Students' intrinsic perspectives on the diverse functions of short stories beyond language learning

The short story as literary genre has been used productively for language learning, and much pedagogic research has emphasized the language learning functions of short stories in English foreign language (EFL) contexts. While the language learning function appears to be a natural extension of reading short stories, they may also perform other functions in English language teaching (ELT). The objective of this study was to establish what functions EFL students intrinsically (i.e., without pedagogic intervention) attributed to short stories when the stories were assigned as supplementary reading to the main language-teaching syllabus. To support the objective, a qualitative survey was conducted to collect rich data from a total population purposive sample (N = 55). Through a thematic analysis, the following four principal themes were identified that account for the functions of short stories: language, thinking, gratification, and pedagogy. Subthemes illuminated the nature of the main themes and provided possible causes and effects of their intrinsic recognition by EFL students. The main contributions include the expansion of existing theory regarding the use of short stories for ELT and a conceptualization of literature-based actualization as plausible pedagogic paradigm. The study concludes with a reflection on methodological lucidity and future research directions.