The Impact of Literature Teaching Techniques On The Learners' Performance On Academic Reading Course Tests
The Impact of Literature Teaching Techniques On The Learners' Performance On Academic Reading Course Tests
The Impact of Literature Teaching Techniques On The Learners' Performance On Academic Reading Course Tests
The administration of literature-based and literary genre-based materials was, for the first time,
which was tried out with these subjects knowing the fact that regular normal texts developed
for this purpose exist which adds to this research’s novelty too. The real practice and introduction
of literary texts in such academic centers and on the courses of this type prove novel which is
worthy of research and appraisal on the line of finding novel ways for more efficient teaching and
learning processes. This research based its major variable on the literature teaching approaches
advocated by Carter and Long (1991) in the process of language teaching and learning. There have
been different kinds of approaches which best serve the needs of EFL teachers who are willing
to use literary works in their syllabi as well as academic instructors who have a better chance of
maneuvering over the selection of materials. The courage to take such a creative use of materials
would lead to promising results and practical implications. What has been the clarifying variables
for this research are Carter and Long’s (1991) three main approaches to teaching literature in the
EFL classrooms presented as follows by Oktan and Kaymakamoğlu (2017):
1. The Cultural Model: This model serves the traditional approach in using literary
texts in EFL classrooms. It encourages students to discover and analyze the social,
literary and historical elements of the text. With the help of this model, teacher aims
to reveal the specific thoughts and perspectives so the students can be more familiar
with various cultures and ideologies. This approach to a great extent deals with the
nature of the abstract elements and ideas whose achievement is the ultimate aim of
many education systems and instructors.
2. The Language Model: This is one of the most popular approaches which were
named as “language-based approach” by Carter and Long (1991). This approach helps
students to examine the text in a more systematic and methodical way. Linguistic
elements such as direct and indirect speech are aimed to be taught in this model.
Cloze procedure, exercises, jumbled sentences, summarizing the texts, creative writing
and role plays are the main activities used by the EFL teachers for teaching linguistic
structures. Therefore, literary goals are minimized in this kind of teaching method.
The learner is less engaged to the lesson. It is more teacher-centered. It means that
literature is underestimated and linguistic practice is more important in this model.
When it comes to the question of the real and sheer language and its components,
the idea of language model would work well. This is highly prioritized when the idea
of literature with a linguistic framework in intended.
3. The Personal Growth Model: This model is a kind of bridge between the cultural
model and the language model. It concentrates on the use of language in the literary
texts within its cultural context. Students are more tend to express their ideas and
feelings about their personal experiences and cultural knowledge in relation to the
specific literary text. Various themes and topics are perfect resources to develop
themselves. The implementations of this approach in practice show the fact that
it would incorporate the elements of the two previous approaches. The way it has
got to be managed and deployed in the class makes the difference visible and
understandable for the instructors and the learners respectively. Moreover, the
coverage of the components and the learning orientations prove promising in this
approach. For sure, it would call for greater competencies on the part of the learner
and the greater command on the part of the instructor.
The real application of these models and their sub disciplines would pave the way for the better
crystallization of theoretical findings and the real practices in the class. Hence, this research has
been an attempt on this line.
The importance of literary texts as useful tools in the language teaching / learning process was
highlighted in this conference while the traditional approach was called into question for its
incapacity to develop language skills and communicative abilities” (Bobkina & Dominguez, 2014,
p. 249).
Stip, School of Philology and came up with this idea that at advanced levels foreign learners gain
great imagination through literature which results in the accomplishment of speaking capabilities
that resemble the fluency of near native-like speakers. In their paper, Tonne and Pihl analyzed
“a literature based literacy program in the language of instruction and results in terms of
reading engagement in three classes where the vast majority were multilingual students”.
The insertion of literature and its powerful impact in a research done by Stan (2015, p. 455) has
stabilized the role of literature in the curriculum as he has asserted that “students use literary texts
not only for information, they interpret them, decode their meaning”; thus, literature becomes an
effective means of teaching language. Literature provides a language model for those who hear and
read it because by using literary texts, students learn new words, syntax, and discourse functions
and they learn correct sentence patterns, standard story structures; consequently, they develop
their writing skills. To this end, the dichotomy of language-literature has been institutionalized in
our curricula for the primary school. Butler (2006, as cited in Bobkina and Dominguez, 2014, p. 257)
has provided “an example of an attempt to incorporate literature into language classes in a South
African context. The English course he describes, implemented in the context of the University of
North West, included four components: Introduction to English Studies, Introduction to Textual
Analysis, Introduction to Literary Genres and Grammar Awareness”. Two other great advocates
of using literature and teaching it at EFL settings, Duff and Maley (2007), have highlighted the
merits of literature in language learning in its linguistic value, cultural value, and affective value.
