Attitudes of ELL students towards the courses of English literature

T.R.

SELÇUK UNIVERSITY

THE INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

ATTITUDES OF THE ELL STUDENTS TOWARDS ENGLISH

LITERATURE COURSES

KERİM KAYA

MASTER OF ARTS

SUPERVISOR

PROF. DR. ARİF SARIÇOBAN

i

T.R.

SELÇUK UNIVERSITY

THE INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

ATTITUDES OF THE ELL STUDENTS TOWARDS ENGLISH

LITERATURE COURSES

KERİM KAYA

MASTER OF ARTS

SUPERVISOR

PROF. DR. ARİF SARIÇOBAN

ii T. C.

SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü

Bilimsel Etik Sayfası

Öğ

renci

ni

n _{Adı Soyadı KERİM KAYA}

Numarası 11408001001

Ana Bilim / Bilim Dalı İNGİLİZ DİLİ VE EDEBİYATI

Programı Tezli Yüksek Lisans X Doktora

ELL ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN EDEBİYAT DERSLERİNE KARŞI TUTUMLARI

(ATTITUDES OF ELL STUDENTS TOWARDS THE ENGLISH LITERATURE COURSES) Bu tezin proje safhasından sonuçlanmasına kadarki bütün süreçlerde bilimsel etiğe ve akademik kurallara özenle riayet edildiğini, tez içindeki bütün bilgilerin etik davranış ve akademik kurallar çerçevesinde elde edilerek sunulduğunu, ayrıca tez yazım kurallarına uygun olarak hazırlanan bu çalışmada başkalarının eserlerinden yararlanılması durumunda bilimsel kurallara uygun olarak atıf yapıldığını bildiririm.

Öğrencinin imzası KERİM KAYA x

i T. C.

SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü

Yüksek Lisans Tezi Kabul Formu

Öğ

renci

ni

n

Adı Soyadı KERİM KAYA

Numarası 11408001001 Ana Bilim / Bilim

Dalı İNGİLİZ DİLİ VE EDEBİYATI

Programı Tezli Yüksek Lisans X Doktora

Tez Danışmanı Prof. Dr. ARİF SARIÇOBAN

Tezin Adı

ELL ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN EDEBİYAT DERSLERİNE KARŞI

TUTUMLARI (ATTITUDES OF ELL STUDENTS TOWARDS THE ENGLISH LITERATURE COURSES)

Yukarıda adı geçen öğrenci tarafından hazırlanan ELL

ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN EDEBİYAT DERSLERİNE KARŞI TUTUMLARI (ATTITUDES OF ELL STUDENTS TOWARDS THE ENGLISH LITERATURE COURSES)

başlıklı bu çalışma 05/06/2018 tarihinde yapılan savunma sınavı sonucunda oybirliği/oyçokluğu ile başarılı bulunarak, jürimiz tarafından yüksek lisans tezi olarak kabul edilmiştir.

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To start with, I should present my special gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Arif SARIÇOBAN. If he weren’t more determined to complete this two-decade old thesis, I would give it up many times ago. His patience, motivation, great support and enthusiasm all consist in every component of this dissertation.

The second person whom I owe the final stage of this study is Dr. Faculty Member Bahadır C. TOSUN. Whenever I was drifted to the ocean of desperation, he held my hand to sort it out. Thanks to his brotherly efforts and statistical analysis, my study is at better stage than it could be by myself.

My beloved son, Yusuf KAYA. My life would be more meaningless without you in my life. Thank you for being tolerant and courageous related to the unpeaceful periods of time due to this study.

iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... I TABLE OF CONTENTS ... II ABSTRACT ... Vİ ÖZET ... VİİI LIST OF TABLES ………. VII LIST OF FIGURES ………... VIII

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1. Problem Statement ... 1

1.2. Purpose of the Study ... 2

1.3 Significance of the Study ………... 2

1.4. Limitations of the Study ……….... 3

1.5. Definition of Terms ………... 3 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. What is Attitude? ... 5 2.1.1. Characteristics of Attitude ... 7 2.1.2. Types of Attitudes ... 8 2.1.2.1. Positive attitudes ... 8 2.1.2.2. Negative attitudes ... 8 2.1.2.3. Neutral Attitudes ... 9

2.1.3. Factors Influencing Attitudes ... 10

2.1.4. Components of Attitude ... 10

2.2. Literature ... 16

2.3. Literature in Language Teaching ... 18

iv CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1. Introduction ... 23

3.2. The Research Model ... 23

3.3. The Universe and Sampling ... 24

3.4. The Demographic Characteristics of the Participants of the Study ... 24

3.5. Data Collecting Instrument ... 25

3.5.1. The Attitude Scale for the Course of English Literature ... 25

3.6. Data Analysis ... 25

CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 4.1. The overall attitudinal levels of English Language and Literature Department students towards English Literature Courses ... 26

4.2. The overall attitudinal levels of English Language and Literature Department students towards English Literature Courses in terms of the components as (a) emotional, (b) behavioral, and (c) cognitive features... 29

4.3 The Difference between the Attitudes of the Students towards English Literature Courses in terms of (a) Gender, (b) Age group ………. 32

CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 INTRODUCTION ... 43

5.2. Summary of the Study ... 43

5.3 The Results of the First Research Question... 43

5.4. The Results of the Second Research Question ... 44

5.5 The Results of the Third Research Question ... 44

5.6. Suggestions ... 44

v APPENDIX A: ATTITUDE QUESTIONNAIRE ... 544

vi ABSTRACT

This study, which aims to determine the attitudes of the ELL students towards the courses of English literature and their opinions related to the issue, is a quantitative research. Out of total 390 ELL students who study English Literature courses in English Language and Literature Department in the Faculty of Letters, Selçuk University during the academic year of 2016-2017, a convenient sampling (n = 194; 47 males + 147 females) have participated in the study. For some items the number of the responses changes. For the purpose of the study, a questionnaire (α=0.95) adapted from the study of Akram & Sadek (2015) has been administered. It consists of 34 items, 9 of which are about emotional, 10 are about cognitive, and the rest 15 are about behavioral attitudes. The results obtained in the study have pointed out that the participants have displayed almost a neutral level of attitudes towards the necessity of the above mentioned courses. As to the analysis of the affective behaviors of ELL students about the necessity of the English language courses in their departmental study, they have reported that they have favorable attitudes about the issue. As to the analysis of the cognitive behaviors of ELL students about the necessity of the English language courses in their departmental study, they have reported that they have almost favorable attitudes about the issue at the neutral level. A careful analysis of the results obtained in this study regarding the behavioral component have indicated a high level of attitudes towards these courses. In order to see if there is a statistically significant difference between the male and female’s attitudes towards English Literature courses, Independent Samples Test has been applied and it has been found out that males and females differ in that issue. Females have almost more favorable emotional characteristics of attitudinal behaviors towards the use of English literature courses in their departmental studies. However, as to the cognitive attitudes, males have had higher scores than females in that attending Literature courses improve their writing skills in English. In terms of behavioral component males have had higher scores than females in the sense that studying literature encourages them to think. As to the attitudes towards English Literature courses regarding age it is found out that there is no statistically significant difference in-between the age ranges.

