| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 英語學系 === 97 === Abstract
This thesis investigates science fiction aspirations through an early Gothic science fiction, Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and explores the effect of applying the story as a serial-story reading program. Science fiction has long been ignored and regarded as escape literature. In fact, it has played a valuable role in modern society. It serves as a mirror for us to observe our culture, our selves, and our response to changes in our society. As the importance of the genre has grown, schools in western countries have increasingly been implementing science fiction in school curricula (Williamson, 1980). The need for such courses is due to a growing awareness of the importance of educating students with the goal of acquiring adaptive skills for the future to cope with any possible changes in their lives.
The second part of the thesis explores the application of a serial-story program to integrate the book into the classroom. The questionnaire results show that a serial story is a suitable way to integrate a literary work into language classrooms. The program has successfully elevated students’ interest in attending English class. Between the two ability groups, low-achieving students showed a great interest in reading science fiction stories and high-achieving students approved of the effect of enhancing their interest and language ability. The program also changed their misconceptions about English literature, which they had previously regarded as difficult and inaccessible. As to the theme of the story, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, most of the students regarded it as appealing. The test results show both groups made progress after instruction. Between the two groups, the high-achieving students made higher gains than the low-achieving group. For the low-achieving students, they regarded vocabulary as being especially difficult.
Serial-story reading is an ideal method of introducing students to reading materials which can be integrated into class without influencing the class schedule. We suggest teachers start by integrating easier stories or literature. These stories are written in simple sentence patterns and often recur with great frequency. Students who read these stories can acquire relatively basic structures. Soon these simplified stories will not satisfy the students, and then they will be ready to move onto real literature.
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