THE USE OF SHORT STORIES AS SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS FOR TEACHING

READING OF NARRATIVE TEXTS TO THE STUDENTS OF SMA NEGERI 1 BOJONEGORO

THESIS

By :Dwiani Ratna Nafirita

NIM : 06123111

English Department Faculty of Language and Art Education Institute of Teacher Training and Education

IKIP PGRI BOJONEGORO 2009

CHAPTER IINTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Language becomes one of special aspects of human being which cannot be

separated from our lives. It can be used to express our idea, feeling, and also our

desire. In other words, we can say that language is a mean of communication.

English is a tool of communication both in oral and written. Communication

means the understanding and giving information, opinion, feeling and developing

science, technology and culture. The communication ability is discourse ability, in

this case, the ability of understanding and producing spoken and written text, which

are used in four language skills, those are listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

These four skills are used to respond and create spoken and written text in society

life. Therefore, English subject is pursued to develop those skills in order that

students are able to communicate in English in certain level of literacy.

In Indonesia, English is the main subject as a foreign language and it is taught as

a compulsory subject at the secondary school up to the university level. The

objective of teaching English as stated in 2006 English curriculum is that the

students are expected to develop their communication competence in spoken and

written English.

English has four language skills that should be mastered by the students

properly. They are speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Among the four

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language skills taught in Senior High School, reading comprehension always receive

the greatest emphasis..

The term narration suggests a communication process in which the narrative as a

message is transmitted by the addresser to addressee and the verbal nature of the

medium used to transmit the message. It is this that distinguishes narrative fiction

from narrative in other media, such as film, dance, or pantomime ( Rimmon-Kenan,

1989:2 ).

In this study, reading skill is chosen because this skill is needed for the Senior

High School students who will continue their study to university. Most of the

textbooks, journals, and literature in university are written in English, so Senior

High School students must have reading ability to get success by reading English

texts a lot, anything, anywhere, and anytime.

Reading is an important skill. Reading in Indonesia is still not a part of our

culture and life. People prefer watching the television all day long to reading books

even though we know the advantages of reading, for example; get a lot of

information, knowledge, vocabulary, and pleasure.

It happens all the time that the teacher’s ways of teaching reading are usually

monotonous. The teacher is not able to give the materials that make the students

interested in reading. The teacher usually uses textbooks without trying to look for

some supplementary reading materials in the classroom.

Teacher has an important role to enlarge the ability of his students reading

English text by using selected reading materials. There are several ways in teaching

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language that teacher can use in the class, for example teaching using songs, games,

pictures, story, picture story, and many more.

This study specified on the use short stories as supplementary reading materials

in the classroom for teaching reading narrative texts for the eleventh grade of Senior

High School students majoring in science.

Short story is different from other forms of literary works such as novel, drama,

or poetry. Edgar Allan Poe in Graham Little said that the characteristics of short

story are simpler and easier to be understood because it only create a single

impression and capable of being read at one sitting ( 1966:8 ).

No matter how simple and how easy the short story is, however, reading short

story is not an easy work. Sometimes readers are confused by what the authors try to

say through their works. Therefore, the readers must read it several times in order to

get the substances of the story. This refer to Barnet’s statement that being short does

not mean being slight. A short story should be long in depth and give us an

experience of meaning ( 1993:8 ).

Short story is a brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and

usually deals with only a few characters. The short story is usually concerned with a

single effect conveyed in only one or a few significant episodes or scenes.

Those stories that the readers will ever read, write and tell to the readers are told

using the form and structure of what is called narrative. Narrative is not a natural

thing; instead it is a literary device used by a writer to help construct an entertaining,

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compelling and realistic seeming story – one that is also able to act very

persuasively to promote the storyteller’s views on some aspects of society or life.

One of the famous short story writers in literary world is Ernest Hemingway. His

famous reputation and his influence in fiction were so great that it is almost

impossible to imagine modern fiction without them. According to Callow and

Reilly, Hemingway’s work are considered as good and valuable works of literature

because of his philosophy and his techniques ( 1977:132 ).

That is why this study chose the eleventh grade Senior High School students

majoring in science because Hemingway short stories, such us; “Old Man at the

Bridge”, “Cat in the Rain”, and “The Killers” because they were easy to understand.

