i

THE EFFECTS OF STORYTELLING ACTIVITIES TO

STUDENTS’ READING SKILL

THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the requirements for the Degree of

Sarjana Pendidikan

Inneke Elvira Widyasari

112014107

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS

UNIVERSITAS SATYA WACANA

SALATIGA

2018

ii

PERNYATAAN TIDAK PLAGIAT

iii

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN AKSES

iv

APPROVAL LETTER

vi

PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION

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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

This thesis contains no such materials as has been submitted for examination in

any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any

university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material

previously published or written by any other person except where due references

is made in the text.

Copyright@ 2018. Inneke Elvira Widyasari and Prof. Gusti Astika.

All right reserved. No part of this thesis may be produced by any means without

the permission of at least on of the copyright owners or the English Language

Education Program, Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Kristen Satya

Wacana, Salatiga.

Inneke Elvira Widyasari

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TABLE OF CONTENT

COVER PAGE ……………………………………………………………………………i

PERNYATAAN TIDAK PLAGIAT .................................................................................. ii

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN AKSES ...................................................................... iii

APPROVAL LETTER ....................................................................................................... iv

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ............................................................................................. v

PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION .......................................................... vi

TABLE OF CONTENT .................................................................................................... vii

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ 1

INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 2

LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................... 4

Storytelling Activities ..................................................................................................... 4

Reading Comprehension ................................................................................................. 6

Reading fluency .............................................................................................................. 8

PREVIOUS STUDIES ........................................................................................................ 9

THE STUDY .................................................................................................................... 10

Method .......................................................................................................................... 10

Context of the study ...................................................................................................... 11

Participants .................................................................................................................... 11

Data collection instruments ........................................................................................... 11

Data Collection Procedures ........................................................................................... 12

Data Analysis Procedures ............................................................................................. 13

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................................................... 13

Students’ perception toward storytelling ...................................................................... 14

Storytelling activities variation. .................................................................................... 16

Teacher’s encouragement ............................................................................................. 18

CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 20

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................ 23

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 24

APPENDIX ....................................................................................................................... 26

APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................... 26

APPENDIX B ............................................................................................................... 30

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APPENDIX C ............................................................................................................... 34

1

THE EFFECTS OF STORYTELLING ACTIVITIES TO STUDENTS’

READING SKILL

Inneke Elvira Widyasari

ABSTRACT

Storytelling is one of teaching methods that can be applied in many

levels of education. It is believed that teaching storytelling is

entertaining for students and helps them to have more meaningful

learning of the language. Storytelling activities also might help

students to develop their language skill such as vocabulary

enhancement and language features. This experimental study has

been conducted in order to investigate the effects of storytelling

activities to 7th

Grade students’ reading skill and students’

perceptions towards storytelling activities. A pretest and a posttest

were designed in the study to examine the effects of storytelling

towards their improvement in reading comprehension. During 8

weeks experiment, the participants had various activities to give

them more exposure to the narrative texts. They did not only listen

while the teacher was delivering the stories but also actively

involved preparing their story performances. The activities might

facilitate students to read more, to write and rewrite the narrative

that they had to present. Repeated reading may also help them to be

fluent in reading. The data have been collected by doing pretest and

posttest to compare their improvement in reading before and after

the treatments. Besides, some interviews were also conducted to

get to know students’ and teacher’s attitude towards storytelling.

The result of the study indicated that there was a positive effect of

storytelling activities to improve students’ comprehension of

narrative texts.

Keywords: storytelling, storytelling activities, reading

comprehension, students’ perception

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INTRODUCTION

Story telling is one of teaching techniques commonly used by teachers.

Through stories, learners can learn new vocabularies, pronunciation and grammar.

Learners are able to learn language in a structured context to understand the

content of a story or narrative text. The themes of stories vary and mostly relate to

learners’ daily experiences, feeling, culture, and values. Stories can be delivered

in an attractive, entertaining, and memorable way. Reading comprehension is

defined as an ability to grasp the meaning of a text. Readers should have an

adequate knowledge about language such as, vocabularies, language structure,

content knowledge and background knowledge of a piece of writing to help them

comprehend the text.