vii ÖZET

ELL öğrencilerinin İngiliz Edebiyatı derslerine karşı tutumunu ve onların konuyla ilgili görüşlerini belirlemeyi amaçlayan bu çalışma nicel bir çalışmadır. 2016-2017 eğitim öğretim döneminde Selçuk Üniversitesi, Edebiyat Fakültesi, İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı bölümünde öğretim gören 390 ELL öğrencisinden yeterli sayıda öğrenci (n= 194; 47 erkek + 147 bayan) çalışmaya katılmıştır. Bazı anket sorularında verilen cevapların sayısı değişikllik göstermektedir. Çalışmanın amacına uygun olarak, Akram & Sadek (2015) tarafından geliştirilen bir anket (α=0.95) uygulanmıştır. Anket 39 sorudan oluşmaktadır; 9 tanesi duygusal tutum,10 tanesi bilişsel tutum, 15 tanesi ise davranışsal tutum ile ilgilidir.

Elde edilen sonuçlar katılımcıların yukarıda bahsedilen derslerin gerekliliği konusunda neredeyse nötr seviyede bir tutum sergilediklerini göstermektedir. Bölümlerinde yaptıkları çalışmalarda İngiliz Edebiyatı derslerinin gerekliliği hakkında ELL öğrencilerinin duygusal tutmlarının analiz edilmesi söz konusu olduğunda konuyla ilgili kabul edilebilir tutumları olduğunu bildirdiler. Bölümlerinde yaptıkları çalışmalarda İngiliz Edebiyatı derslerinin gerekliliği hakkında ELL öğrencilerinin bilişsel tutumlarının analiz edilmesi söz konusu olduğunda konuyla ilgili nötr seviyede tutumları olduğunu bildirdiler. Davranışsal tutumları dikkate alarak gerçekleştirilen bu çalışmadan elde edilen sonuçların dikkatli bir şekilde analizi bu derslşere karşı yğksek seviyede tutum olduğunu göstermiştir. Erkek ve bayanlar arasında İngiliz Edebiyatı derslerine tutum bakımından fark olup olmadığını belirlemek için, bağımsız grup t testi uygulanmış ve erkekler ve kadınlar arasında bu konuda fark olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Kızlar bölüm çalışmalarındaki İngiliz Edebiyatı derslerinin kullanımına yönelik tutumsal davranışın duygusal özelliklerine daha fazla sahip oldukları görüldü. Fakat bilişsel tutumlar söz konusu olduğuna erkeklerin Edebiyat derslerine devam etme konusunda daha yüksek değerlere sahiplerdi. Davranışsal bileşenler anlamında, edebiyat öğrenmenin onları düşünmeye teşvik ettiği konusunda erkekler kızlardan daha yüksek değerlere sahipti. Yaşla ilgili Edebiyat derslerine tutumla ilgili olarak yaş grupları arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı farklar olmadığı bulunmuştur.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Tutum, İngiliz Edebiyatı, cinsiyet, yaş, duygu, bilişsel, davranış.

viii LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The Frequency Distribution of the Participating Students……….. 24

Table 2: Criteria for Descriptive Statistical Analysis ………. 26

Table 3: Overall Descriptive Statistics (Item by Item) ………. 27

Table 4: Descriptive Statistics for Group A ………... 29

Table 5: Descriptive Statistics for Group A (Item by Item) ……….. 30

Table 6: Descriptive Statistics for Group B ……….. 30

Table 7: Descriptive Statistics for Group B (Item by Item) ……….. 31

Table 8: Descriptive Statistics for Group C ……….. 31

Table 9: Descriptive Statistics for Group C (Item by Item) ……….. 32

Table 10: Independent Samples Test ……….………… 33

Table 11: Group Statistics for Group A ………. 33

Table 12: Emotional ……….. 34

Table 13: Group Statistics for Group B ………. 34

Table 14: A Report ………. 35

Table 15: Group Statistics for Group C ………. 35

Table 16: A Report ………. 36

Table 17: Independent Samples Test ……….……….… 37

Table 18: Group Statistics for Group A ………. 37

Table 19: A Report ……….. 38

Table 20: Independent Samples Test ……….……….… 38

Table 21: Group Statistics for Group B ………. 39

Table 22: B Report ……….… 40

Table 23: Independent Samples Test ……….. 40

Table 24: Group Statistics for Group C ………. 40

ix LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Difference between positive and negative attitudes ………..……. 9

Figure 2: Three types of attitudes ………..………. 10

Figure 3: Three components of attitude ……….……. 13

1 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the answer to the question whether there is a correlation between the attitudes of the ELL students towards the courses of English literature and some variables such as age and gender will be presented. The problems, objectives, significance of the study, sub-problems, research questions, limitations and some terms employed in the research will be discussed.

1.1. Problem Statement

Language is a living existence and a social structure, which the society collectively establishes and uses. On the other hand, language is a key feature which allows human beings to globalize and get in touch with the world, differentiates human beings from the other creatures and sets them free. The thing we describe as culture is nothing, but the total of its contributions to the society and its reflection is found in the language of that society. It is a bridge between the past and the future, an essential part of the thought in society and an accumulation of many centuries. Foreign language is the most important gate opening to the universal culture. The individual, who enters into the framework of national culture after crossing the lines of local culture, will need to recognize the universal culture to the extent that he continues thinking. At this vein the literature plays an utmost important role. It is regarded as a qualification, which individuals should achieve in terms of literature as well as it is a sine qua non condition of economic, cultural, political and scientific achievement, thus foreign language achievement can be added in our context.

It is frequently emphasized that the methods employed in the mother tongue education and foreign language education are not the same and the foreign language lessons shouldn’t be limited to language-related materials. In the lesson of a foreign language, which is regarded as a course of comprehension, literature shouldn’t be regarded as only an additional material, a support to motivation and a tool of relaxation, game or relief; learning a language should be regarded as the opportunities which individuals can reveal their experiences. It is known that it should be in conformity with structural approach – every individual, who learns a foreign language, has the accumulation in proportion with the individual experiences of the individual/reader related to life in order to understand and interpret the texts. Of course, there is a general accumulation of experience in every culture, but we need the encouragement of people in order to comprehend deep meaning in a text

2 and evaluate it from another perspective. A tiny exchange of views may provide new perspectives through opening our horizons and activating our imaginary world. The issue of foreign language education appeals to the individuals who are interested in learning and teaching a foreign language. Therefore, the individuals living in different cultures desire to have such a communication one way or another. In various cultures, those learning and teaching methods have undergone changes and they have evolved.

