ASSESSING TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS USING LITERARY TEXTS IN EFL CLASSROOM: THE CASE OF GRADE 9-12 IN THREE HIGH SCHOOLS AT ANCHER WOREDA IN WEST HARARGHE ZONE

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to assess Teachers’ Attitudes towards Using Literary Texts in EFL Classroom: The Case of Grade 9-12 in Three selected High Schools at Ancher Woreda in West Hararghe Zone. To attain the objective, descriptive survey design was employed, and in attempting to address the theme, both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used. In the study, questionnaires were distributed for 31selected teachers. Among them, five English experts who were department heads and CPD coordinators were used for interview The entire teachers were selected for questionnaires and 5 teachers for semi structured interview were taken as Sample size through purposive sampling technique because they were key informants in providing reliable information. Moreover, the quantitative data were categorized thematically and fed into Excel 2013 tables manually. Then, to output frequency and percentage, data analysis had been run, and qualitative data had been analyzed to substantiate quantitative data analysis. Finally, the study revealed that the teachers were not very interested in the inclusion of literary text in EFL classroom because of their skill gap to identify literary language items from different skill the formally thought in EFL class room In addition, teachers .had negative attitudes towards teaching literary texts since they believed that teaching literary texts was time consuming and tiresome activities. Besides, it was revealed that reading skill could be enhanced through literary texts. Likewise, short story was most appropriate to teach literary text, and teachers let their students to read and rewrite the existing main ideas. To conclude, teachers should have interested in the inclusion of literary text in EFL classroom, they should have to regularly teach literary text in EFL classroom as they presented in the English textbooks, and textbook designers should give focus on the inclusion of short story concerning students’ linguistic competency in the textbook. To sum up teachers should adapt some literary texts in line with students, background and their needs Finally, department heads should carefully observe teachers’ annual and daily lesson plan to check inclusion of literary texts in EFL class room. Moreover, literary text should be included in all language skills so that they could be full fill the needs and interest of students with different learning ability