Students’ Perspectives on the Impact of the Use of the Readers’ Response Orientation in Teaching Literary Texts.

Abstract

The current study attempts to investigate students‟ perspectives on the impact of the use of the readers‟ response orientation in teaching literary texts to third-year EFL students at Mila University Centre. It aims to determine how the readers‟ response orientation is perceived by learners in teaching and analysing literary texts, in addition to investigating whether the use of the readers‟ response orientation affects learners‟ performance in literature classes. Accordingly, two research questions are raised: 1) What are the beliefs of EFL learners regarding the integration of the readers‟ response orientation in the literature classroom? 2) Does the use of readers‟ response orientation positively impact teaching literary texts to EFL learners? In response to the questions, a descriptive method is opted for. A questionnaire was administered to eighty third year EFL students at the Department of Foreign Languages at the University Centre of Mila to obtain the necessary data. The main research findings reveal that the use of the readers‟ response orientation in teaching literary texts develops students‟ language proficiency, enhances their critical thinking, and improves their communication skills through peer interaction and the exchange of ideas and points of view between learners, in addition to enabling them to be open-minded. Eventually, the research work proffers a variety of recommendations for pedagogy and future research with the purpose of drawing more attention to the use of the readers‟ response orientation to teach literary texts in the EFL classroom.