1.2. Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to scrutinize the attitudes of the ELL students towards the English Literature courses and some demographic variables such as gender and age of the ELL students. The participants of this study comprise of the 194 ELL students at Selçuk University who agreed to participate in the study.

1.3. Significance of the Study

In the globalizing world, people all over the world need to get in touch with individuals from other countries and cultures. If we consider that we need to learn the language of the individuals whom we intend to contact, the processes of teaching and learning gain more and more importance every day.

We can determine the success of the students through their attitudes towards the course. Attitudes towards the target language, the people speaking it and the learning context may all have a role in explaining their achievement or inadequacy (Candlin and Mercer, 2001). Considering the fact that negative attitudes can be changed, a vast number of studies related to the role of attitude in learning a foreign language, have been conducted. Negative attitudes may be changed through the factors such as better teaching strategies, classroom, and social environment.

Various variables such as motivation, attitudes, anxiety, learning achievements, aptitudes, intelligence, age, self-identities, personalities, and so forth generate the achievement of foreign language (Gardner, 1968; Lehmann, 2006; Schmidt, Borai & Kassabgy, 1996, cited by Shams, 2008). Those variables possess a strong relationship in the process of complicated creation which yields in successful language learning (Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Boyle, & Houndoulesi, 1993; Dornyei, 1994; and Norris-Holt, 2001) and they are capable of affecting the motivation and attitudes of the students (i.e. likes and

3 dislikes) and analogously may increase or reduce their anxiety levels (i.e. levels of apprehension or fear) towards language learning (Dornyei, 1990; McIntyre & Gardner, 1991; Dornyei & Otto, 1998; Ramirez, 1995). The aforementioned factors escalate the student’s interests, behaviors and actions in the language classrooms, either through promoting or hindering their language learning achievement (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Clement, Dornyei & Noels, 1994; Salim, 1996) and are manifested variously by individuals who display their experiences, values, societal norms and living patterns (Mertens, 1998 cited in Schwandt, 1994). Related to the language tasks which require attention and meticulous training may be influenced due to the lack of comfort or fear encountered by the students (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986). Consequently, the students may lose confidence in the instructional approach if language teaching processes fail to meet their needs and expectations and therefore, the language accomplishment can be inadequate (Horwitz, 1987).

1.4. Limitations of the Study

The study is restricted to the context of the ELL students who study English Literature at the Faculty of Letters, Selçuk University during 2016-2017 academic year. There are a total number of 390 students who study English Language and Literature at this faculty, but only 194 of them have agreed to participate in the study. Although the number of the students show a nearly equal distribution according to their degree levels (first year: 50 students, second year: 44 students, third year: 50 students, fourth year: 50 students), approximately half of the students have participated in the study. An attitude questionnaire has been applied to the students.

1.5. Definition of Terms

Age: the period of time someone has been alive or something has existed.

Attitude: a feeling or opinion about something or someone, or a way of behaving that is caused by this.

Emotional attitude: the feelings of a person about an object.

Cognitive attitude: the beliefs and information that the individual owns about the object.

4 Gender: the physical and/or social condition of being male or female.

Literature: written artistic works, especially those with a high and lasting artistic value. (cited from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/attitude ).

5 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, we aim to discuss the terms in line with the attitudes of the ELL students towards the courses of English Literature. First of all, the literature related to the attitudes is given in this section.

2.1. What is Attitude?

When the literature related to the term attitude is reviewed, following definitions may be provided;

- “An attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is related” (Allport, (1929), 35(2):220-238).

- “Attitude is manner, disposition, feeling and position with regard to a person or thing, tendency or orientation especially in the mind” (Robbins, 2005).

- “An attitude is a dispositional readiness to respond to certain institutions, persons or objects in a consistent manner which has been learned and has become one’s typical mode of response” (Freeman, 1937).

- “An attitude denotes the sum total of man’s inclinations and feelings, prejudice or bias, pre-conceived notions, ideas, fears, threats and other any specific topic” (Thurstone, 1928).

- “A tendency to react favorably or unfavorably towards a designated class of stimuli, such as a national or racial group, a custom or an institution.” (Anastasi, 1957).

- “Attitudes are learned predispositions towards aspects of our environment. They may be positively or negatively directed towards certain people, service or institution.”

(Munn, 1962).

Attitudes can be described as a tendency to react positively or negatively to a person or circumstances. Thus, the two main elements of attitude are tendency or predisposition and the direction of this predisposition. It has been defined as a mental state of readiness, organize to through experience which exerts a directive or dynamic influence on the responses of an individual to all objects and situations with which the individual is related. The encyclopedia of social sciences described attitude as a comparatively enduring organization of interrelated beliefs which describe and evaluate the action with respect to an

6 object or a situation, with each belief having cognitive effect and behavioral components. Each of these beliefs is a predisposition that results in some preferential response towards the object or the situation. The concept of an attitude originated in the United States of America (http://www.mbaofficial.com/mba-courses/human-resource-management/what-is-attitude-and-what-are-the-components-of-attitude/).

According to Brown (2000, p.180), the attitudes can be defined as “the result of parents and peers’ attitudes, of contact with people, who are ‘different’ in any number of ways, and of interacting affective factors in the human experience”.

Social psychology focused on attitudes as one of its main research areas after 1900s. Although some dictionaries gave the year of 1668 for the first emergence of the term attitude in terms of etymology (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2000; Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001), Franzoi (2003) points out a different historical background in the 1800s through associating the term with theatre. At the beginning

attitude was employed to describe a physical mood but it turned into “posture of the

mind” rather than the posture of the body.

I n 1 9 3 0 s , Allport (1935), cited by Franzoi in 2003, presented a clear definition of “indispensability” of attitudes in social psychology: “Attitudes determine for each individual what he will see and hear, and what he will think and what he will do” (p. 155). Although the question whether an attitude can always predict a behavior accurately and steadily has been a matter of discussion in concurrent social psychology (Brehm and Kassin, 1990; Franzoi, 2003; Morris, 2002), its significant role in understanding and shaping human behavior has been highlighted by Franzoi (2003): “The popularity of the concept attitude arises from the fact that the aim of psychology is to study the behavior and thus attitudes are expected and assumed to influence behavior” (p. 155).

