EFL learners had neutral attitudes toward the selection of literary texts and positive attitudes toward teaching approaches in literature classrooms. While students were satisfied with teaching methods like discussion, they found texts difficult due to language skills and lack of background knowledge. Teachers used mixed teaching methods but students did not always participate or prepare adequately. Overall, text selection and classroom practices could be improved to better motivate students and enhance literary analysis.

1. EFL Learners’ Attitudes towards
Literature Text Selection
and Teaching Approaches in
Literature Classrooms

2. Background
● The process of language acquisition can be influenced by a positive or negative attitude
of language learners.
● Literature is widely used as a medium of teaching and learning English for EFL
classrooms.
● Thai students lack motivation in reading and encountering with difficulty in reading
English literature because they do not feel engaged with literary texts as the provided
texts are not suitable for their English skills.
● It can be stated that literary texts selection can play a key role on EFL learners’ language
acquisition.

3. 1. What are EFL learners’ attitudes
towards the selection of literary
works in the EFL literature
classrooms?
2. How does the use of teaching
approaches in literature
classrooms affect EFL learners’
attitudes?
● To investigate EFL learners’
attitudes towards the selection of
literature texts
● To investigate EFL learners’
attitudes towards teaching
approaches in literature
classrooms in EFL context.
Research QuestionsObjectives

4. Literature Review

5. 1. The importance of attitudes
● An attitude refers to “a pattern of beliefs developed over time in a given
socio-cultural context” (Liu, 2014, p.1252). These beliefs play a vital role in the
learning process as they determine learners’ perceptions of the curriculum,
peers, as well as an instructor.
● Likewise, Alhmali (2007) claims that attitudes are highly important in the area
of education. The reason is that students’ negative attitudes towards particular
subjects can prevent student’s motivation to study or make them inactive.

6. 2. What is literature and its advantages?
● A study indicates that the term “literature” refers to “a broad term which usually
denotes works which belong to the major genres: epic, drama, lyric, novel, short
story, ode” (Cuddon, 2013, p. 404).
● The study by Mckay (1982) confirms that EFL students acquire numerous
advantages from reading literature such as:
○ Developing their linguistic knowledge
○ Increasing their motivation
○ Advancing their reading proficiency
○ Expanding their cultural awareness

7. 3. The importance of text selection
● Culture
● Interest
● Motivation
● Level of proficiency
● The selected texts relating to students’ lives and experiences
● The level of language
● Enjoyment can motivate
(Collie & Slater, 1987 and Babaee & Yahya, 2014)

8. 4. Common teaching approaches of literature in EFL context
1. The language-based approach: the literary text’s linguistic features
such as vocabulary and grammatical structures
2. The culture-based approach: emphasize on text interpretation including
social, historical, political and literary context
3. The personal growth approach: combine the cultural and language
approaches
4. The integrated approach: this approach merges elements from the
three previous approaches explained above.

9. Data Collection

10. Setting and Participants
● Mae Fah Luang University in the first semester of 2017
● The participants completing the questionnaires were 107
third-year students majoring in English who are enrolling in Short
Stories and Novels course.
● 8 out of 107 participants from four sections of Short Stories and
Novels course were selected to be interviewed.
● 4 Short Stories and Novels instructors were also interviewed.

11. Instrument
Questionnaire
❏ The closed-ended
❏ Consisting of 22 items,
and divided into 2 parts:
EFL learners’ attitudes
towards the selected
literature texts and
teaching approaches
❏ Five points Likert scale:
strongly agree, agree,
neutral, disagree, and
strongly disagree.
Interview
❏ The semi-structured
❏ Consisting of 12 questions
including 6 questions for
interviewing EFL learners
about their attitudes
towards selected literature
texts and teaching
approaches. Another 6
questions were used to
interview each literature
instructor.
Observation
❏ The observation was also
employed in this research in
order to analyze the
processes of class instruction
and the teacher-student
interactions during the
beginning, middle, and end of
the class.

12. Questionnaire
❏ Researchers gave the provided questionnaires to participants at the end of the class.
Interview
❏ Researchers randomly selected two students of each section as interviewees to discuss
about their attitudes towards the selected literature texts and their opinions about the
teaching lesson and the class activity
❏ Researchers interviewed an instructor of each section of Short Stories and Novels course.
Observation
❏ Researchers joined the class to observe the actual teaching processes in the literature class
together with the teachers-students interaction throughout the class.
Procedure

13. Result and Analysis

14. Summary The mean score Interpretation
EFL learners’ attitudes towards literature text selection 3.40 Neutral
EFL learners’ attitudes towards teaching approaches 3.83 Agree
Questionnaire
Table 1: Result of EFL learners’ attitudes

15. 3.40

16. The result obviously shows that
item number seven is the highest
score, 4.4 ranged in the strongly
agree level of perception.
It means that most of students
strongly agree that they can acquire
new vocabulary from reading the
selected literature texts.

