Introducing Literature to an EFL Classroom: Teacher’s Instructional Methods and Students’ Attitudes toward the Study of Literature

This study reports on a teacher-researcher’s introductions of literary works to undergraduates enrolled in literature course in the department of English during a thirteen-week experiment. The main focus in the study is on the investigation of the undergraduates’ attitudes toward the study of literature in English, as well as factors affecting their opinions. In doing so, the study aims to explore one possibility of how the teaching of literature can be made more accessible to EFL students, incorporating students’ literature preferences and attitudes along with the teacher’s own goals and selection of literary texts. The survey instrument employed in this study was a 27-item questionnaire administered to 105 undergraduates in the department of English. The results indicate that such a strategy for the teaching of literature which incorporates students’ literature preferences into teacher’s instructional practices will help students make considerable gains in both the literary and language competence.