It must be noted that there is a very close relationship between personality traits and attitude. While the former are more inflexible and everlasting, the latter may change with different situations and experiences in life. Namely, attitudes are learned and acquired. Also, attitude could be explicit or implicit. Attitude at an unconscious level that might be unknown to us, and is formed involuntarily is referred to as implicit attitude. On the other hand, explicit attitude refers to the attitude at a conscious level. Implicit attitude might be attributed to past

7 experiences or influences (Zafar, 2016).

It must be noted that one's behavior might not always reflect one's attitude. However, studies have suggested that people might change their behavior, if the inconsistencies between their beliefs and behavior are pointed out to them. In general, a positive attitude is most likely to have a good effect on one's behavior.

2.1.1. Characteristics of Attitude

1. Attitudes are the complex combination of things we tend to call personality, beliefs, values, behaviors, and motivations.

2. It can fall anywhere along a continuum from very favorable to very unfavorable.

3. All people, irrespective of their status or intelligence, hold attitudes.

4. An attitude exists in every person’s mind. It helps to define our identity, guide our actions, and influence how we judge people.

5. Although the feeling and belief components of attitude are internal to a person, we can view a person’s attitude from his or her resulting behavior.

6. Attitude helps us define how we see situations, as well as define how we behave toward the situation or object.

7. It provides us with internal cognitions or beliefs and thoughts about people and objects.

8. It can also be explicit and implicit. Explicit attitude is those that we are consciously aware of an occasion while implicit attitude is unconscious, but still, have an effect on our behaviors.

9. Attitudes cause us to behave in a particular way toward an object or person.

10. An attitude is a summary of a person’s past experience; thus, an attitude is grounded in direct experience predicts future behavior more accurately.

11. It includes certain aspects of personality as interests, appreciation and social conduct.

12. It indicates the sum total of a man’s inclinations and feelings.

13. An attitude is a point of view, substantiated or otherwise, true or false which one holds towards an idea, object or person.

8

14. It has aspects such as direction, intensity, generality or specificity.

15. It refers one’s readiness for doing Work.

16. It may be positive or negative and may be affected by age, position, and education. (https://iedunote.com/characteristics-of-attitudes).

2.1.2. Types of Attitudes

Attitude is something that exists between emotions and thought processing. Attitude may be positive or negative. If someone has good feelings about something e.g. towards his/her work, or people, then it is positive attitude otherwise it would be negative.

2.1.2.1. Positive attitudes

Oroujlou and Vahedi (2011) stated that the positive or negative attitudes of a learner strongly influence their actions either making things simple or worse for her/him in the foreign language context. The language learners need to have high levels of motivation and positive attitudes towards the language (Rahimi & Yadollahi ,2011). For that reason, positive attitudes are assumed to be “the umbrella of the language learning” (Abidin, 2012). According to Merisuo-Storm (2007), positive attitudes assist the learners’ motivation and facilitate language learning. Hosseini (2013) states that positive attitudes of the learners help them develop their integrative motivation in order to support this claim.

If the learner enters in the language classroom with neutral or positive attitudes towards the language, the learning process will be highly influenced and supported by the personal traits which their attitudes assure, such as being open and ready enough for learning (Oroujlou and Vahedi, 2011). For that reason, Oroujlou and Vahedi say that “having positive attitude towards learning a language is a good start to learn a language” (p.994).

The predisposition that results in desirable outcomes for individuals and organizations can be described as positive attitude. Positive attitudes are rewarded. It means the individual is encouraged to do the same thing in future.

2.1.2.2. Negative attitudes

As stated above, the positive attitudes of the learners facilitate their language learning while negative attitudes can cause the motivation of the learners to decrease and accordingly threat the learning process (Merisuo-Storm, 2007). According to Kızıltan & Atlı (2013), the learner who desires to succeed in language learning with a full efficient capacity should avoid developping negative attitudes towards the language. Oroujlou and Vahedi (2011)

9 coincides with this generalization and argues that even the smart and gifted learners with negative or low attitudes are quite likely to proceed less in language learning. In his study, Merisuo-Storm (2007) finds out that the learners who consider themselves as poor learners and find studying language hard are the ones who have negative attitudes towards language learning.

Negative attitudes and low motivation can hinder the language learning process, but learners’ negative attitudes can be turned out to be the positive ones (Oroujlou and Vahedi, 2011). In order to achieve this, “English curriculum and classroom activities should involve affective aims according to the students’ needs and their individual differences to build up positive attitudes towards English” (Abidin, 2012 p.126). on condition that the negative attitudes are turned into the positive ones, the level of participation among the learners will increase; thus, they will profit from the learning sessions more through modifying their learning styles (Rıfai, 2010).

According to the studies, we can conclude that the attitudesof learners, either they are negative or positive, have huge influences on their complete learning process (Hosseini, 2013). For that reason, it is a necessity to develop language curriculums in conformity with the needs and extraordinary personal traits of the learners. In addition, the teachers also need to consider those curriculums related to those needs and individual differences.

The tendency of a person that results in an undesirable outcome for individuals and organizations can be described as negative attitude. Negative attitudes are punished in order to discourage the same action in future.

Figure 1. Difference between positive and negative attitudes (Chandok, 2013) 2.1.2.3. Neutral Attitudes

The individuals with neutral attitudes are very balanced in their approach. They keep indifferent to problems and wait for others interfering related to the resolutions. Such type of individuals remain self satisfied and complacent. Their attitude is composed of

10 disinterestedness and neutralism. Another prominent element of their attitude is calm and affectless type of posture which makes them very balanced (Zafar, 2016).

A neutral attitude emerges when a person either hasn’t made up his mind or they don’t know or they haven’t come across a situation where they need to employ attitudes.

When an attitude is neutral, it is like a wet lump of clay which is easy to shape. However, it becomes more fixed or a bit like a fired lump of clay when an attitude becomes more positive or more negative. Generally, majority of tend to display neutral attitudes if the subject of their attitude isn’t so important or convenient for them.

Figure 2. Three types of attitudes (Baidya, 2015)

2.1.3. Factors Influencing Attitudes

Attitudes are motivated by numerous external factors. Those factors shape and determine the size or level of an attitude. Here are some of the factors:

1- Social Factors. 2- Direct Instruction. 3- Family. 4- Prejudices. 5- Personal Experience. 6- Media.

7- Educational and Religious Institutions. 8- Physical Factors.

9- Economic Status and Occupations.

(https://iedunote.com/factors-influencing-attitude) 2.1.4. Components of Attitude

11 (a) Emotional: Emotional components comprise of the feelings of a person about an object. These feelings could be positive, negative or neutral. For example, a customer service representative displays positive feelings while a police officer or a bill collector would display negative feelings due to the unpleasant duty they have to perform. Similarly, public servants are required to show neutral feelings while discharging administrative duties.

