Philosophical underpinnings of EFL students’ reading practice and its importance in their target cultural background knowledge acquisition for EFL literature study

الملخص EN

Dealing with foreign literature at university involves taking into account the philosophy of literature reading and the freedom to question the world we live in.

we investigate here students‟ reading habits in particular which influence their ability to interpret EFL literature.

on one hand, if we overlook cross-cultural issues the reader may feel disregarded.

on the other, allowing interpretations that may be unfaithful to the author are too great not to make investigating the role played by EFL students‟ reading practices in their target cultural background knowledge acquisition a fundamental enterprise.

this article presents an exploratory case study with a mixed research design using both the questionnaire and the interview.

if literature allows awakening consciences and emotional responses, both the teachers and the students inquired are aware of an underlying uneasiness related to their lack of reading practice.

we suggest these cause damages in literature class if they remain unchecked.