith Hermann's short stories – ‘Diesseits der Oder’ and ‘Osten’. Written almost twenty years apart, the first of these takes place amidst the Oderbruch, whilst the second comprises Hermann's only literary text about a journey to Ukraine. Drawing on interdisciplinary spatial research, I offer a close reading of both stories as they stage, in different ways, an affective experience of East European space. Moreover, I argue that through her critical investigation of the ‘East’ as an imagined and real space, Hermann emerges as a geocritic herself. Drawing on Sara Ahmed's queer phenomenology and Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht's notion of latency in post‐war culture, I contend that ‘Diesseits der Oder’ and ‘Osten’ are constituted as poetic texts that foreground disorientation through the mode of latency as a crucial phenomenological device. Once brought together into their historical and geopolitical contexts and explored through the aesthetic prism of representation of the ‘East’, Hermann's short stories are seen to advance a radical critique of perceptions of Eastern Europe in the German post‐war literary and geographic imagination.

Biesta’s world-centred education: subjectification revisited?

Abstract This article explores Biesta’s recent revisiting of his iconic and at times contested notion of education as subjectification. First, I look at how Biesta presents his notion by attending to his answers to the criticisms it has faced concerning elusiveness, oversimplification, and self-centredness. Then, going beyond the declarative level, I explore a concrete example of education as subjectification from Biesta’s 2022 book, World-Centred Education. Analysing the example of Homer Lane and Jason, I examine the ambivalence between Biesta’s explicit statements on subjectification as a form of spontaneous and noncoercive teaching aimed at cultivating freedom and the more complex picture that emerges from a close reading of the original story. From this analysis, I find important conceptual limitations to education as subjectification: it could conceal part of the institutional context of education and the teacher’s active role, and also reduce freedom to an individualistic concept. I thus conclude by suggesting that the language of subjectification should always be engaged with critically—but never in isolation—and with a stereoscopic optic in mind.

Reading stories in Arabic: the impact of lexico-phonological and diglossic distance level on comprehension and receptive and productive vocabulary among Arab kindergarten children

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of the lexico-phonological diglossic distance of story reading (a scaffolded storybook intervention, informed by Vygotsky’s theory of scaffolding and fading) on Arabic-speaking preschool children’s comprehension and receptive and productive vocabulary.MethodThe participants were 139 Israeli-Palestinian kindergartners: 71 composed an intervention group and 68 composed a comparison group. The intervention group heard stories gradually from the SpA, identical, cognate, and unique word forms, whereas the comparison group heard traditional stories unrelated to their lexico-phonological distances. Story 1 was read in unique spoken Arabic (SpA) form, stories 2 and 3 were read in 58 and 45% identical and cognate word forms, respectively, and story 4 was read in 70% unique word forms.ResultsThe results clearly showed that children’s vocabulary and story understanding was significantly higher after the intervention, especially noticeable in stories that contained a higher proportion of Standard Arabic (StA). Interestingly, the stories told entirely in Spoken Arabic (SpA) were the most effective, yielding the highest scores in both comprehension and vocabulary. Stories that mixed different word forms also performed well, though not as strongly as the SpA stories, while those solely in StA were the least effective.ConclusionThe findings of the study suggest that scaffolded storybook intervention may enhance the receptive vocabulary and comprehension skills of children. This study shows that, in the context of diglossia, stories should be read to children systematically and gradually according to the lexical-phonological distance of words in the stories.

Penerapan Metode Membacakan Buku Cerita Untuk Meningkatkan Kemampuan Literasi Anak Usia Lima Sampai Enam Tahun di Tk XYZ [Application of the Story Book Reading Method to Improve the Literacy Skills of Five to Six Year Old Children in XYZ Kindergarten

<div><p class="1eAbstract-text">The results of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) research on the literacy test of Indonesia's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that Indonesia's literacy ability is still low. Literacy skills are needed as a twenty one century skill that must be mastered from an early age. One way to increase literacy is to read storybooks. This study aims to analyze the relationship between the method of reading storybooks to early childhood literacy skills. The method used in this study is quantitative descriptive by distributing questionnaires using five Likert scales (always, often, sometimes, rarely, never). The research was conducted in a private kindergarten in Central Jakarta with a research subject of one hundred and nine students. The results of the research obtained are that there is a relationship between the method of reading storybooks to early childhood literacy skills. The longer the duration of reading stories to children, the higher their literacy skills. Therefore, the method of reading storybooks should be done with a longer duration and frequently, so that children's literacy skills can be maximized.<em></em></p></div>

Adapting Books for Students With Extensive Support Needs: Multiple Points of Access

Literacy is a crucial element in a person’s education, and widespread literacy allows societies to thrive. However, individuals with extensive support needs (ESN) often face barriers to attaining literacy. Shared story reading is an evidence-based practice that has demonstrated effectiveness in increasing literacy outcomes for individuals with ESN. A core component of shared story reading is the use of adapted books to create access to the general curriculum. This article presents an inclusive approach to literacy instruction to meet the needs of students with ESN through books adapted for multiple points of access (i.e., physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and cultural). Examples of how to adapt book elements across the multiple access points are provided and the implications for practice are discussed.