There have been a lot of discussions to define the role and the benefits of

storytelling activities to help students in language learning. According to

Dimitrova (2016), the process of linking words and phrases to make meaningful

units to a wider context of a narrative text may help learners to enrich their

vocabulary knowledge. Story telling activities are amusing and enjoyable for

learners to learn language in a meaningful context. While reading the text during

the storytelling session, students will connect to the spoken and pictorial element

of the story (Keller 2012). Kies, Rodriquez and Granato (1993), as cited in Groce

(2004) also state that by listening and practicing the language in context; learners

will develop their language learning. Besides, the combination of storytelling

activities have been connected to reading development by increasing learner’s

comprehension and vocabularies development (Trostle and Hicks, 1998 as cited in

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Groce, 2004). Dujmovic (2006) says that introducing literature in the classroom

may generate learners’ motivation and reduce their anxiety while learning

language. This happens since learners are naturally drawn to stories and come

from the various backgrounds in story telling

Reading comprehension is not an easy activity especially for seven graders

because they have to deal with new vocabularies, language structures and

understanding the meanings of words to comprehend the content of a piece of

writing. By indicating students’ problems in reading comprehension, studying the

effects of storytelling might be important in order to explore whether it can be

utilized to facilitate students to solve their problem. Finding the effect of the

storytelling in learning language will also provide teachers ideas if they can make

use of the storytelling activities as one of their teaching methods or strategy to

teach language in meaningful ways

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of storytelling activities to

seven graders’ reading comprehension and fluency. The research questions of this

study are, ―Is there any effects of storytelling activities to the 7th

grade students’

reading comprehension and fluency?‖ and ―What is the students’ perception

towards storytelling activities?‖ During the study, storytelling was applied as a

tool to examine students’ comprehension of narrative texts. Students were taught

how to prepare and involve in storytelling activities. While preparing storytelling

activities students listened to the stories, repeated reading, did script writings,

practiced telling stories and other activities which gave them exposures to the

pieces of writing deeper. The result of this study may prove whether storytelling

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activities offer advantages or disadvantages toward students’ reading skill

development. This study may provide useful evidence of the effects of storytelling

activities for learners’ reading comprehension, and fluency. This may help

learners to have another pleasant experience of learning foreign language. This

study will also give ideas to teachers in optimizing storytelling as one of teaching

activities in class.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Storytelling Activities

Storytelling is considered as an enjoyable activity for learning foreign

languages. Learning language by using storytelling is more fun, attractive and

applicative in daily life. This activity may help students to learn new vocabularies,

grammar and pronunciation. Furthermore, storytelling activities may raise

students’ interest to develop their four language skills (Atta-Alla, 2012; Wajnryb,

2003, as cited in Gafu & Badea, 2011). It also gives opportunity for students to

develop their creativity in speaking while they are telling a story in various

expressions and intonations; and in writing while they are assigned to develop

their own narrative text using language they have learnt.

There are some activities that can be applied in storytelling session.

According to Dimitrova (2016) appropriate stories should be prepared related to

the language level that suits to the students. It may contain understandable

vocabularies, generic structure and language feature that match to the students’

comprehension level. The teacher and students may discuss things related to the

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content and vocabularies that they have learnt before and after listening

storytelling. Storytellers are allowed to use the visual aids, pictures and

illustrations when telling the story since it can help the audiences to develop their

imagination that leads to a better comprehension. Meanwhile, based on Campbell

and Hlusek (2015), the activities that can be done in storytelling include reading,

retelling and performing stories. Storytellers can read the story aloud to their

audiences and visualize the detail of the story. They can also make a storyboard to

show the important events of the story using pictures and attractive caption. By

using the storyboard they can tell or retell the story to their friend. They also must

check all details that they should remember such as complex vocabularies. In

order to do the performance, students have to read the story, rewrite some of

scripts, and practice their oral speech so they can deliver the story well.

Storytelling is claimed as one of good methods in learning language since it

provides many benefits to the students and teachers. Dimitrova (2016) reveals

that stories are useful teaching tool in exploiting the ways of learning. This

includes developing students’ way of thinking procedures such as comparing,

classifying, concluding, predicting and problem-solving, etc.); developing

strategies for learning English such as guessing word, memorizing, self-testing,

etc.); and organizing work such as creating and reading charts and graphs, using

dictionaries, etc.). As cited in Paganeli (2016), other researchers also state that

their students who read and listen to various stories have tendency to be consistent

readers and have better performance on tests and assignments (Krashen, 2004).

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In his study, Dujmovic (2006) states that while listening to stories learners

will improve their sense of language structure. This improvement might lead to

develop their understanding toward complex stories of literature. According to

him, stories are also motivating and fun, so it can help to develop positive

attitudes towards foreign language and language learning. In addition, storytelling

activities may raise learners’ desire to continue learning. Stories also create

imagination. Children can be motivated to involve in a story personally when they

identify the characters and try to decode the narrative and illustrations. This

imaginative experience helps develop their power of creativity.

Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is a multidimensional skill that requires knowledge

and processing skills at a number of levels. There are several essential

components for comprehension such as vocabulary, working memory,

background knowledge, and processes including interpretation processing and

comprehension checking (Perfetti, Marron, & Foltz, 1996).

There are some requirements that learners should have in order to develop

their reading comprehension. National Reading Panel (2000) states that in order to

understand a piece of text, readers have to stimulate their background knowledge

to organize and develop the interpretation that helps them to connect with the text.

