Jurnal English Education: Jurnal Tadris Bahasa Inggris
Vol 19 No 1 (2026): English Education: Jurnal Tadris Bahasa Inggris

Figurative Language Learning Challenges in EFL Short Stories

Dira Givanda (Unknown)
Deri Sis Nanda (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
30 Jun 2026

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the difficulties students have when learning figurative language using short stories as real-world resources. The investigation was conducted at SMA Al-Azhar 3 Bandar Lampung and involved eleventh-grade students. Students' challenges in comprehending figurative phrases in short stories were investigated using a qualitative descriptive method. Data were collected through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires. The results show that mastering figurative language presented a number of difficulties for the students. First, students' restricted vocabulary knowledge made it difficult for them to comprehend the meaning of figurative expressions. Second, students struggled to distinguish between personification, simile, and metaphor, among other forms of figurative language. Third, students found it challenging to interpret figurative meanings embedded in short stories. Students' understanding of literary texts was impacted by these difficulties. On the other hand, students were motivated to participate more actively in the learning process when short stories were used as real materials. To help students better comprehend figurative language in literary texts, teachers are advised to offer more contextual explanations and guided practice.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

ENGEDU

Publisher

Subject

Arts Humanities Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Social Sciences

Description

English Education: Jurnal Tadris Bahasa Inggris has been published since March 2010 in printed version (pISSN: 2086-6003), June and December 2018 in online version (eISSN: 2580-1449). It is a biannual journal concerning English Language Teaching, English Literature, English Linguistics, Current ...