Teachers’ attitudes towards the use of literature in the teaching of english as a foreign language (original) (raw)
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2008
This thesis investigates the integration of literature in lan guage education at a Matriculation Center in Malaysia. It attemp t s , throug h empiri c a l re s ea r c h , to identi f y teache r s ? and students? attitudes towards lit erature and its use in language in struction in a specific ESL (English as a Second Language) context . The pr imary data were collected throu gh quantita t i v e and qualitativ e methods such as questionnaires and interviews and they were com plemented by classroom observations and journal entries. Stylistics-based wor ksheets were also des igned and tried out with both sets of respondents. The resu lts reveal sev e ral signi ficant findings. First, the teachers? pre-study attitudes towards literature in language instruction ar e encouraging and important variables such as their personal inte rest and previous experience of using literar y texts as teachers influenc ed their outlook. Their pos t-study attitudes, howeve r, display mixed feelings towards literature and t hese are signific antly influenced by their en counter with the worksheets. Second, unlik e the teachers, the students? pre-and post-study attit udes towards literature are more consistent, yet are not as encouraging and di verse as their instructors?. Though, in principle, the student s perceive literature as useful mainly in term s of language development, grammatical acquis ition and vocabula r y growth , they demons t r a t e reserv a t i o n about the possible addit ion of literatu r e to their syllabus at the Center . T hird, both sets of respondents exhibit a strong preferenc e for communicative activities that ofte
Authentic, pure literary texts are hardly included in English Language course books in Turkish public schools. This study therefore explores what kind of attitudes the language teachers have towards the use of literature in their classes and also whether the language teachers are willing to use additional literary texts so as to enhance linguistic and cultural efficiency in class. The content analysis of the course books was done in order to examine to what extent literary texts were involved in the materials. A semi-structured interview was held with 33 teachers, currently employed in Ordu, Giresun, Trabzon and Rize in the Black Sea Region. Interviews were tape recorded, and transcribed verbatim. The research shows that most of the language teachers have a positive attitude towards literary texts but the strictly centralized education system in Turkey, also handicapped with various entrance exams, do not allow for adequate incorporation of literature into language classes, and that the English teachers frequently prefer using simplified versions of literary materials for linguistic purposes and practical reasons. Yrd. Doç. Dr., Karadeniz Technical University.
Authentic, pure literary texts are hardly included in English Language course books in Turkish public schools. This study therefore explores what kind of attitudes the language teachers have towards the use of literature in their classes and also whether the language teachers are willing to use additional literary texts so as to enhance linguistic and cultural efficiency in class. The content analysis of the course books was done in order to examine to what extent literary texts were involved in the materials. A semi‐structured interview was held with 33 teachers, currently employed in Ordu, Giresun, Trabzon and Rize in the Black Sea Region. Interviews were tape recorded, and transcribed verbatim. The research shows that most of the language teachers have a positive attitude towards literary texts but the strictly centralized education system in Turkey, also handicapped with various entrance exams, do not allow for adequate incorporation of literature into language classes, and that the English teachers frequently prefer using simplified versions of literary materials fo
An Investigation into Teachers' Attitudes to Using Literature in the Language Classroom
Edinburgh Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, 1995
This paper reports on teachers' attitudes to the use of literature in the EFL classroom. The study was designed to explore teachers' thoughts and feelings about using this resource given its increasing prominence in published materials, in particular to find out what background knowledge, skills and qualities are required to exploit the resource effectively and whether any specialist training in the teaching of literature is needed. To explore this, an interview schedule was drawn up and interviews conducted with 20 teachers on various courses at IALS. It was found that although many of the teachers did not feel the need for a specialist course in literature for EFL, most of them would welcome more background knowledge to increase their confidence in handling literary text. The paper examines the reasons for this and concludes with some suggestions for teacher development in this area. 1.
ESL Students’ Attitude towards Texts and Teaching Methods Used in Literature Classes
English Language Teaching, 2009
Malaysia's Vision is for the country to become a fully developed nation by 2020. In order to compete at international level, the country needs to produce future workers who are well-versed in English. The National Philosophy of Education aims to produce holistic graduates who excel academically and have better intercultural understanding, which resulted in the re-introduction of literature into the curriculum. In addition, English is also used as the medium of instruction for teaching science and mathematics. In 2000, literature became a part of the English syllabus when the Literature in English Component was implemented in secondary schools. This paper aims to discuss students' attitudes towards the texts used in the program, the challenges faced in reading these texts and the type of texts students prefer to read. It also discusses the teaching strategies used in class, their effectiveness as well as the methods favoured by students. The study was carried out in two schools in Kemaman, Terengganu involving 110 Form Five students. Questionnaire and interview were used as the research instrument. Findings suggested that students generally had positive attitudes towards the text selection although they were less enthusiastic about the teaching methods used by teachers.
