Abstract
This study employs a quasi-experimental design. The samples were 170 students from 3 intact classes, in three different schools and they were taught two short stories. The objectives of the study were to investigate whether the schematic method, the STAD method or the conventional method helps ELS students to improve their mean scores in answering questions related to themes, characterization, literary devises, and settings in the two short stories. The 56 students in Experimental Group 1 from school A were taught using the schematic method, the 57 students in Experimental Group 2 from school B were taught using the STAD method and the 57 students in the Control Group from school C were taught using the conventional method. The study was conducted for 8 weeks and the three groups were taught the same short stories (‘QWERTYUIOP’ and the ‘Fruitcake Special’), specifically in the areas of themes, characterization, use of literary devices and settings. Prior to the intervention, all the three groups were given the pre-test and at the end of the intervention they were given the post-test. The data obtained from the pre-test and post-test were analyzed using the SPSS Program version 24.0. The data was analyzed using one way ANOVA, Post-Hoc Pairwise Comparisons test and the ANCOVA test. The findings indicate that the schematic method helped to enhance students’ mean scores significantly for literary devices and settings compared with the Experimental Group 2 and the Control Group. These findings have crucial pedagogical, practical and theoretical implications.