When learners confront difficulties in their comprehension of text, they will check

their understanding and activate their cognitive strategies. Thus, the relation

between the reader’s vocabulary knowledge with the text and application of

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reading comprehension strategies occurs during this process. In other words,

learners must have an ability to connect their prior knowledge to new information

they read to comprehend the text (Roberts, Torgesen, Boardman, & Scammacca,

2008). Therefore, successful reading involves interpreting and oral language skills

(Catts, 2006; Gough & Tunmer, 1986 as cited in Spencer, Kajian and Petersen,

2004). Another opinion by Akkaya (2011) as cited in Basar and Gurbus (2017)

states that comprehension might be able to develop if the readers have

comprehensive and correct achievement skill of basic language and they might

use their cognitive skill to construct knowledge since their early age.

There are some difficulties which students encounter in reading

comprehension. Acording to Swanson, Kehler, & Jerman (2010) as cited in

Narkon and Wells (2013), lacking of working memory, knowledge transfer and

information processing are fundamental cognitive factors of students’ difficulties

in reading comprehension. It is found that incompetent readers lack capability to

collect and process information they read in the text at the same time. Other

obstacles in reading comprehension are failure to check their understanding,

incompetency to apply suitable reading strategies for doing the task,

incompetency in text interpretation and inability to combine ideas in the text

(Antoniou & Sovignier, 2007).

Incompetency in reading comprehension generates some effects in learners

reading development. Students who register school with insufficient early

language experiences might have obstacle in reading and understanding what they

read (Bishop & Snowling, 2004 as cited in Spencer, et al, 2004). Students with

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incompetency in reading comprehension may not able to understand the content

of a piece of writing. This will also disadvantage their writing and speaking skills.

Reading fluency

Reading fluency refers to someone’s ability to read a text accurately, quickly

using expression and correct pronunciation. Learners with fluent reading skill are

able to read naturally as when they are speaking. On the contrary, readers who

have low proficiency in reading fluency will read slowly, word by word. Fluent

readers can read fast and recognize words accurately. They also can read in good

intonation, correct word stress and rhythm. More over, they also know words

integration in sentences within the text they read to make meaning automatically

(National Reading Panel, 2000). Reading fluency seems to be important for

supporting reading comprehension. In order to be fluent in reading learners must

be able to integrate the information in the text and their background knowledge. In

other words, fluent readers have to recognize words and comprehend at the same

time. According to Gorsuch & Taguchi, (2010), students will be slowly and hard

to read because of their lack of word recognition skills.

Incompetency in reading fluency may cause some effects to students’ reading

development. Nuttall (1996) as cited in Gorsuch & Taguchi, (2010) says that

students who are less fluent might not read much because they do not understand

the content of the piece of writing they read. This will influence their engagement

in reading practice; they will be less engaged. They tend to be focus on the

meaning of each word rather than comprehending the content of the text. Some

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foreign language learners will interpret words slowly since they cannot store

enough information in their working memories in a long time to understand

connected text (Bernhardt, 1991 as cited in Gorsuch & Taguchi, 2001). Campbell

and Hluhsek (2015) in their study of Storytelling for Fluency and Flair reveal that

some activities in storytelling such as readers’ theatre will develop students

reading fluency skill. They also state that by repeated reading the narrative text,

students will improve their fluency and comprehension in reading. Meanwhile, the

activities they provide in oral narrative provide opportunity for students to

practice in speaking and listening skills. Both of these skills are important in

reading fluency.

PREVIOUS STUDIES

Several studies also have reported the effectiveness of storytelling activities

to improve students’ reading skills. Lee (2014) explored the use of digital news

story to support students’ development of comprehension and oral language skill.

Her research, which was done in the University of Hampshire, involved 15

university students who enrolled in a content‐based, advanced reading course. The

participants had several majors disciplines such as Spanish, International affairs,

business, sociology, political science and nursing. They were in the intermediate

level of language proficiency based on the results of the WebCAPE Foreign

Language Placement Exam. During the research, the participants were assigned to

get some current news from newspapers, television, or radio, then they had to

create their story based on the information that they got in a form of digital story

using an application called VoiceThread. They might share their opinion and other

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students would also give their feedbacks. The result of this study revealed that

students gained multi‐literacy skills and further improved their speaking fluency.

Another study was conducted by Campbell and Hlusek in 2012. In their

study, they explored the role of storytelling performance in the classroom. The

participants were Michelle’s students in third grade of Nipissing Parry Sound

District Separate School Board in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. During the study,

students were taught using storytelling. They also learned how to tell story and

prepare storytelling performance. The result of the study proved that students’

comprehension in reading improved according to provincial expectation and some

of students improved their level of reading fluency from level one to three. It also

gave positive impact even to students with special needs by using specific

technique called BoardMaker.