Selected literary reading materials for Senior High School students in English as

a second language have three interrelated and overlapping reasons. Those reasons

are pleasure, information of kind not available in an encyclopedia, and share our

cultural heritage ( Hook and Evans, 1982:126 ).

Then there is the pleasure of intellectual stimulation. The stimulation that comes

from new ideas and insights, thinking about insights, and forming one’s own

conclusions. The pleasure of intellectual stimulation is related to the second reason

for reading literature: it gives information of a kind not available in encyclopedias.

If we want facts, we go to references books. If we want insights different from those

afforded by facts, we go to literature.

All of the imaginative literature whether poetry, prose, or drama is primarily

concerned with human feelings and attitudes. Literature is one of the humanities and

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nearly all great literature tries to recreate human experiences that involve the reader

emotionally and intellectually ( Hooper and Pickering, 1990:15 ). Short stories can

be as a media to show our feelings, the social conditions surrounding us, our hopes

and our dreams.

Based on the reason above, the writer is interested in making a research about

short stories as supplementary materials for teaching reading. She observes the

using of short stories as supplementary materials for teaching reading in the eleventh

grade of SMA Negeri 1 Bojonegoro. She tries to describes the improvement of the

teachers’ and students’ activities, the learning management, the teachers’ and

students’ response towards the technique in each cycles. The reason why she

chooses this school is because this school has already applied this technique in his

reading class.

1.2 Statement of the Problems

Based in the background of the study, the following problems are formulated as

follows:

1. How is the implementation of short stories as supplementary materials for

teaching reading of narrative texts ?

2. Could short stories used in teaching reading of narrative texts influence the

student’s understanding of narrative texts ?

3. How are the students’ responses toward the use of short stories as

supplementary materials for teaching reading of narrative texts ?

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1.3 Objectives of the Study

Based on the problems state above, the objectives of this study are :

1. To describe how the implementation of short stories can be used as

supplementary materials for teaching reading of narrative texts.

2. To describe how could short stories in teaching reading of narrative

influence the student’s understand of narrative texts.

3. To describe the students’ responses toward the use of short stories as

supplementary materials for teaching reading of narrative texts.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The result of this study will be useful in teaching of English as second language

both for teachers and students. The teachers will be able to enrich their techniques of

teaching reading. Meanwhile the students will get pleasure and knowledge about short

stories. Finally, the finding of this study hopefully can give contribution to improve

teaching learning process in order to gain the objective of the teaching English.

1.5 Scope and Limitation of the Study

Scope of this study is teaching English as a foreign language in teaching reading

narrative text using short stories. The limitation of the study is the students of the

eleventh grade Senior High School SMA Negeri 1 Bojonegoro majoring in science.

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1.6 Definition of Key Terms

1. The use : The way the short stories are implemented in reading activity.

2. Short stories : Brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and

that usually deals with only a few characters. The short story is usually

concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a few significant

episodes or scenes.

3. Supplementary material : Material which is needed to widen experience,

enrich vocabularies, clarify concepts, satisfy individual interest, and

demands for information.

4. Narrative texts : a piece of text which tells a story and, in doing so, entertains

or informs the readers or listeners.

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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Reading

Until now, reading was considered by many to be the basic tool of language

learning. Reading is one of the most important skills in the learning of language beside

listening, speaking, and writing. So, it is important to improve the student’s reading

skill. Hence, a teacher should be selective in choosing appropriate materials of reading

to be taught to the students since they often encounter difficulties when they are reading

their compulsory texts.

2.2 The Nature of Reading

Reading is a language process which should be supported by the comprehension

of written language ( Heilman, et:1981 ). Looking at the explanation from Heilman, it is

apparently stated that studying reading will not only learn to read better but also more

than that. We have to know the content of the reading material itself. Therefore, those

are two essential things are interacting one into another.

According to Abbot ( 1973 :7-8 ), reading is a silent and individual activity,

while the reader and comprehending the text. It means that the students can improve the

reading skill by reading a lot, even though the teacher does not guide them during the

process of reading activity.

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Gillet ( 1981: 7 ) has an opinion about reading. He says, “reading is a constant

process of guessing and what one fines it.” It means reading is a continuous process of

guessing. Before doing that the readers have something in their mind that is usually

called background of knowledge. By using this background of knowledge, the readers

compare with the content of the text. Nunan ( 1989:33 ) supports this opinion that “good

readers are able to relate the text and their own background of knowledge efficiently.”

