short stories in language arts class is because we don't have another choice. Most teachers are placed into a classroom and are given a strict curriculum that must be followed. Sometimes that curriculum is textbook driven, and the literature taught is composed of the stories that are included in the textbook. These are almost always short stories and poems from a variety of authors. If the curriculum is not textbook driven, then the curriculum has likely been set by a curriculum director of some kind. The end result is the same. The teacher is told what pieces to teach, and those are often short stories.

In rare cases, an individual teacher is allowed to craft the curricular scope and sequence within his/her program. This allows the teacher to pick and choose literature pieces, and choosing short stories is a popular thing to do.

A reason for this could be because of the reading skill of the students in the class. Elementary students are going to struggle with the vocabulary and comprehension of a lengthier novel.

Another reason to use short stories is because the story can be read and discussed within a class period or two. Reading the piece together as a class guarantees that each student spent time with the material. Assigning it as homework risks students not reading the story. If a teacher can get more students to have read the material, the class discussions are always more fruitful.

A third reason to use short stories is that short stories don't take as long to get through; therefore, the teacher can expose students to multiple pieces by a single author or multiple pieces within a genre or literary period. Exposing students to multiple pieces then allows for teachers to ask high-level thinking questions that force students to compare and contrast multiple pieces with each other.

A final reason for using short stories is that the short story format is much less daunting to look at to the student learner. Telling a student they are going to read 7 pages of a short story looks far less intimidating than a 300 page novel. If the goal is to get students to read, a teacher has to pick things that students are likely to be motivated to read and believe they can finish.

Using short stories in teaching language to foreign students motivates them to expand their vocabularies and to continue memorizing and understanding verb conjugation and syntax structure. The reason that the short story is more motivating than just direct study from textbooks is that the story is significantly more interesting and not as dry.

Assigning a story that has too many sophisticated words and difficult language structure could discourage the student from proceeding. However, at the right level, the short story can also be relatively easy for the student to understand, therefore encouraging the student to work toward completing the reading assignment. Discovering what happens at the end can motivate the student to continue reading to finish the story. Even if the story requires the student to look up some words, this can be another motivating benefit that helps the student expand their vocabulary. The ultimate goal of understanding the short story can therefore show the student that, with a little bit of effort, the language can come alive.

In many classes, teachers have the students bring the stories with them to class and take turns reading certain passages aloud to stimulate class discussion. This can make the study of language more interactive and interesting. Moreover, studies have shown that by reading aloud in class this way, short stories can help learners hone their reading, speaking, and listening skills. In fact, studies show that short stories can sharpen four key language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.