A Study On Factors Preventing The Application Of Literary Texts For Efl Lesson: Eteya Preparatory School In Focus

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the factors preventing the application of literary texts for EFL lesson at Eteya Preparatory School, in Arsi Zone of Oromia Regional State. To achieve this objective, the research questions asked were to identify types of the texts used for the English lesson, to assessfactors students faced when literary texts were used and to explore factors which prevented teachers from applying literary texts in teaching the EFL lesson. So as to achieve the objectives of the study, a descriptive research design along with mixed methods research (quantitative and qualitative methods) were employed. To collect data, three research instruments, namely, questionnaire, classroom observation and semi-structured interview were used. The questionnaire was administered to 105 purposely and randomly selected students; the classroom observation was administered on EFL classrooms of three teachers where data was collected based on the observation checklist. In addition, the semi-structured interview was conducted with three English teachers. Accordingly, the data gathered through the above three research instruments was analyzed and the results were interpreted and discussions where the results were presented. The findings of the study revealed that literary texts containing short and simple poems and drama were not used in teaching the English lesson. The finding also revealed that problems students faced were literary texts containing difficult vocabularies, presenting boring stories, exclusion of class and national examination questions from literary text. Moreover, factors which prevented teachers from applying literary texts include unavailability of audio- visuals and other teaching aids, skipping of literary texts from the course books and lack of adapting literary texts for the EFL lesson. Finally, based on the summary and conclusion of the findings, some recommendations were formulated for English teachers, school management and curriculum designers for possible the applications of the findings.