Page 111 - Getting of the fence

Student motivation in the EFL literature lesson
This line of reasoning is empirically supported by Brown (2009), who, argued that mismatches between teachers’ and students’ perceptions regarding abstract L2 acquisition and concrete pedagogical practices “can negatively affect L2 students’ satisfaction with the language class and can potentially lead to the discontinuation of L2 study” (p. 46).
Why a student values certain aspects of foreign language literature more
than others can depend on several factors. Eccles (1983) identified four major
components of subjective values: attainment value, intrinsic value, utility value,
and cost. According to this so-called Expectancy-Value model of achievement, the
subjective task value can be understood as the following student question: “Do I
want to do this activity and why?’ (Wigfield & Cambria 2010, p. 2). Wigfield and
Eccles (2000) argue that these values, combined with a student’s belief about how
well he/she will do, can explain a student’s ‘choice, persistence and performance” (p.
68). Therefore, by investigating the relationship between engaged and disaffected
students and what they value, the study should provide insights that seem most 5 relevant for educational researchers, policy makers, and teachers focusing on the
foreign language literature curriculum.
5.2.5 Research questions
Although the resurgent position of literature in foreign language curricula is increasingly accepted, in a recent symposium on research in EFL literature education at the IATEFL Annual Conference, Paran (2018) argued that challenges in this area of research lie in the lack of empirical research and appropriate data collection and data analysis. In response to this plea, this study explores EFL literature lessons in a secondary school context through the level of student engagement as well as their ascribed importance of the subject. The study addressed the following three research questions:
1. To what extent are students engaged during EFL literature lessons?
2. What level of importance do students ascribe to EFL literature lessons?
3. What is the relationship between the students’ level of engagement and
the importance they ascribe to EFL literature lessons?
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