Abstract Short story genres are the most important resources that support the grammatical structure of English as a foreign language as well as linguistic components. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the effect of short stories to teach grammar (simple past and present perfect tenses) of EFL grade 11 Tagel Secondary and Preparatory School students. The students’ interest and perceptions about the effect of short stories to improve their grammar (simple past and present perfect tenses) after treatment were also investigated to triangulate the results gained from test.The participants of the study were two sections of grade 11 students which are divided into control (n=46) and experimental (n=48) students selected by convenient sampling techniques. At the beginning of the study, students took pre-test without any treatment to identify students’ current level of understanding based on the concepts of the two tenses. Next the experimental group was given treatment on simple past and present perfect tenses by using short stories for six weeks and then the two groups were given the post test. To investigate students’ interest and perceptions towards the effect of short stories to improve their grammar proficiency, questionnaire and focus group discussion were also used to collect data from experimental group students after treatment.As the analysis of the students’ test result showed, there was no significance difference in the students’ simple past and present perfect tenses proficiency between experimental and control group before the treatment. However, there was a significant difference between those groups in their grammar test achievement after treatment. The results of the questionnaire and focus group discussion revealed that students had a positive attitude and interest towards the effect of short stories to improve their simple past and present perfect tenses and the treatment given. Based on the findings of the study, it was suggested thatshort storiescould be used primarily to support students’ language learning in general and simple past and present perfect tensesgrammar lessons in particular. Language teachers could also use short stories to improve students’ grammar proficiency.