Promoting Shared Responsibilities in Developing Children’s Early Literacy and Reading Culture in Rwanda

Reading is of paramount importance in the modern era. It is an invaluable tool to instill knowledge in people and lead them to sustainable development. This study aimed to investigate the shared responsibilities of stakeholders in promoting early literacy and reading culture in Rwanda. The study was conducted in five districts in Rwanda, one in each province, including the city of Kigali. This study is conducted within the framework of the Theory of Emergent Literacy (EL) pioneered by Marie Clay (1926–2007) (Rohde, 2015; Teale, 1986; Tracey and Morrow, 2006), according to which literacy development begins very early in life and children’s early reading and writing experiences are of considerable importance in their overall literacy development. The study applied a descriptive research design, which consists of collecting quantitative and qualitative data. The target population was 437,988, which was the total number of households in the five districts. It involved 598 parents in selected households, school administrators, and local authorities. A convenience sampling technique was used to select parents, while a purposive sampling technique was applied to select school administration and local authorities. A questionnaire, interviews, and observation were used as data collection tools. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The findings of the study revealed that parents carry out their responsibilities and interactions with children by cultivating a reading culture and reading stories to them before school age. Findings also showed that parents acknowledge teachers’ interactions with children through giving them take-home reading assignments. The strategies that are used to develop early literacy and reading culture include showing pictures, using games and songs, and devoting some hours to reading on specific days in a week. The study identified challenges including parents’ illiteracy and poverty preventing them from being involved in their children’s education, the lack of enough books in schools, and overcrowded classes. It is recommended that government support be increased by making reading materials more accessible to children; that parents’ role in developing the reading culture and early literacy should be more visible; and that there is a need for adult literacy education to enable parents to read to their children and monitor their reading practice.

A Psychoanalytical Approach to the Short Stories The Owner of the House, Summer Night and Train Journey by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

The paper deals with the psychoanalytical approach to dreams and the unconscious in three short stories by the Turkish author Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar. Insight into the nature of the human psyche and language as a medium of expression will be based on the works of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. The psychoanalytical literature that we will use in this research will represent the fundamental theoretical basis on which we will try to valorize the above-mentioned stories. As part of the reading of the short stories The Owner of The House, Summer Night and Train Journey by the Turkish author Ahmed Hamdi Tanpınar, the emphasis will be on elements such as time, the past, dreams, the unconscious, the other or the personal history of the characters about the world they build within themselves. The identity crises experienced by the protagonists of the analyzed stories have their roots in childhood traumas, and dreams represent the key to uncovering the unconscious. By applying Freud's psychoanalysis to the text, they tried to reveal the symptoms of the text and the unconscious mechanisms whose meaning is hidden in images, symbols, and metaphors. In his short stories, we find the story of the collapse of the inner world of the hero, of their escape from reality and continuous search, while the subject(s) of the text itself is constructed through its past, or more precisely, it is defined by a complex of events and people from the past.

SAGA: results of a second trial testing a mentalizing-based reading intervention on children and staff in early childhood education

Social–emotional development is a key factor in child well-being and development, and studying how it can be supported in early childhood is crucial. This study acted as a second trial testing the efficacy of a shared story book reading intervention combined with mentalizing discussions (SAGA), on children’s (N = 196) social–emotional development. In contrast to the first trial, the current trial utilized a group comprised of mostly multilingual children, attending daycare in a minority language. In addition, we investigated the effect of the intervention on the mentalizing capacity of the staff. The staff of the early childhood education and care (ECEC) centers were trained to lead discussions about story characters’ mental states with children three times a week. The staff’s mentalization ability was measured by the self-reported Mentalization Scale (MentS). Children’s social–emotional development was evaluated via the teacher-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire SDQ, and verbal fluency via a subtest from the NEPSY II neuropsychological test battery. After 12 weeks, the children in the SAGA group showed improvement in prosocial behavior, whereas no change was observed in the control group. Furthermore, within the SAGA group, the children showing initially lower scores for prosocial behavior displayed larger improvement compared to their peers with higher scores at baseline. No such intervention-based improvement emerged in verbal fluency. Unlike in the first trial, the intervention did not have an impact on children’s internalizing or externalizing problems. The results suggest that story reading sessions combined with mentalizing discussions about emotions, thoughts, and intentions of the story characters may support children’s social–emotional development within the realm of prosocial behavior, although the possibility to decrease children’s internalizing and externalizing problems with these sessions remains unclear based on the two trials. In addition, training the ECEC staff in mentalization theory and guiding them toward mind-related dialogs improved staff motivation to mentalize, as well as their child-related mentalization capacity.