Here, the background of knowledge is important, because it makes the readers easy to

guess the content of the text.

2.3 The Importance of Reading

No one denies the importance of reading, since reading is very important in

someone’s life. he will be able to get the information about the world through reading.

Harris and Sipay ( 1980:10 ) note that reading ability increase in importance as the

society becomes more complex and industrialized. As technology advance, more

occupations require high level of education or specialized training which good reading

ability is vital.

Reading can also give him pleasure and joy. Reading has become the realization

of knowledge and education, and cue of intellects. Robinson ( 1977 :10 ) points out that

reading also remains the most accessible skill for satisfaction of the variety need; many

people through reading want advertisement, enjoying novel, choosing food items,

studying specifies subject or learning how to do something.

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2.4 Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is a term used to identify those skills (decoding ability,

knowledge of the vocabulary presented, familiarity with the concepts, and cognitive

development) needed to understand and apply information contained within written

materials ( Olson and Diller, 1982: 40 ).

Here, the students will comprehend the reading if they have skills in decoding

ability of the materials given, knowledge of the vocabulary presented, familiarity with

the concepts, and cognitive development needed to understand and apply information

from the written material.

According to Harris ( 1972 ) some skis which connected to the reading

comprehension are :

a. Acquisition of rich, extensive, and accurate vocabulary.

b. Ability to grasp the meaning of units of increasing size, phase, sentence,

paragraph, whole section.

c. Ability to find answer to specific questions.

d. Ability to select and understand main ideas.

e. Ability to understand a sequence of events.

f. Ability to note and recall details.

g. Ability to grasp the organization of the author’s plan.

h. Ability to follow the direction accurately.

i. Ability to evaluate what one reads.

j. Ability to remember what one has read.

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Anderson and Urquhart ( 1984 ) say that most accounts of the reading

comprehension process emphasize on three components namely the text being read, the

background knowledge possessed by the reader, and contextual aspects ( surrounding

text and environment ) relevant to the interpretation of the text.

To support that definition, Eckstut ( 1992 ) attempts to make relationship between

reading comprehension and sort of thing which correspond to the skills that are required

for understanding the reading material. Those skills are :

1. Guessing meaning from the context

2. Understanding explicitly stated information.

3. Understanding implicitly stated information.

4. Understanding the fact from opinion.

5. Understanding main idea

6. Understanding the relations of pats of a text.

2.5 Teaching Activity Related to Reading Comprehension

Reading activity does not only involve interprete the alphabets symbols on the

page but also connect the reader to the concepts being communicated. Reading is not

only related with the words on the passage but also connect the reader to make

communication. The familiarity with a subject, culture, life experiences, personal

interpretation of words and phases affect student understanding.

The goal in teaching reading is that the students have competence in

comprehension. Comprehension is the ability to see relationships as comparison,

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contrasts, and time sequences, to read between the lines and to see the author’s tone

word or intonation in writing the material and to evaluate agreement or disagreement

intelligently with the writer. Just giving the students large quantities of reading

materials does not guarantee that they will improve their reading skills. To improve

their reading abilities, students must develop their comprehension skills.

2.6 Narrative Genre

Narrative genre is one of the text types that exist in English culture. Generally.

The purpose of narrative genre is to amuse, entertain, and deal with factual or

sensational experience in different ways ( Eltis, 1990: 30 ). This form of genre can both

imaginary and factual ( Derewianka, 1990 :40).

There are many different types of narratives including :

Humor,

Romance,

Crime,

Real-life fiction,

Historical fiction,

Mystery,

Fantasy,

Science fiction,

Diary-novels,

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Hemingway short stories for example: “ Old Man at the Bridge,” “Cat in the Rain,”

and “The Killers” are narrative texts form because each of short story can be identified

as the types of narrative texts and also combine the two types of narrative text more,

“The Killers” is crime short story, on the other hand “Cat in the Rain”is romance short

story.

The most important of this text is that it always focuses on the sequence of

actions or events ( Derewianka, 1990:40 ). The events are usually problematic and lead

into crisis or decisive moment of some kind. This makes narrative tend to be more

amusing and interesting to be read.