THE STUDY

Method

This was a pre-test and post test experimental study. It was a study where

the researcher actively controlled certain group to receive exposure during the

study (Hatch & Lazaraton, 1991). It was conducted to address the research

question whether there are any effects of storytelling activities to the 7th

grade

students’ reading comprehension and to investigate the students’ attitudes towards

storytelling.

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Context of the study

This study was conducted in a private Junior High School in Salatiga. This

school was selected as the target of this experimental study because it has an

English extracurricular activity. The members of the English extracurricular

activity were chosen to be the participants of this study. During the study there

were several activities such as empowering the English extracurricular activity

without disturbing the regular English schedules.

Participants

This study took place in one of private Junior High Schools in Salatiga.

There were 10 students chosen as the participants of this study. The class used for

this study was an English extracurricular class in this school. There were nine

students of Grade 7 and one student of Grade 8 who joined the English

extracurricular activity. Thus, the sampling of the participants was purposive since

they participated in English extracurricular activity. They were selected from

different parallel classes.

Data collection instruments

In order to answer the research questions of this study, there are three

instruments used to collect the data. First, a pre-test of reading that was given at

the beginning of the study. The reading test material was in a form of narrative

text about fables. It was about 500 words long. Students were assigned to do some

tasks related to the content of the fables. Second, a post-test of reading that was

conducted at the end of the study. The reading test material was a different

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narrative from the test material provided for pre-test but the number of words and

the level of difficulties were about the same. Third, interviews were also

conducted to collect data from both of the students and teacher about their

attitudes towards storytelling activities. The interviews were conducted after the

post test.

Data Collection Procedures

In this study, all assessments were conducted in the English extracurricular

session for eight weeks. The participants had a pre test of reading comprehension.

They got a narrative text of fable with approximately had 500 words. Then, the

participants were given a comprehension test by answering some questions related

to the text and do multiple choice exercises. During the study, the participants

were also examined on their reading fluency skill. They were assessed

individually as they read a narrative text aloud to get the correct words in one

minute reading. In order to get the final score, the numbers of errors were

subtracted from the total number of words read in one minute. The norm table was

designed for the scoring. After having some story telling activities in class, the

participants had a post test of reading. The technique conducted in the post test

reading was same as the pre test of reading but the narrative text was different in

terms of the title and content. The level of difficulty and the length of the narrative

were same as the narrative of the pre reading test. The last procedure was

interview. It was conducted after the post test of reading. The questions of the

interview were structured questions to elicit the teacher’s and students’ attitudes

toward storytelling activities.

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Data Analysis Procedures

The results of pre and post reading test were analyzed using paired-sample

t-test to find out the difference between pre and post test scores. The interview

data was coded to find out the themes referring to the attitudes of the teachers and

students towards storytelling.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This study was conducted to assess whether the application of storytelling

activities would have an effect on students’ reading comprehension and to investigate

students’ perception towards storytelling activities. Thus, at the end of the study the

result of the pre and post reading test were analyzed statistically to find out

whether the students improved their reading comprehension. Some interviews

were also conducted to reveal students’ perception about storytelling activities.

The statistical analysis of the t-test between pre and post reading test was

found significant, t (9) = −2,419, p < 0.05; indicating that the result of the post test

(M = 78,92; SD = 22,13) was significantly higher than the result of the pre test (M

= 72.88, SD = 22,77). (See Appendix C)

When looking at the result of the paired T-test, it is evident that

implementing of storytelling activities affected the students’ comprehension of

fables. Most of the students showed improvement in their understanding by

answering the questions correctly. In other words, the storytelling method is

effective to apply to help students develop their reading skill.

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Storytelling activities may not only help improving students’ reading skill

but also expand their knowledge of vocabularies. This method was effective

because of other supportive aspects such as students’ positive perception towards

storytelling activities, variation in the storytelling activities during the experiment

and teachers’ encouragement to raise students’ development in reading

comprehension.

Students’ perception toward storytelling

Learning will be more meaningful if we can enjoy the process of the

learning itself. This also happened to the participants of this experiment. In the

English extracurricular used for the experiment, the students did many storytelling

activities. They did not just sit in the class to listen to the stories told by the

teacher but they were also actively involved to do the activities such as discussing,

reading and telling the stories. These activities improved their score and promoted

their interest, expression and attitude toward storytelling itself. Through the

interview, class observation and post activities oral reflection, students showed

their positive perception towards storytelling activities. They stated that it was

exciting to have storytelling activities during the English extracurricular activity.

They made the class different than regular classes. One of the students was

enthusiastic because learning English through storytelling was so entertaining and

meaningful since he could also learn about moral values. He also said that he

could learn deeper than what he learned in Elementary school. As stated by

Student B and C in the interview sessions:

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Excerpt 1

I like it. It was enjoyable so we can learn more about moral values of the stories and what

we can pick up from the story itself. (Student B, Interview. March 22, 2018)

Excerpt 2

It was entertaining and we could learn more while we were having fun with our friends.

