The short story has its origins in traditional oral storytelling. Many of the world’s greatest literary classics such as El Cid, La Chanson de Roland, Beowulf or the Odyssey were originally orally transmitted. In most cases, the story has undergone many modifications in the course of the telling processes; still they are today’s primary testimonies for language, history, culture and people of the past. They were told in rhyming and therefore functioned as a mnemonic device for easier recall . In Europe, the short story began to evolve from oral storytelling in the early 14th century with Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Boccacio’s Decamerone, books consisting of individual short stories within a larger frame story. Only in the 19th century, modern short stories began to be considered a proper genre. Print magazines represented a strong market for short fiction, theories related to this began to surge, as for example, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Philosophy of Composition. Nowadays, the number of commercial magazines publishing short stories has decreased but they appear to have found their place in online publications.
Today, reading has become a minor activity in people’s lives with globalisation, technological progress and a fast-growing media industry. In schools, pupil’s interest is increasingly difficult to stimulate , especially when it comes to literature in the English Second Language classroom. Students are used to fast information input without necessarily having to become active themselves, they lose concentration easily when the learning process takes too long or they lose patience when they do not understand right away. The use of short stories in the English Foreign Language classroom is one possibility to respond to this problem teachers of foreign languages have to face.
Therefore, this paper is going to define the genre of the short story as such to create a basis for the following presentation of the benefits of short stories for the North Rhine-Westphalian English Language Classroom. In the next step, the curricula and guidelines are taken into consideration in order to develop some ideas on how to implement The Machine that Won the War by Isaac Asimov in class. These will be integrated into a lesson plan with several activities around the story.
There are several theoretical works dealing with the lecture of short stories, starting with Poe’s work mentioned above, Allen Walter’s The Short Story in English, Charles E. May’s The Short Story – The Reality Artifice or Frank Myszor’s The Modern Short Story. Some articles have been written e.g., by Rüdiger Ahrens Die bisherige Rolle der Short Story im Englischunterricht der Sekundarstufe II, dealing with the use of short stories as a way of teaching literature. Most has certainly been written about didactics of English in German classrooms such as Wolfgang Gehring’s Englische Fachdidaktik Eine Einführung, Englisch lernen und lehren, Didaktik des Englischunterrichts by Johannes – P. Timm or Egon Werlich’s Praktische Methodik des Fremsprachenunterrichts mit authentischen Texten.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Short Story: Characteristics and Definition
3. The Importance of the Short Story for Teaching Literature today
3.1 Guidelines and Curricula for North Rhine-Westphalia
3.2 Reasons for Using Short Stories in the EFL-Classroom
4. Isaac Asimov’s The Machine that Won the War- an Example of a Short Story in English Language Teaching
4.1 Topic Analysis
4.2 Didactic Objectives
4.3 Language
4.4 Methods: Pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading activities
4. Conclusion
Objectives and Core Topics
This paper explores the integration of short stories into the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom, specifically for secondary education in North Rhine-Westphalia. It investigates how literature can stimulate student interest and improve communicative competence, using Isaac Asimov's "The Machine that Won the War" as a practical case study to demonstrate teaching methods and didactic implementation.
- The historical development and definition of the short story genre.
- Educational guidelines and curriculum requirements for EFL teaching.
- Didactic strategies for implementing literary texts in grade ten.
- The use of pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading activities.
- Developing critical thinking regarding technology and independent learning.
Excerpt from the Book
4.1 Topic Analysis
The Machine that Won the War is a short story written in 1961 by Isaac Asimov, a Russian-born US-American professor of biochemistry and science-fiction writer. The story takes place in the future where the three scientists Lamar Swift, John Henderson and Max Jablonsky discuss the lucky outcome of the war against the enemies, the Deneb. There seems to be no doubt about the fact that the war has been won thanks to the great computer Multivac – until Henderson admits that from the beginning, from fear of losing his job, he had been correcting data he fed into the computer when he found out that the computer’s data was unreliable. Shortly after this confession, Jablonsky reveals that he, too, had corrected the results the computer had produced. In the end, there is no doubt that Swift, the military commander, must have manipulated the data’s results as well. When Swift is asked how he had made his decisions, reaching only then the climax of the story, he snatches a coin from his pocket and flips it as a demonstration of the very simple computing device that won the war.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter outlines the historical origins of oral storytelling and argues for the relevance of short stories as a means to increase engagement in the modern EFL classroom.
2. The Short Story: Characteristics and Definition: The chapter explores various literary theories and definitions, focusing on the specific qualities that make a short story a "single impression" narrative.
3. The Importance of the Short Story for Teaching Literature today: This section connects educational standards in North Rhine-Westphalia with the pedagogical benefits of using short narratives to foster communicative and intercultural competence.
4. Isaac Asimov’s The Machine that Won the War- an Example of a Short Story in English Language Teaching: This chapter provides a detailed didactic framework for using Asimov's story, covering topic analysis, objectives, language focus, and specific teaching activities.
4. Conclusion: The concluding section summarizes the pedagogical value of short stories as an alternative to traditional textbooks and reinforces the importance of student-centered learning.
Keywords
Short stories, EFL-Classroom, Isaac Asimov, The Machine that Won the War, Literature, Didactics, Curricula, Secondary education, Communicative competence, Critical thinking, Pre-reading, While-reading, Post-reading, Technology, Narrative theory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this work?
The paper focuses on the pedagogical potential of using short stories to improve English language learning in secondary schools, specifically for students in North Rhine-Westphalia.
What are the core themes addressed in the publication?
The core themes include literary theory, educational curriculum standards, the role of modern technology in education, and specific methodologies for teaching narrative prose.
What is the main goal of the research?
The main goal is to provide teachers with a concrete lesson plan and methodological approach to implementing Isaac Asimov's "The Machine that Won the War" in a grade ten classroom.
Which teaching methods are advocated?
The paper advocates for a student-centered approach using pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading activities to foster independent learning, creative writing, and critical analysis.
What does the main body cover?
The main body covers the definition of the short story, an analysis of local teaching guidelines, and a practical application of these theories to Asimov's short story.
Which keywords best characterize the work?
Key terms include EFL-Classroom, Short stories, Didactics, Literary analysis, and Communicative competence.
Why was "The Machine that Won the War" chosen as an example?
It was chosen because its themes regarding technology, reliability, and human decision-making are highly relevant to students' lives, and its structure is accessible for EFL learners.
How does the author view the role of computers in the classroom?
The author views them as tools that require critical assessment by students, encouraging them to discuss the infallibility of machines and the importance of human intuition.
What specific outcome is expected from the dramatization activity?
Students are expected to interpret text, practice verbal and non-verbal communication, and provide constructive feedback to their peers.
- Quote paper
- Berenice Walther (Author), 2007, Teaching short stories in the EFL-Classroom, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/85671