2.7 The Components of Narrative Genre

As the narrative genre deals with the reconstruction of events and experiences,

people have to consider the significant components which build a narrative genre. Those

are the schematic and language feature.

2.7.1 The Schematic Structure

Here, a narrative text has five significance schematic structures. Those are :

Orientation, tells the audience about who in the story is, when the

story is taking place and where the action is happening.

Complication that sets off chain of events that influences what will

happen in the story.

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Sequence of events, deals with how the characters in the story react

to the complication.

Resolution, the characters in the short story finally sort out the

complication.

Coda, that provides a comment or moral based on what has been

learned from the story (an optional step) ( Anderson, 1997:8).

2.7.2 Language Features

According to Agustien (1990:42), a language feature is the consequence

of the communicative purpose of a text, which involves several llinguistics

components. The language features usually found in a narrative are :

Specific characters.

Time words that connect to tell when they occur.

Verbs to show the actions that occur in the story.

Descriptive words to portray the characters and settings.

In this case, Derewianka (1990:42) describes narrative language features

into six components. Those are :

a. Focus on the specific of individual participants.

b. Mainly actions verb ( ran, lived, slept ) and mental processes ( said,

felt, or thought ).

c. Use temporal conjunction and temporal circumstances, such as: the

next morning, then, meanwhile, etc.

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d. Normally use past tense

e. Choose the descriptive language to enhance and develop the story by

creating images in the readers mind ( uses relational and mental

processes ).

f. The participants can be written in the first person ( I, we ) or third

person ( he, she and they ).

In summary, it is imperative to consider both schematic structure and

language features in constructing a narrative. Those components will

help to achieve the purpose of genre in communication events

( Derewianka,1990:18 ).

2.8 Short Story

Stories all those that the readers will ever read, write and tell to the other readers

are told by using the for and structure of what is called narrative. Narrative is not a

natural thing; it is instead a literary device used by a writer to help construct an

entertaining, compelling and realistic seeming story – one that is also able to act very

persuasively to promote the storyteller’s views on some aspects of society or life.

The form of a short story is more realistic than tale and of modern origin. The

writer usually presents the main events in the greater fullness. A short story is more than

just a sequence of happenings. A finely written short story has the riches story may

seem; the writer has written it so artfully that there is meaning in even seemingly casual

speeches and apparently trivial details. If we skim it hastily and skip the descriptive

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passages, we miss the significant parts. Some literary short stories are, unlike

commercial fiction in which the main interest is in physical action or conflict. Short

stories tell of an epiphany: some moment of insight, discovery, or revelation by which a

character’s life, is greatly altered. Other short stories tell of a character initiated into

experience or maturity: one such story of initiation is William Faulkner’s“Ban Burning”

( Kennedy, X.J, 2002:12 ).

In the longer forms of fiction, stories tend to contain certain core elements of

dramatic structure: exposition, complication, rising action, crisis, climax, resolution, and

moral. Exposition is the introduction of setting, situation and main characters.

Complication is the events of the story that introduces the conflict. Rising action which

lead to crisis is the decisive moment for the protagonist and their commitment to a

course of action. Climax is the point of highest interest in terms of the conflict and the

point of the story with the most action. Resolution is the point of the story when th

conflict is resolved. Moral is the value taken from the story.

Because of their short length, short stories may or may not follow this pattern.

For example, modern short stories only occasionally have an exposition. More typical,

though, is an abrupt beginning, with the story starting in the middle of the action. As

with longer stories, plots of short stories also have a climax, crisis, or turning-point.

However, the endings of many short stories are abrupt and open and may o may not

have a moral or practical lesson. Of course, as with any art form, the exact

characteristics of s short story will vary by author.

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The modern short stories differs from earlier narrative forms in emphasizing

lifes as most people know it. The short story that originated in the 19 th century as a brief

fictional prose narrative was designed to be read in a single setting. In short story all the

literary elements of plot, character, setting, and the author’s distinctive use of language

work together to create a single effect. Short stories usually describe the experiences of

one or two characters over the course of a series of related events ( Hirschberg, Stuart,

2004:20 ).