Emotional components comprise of positive or negative factors (feelings). The attitudes differ depending on the level of containing emotional components. Some attitudes are paradoxical and require few things except this emotional concept. Political attitudes are typical examples for this occasion. An individual who likes some parts of a set of political thoughts and dislike some other parts can’t logically explain the causes of his attitudes and reflects an attitude which comprises of highly emotional components (Köklü,1995).

Emotional components comprise of all the senses and emotions and especially evaluations which individuals possess related to the object of attitude Sears, Freedman and Peplau (1985:133). Related to the indications of emotional components, Kağıtçıbaşı (1988:87) mentioned about the following observable reactions to that object of attitudes; emotional, physical reactions such as an increase in the heart rate and excitement as well as oral reactions such as getting angry and expressing the annoyance.

The occasion of prior life experiences also influences the emotions of the individuals. If an individual owns some feelings (positive or negative) for a definite stimulant, it means that the individual has a prior relationship with the aforementioned stimulants. Whenever the individual remembers the stimulants which he previously experienced, he will grow positive or negative emotions for that stimulant. For that reason, he will give positive or negative reactions to that stimulant (İnceoğlu, 2000:8).

Choy and Troudy (2006) claimed that learning process is an emotional activity. Different emotional factors influence this process. The teacher and his students cooperatively take place in numerous emotional activities leading to numerous results of those emotions. Attitude can help the learners to express whether they like or dislike the objects or the occasions in their environment.

(b) Cognitive (Informational): The cognitive component of attitude is the beliefs and information that the individual owns about the object. For example, one person may object to the computer technology or computer. Such an attitude may consist of knowledge and beliefs of individuals related to the negative effects of computers on human beings or

12 the belief that computers may destroy human values and belief. The information and beliefs similar to the ones mentioned above comprise the cognitive component of the attitude (Deniz, 1994:10). According to Eren (2001: 180), the beliefs diversify the attitudes in terms of the levels of the knowledge and beliefs they contain.

Sears, Freedman and Peplau (1985:133) pointed out that a cognitive component contains all the cognitions towards a definite object of attitude and all the facts and knowledge related to those cognitions and beliefs related to that object.

The cognitive components of attitude consist of knowledge and beliefs based on realities related to the objects of the attitude (stimulants). Those components represent the knowledge which individuals acquire in the environment related to the objects of attitude.

Attitudes differ according to levels of knowledge and beliefs. Some attitudes are rather intellectualized. For example, an individual participates in a political structure since he assumes that the task he undertakes is the most acceptable one considering all the available evident. Some attitudes are based on incorrect knowledge and misbelief. Although they don’t indicate correct information, they are cognitive components of attitude. An individual may have weak senses related to an event and may display an attitude accordingly, thus their cognitive component is not so important. On the other hand, the attitudes of an individual may not only be highly intellectualized but also own a highly strong emotional component. Although it belongs to mind and cooperate with emotional component of the attitudes, they are independent components. The word cognitive requires knowing. For that reason, the cognitive component of the attitudes is the part of it and based on beliefs and knowledge (Köklü,1995).

(c) Behavioral: The inclination of an individual towards an object is the behavioral component of attitude. It is easier to observe these components of the attitudes when compared to other two because only this components of attitude are visible while the other two can only be inferred.

Behavioral component reflects the tendency of behavior of the individual towards an object of attitude in a definite group of stimulants. The aforementioned tendencies of behavior may be observed in the words or other activities. They are under the influence of their habits, norms and attitudes which are unrelated to the related object of attitude. For that reason, we need to clarify the distinction between two types of behavior when we mention about the behavioral attitude: they are emotional attitudes and normative attitudes. The

13 emotional attitudes are the product of relationships between the object of attitude and desired or undesired occasions while normative behaviors are the type of behaviors which are based on the beliefs about what is the correct behavior (İnceoğlu, 2000:10; Baysal, 1981:16).

Starting from the emotional and normative behaviors, we can conclude that the behavioral attitude contains emotional and cognitive factors. Although it is not standing for every occasion, we can state that the cognitive element of an attitude is acquired first and then emotional component is obtained so that behavioral component is achieved in the end. This final acquisition is observed in the form of behavior.

According to Kağıtçıbaşı (1988:7), all the observable behaviors related to the object of the attitude are indicators of the behavioral attitudes. Those behaviors may be either verbal or other types of behaviors (giving advice, performing an act, etc.).

Sears, Freedman and Peplau (1985:133) stated that behavioral component included the preparation of the individual related to giving a response to that object of attitude.

Figure 3. The components of attitude

(http://www.mbaofficial.com/mba-courses/human-resource-management/what-is-attitude-and-what-are-the-components-of-attitude/).

14 Figure 4. Components of an Attitude (Robbins & Judge, 2009, p. 76)

We can determine the success of the students through their attitudes towards the course. Attitudes towards the target language, the people speaking it and the learning context may all have a role in explaining their achievement or inadequacy (Candlin and Mercer, 2001). Considering the fact that negative attitudes can be changed, a vast number of studies related to the role of attitude in learning a foreign language, have been conducted. Negative attitudes may be changed through the factors such as better teaching strategies, classroom, and social environment.

Attitudes are in relation with the motives of the learners related to studying a foreign language and we can classify them into two main categories; integrative and instrumental motives. Integrative motives signify the settings, where an individual learns a foreign language so that s/he can participate in the target language group’s cultural activities. Instrumental motives represent the practical objectives of learning a language such as getting a better job or passing examinations. By means of some learning strategies such as asking questions, volunteering information and answering questions, students with positive attitudes will spend more effort to learn. Genially, attitudes are always changeful and erratic; they can be shifted or altered through the learning process by employing relevant materials

15 and teaching techniques. Attitudes also ameliorate by virtue of language learning since learners, who achieve learning well will acquire positive attitudes (Choy, 2002).

The cognitive, affective and conative components constitute attitudes; attitudes involve beliefs, emotional reactions and behavioral tendencies related to the object of the attitudes (McGroarty, 1996). It pertains to an individual’s tendencies, discrimination, conceptions, fears, and sentiments, which are all related to any topic. It is evaluative, has a propensity and tendency to react positively or negatively to something. In conclusion, it may be designated as the way someone thinks or behaves.

Baker (1992) described attitudes as follows:

1. They are cognitive (i.e. are capable of being thought about) and affective (i.e. have feelings and emotions attached to them)

2. They are dimensional rather than bipolar – they vary in degree of favorability/un-favorability.

3. They predispose a person to act in a certain way, but the relationship between attitudes and actions is not a strong one.

