studies-on-teaching-of-literature-course--英语专业毕业论文设计.doc

Chapter 1 Introduction
Aristotle once defined “literature” as “a branch of art which imitates nature” (1997: 63), which means literature is the basic representative of human emotions, feelings, actions, and thoughts. According to Carter and Long (1991: 3), it is possible to classify the significance of learning literature into three groups namely “linguistic”, “cultural”, and “individual” ones. Linguistically, literature is created from basic materials of linguistic study (Chapman 1973: 44), so it can be used as a perfect means to exemplify structures and vocabulary for EFL. In terms of culture, literary works are referred to as “a response to the background in which it is actualized” and said to be “identical with civilization” (Wellek and Warren 1956: 20). For individuals, Griffith (1987: 1) believes that teaching literature “enlarges the use of students’ imagination and improves their creativity”. In short, literature bears great significance in itself. Many professors of EFL attach considerable importance to the teaching of English literature. Yin Qiping’s (Yin and Chen 2002) views in this respect can be used to support our argument. He agrees that literature has a crucial role to play in cultivating students to be more imaginative and creative, and that “…an English program that does not look to the past works of literature in particular, deprives our students of the opportunity to participate in the ongoing, cross-cultural and life-enriching dialogue between past and present” (p. 320).
From these remarks we can conclude that literature courses are indispensable for foreign language learners. However, the past few years have witnessed a difficult time for many teachers of English literature in Chinese universities. Yin Qiping observes that the “pragmatic trend” places ever-increasing pressure on both literature teachers and English majors, as employers often give preference to those who have taken “pragmatic courses”, namely “English for Specific Purpose” (ESP) courses such as Foreign Trade English, English for Science and Technology (Yin and Chen 2002: 320).
As a result, the attitude of denial or the neglect of the value of literature prevails among English majors. Surveys show that more and more English majors begin to think English literature courses are “boring and impractical” (Yin and Chen 2002: 321). Thus, the teaching of English literature has become a demanding job, and if it is not handled well, few students would be willing to devote their time and energy to learning literature.
In order to arouse students’ interest in learning literature, something must be done. Future English teachers should understand that “English is more than merely instrumental, the literature course needs to be motivational in itself” (Elliott 1990: 197). But before finding out what needs to be done, we should first of all understand what is going on in literature courses. Are there any problems in the present literature courses that affect students’ motivation? What changes should be made to keep students motivated? These questions are of vital importance. Therefore, as a potential English teacher, I decide to carry out a study on the motivation of English majors in their literature course learning, analyze the major causes behind the issue, and suggest some possible solutions to the problems.
Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Learner motivation theories
It is difficult to precisely conceptualize motivation in foreign language learning fields, as different researchers have different definitions. Gardner and Lambert (1959) divide motivation into two basic types: integrative and instrumental. By integrative motivation they refer to “learners’ desire to learn a language in order to integrate successfully into the target language community”. While instrumental motivation includes “the achievement of goals, utilitarian purposes for learning such as passing exams, financial rewards, furthering a career or gaining promotion” ( p. 266-272).
Current motivation theories employ a wider distinction from Gardner’s integrative-instrumental motivation. In Dornyei’s taxonomy, motivation is comprised of three levels: the language level, the learner level and the learning situation level. At the language level, motivation “coincides with traditional concepts of integrative and instrumental motivation”; at the learner level motivation involves the “influence of various individual traits of language learners, such as the need for achievement and self-confidence.” The learning situation level is also influenced by a number of “intrinsic and extrinsic motives”. For example, in regard to extrinsic motives, courses are related to “the syllabus, the teaching materials, the teaching method and learning tasks”. Intrinsic motives are related to the “characteristics of the learner group” (Dornyei 1994: 273-284).
I agree with Chen Chunju that “…learner motivation is dynamic in nature and can vary from moment to moment depending on the learning context” (Chen 2005: 2). Learners who learn English literature, such as most English majors in my department, may not use literature for instrumental purposes. Neither do they intend to integrate themselves into a target culture. They may be intrinsically or extrinsically motivated or many have a mixture of both intrinsic and extrinsic motives. Therefore, Dornyei’s motivation theory which goes beyond integrative or instrumental classification is of more relevance to my researching context.
2.2 Related studies on teaching of literature
So far, a great number of surveys have been conducted as to the attitude of English majors towards their literature courses. Most results show that a good number of English majors hold a negative attitude towards their literature courses. For instance, according to a questionnaire conducted by sampling ten Chinese institutions of higher education in 2000, about 34 percent of the teachers of English literature were found by their students to conduct “boring” classes (Yin and Chen 2002: 321). The survey also shows that it is mainly because “…the teaching tended to be in the form of a monologue rather than a dialogue. Most teachers do ask questions, but their questions often go unanswered, so they often end up talking only to themselves.” The results of this survey reflect students’ attitudes towards literature courses and some possible flaws in the teaching of literature.
Besides, current studies have been devoted to the exploration of problems that demotivate students in their literature courses. These studies seem to centre around three problems, namely the textbook, teaching methodology and assessment system.
Some scholars find that the traditional form of teaching literature, including teachers’ explanations about the background of the time in which the work is set, the author, the content, the writing styles, the characters, significance of the work and the like, should be updated. This is also true in my department. Many students tend to fall asleep in class when teachers seem to be explaining everything to themselves. Two Chinese scholars note that “…the formula, which is obviously against the mental development of students, has turned out too dull and obsolete to motivate them” (刘洊波、罗承宁2003: 88). Wang Shalie is also against the text-book centered formula, saying that the formula has turned literature course to the translation of paragraphs one after another (王莎烈1994: 58).