2.8.1 Teaching Short Story

Narrative and stories in education have been the focus of increasing attention in

recent years. The idea of teaching reading using narrative is fertile ground for adult

educators, who know intuitively the value of stories in teaching and learning. Narrative

is deeply appealing and richly satisfying to human soul, with an allure that transcends

cultures, centuries, ideologies, and academic disciplines. In connection with adult

education, narrative can be understood as an orientation that carries with it implications

for both method and content.

The Narrative Perspective

The beginning point for discussing of narrative and story in adult education is an

understanding of narrative as a broad orientation grounded in the premise that narrative

is a fundamental structure of human meaning making ( Bruner 1986,

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2002;Polkinghorne1988,1996 ). The events and actions of one’s life are understandable

and experienced as fitting into narrative episodes or stories.

Accordingly, identify formation and development can be understood in terms of

narrative structure and process. In this view, “the self is given content, is delineated and

embodied, primarily in narrative constructions or stories” ( Kerby 1991 :1 ). The

narrative metaphor as applied to adult development ( Cohler 1982; Herman

1997;Rossiter 1999 ) sees developmental change as experienced through the ongoing

construction and reconstruction of the life narrative. As Kenyon and Randall (1997:1)

comment, “To be a person is to have a story. More than that, it is to be a story”.

Given the centrality of narrative in the human experience, we can begin to

appreciate the power of stories in teaching and learning. We can also see that the

application of a narrative perspective to education involves much more than storytelling

in the classroom. Such an application necessarily leads to an experience-based,

constructivist pedagogy ( Hopkins 1994 :10). Therefore, the most effective way to teach

learners with educational messages is in through these narrative constructions. Learners

connect new knowledge with life experience and weave it into existing narratives of

meaning.

The narrative orientation brings to the form the interpretive dimension of

teaching and learning. Gudmundsdottir (1995) notes that pedagogical content can be

thought of as narrative text, and teaching as essentially the exercise of textual

interpretation. Educators not only tell stories about the subject. The story is the subject

knowledge itself. In doing so, they aim to maintain some interpretive space in which the

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learner can interact with the subject. To tell too much, to provide the answer to all

questions spoken and anticipated, is to render the active engagement of the learner

unnecessary. To tell too little is to leave the learner with insufficient guidance or

support in constructing her or his own meaning and relationship with the content

( Leitch,1986 ).

Stories and Learning

The use of stories is pervasive in adult education practice. Case studies, critical

incidents, role playing, and simulations are among the story-based techniques

mentioned frequently in the literature ( Taylor, Marienau, and Fiddler 2000 ).

Storytelling is perhaps particularly prominent in literacy, English as a second language,

and transformative education ( Cranton 1997; Mezirow 1990). Weisner’s (2001) recent

inquiry into the use of narrative activities among emancipator adult educators

underscores the prevalence and complexity of such activities. Teaching stories are

increasingly used in teacher formation and continuing education curricula (McEwan and

Egan 1995). Stories are widely employed as a powerful medium of teaching and

learning.

Stories are effective as educational tools because they are believable,

rememberable, and entertaining ( Neuhauser 1993 ). The believability stems from the

fact that stories deal with human or human-like experience that we tend to perceive asa

n authentic and credible source of knowledge. Stories make information more

rememberable because they involve us in the actions and intentions of the characters. In

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doing so, stories invite-indeed demand-active meaning making. Burner (1986) explains

that the story develops the “landscape of action” and the “landscape of consciousness”-

the element of human intention. As audience, we are engaged with the story on both

levels, and it is through this dual involvement that we enter into the minds of the

characters and into the deeper meaning of the story. We must fill in, from our own store

of knowing, which is unspoken. In doing so, we create as well as discover meaning, and

we pose the questions we ourselves need to answer.

The learner involvement factor is also related to the power of stories to stimulate

emphatic response. It is the particularity of the story-the specific situation, the small

details, the vivid images of human experience-that evokes a fuller response than does a

simple statement of fact. This detail provides the raw material for both cognitive

appreciation and affective response to the experience of another person. Educational

programs that aim to foster tolerance, appreciation of diversity, and a capacity for

perspective taking ( Rossiter 1992 ) draw upon this dynamic of story.

