These are reviews of some of the articles used for my Research Proposal.
Article reviews
Article Review 1 (Class assignment)
Title: Learner Background and their Attitudes towards studying Literature
Siti Norliana Ghazali
The study done in “Learner Background and their Attitudes towards studying Literature” by Siti Nurliana Ghazali, is a correlation research which is part of quantitative research methodology. This correlation research measures how things are associated to one another and how the two existing things relate to one another (Lanthier. E, 2002). In this case, it studies the relation between learners’ background and their attitudes towards learning literature. A conceptual framework of students’ attitude towards second and foreign language learning is used since limited research has been done on students’ background and their attitude towards studying literature. The author aims to collect data on students’ background such as gender, socio-economic status and the location of schools to find out which variables affect the students’ attitude towards the Literature in English component of the English Language syllabus. Even though it is a quantitative research, some of the instruments used are qualitative.
Prior to conducting this study, the author investigated a research done in the past by Davis et al (1992) on undergraduate student by distributing a survey which used Likert-scale questionnaires. The research showed a significant relationship with students’ attitude towards literature in a foreign language.
The author conducted the research on students in arts and science classes from 2 schools, rural and town school in Kemaman district. The instruments used were questionnaires, interviews and their previous examination results. The sample consists of 110 form five students from both the arts and the sciences stream. According to Parmjit Singh et al (2008), “sample” is a part of the population that is observed from which generalization can be made upon it. In this case the four classes, two each from rural and town school is regarded as the representative to generalize the attitude of students towards studying literature.
Instruments used in conducting the study are questionnaires, interviews and examination results. The first instrument used is questionnaire. Since this is a study of attitude, the attitude scale is used in this research. People assume that by responding to a set of statements of preference, it is possible to discover their attitudes (Fraenkel, J. R. & Wallen, N. E., 2010). Likert scale is the most common attitude scale used in educational research however like any other scale it has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages as Bertram, D(n.d) laid out, is that it is simple to create, most reliable and it is easy to understand and to be completed by the participants. On the other hand he also stated the main disadvantage of this type of scale is that there is an inclination towards bias where the students do not want to be too extreme when answering the questionnaire. The students might just agree with the statements in order to please the researcher or in other words, social desirability bias - they want to represent themselves in a socially favourable light rather than being honest.
The questionnaire in this study is divided into two sections. The first section is information regarding students’ background such as gender, ethnicity, household income and the amount of materials available at home. The second section focuses on the students’ attitude towards the literature component. Altogether the questionnaire consists of thirty-four statements. The likert scale is used to indicate the students’ general attitude towards English and Literature, text selection and teaching methods their teachers incorporate in the classrooms. The main problem which can arise when students answer the questionnaire is that they are prone to be bias as mentioned before. The students either do not want to participate in the test or they are not honest due to the fact that there are too many questions to answer and they would be easily bored of answering. Howover, the author did not elaborate further on the gradations in the scale in order for it to be discussed further.
The second instrument was an interview conducted during the study. This is a second method commonly used by qualitative researchers (Fraenkel, J. R. & Wallen, N. E., 2010). The purpose of an interview is to validate or complement the information collected through the questionnaire. Thirty two students were interviewed whereby only eight were selected from each class to participate in the interview with open-ended questions.
In my opinion, the research will be more credible if the interview is conducted with the teachers teaching the subject. A second opinion or data collected from the observer is also concrete in supporting the facts stated by the students. It is always good to get a second opinion.
The last instrument used is the students’ examination results. Three result papers were collected from the students’ PMR results (when they were in form 3), their final examination paper in form 4 and their SPM results. These results were used to verify the correlation between their language proficiency and their attitude towards literature.