17. The result obviously shows that
item number nine has the lowest
score which is 2.35 ranged below the
mean score.
It means that the students think
the language used in the selected
literature texts is difficult to
understand.

18. 3.83

19. The blue line evidently reveals
that the highest score is 4.19, item
number seven.
This indicates that students
agree they can understand the texts
better when their teachers provide
some background knowledge
relating to the texts such as social,
historical, or political background.

20. Lastly, item number ten has the
lowest score which is 3.24 ranged in
the neutral level of the perception.
It means that students are
neutral about continuing with
studying other literature courses
because of the teacher’s teaching
approach.

21. The literature text selection
● There were four out of eight students had quite negative attitudes towards the
selected literature texts as they found that the texts were too difficult and
complicated for them to analyze.
● Three of the students mentioned they really liked reading literature and found
the texts very interesting.
● Only one student had neutral attitudes towards the literature texts.
Students’ Interviews

22. The literature text selection
● The use of language and vocabulary are difficult.
● The elements of the texts are complicated but still comprehensible.
● The context behind the texts is inspiring and can widen their perspectives.
● The texts contain life lessons that the students can apply them to their real
lives.
Students’ Interviews

23. The teaching approach
● All students were very satisfied with their teacher’s teaching approach.
● The teachers provided them crystal clear explanation as well as sufficient
knowledge.
● The class discussion was the most favourable activity since it made them
understand the literature texts better and they also could gain new ideas from
their classmates.
Students’ Interviews

24. a) Criteria of selecting the
literature texts
1. The popularity of the texts
2. The genre of the texts
3. The theme of the texts
4. The level of difficulty
5. The writer’s reputation
b) Teaching approaches in
literature classroom
- The mixed method of teaching
which was also known as the the
integrated approach was used
to teach students in the literature
classroom by most teachers.
Teachers’ Interviews

25. c) Motivational technique
- Participation score was used by
every teacher to motivate
students to pay attention in
classrooms as well as forcing
them to read the texts before
class.
d) Class activities
1. A small group discussion,
2. The whole class discussion
*Literature Circle
Teachers’ Interviews

26. e) Teachers’ expectations
- To gain the critical thinking skills
- To apply the moral lesson to
their lives
- To do self-study before coming
to class
- To appreciate the literature
- To improve the reading skills
f) Problems in teaching literature
- The texts were too difficult for
students
- Some students were not into the
texts
- Struggle with the language and
literature analysis
- Students do not participate
Teachers’ Interviews

27. ● All teachers from four sections wanted students to share their opinions by
asking questions and using the group discussion.
● There were both students who always answered the questions and who did
not participate in class.
● Students felt more comfortable when they discussed the given topics with
their friends in the group discussion.
● To motivate the students, teachers from sections two and six gave the love
point as the extra scores when students shared their opinions.
Observations

28. Discussion and Conclusion

29. Discussion and Conclusion
The overall results indicate that ELF learners have
positive attitudes towards teaching approaches. Besides,
they tend to have neutral attitudes towards the literature text
selection.

30. The students had negative attitudes towards the selected
literature texts as they thought that:
● The use of language was difficult and the length of the texts was improper
● Most of them lacked background knowledge
In addition, some students did not complete the self-reading and prepare
lessons before attending literature classes.
During the class discussion, some did not participate in sharing their
opinions and ideas which make them unable to analyze the texts profoundly.

31. ● The teaching and learning of literature are still ineffective although the
basic education core curriculum in 2008 of Ministry of Education in
Thailand places importance on literature.
● Thai teachers have insufficient knowledge of literature and also lack
enthusiasm in teaching and improving teaching approach.
● Besides,Thai teachers are likely to be students’ thought leaders and do not
provide enough chances for students to discuss but only teach them lessons
based on the curriculum.
● For this reason, Thai students in general might not be familiar with
literature and cannot interpret it deeply.
( Kachachai, 2015)

32. This study discovered that EFL learners were very
satisfied with their teacher’s teaching approach.
● The learners can analyze and understand the texts better when their
teachers provide some background knowledge relating to the texts.
● This might be the result of using mixed method of teaching literature.
● Besides, a group discussion and a presentation provided by the teachers are
greatly beneficial.
● Participation score was also used as the motivational technique.

33. References
Liu, Y. (2014). Motivation and attitude: Two important non-intelligence factors to arouse
students’ potentialities in learning English. Creative Education, 5, 1249-1253.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2014.514140
Alhmali, R. (2007). Student attitudes in the context of the curriculum in Libyan education in
middle and high schools (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Glasgow, Scotland.
Cuddon, J. A. (2013). A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. 5th edn. Rev. M. A.
R. Habib. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
McKay, S. (1982). Literature in the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 16(4), 529-536.
Collie, J. & Slater, S. (1987). Literature in the Language Classroom: A Resource Book of
Ideas and Activities. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Kachachai, J. (2015). A study of Thai literature achievement of Mathayomsuksa 3 students based on
reader-response theory. International Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts, 8(2), 62-75.