Stories educate as instruments of transformation, as well as information (Jackson

1995). Stories lead from the familiar to the unfamiliar, they provide an entryway into

personal growth and change. As Clark (2001) notes, it is when one can identify with a

character who has changed that one can envision and embrace the possibility of change

of oneself. Stories of achievement and transformation can function as motivators,

pathfinders, and sources of encouragement for struggling adult learners. In short, stories

enable us to engage with new knowledge, broader perspectives, and expanded

possibilities because we encounter them in the familiar territory of human experience.

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2.9 The Comparison Between Narrative Texts and Short Stories

Narrative Texts Short Stories

Generic Structure

Orientatio

n, tells the audience about

who in the story is, when

the story is taking place and

where the action is

happening

Complicati

on that sets off a chain of

events that influences what

will happen in the story

Sequence

of events, deals with how

the character in the story

react to the complication

Resolution

, the characters in the short

finally sort out the

complication

Coda that

provides a comment or

moral based on what has

been learned from the story

(an optional step)

(Anderson, 1997 : 8).

Elements

Characters : Who is the main

character and what motivates his or her actions?

Witch Which other characters do their desires

bring them into conflict?

Setting : How does the

locations in which the story is set amplify or

underscore its meaning?

Point of view (voice and tone) :

Who is telling the story? How would you

characterize the voice your hear as a participant

or as an observer? How much does this person

seem to know about the goes on in the mind (s)

of one or more of the characters? What is their

attitude toward the events they describe.

Language (style) : Is the style

in which the story is written accessible or

artificial? Does the author use words that are

mostly literal or highly metaphorical? What

images and metaphors accentuate the meaning

of the story and add significance?

Plot (conflict and how it is

expressed in the title: What elements in the story

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Narrative Texts Short Stories

are designed to enhance suspense or at least

make the reader curious as to what will happen

next? How is this crisis related to the idea

expressed in the tile?

Symbolism : Do any objects or

elements in the story stand out from their literal

contexts and suggest additional dimensions of

meaning (political, cultural, religious, and

psychological)

Theme : How do the

experiences undergone by the characters, and

their reactions to them, illuminate the idea

expressed in the title? (Hirschberg, 2004 : 22).

From the table above, it is clear that short stories have relation to narrative texts,

for example element characters and setting in a short story have similarities in

orientation with narrative texts. Complication in narrative texts has similarity in plot of

a short story.

2.10 Narrative Structure

Narrative are told in such a way that they allow the plot to be slowly revealed.

This technical device causes the reader to become enjoyable absorbed and involved in

the plot as we enjoy guessing and predicting what happen next. Clearly the sequence of

event that develop the plot is a important consideration when the readers are analyzing

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and discussing a particular story. Again, this is classed as a high level skill and so can

attract many scores (www.wikipedia.com/adult_teaching_short_stories/)

Stories usually opened with an introduction of the main character (protagonist),

the place and the time, a suitable mood or atmosphere is set the main character’s life, for

the time being, seen to be balanced or in a state of equilibrium’.

Stories usually opened with an introduction of the main character (protagonist),

the place and the time, a suitable mood or atmosphere is set the main character’s life, for

the time being, seen to be balanced or in a state of ‘equilibrium’.

The protagonist meets a problem – his or her life is disturbed in some way the

action is built up to a climax the protagonist deals with the conflict. The readers will

sympathize with the protagonist during the conflict.

The conflict is resolved in a way that will be satisfying to the reader. The story

ends the protagonist who is dealt with the conflict and ‘grown up’ form a state of

‘innocence’ to a state of’ experience’.

2.11 The Short Stories Use in this Study

2.11.1 “Cat in the Rain”

The theme of this story is selfishness creates inharmonious. The story is about a

relation between husband and wife that is inharmonious because each of them has

different thoughts and interests.

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The writer in this story did not give the readers about what happens next in the

relation between the husband and his wife after the pardon send a maid carrying a big

tortoise – shell cat to the wife.

In fact, the wife wants her husband to give her a cat but her husband does not

care about his wife. The conflict in this story may happen to any marriage in any place

in the world because the husband pay less attentions to his wife even though he knows

what his wife wants. Hemming way created this story in simple but interesting conflict

that builds the plot.

In “Cat in the Rain”, there is a central character (the wife), a major character (the

wife), a major character (the husband), and minor characters (the hotel keeper and

the maid).

