The use of literature to promote language, culture and personal growth development :|bA survey on TESL and ESL undergraduates in UNIMAS
T his study aimed to investigate TESL and ESL undergraduates’ personal views towards literature and the benefits of studying literature sub jects in UNIMAS. The se benefits were based on Carter and Long ’s model (1991) , namely language, cultural and personal growth...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Final Year Project Report / IMRAD |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS
2008
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6767/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6767/1/Kueh%20Su%20Li%20ft.pdf |
| Summary: | T
his study
aimed
to investigate TESL and ESL undergraduates’ personal views
towards literature and the benefits
of
studying literature sub
jects in UNIMAS. The
se
benefits
were
based on Carter and Long
’s
model (1991)
, namely
language, cultural
and personal growth
development.
150 full
-
time TESL and ESL
undergraduates
who
had
taken literature courses for at least two years
in their educationa
l programmes
were chosen as the participants
for this study
.
Data were collected through 5
-
point
Likert scale questionnaire and semi
-
structured interview. After the exposure to
literature in UNIMAS, the participants developed a gradual liking towards lite
rature
as visual tools such as movies and drama were used to help them in comprehending
the literary texts.
In terms of language development, the participants
’
vocabulary
repertoire was enriched
and
they were trained
to make prediction and interpretation
based on contextual clues.
Culturally, the TESL and ESL undergraduates were
enriched with cultural knowledge from local and foreign countries which led to an
appreciation and tolerance with the cultural differences
between people.
Furthermore
,
the partic
ipants
were personally engaged with the literary texts as they
were able to relate the literary texts with their personal experiences and developed
greater sensitivity towards other people’s feeling
s
especially during interaction |
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