Teaching Short Stories through the Use of the Reader-Response Theory: Second-Year Students at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida

Abstract

The Reader-Response Theory considers the learner as an active participant in extracting meaning from a literary work depending on his/her prior experience. Teaching literature critically allows the reader to create a sense, and compare the previous experience with the written text. Second-year students cannot decode and scrutinize a short academic text, which unveiled that they are unaware of the different types of readings. The research question arises in this vein is: To what extent does the Reader-Response Theory contribute to the development of the EFL students’ skills? The piece of work aims at introducing and applying the Reader-Response Theory to teaching short stories to second-year university students. The current study was conducted on students taught by the teacher-researcher at Dr. Moulay Tahar University-Saida, Algeria. A questionnaire, observation, and the analysis of students’ written assignments employed in the present work for the overarching aim of gathering data in a timely period. Yet, the results revealed that after implementing this approach, EFL students become aware of how to undertake an academic written piece. It also reinforces their thinking skills, and boosts their creativity.