The story takes place in a hotel in a particular country which is, from the

language people use to communicate, surely not English-speaking countries. Her

husband caused his wife feel lonely in a rainy day and being in a foreign country with

her selfish husband who is busy with his books.

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The summary of “Cat in the Rain”

There were only two Americans stopping at the hotel. They did not know the

people whom the passed in that hotel. Their room was on the second floor facing the

sea, public garden and the war monument. It was raining.

The American wife stood at the window looking out. The saw a cat was

crouched under green table. The American wife said that she was going down get the

cat. Her husband did not give any attention. He only read his book.

The wife went downstairs to get the cat. It was raining harder. The maid who

send by the hotel owner opened an umbrella for her. The maid accompanies her to look

for the cat. The cat was gone, when they walked near the green table. She wanted the cat

so much.

The she comes back to her room. She said to George that the cat had gone.

George did not pay any attention. He was reading again.

She sat in front of the mirror. She said to her husband what she wants especially

the cat. George asked her to keep silent and get something to read. Then someone

knocked the door. In the doorway stood the maid brought a big tortoise-shell car from

the pardon to Signora (wife).

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The Generic Structure of “Cat in the Rain”

1. Orientation : There were two American stopping at the hotel. They did not know the

people there. Their room was on the second floor. It was raining.

2. Complication : The American wife saw a cat was crouched less than one of the

dripping green table. She wanted to get it and survive it from the rain.

3. Resolution : The maid brought a big Tortoise-shell cat from the Pardon for the

signora (wife).

4. Coda : The husband should pay attention to his wife and try to realize the wife’s

hope.

2.11.2 “The Killers”

The story is about two men who want to kill Ole Anderson when he comes in to

eat at 6 P.M at Henry’s Lunchroom. The reason why they want to kill him because of a

friend. Just to oblige a friend. Even though Nick tells to Ole Anderson the plan of the

killers to shoot him.

Hemingway did not give what will be happened in the end of the story. They

will kill him or not, so this story is an open ending story. It is quite long story than “Cat

in the Rain” and “Old Man at the Bridge”.

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The generic structure of “The Killers”

1. Orientation : The door of Henry’s lunchroom opened and two men came in.

2. Complication : Max said we are going to kill Ole Anderson

3. Resolution : Nick tells to Ole Anderson that they will kill him when he comes to eat

2.11.3 “Old Man at the Bridge”

The story is about an old man in busy situation, men and women crossing the

bridge but he did not move anywhere. He looks tired after a long walk. He always stated

“I was taking care of animals”. He did not tell his family to the soldier(the narrator of

this story).

There are only two characters in the story, the old man and the soldier (the narrator

of the story)

The story takes place in a African looking country of the Ebro Delta at a

pontoon bridge across the river in which carts, trucks, men, women, and children were

crossing it.

The generic structure of “Old Man at the Bridge”

1. Orientation : An old man sat by the side of the road,

2. Complication : He was taking care of animals but his captain told him to go because

of the artillery.

3. Resolution : He did not think about the others.

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2.12 Review of the Previous Study

This study reviews the previous study that is in line with the supplementary

materials in teaching reading. The study entitled “Biographies as Supplementary

Materials to Teach Reading of Narrative Texts to the Students of SMA Negeri 1

Trenggalek “written by Ida Lestari (2006).

Ida Lestari used an action research. She found that the kinds of biographies that

can be used as supplementary materials for teaching reading in Senior High School

students are : “Thomas Alva Edison” and “Abraham Lincoln.”

In implementing biographies as supplementary materials to teach reading of

narrative texts in the first cycle she found that most of the students had low motivation.

In the second cycle, the students showed an improvement. Most of them were able to

comprehend the text well. The most significant improvement could be seen in the third

cycle, that the students gave good responses toward the teaching learning process of

reading texts using biographies. They were also able to comprehend the texts well.

Related to the previous study, we writer is going to conduct a study entitled “The

Use of Short Stories as Supplementary Materials for Teaching Reading of Narrative

Texts to the Students of SMA Negeri 3 Tuban.” Both of them used supplementary

materials for teaching reading to the SMA students used and action research, and

narrative texts. This study is different from the previous study . The previous study

used biographies and this study use short stories. Also in the previous study, she was as

the teacher and observer but in this study he only taught the class and a friend helped his

to collect the data.

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