Another instrument which is reliable and valid to be used but was left out by the authoris observation, as Narith, K.C & Mab, T (2006), did in their research of Learners’ attitudes towards strategies for teaching Literature at the royal University of Phnom Penh
Limitations of this study are the sample size, resources and the location chosen. Firstly, the sample size is too small to make a general finding of the study. The study is conducted on 110 students and the ratio of the male students participating in the study is smaller compared to the female. Secondly, limitation in the resources, whereby there was a time constraint in conducting this research. The research should have gone on for several years in order to see the consistency in the findings. Lastly it’s the limitation of location. The sample of students collected are quite small in proportion to the target population the researcher intended to generalize (Parmjit Singh et al, 2006). The researcher generalized her findings to the total number of students in the whole of Malaysia
Before discussing the research question, it is important to know what the objectives are and from there we can derive the research questions. The three main research objectives of this paper are; to find out students’ attitudes towards studying literature, to examine the relationship between students’ background variables and their attitudes towards studying literature and lastly, to provide a profile of learners who have positive and negative attitudes towards studying literature. Research objectives are important to guide the researcher as to which direction they want to go and also make the research more focused.
Research questions which were formulated from the research objectives are:
1) What are students’ general attitudes towards English and the Literature in English Component?
2) What are students’ attitudes towards the text selection?
3) What are students’ attitudes towards the teaching methods used in literature classes?
The findings of the study showed that majority of the students enjoyed learning literature and their attitudes towards learning literature is better compared to only learning English Language components. However, their attitude towards the text selections is negative when it comes to poetry and novel. They are only fond of reading short stories as it is less time consuming and the language used is easier to understand compared to novels and poems.
The students’ attitudes towards teaching strategies scored the highest percentage when teachers provide them with the background information. Next is the variety of activities used in teaching literature and working in a group ranked the third place. Meanwhile, the teacher’s explanation is ranked fifth. Around 50% of the students are unsatisfied with the current teaching methods used in the classroom. They describe the teaching method as dull. According to the interviews conducted, students from rural school are more satisfied with the teaching method their teachers used as they are more creative in explaining the hidden meaning of the literary text given.
The author concluded that better text selection and a variety of teaching strategies can motivate and also improve the students’ interest in literature as well as their attitudes towards it. The main reason why some students have negative attitude towards learning English is because of their limited exposure to English due to the fact that none of their parents or siblings communicate in English at home. Most of the students suggested that there should be more activities inside the classroom compared to just reading for tests. Negative attitudes displayed by the student who does not like learning literature correlate with the proficiency in English. They were also given a choice whether to use English or Malay in the interview. I think this is a good approach as it will not pressure the students to use the target language only and also they get to express themselves better with the language that they are comfortable with (Capelini, M., 2005).
Overall, even though there are limitations in conducting the research, I think the author did a great job with the study. The study showed positive correlation between student’s attitudes in learning literature and their backgrounds (i.e language proficiency). Some areas of the research that could be improved so that she could get more rich data and the research could be used to generalize the population of the study is by handing out more questionnaires and broaden the scope of research. If she had more time, perhaps she could include subjects from different types of schools. For example, students’ from boarding school, military based school and convent school. These types of school will have different reactions towards literature taught at school.
References
Bertram, D. (n.d), Likert scales. Viewed on 27 February 2011 http://poincare.matf.bg.ac.rs/~kristina//topic-dane-likert.pdf
Capelini, M. (2005), Balancing reading & language learning: a resource for teaching English Language Learners, K-5. Maine
Davis, J. N., Kline, R. R., Gorell, L. C. and Hsieh, G. 1992. Readers and foreign languages: a survey of undergraduates’ attitudes towards the study of literature. Modern language Journal, 76(3): 320-332.
Fraenkel, J. R. & Wallen, N. E. (2010). How to design and evaluate research in education. 7th Ed. New York
Lanthier. E (2002), Correlation. viewed on 27 February 2011. http://www.nvcc.edu/home/elanthier/methods/correlation.htm
Mack, N., Woodsong, C., Macqueen, M. K., Guest, G. & Namey, E. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods: a data collector’s guide. North Carolina
Parmjit Singh, Chan Yuen Fook & Sidhu, G. K. (2008). A Comprehensive guide to writing a research proposal. Batu Caves
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