I could learn English to a higher level than when I was in Elementary School. I think it

was really exciting. (Student B, Interview. March 22, 2018)

Excerpt 3

It was exciting. (Student C, Interview. March 23, 2018)

Meanwhile, one of the students said that she did not like to listen to the story

because it was hard for her to understand the content of the story. However, she

stated that during the experiment she found out it was amusing doing the

storytelling activities. Even though she still had to struggle with the difficult

vocabularies but she enjoyed the story listening session. As Student A said:

Excerpt 4

It was cool. (Student A. Interview. March 22, 2018)

Excerpt 5

(I enjoyed) Listening to the story.

Student A. Interview. March 22, 2018)

Her perception was changes because by using storytelling that enriched with text

and pictures helped them to raise her understanding.

Excerpt 6

It helped (to listen to the story by using Power Point slides) (Student A. Interview. March

22, 2018)

By exploring students’ perspective towards storytelling activities we can find out

that this method has built a supportive atmosphere in class that helped students to

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enjoy learning English. They felt relax, amused and excited; as the result of it they

could get a meaningful learning to improve their comprehension of the narrative.

Storytelling activities variation.

During the experiment, students’ got some treatments about storytelling.

They listened to the stories, read some famous fables, told the fable using visual

aids such as Power point slides and other properties, reading fables together and

also discover the story behind the song lyrics. Those variations of activities

worked to increase their understanding towards the narrative text. This also

decreased the monotonous in class. Students got their opportunity to enhance their

capacity of learning new vocabularies by discussing the meaning of the difficult

vocabularies in the fables they listened. They also develop in their reading

fluency. More over, they also improve in their comprehension by answering some

questions related to the fables and by preparing the story that they were assigned

to be told in front of the class. When preparing the storytelling performance

students were urged to rewrite and retell the narrative based on their

understanding and were able to simplify the vocabularies so it would be an easy

listening and comprehendible story for the audience. As stated by Student C in

Excerpts 7, storytelling that was performed using the properties and designed in

Power Point Slide using pictures and text were really helpful for students to

understand the narrative text.

Excerpt 7

It helped. Story which is performed using Power point slide. The text of the stories can be

decoded. (Student C. Interview. March 23, 2018)

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In addition, reading story in a group with special intonations, expressions and

different voices of the story characters was humorous and entertaining like what

Students D said in Excerpt 8. She also said that by doing storytelling activities

assisted her to be fluent in reading and understand more the meaning of

vocabularies that help her to comprehend the story.

Excerpt 8

Teacher : “Which activities in English Club that you like the most?”

Student D: “When we come forward together.”

Teacher : “Oh, the last performance, Reader’s theatre. Why do you like it most?”

Student D: “Because it was fun”

Teacher :”What has made it fun?”

Student D: We talked (read) together. All friends were excited. They were fun.”

Teacher :”Was it because we used the different voices and intonation (for representing

the characters in the story)?

Student D:”Yes”

(Student D. Interview. March 23, 2018)

Another activity that the participants had to do was telling fables in front

of the class. This needed more preparation to choose, read, rephrase and rewrite

the story; practice telling the story; and prepare the appropriate visual aids,

pictures and other properties for their storytelling performance. While doing the

preparation, unconsciously students had learnt wider vocabularies and became

more fluent in reading. As stated by Student B and Student D:

Excerpt 9

Teacher : “Do you think that storytelling performance can help you to comprehend

reading text?”

Student B : The activity in storytelling helps me to improve (my comprehension).. it is like

to read again and again. Sometimes, there are tongue twister words so I have

to repeat it again and again.”

Teacher : “In the relation of.., let’s say by telling stories I become more understand,

how telling stories makes you comprehend (the narrative text)?”

Student B : As I said before, because sometimes I find difficult words that I’ve never

heard before, so I have to ask my teacher.”

(Student B. Interview. March 22, 2018)

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Excerpt 10

Teacher : “Do you think that storytelling performances can help you to comprehend

reading text?”

Student D : Hmm (Thinking)

Teacher : “Let’s take an example, by telling story I can understand the text better?”

Student D: “Yes, it is because I can learn more vocabularies and read more fluent”

(Student D. Interview. March 23, 2018)

Finally, we can take a conclusion that the variation of the storytelling activities

really provides some benefits to the students.

