<![CDATA[Pronunciation is an essential component of language that underpins communicative competence in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction. This study investigates the effectiveness of short-story media in improving the pronunciation skills of eighth-grade students at SMP Negeri 6 Palu, with a specific focus on the target consonant and vowel phonemes (/θ/, /i:/, /ð/, /ə/, /ʃ/, and /æ/). Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, 62 students were divided into an experimental group (Class VIII C, n = 32) instructed through short stories with audio-visual model scaffolding, and a control group (Class VIII B, n = 30) taught via conventional song-based activities. Pre-tests and post-tests were administered to evaluate students' accurate articulation of phonemes. The findings revealed that the experimental group achieved a significant increase in mean score from baseline (M = 31.56) to post-intervention (M = 64.37), outperforming the control group's post-test mean score (M = 59.66). Inferential statistical analysis yielded a calculated t-value of 4.634, exceeding the critical t-table threshold of 1.671 at a 0.05 significance level (df = 60). The results demonstrate that short stories serve as an engaging and pedagogically effective contextual medium that enhances EFL students' phonemic discrimination, articulation accuracy, and structural familiarity.]]>
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