Short stories : enhancing reading comprehension levels through literature-based instruction.

Abstract

The present project is set in the action research type within a qualitative research paradigm. This proposal attended to an academical necessity concerning the development of the reading comprehension levels in an EFL classroom. This study was carried out with a group of ninth grade students at Instituto Pedagógico Nacional in Bogotá. Therefore, the process of observation and diagnosis revealed that students presented a lack of development of their reading skills, specifically in relation to the reading comprehension levels. Hence, the project established as a main purpose to analyze the impact of using a set of activities based on short stories with situated contents designed under the principles of the literature-based instruction approach to develop the reading comprehension skills. Regarding the previous information, this project displayed a pedagogical proposal that revealed an advance regarding responses from the participants’ learning and enhancement regarding their reading comprehension levels, vocabulary, pronunciation, motivation, the acquisition of knowledges non-related to the academical curriculum and overall, the use of the foreign language to express their ideas connecting their own context.