Teacher’s encouragement

Teaching students with different level of proficiency of English skill drives

the teacher to find the practical strategy to help students acquire their best English

skill. The teacher stated that generally the students lack mastery of vocabularies

and less enthusiastic to read. These also affect their ability to produce English in

daily life. Therefore, students should have good concept that they acquire by

reading as many texts as possible in order to help them improve their English

skill. This will give them adequate and meaningful inputs to be applied in daily

life communication. As the teacher stated in Excerpt 11

Excerpt 11

The students here come with different skills, but in general they are weak in their

vocabularies, they are lack of vocabularies and reading interest. Their reading

enthusiasm was less given since they were in the Elementary School. So, they have

difficulties in mastering the vocabularies and in reading comprehension. As in writing

skill, we are still in the Junior High School level. In writing, they should begin with the

concept before they are able to write. Basically, if they are more diligent to read they will

be able to write in English, (by reading) they can get adequate knowledge. (Teacher A.

Interview. March 28, 2018)

In helping students to be able to communicate in English, the teacher

always encourage students to find and read more the reading texts and articles

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related to nowadays issues in this high technology era from the social media,

internet, songs, movies and around them. The passion of reading should be

maintained everyday to raise the sense of curiosity. By getting more reading

exposure will enrich students’ mastery of vocabularies and their meaning which

can also help them when they get reading material in class.

Excerpt 12

I tell them that these days we are in the era of using English for the medium of

communication. So, I encourage them to find texts and articles related to today’s world,

by using social media via their high technology gadget. You can find them in Google

about 5 short texts or articles. Find it from the songs, movies. Or when you are on your

trip, you can see many texts. You have to be passionate in reading, don’t be ignorance, be

curious. From these examples of texts you will be aware with the sentence and the

meaning. By doing this, you can improve your mastery of vocabulary. (Teacher A.

Interview. March 28, 2018)

The teacher also taught reading comprehension through several types of

texts, while narrative text is taught in Grade 8. She also often uses digital stories

for in her teaching. She stated that students were more interested in learning and

engaged with the material. Those really help to improve students’ ability to

master and enrich the vocabularies and their meanings that help them to

comprehend the material. When I asked about the relationship between

storytelling activities with the students’ comprehension, the teacher said that

storytelling activities could promote students’ comprehension. As we can see

from the Excerpt 13 to 15, encouraging students to read more and provide them

with storytelling activities in class may support students’ development in their

comprehension that will be beneficial to achieve their best English skill.

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Excerpt 13

I think so. The answer might be “yes”. Their ability to comprehend the text should be

improved. It is because of storytelling helps them to visualize, and they can absorb it (in

their brain). They will be more understood rather than only get the theory in class, it can

be forgotten easily. (Teacher A. Interview. March 28, 2018)

Excerpt 14

First, I will discuss the theory (of the material) in class then I continue with the

storytelling example. I demonstrate how to tell the story using the visual aids and

property. after that, we usually discuss the vocabularies. I also use the multimedia for

displaying the pictures that relate to the difficult vocabularies. I find them in Google. (By

watching the pictures) they can absorb them better. (Teacher A. Interview. March 28,

2018)

Excerpt 15

I also use digitals stories for pre-teaching. I download from YouTube and I tell them the

story. My students are more interested to engage with the lesson and more curious to

know the vocabularies. They (digital stories) really help. They help students in

visualizing. (Teacher A. Interview. March 28, 2018)

In other words we can confirm that implementing storytelling activities might be

effective when the teacher consistently use them in class and encourages the

students to have a passion in doing it.

CONCLUSION

This study attempted to investigate the effects of storytelling activities for

students’ reading skill and students’ perception towards storytelling activities.

According to the research result student’s reading comprehension improved by

applying some storytelling activities in class. To put in another way, this method

was considered effective to help students to achieve better understanding toward

narrative texts.

As found from the interview, there are some factors which also contribute

to the success of this method in class. The first factor was students’ positive

21

perception towards the storytelling. They revealed that having storytelling

activities was fun and enjoyable. Of course, when they felt happy it created

relaxing and comfortable atmosphere in the class. This positive attitude promoted

students motivation to learn deeper and as the consequence, they could improve

their understanding. The next factor that supported the effectiveness of this

method was the variety of the activities that gave the students more exposure to

narrative texts. The activity variations decreased monotonous and stimulated

students to involve four language skills that facilitate them to comprehend the

piece of writing. The third factor is teacher’s consistency in motivating the

students to read more text and articles and implementing storytelling method in

class to give adequate information and knowledge to the students.

This study has produced significant result on the effects of applying

storytelling activities for student’s reading skill. It is hoped that teachers and

students are able to implement this method and bring their creativity to design the

activities in class in order to improve students’ comprehension. Even though this

study has achieved its purpose, there were some limitations, so the result could

not be generalized. First, the population of the experimental group may not

represent the majority of the same level of the students since there was only one

control group of 10 students. In order to generalize the result, it is recommended

to have a larger population with different levels of student’s proficiency. Second,

the experiment was conducted in 8 meetings which were not enough to give

exposure and opportunity to the participants to practice more in preparing

storytelling performance that may give more significant result if it was done

22

longer. Third, the interview result used to support the finding seemed not too deep

in describing the students’ and teacher’s attitude towards storytelling. The open

ended questions should be structured more comprehensively in order to get more

substantial information.

