English Literature as a Teaching Tool from Fourth Preparatory Students’ Perspectives

Abstract

Recently literature plays a crucial role in EFL teaching as it provides real situational and communicative materials for teaching English. So, there is a growing trend towards integrating literature into foreign language teaching classes. According to the Iraqi Foreign Language Learning Programme, the incorporating of literature into teaching English language modules begins in the intermediate stage. In the first, second and third classes, students are provided with short stories written in a simplified way. In the preparatory stage, classic English literary texts, such as poetry, prose and drama are taught to the students. In this stage, various sentence patterns, more difficult vocabulary items and certain elements of style and structures that the author has used are contained within. Iraqi learners face a set of learning problems that can be considered the basis of their misperception and negative attitudes towards English literature.

Hence, this study investigates the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating English literature into English language teaching classes in Iraqi preparatory schools from the perspectives of fourth preparatory students in Almutafaweqat secondary school for girls in Basra city. It also explores the role of literature in teaching and learning English.

The sample of the research is the fourth preparatory students. It includes (93) female students studying at Almutafaweqat secondary school for girls in Basra city. After reviewing the previous literature, the researcher designs a questionnaire of  (24) items and three alternatives, namely(disagree, neutral and agree) then, it is distributed to the students. The study bases on the data which have been collected from students through the online questionnaire using Google Forms. In order to achieve the validity and reliability of the research, the questionnaire is presented to panels of specialists in psychology and educational guidance. The statistical means used by the researcher are the weighted mean and t-test.

The results of study reveal that there is no statistically significant difference in the grades average of  fourth preparatory students on the scale of advantages and disadvantages of integrating literature into English language teaching lessons. The hypothetical mean is greater than the Weighted Mean for the sample. Findings expose that some students have enthusiasm to read literature for it gives them the opportunity to convey their own thoughts and views towards the text creatively, and share them with their classmates which improve their conversational and communicative skills. It allows them to express their thinking and respond freely during their English language lesson. In addition some students see that literature increases their self-awareness and worldviews by exposing them to a wide array of different cultures and lifestyles of people. However, most students find that integrating literature into English language classes is not helpful to their learning of language. They see that literature teaching has negatives more than positives in that the literary texts selected for studying are complex, ancient and contain more unfamiliar words. Besides, students are unaccustomed to many literary terms that usually used in literature which, in turn, makes literature learning monotonous. Needless to say, this impedes the process of comprehension. The lack of interest in literature by students implies that there is no role for literature in teaching and learning English.