4. They are learnt, not inherited or genetically endowed.

5. They tend to persist but they can be modified by experience (Ellis, 1994, p. 199). Smith (1971, pp. 84-85) categorizes the types of attitudes in three groups:

1. “the dumb-bell attitude” during which achievement is never experienced by the learner,

2. “the irrelevant attitude” which arises from the idea of getting merely some benefits through the language without having any personal curiosity, therefore being unable to realize the significance of L2, and,

3. “the uninterested, bored attitude” which springs from finding out the miscellany of the L2 context in limited and ordinary ways.

No matter they are positive or negative, “Attitudes” can be shaped in relation to anything in the learning environment (Smith, 1971). Correspondingly, the feeling or opinions of the learners about “school” could mean how they feel or regard people and things related to it. Especially, a generalization of attitudes takes place at the same time (Bloom, 1976).

16 2.2. Literature

When we refer to encyclopedia Britannica regarding the definition of the term “literature” the rough definition that is encountered;

… a body of written works. The name has traditionally been applied to those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of their execution. Literature may be classified according to a variety of systems, including language, national origin, historical period, genre, and subject matter.

Also, the 11th edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines the term as:

“writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest.”

In addition Encyclopedia Britannica extends the definition consistent with the etymological root of the term literature as;

Deriving from the Latin littera, “a letter of the alphabet,” literature is first and foremost humankind’s entire body of writing; after that it is the body of writing belonging to a given language or people; then it is individual pieces of writing.

The primary issue regarding the definition problem of literature rests on the argument that it is not obligatory to determine a common property in order to define a term; however, it is adequate to know its function in the context it is used. In order to define a concept or term, we should be well aware that this term or concept has a closed texture. Therefore, the terms and concepts with only closed textures are convenient for having definite borders accentuating their limits. On the contrary, when a term corresponds to having an open texture, then it would be improbable to give a concrete definition of it since its process of development has not been completed yet (Weitz, 1959). In this sense; when the case is literature, it is impossible to give a concrete or definite definition for the term “literature” on the grounds that the literary forms pertaining to literature have not come to an end in their process of development (Moran, 1999).

Although there are many definitions of literature text, the most descriptive definition is done by Moddy (1971). According to Moddy (1971), literature can be defined as a social

17 specification created and internalized by the individual. In this case, literature carries the characteristics of individuals or communities bearing the stamp of literature. Inevitably, literature of that language drow attention and is used when any foreign language started to be teach. Experiences of a certain nation or community in their life examine in the form of literature text consists of prose, plays and poetry. In this context, literature can be defined as a extensive depot of human experience. (Cibaroğulları, 2007: 17).

Stern (1987) accepts the literature as a part of teaching foreign language. According to him, literature includes linguistic and teaching words. In this case, teaching always is advanced to get the text and then learning the language. In this way, linguistic and word work occur extend of the text. Literary text should be chosen according to student’s level, course content, words and linguistic subjects (cited by Cibaroğulları, 2007: 26). The common point to have an agreement between literary text and foreign language as theory or application is necessity of using the literary text appropriate to student’s language level for material choice and social world. When the text has been chosen, short epics and poems have beenpreferred and content of the text should be related to student’s real life. Educators have studied on course models; foreign language students can apply their language skills and improve during the lesson to communicate. The question and answer technique for the aim of improve student’s skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing in traditional literature analysis is not appropriate for foreign language lesson and this case is in the news. According to this, only teachers know ‘correct’ answer and all students endeavor to find correct answer but this effort is for nothing; so student’s motivation corrupt and course efficiency decreases much (Ünal, 2005: 206).

In literary text, fluent story develop a great interest in reader and student read more carefully to know what happen will and student’s level of presence to learn increases. It makes easy to analyze the story step by step. The reader becomes a part of the story. Weinrich emphasizes the importance of literary text to teach language by his word: “Language courses are bearable thanks to literature; literature should be among the language courses from the first weeks. Another important feature of the literary text is having more quality than popular text and it reflects language features better. Literary text is more successful to reflect language feature than haphazardly written text with rigorous sentence structure and choice of words (Arak, 2013: 95).

18 Speaking and writing skills of the students to use previous literary knowledge should be improved with these questions. Because of that the literary text reflects the culture of learning language, learning knowledge becomes concrete and can be used as dialogues in daily life. The literary texts are tools to present speaking occasion and they encourage the students to speak. Student should not be content oneself just reading and listening to study text. Texts should include actual problems to attribute to writing and speaking in foreign language course and should have literary worth. So the students are motivated easily to speaking about the text. Because of language characteristics, literary text should be used in foreign language course. In addition to to be improved the vocabulary; they see new sentence structures and linguistic structures. The biggest expectation of studies on literary text is that the students improve their reception and speaking skills. (Arak, 2013: 91).

Stern (1987) accepts that literature is a part of foreign language teaching. According to him, linguistic and vocabulary teaching are in the literature, too. In this case, teaching should provide to be comprehended the literary text and after this stage, provides to learn the language. Thus, study of linguistic and vocabulary practiced with the literary text. The literary text should be selected to proper to level of the students, content of the course and topics of vocabulary and linguistic. The literary text provides to teach linguistic constructions such as tenses and provides to distinguish the concepts like adjective, adverb, preposition and conjunction (Cibaroğulları, 2007: 26).

2.3. Literature in Language Teaching

Using literature also provides students with the capability of some skills such as questioning, interpreting, connecting and exploration. For instance, the students both question the message and connect it to the real life occurrences through exploring and as a final process interpreting this new message in their own way of expression while decoding the message of the literary texts (Cruz, 2010). Accordingly, literature itself stands out to be a considerably rich expedient for authentic materials. If students achieve those materials through the progress in their literature knowledge, they can effectively interiorize the language at a high level. Accordingly, literature is accepted to be rich in content as an “authentic material”. At this context, the term of “authentic material” reflects two aspects of language first one of which can be considered as everyday conversation aspect of the language while the second one of which may be uttered as aesthetic aspect of the language. Hence, the content of the former can be amplified as language in use unlike an artificial

19 laboratory-crafted language tailored for only in-class conversations that are non-existent in real world whereas the latter may be demonstrated as an upper literary language comprising a superior sort of vocabulary (Cruz, 2010).