El cuento como estrategia innovadora para el fomento de la creatividad en los estudiantes de educación primaria

The research was carried out under the modality of a feasible project based on a descriptive fieldwork. The population and sample of the study consisted of teaching staff (20) and students (60). The data collection utilized the survey technique through a questionnaire instrument, validated in content through expert judgment. Reliability was determined, resulting in 0.81 for students and 0.82 for teachers, considered very high according to the criteria established by Ruiz (2002). The diagnostic results indicate that the teacher promotes little the realization of theater works or the performance of dramatic games combining body expressions with the narration of a specific story. Likewise, they rarely engage in reading activities using various sounds, noises, and gestures to develop the faculty of imitation in their students. Similarly, it was found that students are interested in practicing recreational reading of stories to enhance their creativity; they are willing to take on recreational reading of stories as an opportunity for personal growth.

Vacare: from Lectio Divina to Contemplative Reading. Making space for the personal formation of secondary school students

The personal formation of students is an important goal in Religious Education in secondary schools in the Netherlands. This article, which is based on the design research of my PhD dissertation, examines how a contemplative approach to reading stories can, according to Religious Education teachers, contribute to the personal formation of students. Thus, a teacher’s manual, based on the monastic tradition of Lectio Divina, was designed and tested for the Contemplative Reading of Biblical parables. What possibilities does this teacher’s manual for Contemplative Reading offer for creating space for the personal formation of students in daily teaching practice? How do the results of this intervention contribute to the theory of personal formation and the theory of contemplative practices in education? Cultivating a space for freedom—vacare—appears to be essential. Contemplative Reading can open this space of attention and listening in the classroom.

Konsep Pendidikan Islam Dalam Sebuah Cerita: Yang Amat Arif

This story is categorized as a community story for the Malays, and the author is a Muslim man. This study focuses on the merits of this story based on two aspects: the concept of Islamic education mentioned in the story, and how successful is the writer in conveying the experience from the Islamic perspective? The topic of this study is as follows: introducing the story, the content of the story, the concept of Islamic education, the objective of the story, and then the experience from the perspective of the writer's Islamic religion. The research method is based on the inductive library method, which is by reading stories, translating and explaining some texts that contain the concept of Islamic education. The main discussion topic of this story is about the writer, the main character and the supporting characters. The second topic of discussion is about the summary of this story. While the third topic of discussion, the author debates about four concepts of education, namely: the voice of conscience, the request to prevent from committing sins, the recitation of the basmalah and its blessings and finally the remorse of conscience. The fourth discussion topic breaks down the overall narration in this story and its objectives. The fifth discussion topic is about the author's success and ability to convey experiences from the Islamic perspective in what is discussed in the story. The approach used by the writer Rahmat Haron in this story is an Islamic writing style approach that is characterized by a strong pillar of the Islamic religion, and even enriches the writing by injecting elements of Islamic literature.

Increase Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking through Reading Stories

The successful implementation of the teacher's learning process in Indonesian language lessons in elementary schools depends on students' understanding of basic reading and critical thinking skills. The aim of the research is to develop teaching modules in developing students' reading and critical thinking skills (DRTA) models in improving reading and critical thinking from the fourth grade elementary school students. This research was conducted using a descriptive methodology with a combination of development and research (R&D) approaches using the ADDIE design. In carrying out this research, data collection techniques were used which included defining the early stages of module development and prototype design, as well as preparing the module draft. Data collection through interviews, observation, documentation, and literature studies. The data analysis technique used is descriptive statistical analysis technique and inferential statistical analysis of research findings showing a significant increase in various fields among grade 4 students with a total of 25 students. In particular, there was a significant improvement in their ability to initial reading ability material and think critically by applying DRTA. Thus the DRTA model can improve the ability to think, read, understand and think critically.