23

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, my very special gratitude goes to Jesus Christ, my Lord

and Savior. He is the source of knowledge and wisdom and has been my help and

strength from day to day, so I can complete my study. I would like to extend my

thanks to my family, for their endless support through love, prayers and

encouragements. I also would like to express my great appreciation to my

supervisor, Prof Gusti Astika for his valuable guidance, advice and constructive

inputs during the proposal and the development of this research. I would like to

thank to my examiner, Ms. Maria Christina Eko Setyarini, M. Hum., for the

comments and constructive inputs for my thesis. My gratitude also goes to all FLL

teachers for the guidance and support during my study. My very special thanks

goes to Mrs. Nanik Sumarni, S.Pd, M. Pd, for giving the permission to conduct

this experiment; Mrs. Olivia Ike Kurniawati, S.Pd, the English teacher and the

English extracurricular coordinator, for her friendliness, guidance and advice

during the experiment; all the English extracurricular students for their

willingness to be my participants and their enthusiasm to take part in all activities

during the experiment. Without them, this research would not be possible to be

done. Thanks to my dearest friend, Limpid Sesty Lupiani for her constant assistant

and willingness to help me to record all of activities during the experiment. The

last but not least, I am really thankful for all my friends Septin, Monica, Defi,

Bene, Afni and Marcel for supporting me during this thesis writing.

24

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26

APPENDIX

APPENDIX A

Pre-test material and questions

PRE-TEST

Name:

Student Number:

Date:

A WOLF IN SHEEP CLOTHING

Once upon a time, there was a big wolf lived in the forest. Not far from

the forest there was a prairie where a shepherd always took the sheep for

grazing. The wolf was always waiting for a chance to steal a sheep, but the

shepherd and his dog continuously chased him away. After a week, the wolf

began to get very hungry, and thought, “I must find a way to get close to the

sheep.” It was by luck that he found a sheep’s skin. He carefully pulled the skin

over his body so that none of his grey fur showed under the white sheep skin.

Then he could walk in easily and now he was in the middle of the herd.

The big wolf knew that the most delicious sheep were the lambs, or the

young sheep. He then imitated the voice of an ewe or a mother sheep. He could

easily cheat a lamb who thought that he was its mother. And, the lamb followed

him to the woods. There, he eventually ate the innocent lamb. For many days, he

could eat as many lambs as his stomach could take. The big wolf got bigger and

bigger everyday. Now he looked like the biggest sheep on earth.

One day the shepherd was planning to hold a party. He would invite

many relatives and friends. So, he decided to slaughter the biggest sheep from

the herd. The shepherd approached the biggest sheep very slowly and carefully.

Guess who it was? The wolf, of course, who was fully covered by the white sheep

skin! But, the wolf was so fat that he could not run and fight for his safety. Very

easily the shepherd slaughtered him, chopped him, and then cooked him for the

big party.

27

A. Choose the correct answer by crossing the letter.

1. What was the story tell us about?

A. A brave wolf.

B. A hungry wolf.

C. A greedy Wolf.

D. A clever wolf.

2. Where did the wolf live?

A. The wolf lived in the prairie.

B. The wolf lived in the wood.

C. The wolf lived in the farm near the jungle.

D. The wolf lived in the jungle near the prairie.

3. Who took care of the sheep in the prairie?

A. The shepherd and the wolf

B. The shepherd and his son.

C. The farmer and his dog.

D. The shepherd and his dog.

4. What did wolf do to cheat the shepherd?

A. The wolf joined in the sheep herd.

B. The wolf covered his fur in a sheep’s skin.

C. The wolf found dog’s skin and pretend to be a shepherd dog.

D. The wolf walked in the middle of sheep herd.

5. According to the story, what was the most delicious sheep for the wolf?

A. A ewe

B. A lamb

C. A ram

D. All are correct

6. How did the wolf get the sheep that he wanted to eat?

A. The wolf followed the lamb to the wood.

B. The wolf caught the lamb in the wood.

C. The wolf pretended to be a mother sheep and duplicate her voice.

D. The wolf wore sheep’s skin.

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7. Which is the statement below is correct.

A. The wolf became weak everyday.

B. The wolf became hungry everyday.

C. The wolf became greedy everyday.

D. The wolf became angry everyday.

8. What did the shepherd plan to do?

A. He planned to hold a party and would slaughter the wolf.

B. He planned to have a dinner and eat the sheep.

C. He planned to hold a party with his friends.

D. He planned to hold a party and would slaughter the sheep.

9. Who was slaughter by the shepherd?

A. The lamb.

B. The ewe.

C. The dog.

D. The wolf.

10. Why was the wolf caught by the shepherd?

A. He was so fat.

B. He was too weak that he could not run.

C. He was too careful and slow.

D. He was too fat and could not fight to save his life.

B. Match the words with their meaning.

______ (11) herd A. a person who tends and rears sheep.

______ (12) lamb B. to kill (animals) for food

______ (13) shepherd C. a young sheep.

______ (14) slaughter D. to act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an

advantage

______ (15) cheat E. a large group of animals, especially hoofed

mammals, that live, feed, or migrate together

or are kept together as livestock.