Aydinoğlu (2013) has tried to reveal to “what extent and how literature has been integrated into
course books specially prepared for language teaching” (2013, p. 36). Collie and Slater (1987) have
put forwarded the question, “should we be teaching literature in the foreign language classroom
at a pre-university level or not? This is a question which is certainly in the forefront of debate today,
yet it remains controversial and the attitude of many teachers’ ambivalent” (p. 1). More pertinent
to this research topic, they have asserted that simplified texts “stimulate interest in literature as
well as contributing to language improvement” (ibid., p. 11). Tevdovska (2016) has dealt with a
roughly similar academic setting, like this research setting, and has tried to detect the “study and
implementation of literary texts in the context of language and literature courses offered at South
East European University at Faculty of Languages, Cultures and Communications and the Language
Center” (p. 162). As for the language skill at hand in this research, literature teaching and “genre-
based pedagogies offer a valuable resource for assisting students’ ability to both comprehend and
produce texts” (Almacıoğlu & Okan, 2018, p. 72). The significance of the impact of literature on the
whole process of language learning and teaching has gone as far that literature has stabilized itself
in the syllabus in ELT settings whose best example can be seen in Sivapalan’s research revealing that
“with the revival of a literature enhanced curriculum in the 80s, there has been much discussion on
the significance of teaching literature as part of the English language syllabus. Like many countries
in which English is used as a second or foreign language, Malaysia relies on the use of literary
materials in ELT. In the year 2000, literature was officially initiated in the Malaysian ELT syllabus,
further acknowledging the function of literature in Malaysian ELT” (pp. 27-28).
Regarding the real impact of literature on language and language skills, reading has been
confirmed by many other researchers who have, for example, asserted that “emphasis on reading,
particularly the reading of culturally authentic texts, has become one of the central claims for
curriculum reform in EFL teaching (Arens & Swaffar, 2000 ; Swaffar, 1999; Dupuy, 2000 as cited in
Bobkina & Dominguez, 2013: p. 248). This paves the way for many intellectuals including teachers,
researchers, and curriculum developers to confirm that the “inclusion of literature in the English
language classroom for some plausible reasons e.g. Literature is useful in developing the students’
linguistic knowledge both on a usage and use level; it may increase their motivation to interact
with a text and thus, ultimately, increase their reading proficiency” (Burhanuddn, 2018, p. 25).
To Collie and Slater (1987), different reading pieces can be given out, such as poetry, essays or
stories as a reading assignment. The similarities or differences of plots, characters or types can
be discussed in class. The use of novel, for example, as a “teaching tool introduces an exclusive
method of teaching reading skill. It further motivates the students to become lifelong readers”
(Ganesan, 2016, p. 3). Teaching reading in such academic centers has focused mainly on the artificial
reading passages which are of different orientations and create themes serving solely the purpose
Applied Linguistics Research Journal, 2020, 4 (1), 53–62 57
of teaching reading comprehension and vocabulary. The final learning has been defined as the
ability of the learners to read original texts for their researches and learning purposes which upon
research, has been approved that it has its own disadvantages and demerits. One great shortage
with this regard has been the fact that the educational views have not been pacing the changes in
the theoretical foundations of teaching and learning language skills. The insertion of literature and
literary materials in the course of reading instruction in such settings, with these subjects, in the
researcher’s best recollection, has been an attempt to capture the discourse competence defined
by modern applied linguists like Canale, et al. (1978), Canale and Swain (1980), and many other
modern intellectuals involved in the field of applied linguistics. To come up with a vivid impact of
the introduction of literature in TEFL and its impact on language skills the following design and
questions emerged.
3. Method
As this study was concerned with the detection of the impact of three literature teaching
approaches and their implementation in the academic classes, posttest only control group design
was deployed to determine the possible impact of these approaches on the learners’ performance
on academic reading courses. For this purpose, the following hypotheses were formulated:
1.The deployment of literature teaching courses does not affect the performance of
to-be-teacher students on academic reading course tests.
2. There is no significant difference between the impacts of the three literature
teaching approaches with regard to the learners’ performance on academic reading
course test.
3. There is no significant difference between the three models of teaching literature
regarding the learners’ performance on reading course tests.
3.2. Participants
In this study, a total number of 100 to-be-teacher students in Ilam Farhangian University, Iran,
aged 18-25 were selected and divided into three experimental groups and one control group based
on random sampling selection procedure. Their initial proficiency and academic knowledge were
checked out through their ranks and grades in their entrance examination reports. They are the
first groups who receive treatment on these constructs that upon success their future performance
would be highly motivating for further research. The point to be taken into account regarding the
subjects is the fact that they were not aware of the real nature of the research in action and their
involvement in the course of the research as it was totally natural and intermingled with the natural
trend of their academic endeavor.
cultural context in which the students tended more to express their ideas and feelings about their
personal experiences and cultural knowledge in relation to the literary texts at hand in the class.
