Effective procedures for making literary texts accessible for EFL readers : the students perspective

Abstract EN

This paper reports on a study that aimed at identifying the most effectue classroom procedures and activities among those which are commonly used in teaching literary texts to EFL students from the collective perspective of the students themselves.

The results of the study revealed that the procedures which place more emphasis on the role of the instructor in the simplification of texts in class, and those which call for more reliance and more guidance from the instructor to the stadents, were considered more popular than those which emphasised students’ individual pre-reading and post-reading activities'.

The study describes several pedagogical implications which emerged from the results of the study.

These implications emphasise: 1.

Providing students with appropriate linguistic, content, and formal schemata.

2.

Placing less emphasis on testing students on literary texts and more emphasis on helping them to approach these texts by using appropriate prereading activities and teaching procedures.

3.

Correcting students' misconceptions about literary texts and about the roles and responsibilities of students and instructors in making these texts accessible.

Based on the findings, the paper concludes by stressing the importance of the following factors in helping students of literature to successfully experience literary texts: 1.

Helping students to obtain the necessary schemata.

2.

Helping students to experience the assigned literary texts first- hand.

3.

Helping students to get rid of their misconceptions about the roles of both instructors and students with regard to literary texts.

4.

Paying more attention to how students interact with the texts and not just to how much material should be covered in certain courses.