Teachers have been using literature in the language classroom for years. Although it can be seen as an old technique, studies about it are fairly recent. There is a differentiation in the methodologies used to teach literature as language and literature as art. This dissertation focuses on Literature as language. Scholars have been analysing the problems teachers face in the classroom when teaching language using literature as materials. However, many of the theorists seeking to identify the problems faced by classroom teachers were not engaged in empirical studies and had not collected empirical data. For this reason, it is relevant to investigate if the works available in the body of research approach the correct issues teachers face in the classroom nowadays. The research focuses on two different groups with different student and teacher profiles in Londrina, Brazil. The methodology used for the research was the application of a survey answered by teachers from both groups, with questions about their professional background, as well as problems faced in the classroom. The questionnaire was created based on a literature review of works of previous scholars who researched the use of literature in the classroom. In the findings, although many of the problems found have already been approached previously by other scholars such as motivation, lack of linguistic ability and relevance to students’ aims, it was concluded that one problem which had not been suggested by previous scholars was the difficulty of combining the use of literary texts with the pressure of having to follow a syllabus and finish the course book in a short period of time.
Article , 2024
This study investigates the students’ perceptions towards using literary texts in EFL classes in the English Language Departments at Halabja University. Even though the study has indicated the importance of learners` perceptions, there have been little studies on the students` perceptions toward literature in the ELDs at Kurdish universities. A questionnaire consisting of close-ended questions (quantitative data) was taken to 118 undergraduate students. The results show that the majority of the students have positive perceptions towards using literary text in their study program. This study examines on the significant using literary text in EFL classes and the challenges face EFL students.
An Investigation of Teachers Approaches Employed In Teaching The English Literature
Asian Journal of Education and E Learning, 2015
There is very little research which uses 'process perspectives of what is really happening in the classrooms.' This research has a five pronged purposes; therefore, it is expected that this study can contribute to the field of study especially teaching literature for school students. Research was done by way of survey questionnaire, classroom observations, interviews and expert check list. The respondents of the questionnaire were teachers who teach English in schools. These teachers were involved in teaching the Literature in English. A series of classroom observations were carried out by the researcher. This was conducted in randomly selected schools every week. Thus, the researcher observed 13 lessons with three sets of lessons each for a period of four weeks. Teachers, namely English option and non-English option from National schools and National Type schools, which consist of Chinese and Tamil schools from all the 7 districts in the state of Negeri Sembilan was observed three times each. The same sample was interviewed to ensure validity and reliability of the results obtained from the classroom observation and survey questionnaire results. To this end, the study aimed at analyzing the extent to which teachers' approaches in teaching literature is understood among teachers and students in the Malaysian schools. In addition, the study aimed at exploring, through field investigations, the manner in which teacher and school related variables respond against approaches employed by the teachers in teaching the literature. Ultimately, its findings are meant to help teachers, researchers, key educational policy-makers and other education experts, to explore possibilities of developing more effective ways of utilizing active learning approaches at school level. Apart from that, the study is to gather a general overview on the approaches employed by teachers in teaching the English Literature in schools. It is essential to look at the approaches the teachers use to teach literature in their respective classrooms. The findings would provide useful information for the Ministry of Education to identify the current literature teaching situation in the ESL classroom. The findings of the study will also provide valuable information for the Ministry of Education to examine and counteract on the discrepancy, if there is any, so that the teaching of the English Literature component in schoolscan serve its function well. The study will also open up ways for future researchers to conduct in-depth studies on the methodological aspects of the teaching of the English Literature in schools. In doing so, it is hoped that teachers will be able to contribute to more effective teaching and learning of the teaching of the English Literature in schools in the ESL context.
PRE-SERVICE EFL TEACHERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE USE OF LITERATURE IN PRACTICE TEACHING
This study aims to investigate the attitudes of teacher candidates at an English Language Teaching (ELT) program in Turkey about the use of literature during practicum. Through a 13-item questionnaire, we gathered the beliefs and attitudes of 137 senior student teachers enrolled at this ELT program. Categorized and thus analysed under four main sections, the questionnaire consisted of a mix of open-ended and close-ended questions. The findings suggest pre-service teachers’ positive attitude towards using literature by including the literary texts into their classes; however, they admit that they cannot because they are in doubt about either self-efficacy on teaching and/or their students’ linguistic capability in the target language for processing literary texts. In addition, they highlight the fact that there are some limitations imposed upon by the practicum schools or by the framework of the practicum program of the university. In conclusion, the study has some important implications for teacher training institutions in terms of the use of literature in ELT. Keywords Literature, English Language Teaching, practicum, attitude, pre-service teachers.