In regard to the textbook of literature courses, Wang Shalie, in her early study of literature teaching, highlights the importance of selecting literary texts, stating that it affects “the cultivation of students’ interest in literature” and serves as “first step towards the success in literature courses”(王莎烈1994: 58).
Another textbook-related factor, mentioned several times by Dorothy (1989: 79), is that English majors in their third year or fourth year are still “in the process of language development” and may not be proficient enough to digest fully what literature works offer. They are most possibly to be turned away by “teaching aimed above their instructional level”. Most students in my department also have had similar experience. Sometimes, they are scared by difficult texts, which reduce their interest in learning literature. In the explanation of this phenomenon, Yin (Yin and Chen 2002: 321) mentions that no “preparatory courses” are offered to “iron out” typical obstacles for Chinese students. Unlike in the West, English majors have had “considerable exposure” to Western literatures by the time they enter university. This might be the case for many English majors, as literature courses come to them all of a sudden.
Additionally, conventional tests in a literature course often lead to plenty of passive learning, which involves plenty of memorizing and reciting, paraphrasing and identifying the source of a passage. While Carter and Long (1990: 215) propose that conventional tests should be supplemented by other forms that deal with more “personal response and general comprehension gained in literature learning”. At present, usually there is only one test to assess how well students have done in their literature courses. In my department, seldom are the students motivated to work hard by literature tests of this kind.
The previous studies on the teaching of literature not only provide me with a clear sense of the research background for my study, but also give me enlightenments in deciding the focus of my research.
2.3 Research questions for this interview study
Bearing the above problems in mind, I would like to conduct a pilot interview study in my department to find out how the students perceive the problems that affect their motivation in literature courses and causes behind the issue. Here are my two major research questions:
1. How do students perceive the problems that affect their motivation in literature courses?
2. If there are any problems, what are some causes behind the issue?
Chapter 3 Research Methodology
3.1 Interview
In this research, interview method is adopted as it helps to catch not only the factual but the in-depth meaning of the phenomena. For one thing, the main task of the research is to discover problems that affect students’ motivation. I, as a researcher, have to seek out students’ attitudes, views and beliefs related to literature course learning. It seems that the most direct way to achieve this goal is to use an interview method. For another, through conducting interviews, I will have the opportunity to ask follow-up questions in order to get in-depth information on the topic.
3.1.1 Participants
Six students in my department participated in my interview study. They were selected for the following reasons. First, they are all fourth grade English majors who have taken literature courses, both British literature and American literature, for nearly one and a half years, so they know the course well. Second, the six participants (five female and one male) were known to be interested in reading literature works in their first and second year on campus, so I believe their possible negative attitudes to the literature course is not influenced by their possible negative past experience in literature learning.
3.1.2 Interview questions design
In order to answer my two research questions, two major interview questions were asked. The first question was “How do you like the literature courses”. This question was to find out the interviewee’s general attitudes towards the literature course so as to identify problems that affect their motivation.
The second question was “What problems have affected your motivation in literature courses”. This question was to find out why the literature courses demotivate students. According to some possible problems raised in the previous studies, a series of sub-questions, related to the textbook, the assessment and the way of teaching, were also asked so as to get detailed responses to the second question. Sub-questions are as follows: 1) “How do you like the literature course textbooks you have learnt?” 2) “Can you describe the teacher’s major way of teaching the literature course? How do you like it?” 3) “Does the final exam of literature keep you motivated in learning the course?”
3.1.3 Procedures of interviews
Six students were invited for interviews separately. They were allowed to respond to my questions either in Chinese or in English so long as they could express what they exactly meant. All the main points in their answers were taken down in the notebook; sub-questions were used to help probe whenever necessary.
3.2 Data Processing
After I got the data from the interviews, I sorted out what I had taken down and tried to classify them according to the emerging themes. As one way of reducing the data, I finally put together some important excerpts from my interview transcription for my later analysis (see Appendix).
Chapter 4 Results and Discussion
4.1 Results: Student-reported problem descriptions
According to the answers to interview question one, we can conclude that the interviewees all find literature courses not as interesting as they expected. Enough data for research question one were obtained after asking the interviewees about the problems that affect their motivation in literature courses. The answers are classified and reported under the following three themes on the teaching methodology, text materials and the assessment.
4.1.1 Textbook materials
Firstly, all the interviewees complained that some texts were too difficult to comprehend, especially the excerpts written in old English and long verses.
For instance, participant 2 said, “I think some of the texts are quite difficult, especially those written in old English, for example, Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, Shakespeare’s dramas.” When asked why they find these works difficult, they list several factors. For example, participant 4 said, “Our time is so limited, but we have too much to read, both the survey and works…there are too many unfamiliar words, sentence patterns and concepts related to cultural and historical background, legends, and religious stories”. Participant 2 said, “Sentences in these works often have many notes. Sometimes even the explanation of only one word is full of many background information and obscure allusions.”
Secondly, in the analysis of learner needs, we find that students have their own preference as to literary works. Excerpts from novels with interesting plots are among their favourites. For example, participant 3 said, “Novels with interesting plots are my favourites.” Participant 6 said, “Poems, if not too long.” These answers show that interesting texts may serve as one of the motivational factors.
Thirdly, the interviewees were unsatisfied with reading excerpts only. Participant 5 answered, “…excerpts lack the context, which frequently puzzle me about what is going on in the exc