ENGLISH:
This study examined the effectiveness of using short stories presented in the form of recount texts to enhance students’ English vocabulary mastery at SMPN 2 Parittiga. A quantitative research approach was employed using a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test and post-test control group. The participants consisted of 54 eighth-grade students, equally divided into an experimental group and a control group, with 27 students in each class. The experimental group received vocabulary instruction through recount short stories, whereas the control group was taught using conventional instruction. The data were obtained through vocabulary tests emphasizing nouns and verbs and were analysed using SPSS 26 through paired-samples and independent-samples t-tests. The findings indicated that the experimental group achieved a substantially higher enhancement, with a mean difference of 52.481 and a significance value of 0.000, while the control group showed a mean difference of 7.428 with a significance value of 0.008. The experimental group also obtained a t-count of 14.246, exceeding the t-table value of 2.006, while the control group obtained a t-count of 2.860, which was higher than the t-table value of 2.056. In addition, the independent-samples t-test resulted in a t-count of 4.928, which exceeded the t-table value of approximately 2.007, with a significance value of 0.000 (p < 0.05). These findings led to the rejection of the null hypothesis and the acceptance of the alternative hypothesis, demonstrating that the use of short stories in recount texts had a significant positive effect on students’ English vocabulary mastery.