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C. Answer the question correctly.

16. Who are the characters of the story?

17. What happened to the wolf?

18. What did the wolf do to the lamb?

19. What is in the story shows that the wolf is greedy?

20. What moral value can you learn from this story?

30

APPENDIX B

Post-test materials and questions

POST-TEST Name :

Class :

Date :

The Lion and a Clever Fox

Long ago, there lived a lion in a forest. One morning his wife told him that

his breath was bad and unpleasant. The lion became embarrassed and angry

upon hearing it. He wanted to check this fact with others. So he called three

others outside his cave.

First, came the sheep. The Lion opening his mouth wide said, “Sheep, tell

me if my mouth smells bad?” The sheep thought that the lion wanted an honest

answer, so the sheep said, “Yes, Friend. There seems to be something wrong

with your breath”. This plain speak did not go well with the lion. He pounced on

the sheep, killing it.

Then the lion called the wolf and said, “What do you think? Do I have a

bad breath?” The wolf saw what happened to the sheep. He wanted to be very

cautious in answering a question. So, the wolf said, “Who says that your breath is

unpleasant. It’s as sweet as the smell of roses”. When the lion heard the reply,

he roared in anger and immediately attacked the wolf and killed it. “The

flatterer!” growled the lion.

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Finally, came the turn of the fox. The lion asked him the same question.

The fox was well aware of the fate of the sheep and the wolf. So he coughed and

cleared his throat again and again and then said, “Oh Dear Friend, for the last

few days, I have been having a very bad cold. Due to this, I can’t smell anything,

pleasant or unpleasant”. The lion spared the fox’s life.

Moral: Do not involve yourself in a bad friend or a bad situation else you may

end up getting punished for no fault of yours. Sometimes, it is wise to stay away

from certain situations.

A. Choose the correct answer by crossing the letter.

11. Who told the lion that his breath was smell bad?

A. The sheep.

B. The wolf

C. His wife.

D. The fox.

12. How did he feel when he was told that his breath was smell?

A. He was happy.

B. He was angry.

C. He was satisfied.

D. He was sad.

13. What did the lion do to check the fact?

A. He asked his wife whether his breath was unpleasant.

B. He asked other animals whether his breath was unpleasant.

C. He went to the forest.

D. He stayed in his cave.

14. Why was the sheep killed by the lion?

A. The sheep told the lion that his breath was smell good.

B. The sheep told the lion that his breath was smell bad.

C. The sheep told that the lion was embarrassed.

D. The sheep told that he had a bad cold.

15. Why did the wolf say that lion’s breath was smell as sweet as the smell of

roses?

A. Because lion was his good friend.

B. Because he wanted to make the lion happy.

C. Because he did not want to be killed by the lion.

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D. Because he wanted to make the lion embarrassed.

16. The word “flatterer” in line 12 has close meaning with…

A. compliment giver

B. critical

C. boastful man

D. liar

17. Why did the lion kill the wolf?

A. Because he knew that the wolf told him the truth.

B. Because he knew that the wolf did not tell the truth.

C. Because the wolf was a bad animal.

D. Because the wolf had a very bad cold.

18. How did the fox save his life from the lion?

A. He said that the lion’s breath was unpleasant.

B. He said that the lion’s breath was smell good.

C. He said that the lion was cold and got coughing.

D. He told the lion that he could not smell anything due to a very bad cold.

19. Why did the fox say that he was sick?

A. Because he really had a very cold.

B. Because he knew that the lion was sad.

C. Because he did not want to be killed by the lion by saying the truth or lie.

D. Because he wanted to make the lion embarrassed.

20. Who was the wise animal in the story?

A. The fox

B. The lion

C. The sheep

D. The wolf

B. Match the words with their meaning.

______ (11) breath A. Causing discomfort or unhappiness.

______ (12) unpleasant B. Telling the truth.

______ (13) honest C. Having knowledge or perception of a situation or

fact.

______ (14) attack D. The air taken into or expelled from the lungs.

33

______ (15) aware E. Acting against someone in an attempt to injure

or kill.

C. Answer the question correctly.

16. Who were the characters of the story?

17. What happened to the lion?

18. What did the lion do to the wolf?

19. What is in the story shows that the fox was clever?

20. What moral value can you learn from this story?

34

APPENDIX C

The paired T-test result