Storybook-Based Instruction and EFL Students’ Language Politeness: A Quasi- Experimental Study in Indonesian Senior High Schools
This quasi-experimental study demonstrates that a six-week storybook-based instruction significantly improved the language politeness of 30 Indonesian EFL senior high school students, as evidenced by a statistically significant increase in pre-test to post-test scores.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
Imagine you are teaching someone to drive. You could spend hours explaining the rules of the road, the mechanics of the engine, and the definitions of every traffic sign. But if you never let them sit behind the wheel and actually drive in traffic, they might know all the theory but still crash when they finally hit the road.
This is exactly the problem the researchers in this study found with English students in Indonesia. They knew the grammar rules (the engine), but they didn't know how to drive the car politely in real social situations. They often spoke English that was grammatically correct but sounded abrupt or rude, simply because they were translating their own culture's directness into English.
Here is the story of how they tried to fix it, using a "storybook" approach.
The Problem: The "Grammar-Only" Driver
In many Indonesian high schools, English classes focus heavily on vocabulary and grammar rules. The students are like drivers who have memorized the manual but have never been on the road. As a result, when they try to ask for something, apologize, or disagree with a friend, they often sound too blunt. They lack the "softening" words that make English sound polite and friendly.
The Solution: The "Storybook Simulator"
The researchers decided to try a different driving school. Instead of just reading the manual, they put the students in a storybook simulator.
For six weeks, the students didn't just read stories; they lived inside them. The teachers used storybooks that were like social training videos. These stories showed characters in real-life situations:
- A character asking to borrow a pencil (a request).
- A character who was late and needed to say sorry (an apology).
- A character who disagreed with a friend but wanted to keep the peace (a polite disagreement).
The students didn't just read these lines; they acted them out, discussed why the characters spoke that way, and practiced the "polite moves" themselves. Think of the storybooks as mirrors that reflected how polite people actually behave, allowing the students to see, hear, and practice those behaviors in a safe, fictional environment before trying them in real life.
The Experiment: Before and After
The researchers gathered 30 eleventh-grade students and tested them before the storybook program started.
- The Pre-Test (Before): The students scored an average of 61 out of 100. They were polite, but often stiff or unsure.
- The Intervention: They spent six weeks diving into stories, role-playing, and practicing polite phrases.
- The Post-Test (After): The students took the test again. Their average score jumped to 81 out of 100.
The improvement wasn't just a little bit; it was a massive leap. The researchers calculated that this change was statistically significant, meaning it wasn't just luck. In fact, the "size" of the improvement was so large that it was considered a huge success in educational research terms.
What Changed?
The study found that the students didn't just learn new words; they learned new habits.
- From "Give me" to "Could you?": They stopped making direct demands and started using softer, more polite requests.
- From "I'm wrong" to "I'm sorry for...": Their apologies became more sincere and detailed, rather than just short phrases.
- From "No" to "I see your point, but...": They learned how to disagree without starting a fight.
The storybooks acted as a bridge. They connected the dry rules of English grammar to the warm, messy reality of human relationships. By seeing characters navigate social conflicts in stories, the students learned that being polite isn't just about following rules; it's about caring about how your words make others feel.
The Bottom Line
This study proves that if you want students to learn how to be polite in English, you can't just lecture them on the rules. You have to give them a story to live in. By using storybooks as a training ground, the students learned to "drive" the English language with much more grace, confidence, and kindness.
The researchers concluded that storybooks are a powerful tool. They don't just teach language; they teach character, helping students become not just better speakers, but better people in their interactions with others.
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