The Effect of Using Storytelling on Developing Saudi EFL University Students' Reading Comprehension

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the effect of using storytelling on developing Saudi EFL university students' reading comprehension. To achieve the purpose of the study, the researcher changed the units of New Head Way Plus (Elementary Student's Book) of the first semester into storytelling texts instead of the passages that were found in the student's book. The sample of the study consisted of 40 male first year science university students, who were chosen purposefully, at the university college of Taymaa at Tabuk Univeristy. Each group consists of 20 participants. The participants were assigned into two groups, the students of the experimental group ,who study Biology, was taught according to the method assigned by the researcher; whereas the students of the  control group, who study Maths in the same college, was taught according to the method supposed by the textbook. A quantitative method was used to analyze the participants' responses in the pre and post reading comprehension tests. The findings of the study showed that there were significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental group and the mean scores of the control group in favor of the participants in the experimental group. This indicated that using the storytelling as a technique had a positive effect on developing the participants' reading comprehension.

Keywords: Reading comprehension, storytelling, technique, EFL learners.