Structured drills are commonly used in teaching and make the learning a humdrum process and those tiresome activities lead the teachers to look for new artifacts and issues instead of textbooks. Thus, they tend to be in favor of new materials that embrace more entertaining and interesting literary texts. In view of this fact, the general inclination of publishers has been to implicate brief literary texts in language teaching materials following 1950s (Hişmanoğlu, 2005)

As far as Collie and Slater (1990:3) are concerned with the issue, there are four main reasons to apply literature in the classroom atmosphere which may be listed as valuable authentic material, cultural enrichment, language enrichment and personal involvement. Additionally, universality, non-triviality, personal relevance, variety, interest, economy and suggestive power and ambiguity are also uttered as some other factors that entail the use of literature in the classroom.

As for Hirvela and Belcher (2001), he contends that conventional information based texts oblige the students to take on the role of passive learners instead of the targeted active learners who create the knowledge consistent with constructivist class environment. On the other hand, literature, when incorporated into teaching materials and environments alike provide the students with the opportunity to identify with or react against the characters taking part in each literary product, which enables the students to use their own creativeness and to utilize the ability of deviant language usage in addition to variegated styles and levels of target language.

Besides, Ur (1996) construes that literature readily contributes to the student motivation facilitating the personal development of the student. Therefore, literary texts are strongly recommended to be implicated in the process of language teaching.

Ultimately, literary texts with their very characteristic of embracing profound discussion materials and topics have the potential to furnish both the students and the teacher with new planes to discuss on towards a constructivist way of teaching. Therefore, literary texts in this respect appear to be both versatile and proper for constructivist applications in classroom atmosphere.

20 Nowadays, it is so in favour to use literary texts scattering them into course materials with the aim of overcoming the dull ambiance imparted by the use of language drill practices in the process of language teaching. Because the student is the most crucial factor in the process of constructivist teaching, this also responds to another need of constructivist teaching in terms of authentic materials which are due to stimulate the students to participate in the teaching process. Therefore, the first step to be taken, when constructivism is uttered, appears to be taking the expectations of the students into consideration. As a second step, it is necessary that the teacher choose the techniques and classroom activities which are to be employed in congruous with constructivism. Next, the authentic material, namely, the literary texts that are desired to be applied in the process of teaching, are to be readapted in terms of the criteria such as the proficiency level of the students, their interests, age, gender et cetera. For instance, the literary texts may be simplified or specifically re-inscribed in terms of the proficiency levels of the students such as beginner, elementary, intermediate. However, the form of the literary texts should be preserved so as to enable the students to improve their level literary competence. Put differently, the students they virtually learn through practice of both figurative and colloquial exercise of language via poems, short stories, plays et cetera (Hişmanoğlu, 2005).

Literature, as a piece of implied truth (Moran, 1999) may be assessed as an authentic material when regarded as the language excerpts from real-life contexts such as travel timetables, city plans, forms, pamphlets, cartoons, advertisements, newspaper or magazine articles.

Particularly, the use of literary texts in a foreign language class makes the lesson more enticing, amusing and challenging for the students with verbal/linguistic intellectuality. Literature is both an instrument in order to improve the written or oral skills of the students in the target language and is a passage to access the culture of the target language. Literature helps to build up cultural competence among the students.

Correspondingly, Povey (1972) draws attention to the occasion that literary texts inevitably enhance the level of linguistic knowledge. The support of literary texts used in the classroom environment is not limited with the development in the skill of reading. It also develops the other skills such as listening, speaking and writing skills as well. Through using and analyzing the literary texts, the students may access and comprehend the general information related to experiences and occasions of the real world. Moreover, the literary texts raise

21 awareness about the individual and social developments among the students. Through reading the texts, the cultural and educational improvement is achieved. The interference of the mother tongue decreases as the learning process continues.

Using literary texts for language teaching is rather beneficial for the students in learning the functions of language in real contexts. Selecting the correct literary texts is crucial for the success in the process of language teaching. A rather complicated text in regard to linguistics and culture provides little or no benefits. Simplification of the original texts is a solution for this problem. The process of simplification has the inclination of producing a systematized product which the messages given in the original texts become diluted. The simplification of syntax decreases the cohesion and intelligibility of the texts (Honeyfield, (1977).

There are some people who find teaching a foreign language through literature unnecessary. The reason for their objection to the use of literature in the class environment can be classified in two groups. The first group believes that literature does not contribute to the aim of teaching grammar due to the structural complexity and the peculiar use of language in the literary texts. The grammatical discrepancies between the target language and the mother tongue of the students limit the learning process in the classroom. As for the second group, the literature mirrors only definite aspects of a culture and it may be difficult to comprehend the messages given in the literary texts for the students at the beginning of the learning process. As a consequence, supporters of both assertions agree on the redundancy of using literary texts in teaching a foreign language since they believe that studying literature during the process of learning provides little or nothing. In the process of deciding whether it is necessary to use the literary texts in teaching a foreign language or not, we need to consider those factors hindering the learning process (McKay, 1982).

2.4. Culture and Learning a Foreign Language

In their study, Sarıçoban and Çalışkan (2011) emphasized that students of a foreign language have the capability of grabbing the importance of foreign culture or the target culture. The first person to mention about “contextual orientation” was Fries (1945) and since then the notion that meanings of a language should be discovered in the world of shared experiences among its native users has become common. According to this notion, books and dictionaries are limited with the parts what a language means. The literature on culture learning signifies numerous theoretical perspectives related to the processes of learning and obtaining literature. Customarily, culture was divided into two sub-groups such as high and

22 low culture. Some common examples of high culture are literature, music and philosophy while low culture stood for the clothes people wore, lifestyles, etc. during 1940’s, the general objective of learning a foreign language was regarded as learning high culture in the country where tha target language is spoken. Employers of some classical methodologies believed that culture was an automatic consequence of all language instructions. According to the contemporary or fashionable methodologies, culture is the total of “cognitive facts” which are learned and stored (Sarıçoban and Çalışkan, 2011).

According to Sarıçoban and Mengü (2007), language is a vital element which completes the steadiness of culture. They think that the innovation of a culture may be achieved symbolic language systems. Complicated cultural capacity is obtained through the help of human language. They also stated that culture and language are integral and individable terms, they have insights of the target culture.

23 CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY 3.1. Introduction

In this chapter, there is explanation about the model of the research, its universe and sampling, data collecting method, data collecting instrument and its characteristics and analysis of the aforementioned data. Thus, the present study explores the attitudes of the ELL students towards the course of English Literature and some variables such as their age and gender. To do so, a questionnaire investigating the attitudes of the ELL students towards the courses of English Literature and some above mentioned variables was administered to the participants who study at the first, second, third and fourth grades in the English Language and Literature Department of Faculty of Letters, Selçuk University. The questionnaire was adapted from the study of Akram & Sadek (2015).

To surve for the ultimate aim of the current study, the following research questions have been formulated:

1: What are the overall attitudinal levels of English Language and Literature Department students towards English Literature Courses?