This group having been based on the premise of the incorporation of the elements of the other two
approaches as the model’s real nature and function indicated by Carter and Long (1991), enjoyed
this greater scope of maneuver in the activities. As the teacher was the researcher, great care and
concern was taken to illustrate the exact techniques and principles in each group. The control
group class was handled by the regular reading class procedure which was confined to the text
reading, translation if necessary, and question completion as the final step in class management.
The reading classes were carried out every Monday and Wednesday for 90 minutes during 16
weeks with the four groups. In this process, the teacher as a researcher presented each portion of
the materials and touched upon the selected activities for each group.
4. Results
Table 1 shows the output of the ANOVA analysis and reveals whether there is a statistically
significant difference between group means or not.
Table 1. ANOVA analysis
As shown, the significance value is 0.014 (i.e., p = .014), which is below 0.05; therefore, it indicates
that there is a statistically significant difference in the mean type of treatments taken. Yet, it is not
known which of the specific groups differed. This is identified in the Multiple Comparisons table
which contains the results of the Dunnett T3 test.
Applied Linguistics Research Journal, 2020, 4 (1), 53–62 59
(I) Student (J) Student Mean Dif- Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval
ID ID f e r e n c e Sig. L o w e r Upper Bound
(I-J) Bound
Dunnett T3 C u l t u r a l Language .545 .566 .910 -1.02 2.11
Model Model
P e r s o n a l -.087 .524 1.000 -1.53 1.36
Growth
Model
C o n t r o l 1.542* .493 .018 .19 2.89
group
Language C u l t u r a l -.545 .566 .910 -2.11 1.02
Model Model
P e r s o n a l -.632 .620 .886 -2.34 1.08
Growth
Model
C o n t r o l .996 .594 .459 -.64 2.63
group
P e r s o n a l C u l t u r a l .087 .524 1.000 -1.36 1.53
G r o w t h Model
Model Language .632 .620 .886 -1.08 2.34
Model
C o n t r o l 1.629* .554 .031 .11 3.15
group
C o n t r o l C u l t u r a l -1.542* .493 .018 -2.89 -.19
group Model
Language -.996 .594 .459 -2.63 .64
Model
P e r s o n a l -1.629* .554 .031 -3.15 -.11
Growth
Model
Dunnett t C u l t u r a l C o n t r o l 1.542 .547 1.000 2.69
(<control)b Model group
Language C o n t r o l .996 .559 .997 2.17
Model group
P e r s o n a l C o n t r o l 1.629 .553 1.000 2.79
G r o w t h group
Model
* The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level.
Dunnett t takes one group as the control group and measures other groups against it. In this
way, the groups’ statistical differences will be identified. In this case, all the four groups were bigger
than .05 and therefore all differed regarding their performance.
Table 3. Chi-square Tests
As shown in the table, the significance level in all three columns is larger than .05 indicating
the rejection of null hypotheses. On the other hand, the p values are also > .05 (i.e. the significance
level) which reject any significant association among the variables.
The two assumed null hypotheses, on the two research questions, are rejected revealing that
the deployment of literature teaching courses affects the performance of to-be-teacher students
on academic reading course tests as well as the existence of the significant difference between the
impact of the three literature teaching approaches with regard to the learners’ performance on
academic reading course test which are confirmed by the statistical reports at hand.
Table 4. Descriptive statistics regarding student ID
Data M N SD Variance
11 2.00 1 . .
12 4.00 3 .00 .00
13 2.79 14 1.12 1.25
14 2.86 14 1.23 1.51
15 2.50 14 1.16 1.34
16 2.24 17 1.09 1.19
17 2.25 12 1.28 1.65
18 1.92 12 .90 .81
19 2.83 6 .73 .56
Total 2.51 93 1.13 1.29
As this table indicates, the total mean score is 2.51 and the squared average of the SD is 1.296
subtracted from the mean score, the result is 1.214 which reveals the distance from the mean
around which the scores are distributed. This could mean that the treatments might bear different
results. What can be inferred is the fact, proved by statistics, that the personal growth group has
outperformed all other groups showing its efficacy in its deployment for the real practice in the
classes.
effectiveness of these literature teaching approaches namely Personal Growth Model, Culture Model,
and Language Model on the students’ performance on academic reading course test. The results
revealed that the performance of the group who were exposed to the personal growth model was
significantly higher than the other two models. This is, to a great extent, because this model sounds
more authentic in materials selection and presentation, more personal and cultural loaded, and
above all more novel in practice and implementation. The results revealed that the EFL instructors,
curriculum designers, and EFL learners can maneuver over the implementation and deployment
of the Personal Growth Model of the English literature teaching method as it would lead to better
learning of the English language skills and more specifically it has worked well with the reading
skill as the prime intended skill incorporated in the ministry of higher education curriculum
development objectives. It further strengths the insertion of literature teaching methods in the
EFL teaching and learning settings. It can be inferred that the deployment of such a technique
proves to be a necessity for the to-be-English-teacher students as it would enable them to be more
initiative in their teaching and handling the concepts and learners’ educational needs.
62 Rahimipour
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