A CONCEPTUAL PAPER

BY
JOSCYLN LEMOK ANAK EMPUNGAN
(P71724)

ABSTRACT
This paper will look intoseveral studies that discussed
about the effects of teachers and students attitudes when
they are teaching or learning literature in Malaysia.

These issues which include:

the selection of literary texts,
the choice for approaches used in the literature lessons
the perceptions towards the value of literature as part of
language learning are discussed extensively

INTRODUCTION

An attitude is simply the evaluative aspect or tendency to

react positively or negatively towards the object of the
attitude, which in this case, teaching and or learning
literature (Siti Norliana Ghazali, 2008)

Cognitive
Affective
conative

Teachers and students attitudes affect the process of

teaching and learning of literature

 Teachers attitudes correlate with students attitudes

especially in the teaching and learning process of the
literature component in the English language syllabus in
the Malaysian context

Find and explore several questions:

What affects a teacher or students attitudes towards
literature component in English?
What do they feel about the literary texts selected for
the Literature component?
Why do teachers employ and students prefer specific
teaching approaches for literature lessons?

BACKGROUND OF
STUDY

Literature in English Language

Attitudes towards Literature
Students attitudes towards Literature
Teachers attitudes towards literature

Literature in English
Language
to increase students proficiency
in English as well as to

contribute towards personal development, character building

and to generate the aesthetic part of the language that is to
get personal response from students

that there are various approaches that can be employed in the

teaching of literature:

the information-based approach

language-based approach
personal response approach
paraphrastic approach
moral-philosophical approach and
the stylistic approach

Attitudes towards
Literature
it can be argued that over the years, the support in favour
of literature in language teaching
is progressing positively

Literature which was once studied or valued only by those

who appreciate and can understand the language is now
well accepted as a resource for the teaching of language
TEACHERS:
teachers were worried because they had no training in
administering the teaching of the literature component.
they have limited knowledge of the teaching methodologies that can
be used to teach literature.

STUDENTS:
It seems that a majority of the students feel that learning literature
is enjoyable

Students & Teachers

Attitudes towards

Literature
the choice of literary texts
their views about teaching approaches
how the students value literature as part of
language learning

 STUDENTS:
learners express that most of the texts are difficult to
understand and that the texts do not interest them.

many learners who not proficient in the target language may

be more confuse rather than enjoying the texts
It can be said that students tend to like the teaching
approaches that best fit learning abilities.
It can be argued that the students background affect their
personal liking to a particular teaching approaches

 TEACHERS:
the teaching approaches employed by the teachers are very
important to ensure that students have positive attitudes
towards the learning of literature

Teachers differed in their choice of teaching approaches

because they felt that it depended on who their students are.
According to Radzuwan Ab Rashid et al., the teachers
preferred to employ the information-based approach.
However, based on the study conducted by Hwang and
Mohamed Amin Embi (2007), the teachers opted for the
paraphrastic approach.

 TEACHERS/STUDENTS:

positive views claimed that they believe on the potential of

literature develop their language.

quite skeptic in admitting that literature have values towards

improving students proficiency in the target language.

FINDINGS/DISCUSSION
three main concepts that closely relates to describing

teachers and students attitudes towards literature in

Malaysia.

This paper deals with three different themes:

the attitudes towards the chosen literature texts (affective
component),
their perceptions towards the value and role of literature as
part of the language learning (cognitive component)
an analysis of attitudes in relation to the teaching
approaches of literature (behavioural component).

Literary Texts
STUDENTS:

Positive attitudes:

They claimed that the stories are easy to understand and that
they are not lengthy.
Students also enjoyed it because the plots are manageable and
interesting

Negative attitudes:

the poems are demanding and the novels were confusing.

the poems are dull and that they cannot relate to the themes as it
was challenging.

Choice of Approaches
STUDENTS:

it is revealed that students from the rural school have better

attitudes towards teaching strategies utilized by their teachers
compared to their urban counterparts.
Half of the students express negative attitudes towards current
teaching practices employed by their teachers which are
described as dull and considered inadequate in preparing them for
their examination.
Some claimed that there was the same pattern in the reactions of
the students regardless of different approaches used by the
teachers.

It is shown in the results that these less proficient students are passive
listeners who did what their teachers wanted them to do or complete.

 TEACHERS:

it was not surprising that almost 63% of the teachers chose to

explain the main content of the text to the class in students
mother tongue.

The study also found that another 37% of the teachers codeswitched during the lessons.
The teachers claimed that this was done so as to ensure that the
students developed deeper understanding because the students
are weak.

Among those who tried to use English as medium of

instruction used pictures and body gestures to help students
comprehend what they were explaining

Value of Literature as
part of language
learning

TEACHERS:
believed that Literature helps students improve their
English.
However, it is important for teachers to really play their
roles in giving proper guidance to the students.
They also believed that if the lessons are planned
properly, Literature can be used to learn English
language.

CONCLUSIONS /
IMPLICATIONS
attitudes in general do affect the learning of literature.

students positive attitudes correlate with the success of

their comprehension of literature lessons empirical data
little attention is given to how teachers attitudes will affect
the teaching of literature less proficient students
the acknowledgement of the teachers attitudes is also
important because it affects the teaching process and
consequently the learning process.

 This raises a few valid questions

What are the current attitudes of teachers in the
literature classroom today?

What are the teachers personal experiences when they

have to teach literature to less proficient students?
what are the teachers perspectives when they have to
teach the less proficient students around the country
who probably do not see the importance of these?
Why
do
the
teachers
approaches/strategies/methods?

employed

such

E
H
T

D
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