2: What are the overall attitudinal levels of English Language and Literature Department students towards English Literature Courses in terms of the components as (a) emotional, (b) behavioral, and (c) cognitive features?

3: Do their attitudes towards English Literature differ in terms of (a) gender and

(b) age?

3.2. The Research Model

This study which aims to determine the opinions of the ELL students related to their attitudes towards the courses of English literature is a research which is based on the screening model with quantitative data.

The screening models are the approaches of research which aim to describe an occasion as it was in the past and it is today. The event, individual or objects discussed in the study is described within their own conditions (Karasar, 2005:77).

24 3.3. The Universe and Sampling

There were 390 ELL students who study the course of English Literature in the Department of English Language and Literature at Faculty of Letters, Selçuk University in the 2016-2017 academic year.

As a result of the conducted analysis, 194 questionnaire forms were obtained among the 390 students of English Language and Literature Department at Faculty of Letter, Selçuk University. Within this context, it is seen that the number of the questionnaires obtained from the students is enough to represent the universe.

3.4. The Demographic Characteristics of the Participants of the Study

194 valid questionnaire forms have been obtained from the total number of 390 ELL students who study English Language and Literature at Faculty of Letters, Selçuk University. The participants have already attended the ELT formation program. The statistical data related to the demographic data of the aforementioned questionnaires are given in Table 3.1.

Table 1. The Frequency Distribution of the Participating Students

Variables Frequency (f) Percentage (%)

Gender

Male 51 26,3

Female 143 73,7

Age

Teen (under 22) 150 77,3

Adult (22 and over) 44 22,7

Academic Achievement

Successful (60 and over) 118 60,8

Failed (under 60) 76 39,2 Year of Education First Year 50 25,8 Second Year 44 22,7 Third Year 50 25,8 Fourth Year 50 25,8 General Total 194 100(%)

25 3.5. Data Collecting Instrument

3.5.1. The Attitude Scale for the Course of English Literature

Data for the studies have been collected by an attitudinal scale that included (34) items focusing on participants‟ attitudes towards the different literature courses they studied (Appendix A). The questionnaire has been adapted from the study of Akram & Sadek (2015). Responses to the attitude scale items are calculated using means and standard deviations. 3.6. The Analysis of Data

The data obtained through the questionnaire is recorded and analyzed through the SPSS 22.0 package program. In order to test whether the differences between the averages of two unrelated samplings, the “t test” is employed (Sarıçoban and Öz, 2014).

The significance level of the research is determined as p<0,05. The findings obtained through the analysis are transferred into tables in accordance with the research questions and they have been discussed.

26 CHAPTER 4

DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

The purpose of this study is to scrutinize the attitudes of the ELL students towards the English Literature Course and some demographic variables such as gender and age of the ELL students.

4.1. Research Question 1: What are the overall attitudinal levels of English Language and Literature Department students towards English Literature Courses?

As to the analysis of the descriptive statistical analysis for the overall attitudinal levels of English Language and Literature Department students towards English Literature Courses, the following criteria has been adapted from Sarıoçoban and Oz (2014).

Table 2. Criteria for descriptive statistical analysis

Attitudinal Level Mean Option

High 4.50-5.00 4.00-4.49 Strongly Agree Agree Moderate 3.00-3.99 Neutral Low 1.50-2.99 1.00-1.49 Disagree Strongly Disagree

The current study aims at investigating the overall attitudinal levels of English Language and Literature Department students towards English Literature Courses. For this purpose, a questionnaire investigating the attitudes of the ELL students towards the courses of English Literature and such variables as their age and gender has been administered to the participants who study in the first, second, third and fourth grades in the English Language and Literature Department at the Faculty of Letters, Selçuk University during 2016-2017 Academic Year. The participants have displayed moderate level of attitudes towards the necessity of the above mentioned course (M=3,89).

27 Table 3. Overall Descriptive Statistics (item by item)

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

1. I think literature is enjoyable 193 1 5 4,05 ,837

2. Studying literuture is informative 189 1 5 4,15 ,798

3. Studying literature grabs my

attention 192 1 5 3,79 ,939

4. I feel more motivated during the

literature courses 193 1 5 3,66 ,967

5. Studying literature encourages

me for creativity 193 1 5 4,12 ,902

6. Studying literature enriches my

ability of reasoning 190 1 5 4,06 ,856

7. Literature courses encourage me

to think 189 1 5 4,24 ,747

8. I use the information I learn

during the literature courses 193 1 5 3,89 ,898

9. Literature courses enrich my

English speaking skills 193 1 5 3,44 1,228

10. Attending literature courses improve my writing skills and English

192 1 5 3,85 1,116

11. Literature courses enrich my

overall accuracy in English 192 1 5 3,57 ,963

12. Literature courses enrich my

overall fluency in English 194 1 5 3,46 1,003

13. Literature courses help me understand the other people better

193 1 5 3,87 1,037

14. Studying literature improves my

vocabulary repertoire. 191 1 5 3,96 ,920

15. Studying literature improves my

pronounciation. 190 1 5 3,71 1,194

16. Literature courses enrich my

ability to form sentences. 192 1 5 3,85 ,915

17. Literature courses enrich my

ability to write essays in English. 192 1 5 3,90 1,092

18. Literature courses improve my

analytical skills. 190 1 5 3,56 1,021

19. Literature courses help in developing cooperation among the students.

193 1 5 3,63 1,083

20. Literature courses improve my

28

21. Literature courses help me in expressing my ideas about general topics.

192 1 5 4,09 ,879

22. I would like to spend more time for my studies related to literature.

191 1 5 3,65 1,014

23. Literature courses sharpen my

critical thinking skills. 193 1 5 3,89 ,981

24. I become more independent in learning thanks to literature courses.

190 1 5 3,90 ,833

25. Literature courses improve my

imagination. 192 1 5 4,19 ,941

26. Literature courses help me

understand other cultures. 191 1 5 4,46 ,766

27. Literature courses help me

understand the events around me. 193 1 5 4,07 ,830

28. I learn many things during the

literature courses. 193 1 5 4,12 ,904

29. The literary texts we study during the literature courses are very interesting.

192 1 5 3,83 ,990

30. Materials and activities in the literature courses are appropriate/interesting.

193 1 5 3,43 1,059

31. I can accept the other opinions easier thanks to literature courses.

193 1 5 3,76 ,929

32. Literature courses increase my

cultural awareness. 192 1 5 4,34 ,835

33. Literature courses help to build

humanistic outlook on life. 193 1 5 4,18 ,878

34. Literature courses provide improvement in proficiency in English.

193 1 5 3,94 ,905

Valid N (listwise) ₁₅₂