Storytelling effect on reading comprehension skills of EFL learners in upper basic education

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effect of storytelling on reading comprehension skills and students' perceptions of this technique. It involved thirty-four eighth-grade students in upper basic education and used a mixed-methods approach, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods. The students were given both a pre-test and a post test focusing on specific reading comprehension sub-skills: skimming, scanning, and deducing meaning from context. The pre-test was conducted before implementing the storytelling technique, and the post-test was administered after the intervention to assess its impact and measure the learners' progress. Additionally, a questionnaire was used to gauge the students' perceptions, supplemented by field notes taken by the researcher to enrich and reinforce the information gathered during the intervention. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The initial pre-test results indi cated low performance in reading comprehension skills among the students. However, following the intervention, the post-test results showed a moderate improvement in their reading comprehension skills. These findings demonstrate the effect of storytelling and the positive perceptions of students regarding this technique in EFL classes.