Structured Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a research tool widely used for quantitative study. For this study, a questionnaire was adapted and modified. The questionnaire was designed and piloted before administering to the actual participants. The questionnaire included items regarding the background information of the respondents such as age, gender and year of study. The questionnaire also included open-ended items to allow the respondents to express their own views about literary texts as enjoyable texts for language learning. They were also asked to write about any problems they might have faced while reading literary texts.

The purpose of this study, as mentioned above, was to investigate the perceptions of the learners’ and the teachers about the role of literary texts taught at undergraduate level in Pakistan. The responses of the participants were gathered using questionnaire in English and in Urdu language. The questionnaire was initially adapted from two questionnaires (Carroli, 2008 and Davis et al, 1992) and later translated into Urdu. The items in the questionnaire were trimmed and modified according to the focus and context of the study.

The initial section of the questionnaire presented respondents’ background information such as age, gender and year of study. The adapted questionnaire with added items was developed because of the understanding developed through the existing literature available

on the topic. In this way, the questionnaire was the result of partial adaptation of the questionnaires used in the studies mentioned above.

The questionnaire included 54 items in total. The first 51 items were closed-ended statements which the respondents responded on the 6 point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree=1 to strongly disagree=6. Six point Likert scale was the deliberate choice of the researcher, to avoid neutrality of the results and to receive respondents’ opinions on the scale. As, culturally, learners avoid sharing of opinions and this tendency would have possibly influenced the responses through the questionnaires. Therefore, the six point Likert scale was used as a possible choice to avoid the mid-point. Item number 52 aimed at learners’ responses to the teaching methods in-terms of their understanding and preferences were adapted from Davis et al (1992) and modified into the questionnaire for the present study. Item number 53 sought learners’ preference for the type of literary texts such as poetry, novel etc. in the form of rank ordering adapted from Carroli (2008). The question 54 was open-ended with three sub-parts (a, b and c) also adapted from Carroli (2008). The open-ended questions allow the respondents to express in their own words their thoughts and opinions. Open-ended questions are a source of information and proved useful insights in case where a researcher knows little about the field. According to Ary et al (2010), open-ended questions are used when a researcher is unable to make any estimate of the possible responses of the participants. Gorard (2006) also pointed out that the reason to use open-ended questions is not to create the statistical pattern but to explain it. The use of open-ended items is suitable for this research because this work focuses on exploring learner’s perceptions about the use of literary texts. The open-ended items thus, allowed space to the respondents in the questionnaire to write their reflections on aspects such as enjoyable literary texts, on the role of literary texts in language learning and the problems they might have experienced while reading literary texts.

3.5.1.1 The piloting of the Initial Questionnaire

The piloting of the study takes place before the administration of the actual questionnaire to collect the data. This aims to ensure that the instrument used is reliable. According to Cohen et al (2011), the positivist tradition works on the certain level of control and predictability of the data. For this reason, reliability of the instrument is checked on the principles of equivalence, internal consistency and stability (Cohen et al, 2011). The reliability of questionnaire is, thus, checked to measure the internal consistency among the items of the scales.

For the piloting of this study, 42 undergraduate language learners age 17 - 24 were selected from one section of an undergraduate class in one of the colleges from the same population.

However, this group did not participate in the actual data collection. Only the English version of the questionnaire was piloted. The questionnaire was distributed among the students. The selected group was asked not only to fill the questionnaire but also, to see any difficulties in the questionnaire that may affect the effectiveness of the questionnaire during its actual administration. Once piloted, the questionnaire was tailored again according to the suggestions from the participants of the pilot work. The participants were also given time to reflect upon other aspects of the questionnaire such as the use of difficult terms or vocabulary that they found difficult. The participants of this pilot work considered the use of words as simple. Any difficult wording was edited, without changing the intended meaning of the item. The questionnaire was also translated into Urdu. In this way, the final questionnaire was in English and in Urdu language. The purpose was to facilitate and encourage participation of the students. They also commented that the overall questionnaire was easy for them to fill. I also took suggestions from my two colleagues who were PhD students at other universities in the UK with considerable background and

experience in the questionnaire design. The feedback from the colleagues and the participants helped me in the questionnaire design.

The consistency of the instrument is important to check how far the instrument used is reliable to attain the realistic results of the data collected. For this purpose, to ensure the reliability of the instrument, the questionnaire was checked. For the analysis purposes, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) is much easier to run the tests; this instrument was tested using SPSS version 19. Nine scales were used to measure the perceptions of the participants. The reliability of the instrument was measured by measuring the internal consistency of each scale.

Table 3:2: Reliability (Internal Consistency) of Scales during Piloting Sr.

9 Problems in Language learning 07 .364 .082

The scale of ‘Language Competence’ showed a consistency of .76 which shows that this scale was highly reliable. The threshold value for acceptable reliability is .70. Therefore, the scale ‘language competence’ showed high internal consistency and was therefore reliable scale. Scales ‘General Interest and the importance of English’ and ‘Effects of the surroundings’ showed consistency of .60 and .64 respectively. The scale ‘cultural aspects’

and ‘attitudes towards non-native literature’, although has .504 alpha value, are included in the study because of their significance with regard to the focus of the study. Cronbach alpha values, according to Pallant (2010) are sensitive to the number of items in the scale; with items less than 10 items it is common to find quite low Cronbach value. For example, the scale, ‘cultural aspects’ had only five items and the scale ‘attitudes towards non-native literature’ had seven items. Therefore, both the scales was retained in the questionnaire with alpha value .50 and .51.

The Scale ‘motivational aspects of literary texts’, has a very low consistency but is also included because of its significance to understand the underlying objectives of the study.

The scale ‘Teacher’s role in language learning’ was omitted from the questionnaire, as it seemed to have no internal consistency. The scale ‘teacher role in language learning’ was removed during pilot due to negative Cronbach Alpha value, which means that there was no internal consistency among the items within the scale. Since the reliability of the scale is also dependent upon the number of items within the scales, this scale included only three items and was therefore, omitted from the final questionnaire.

3.5.1.2 The scales used in the final questionnaire

The questionnaire (Appendix VI) emerged because of piloting and consisted of 48 items and three questions related to background information of the participants and one open ended question comprising three sub-parts. The following scales were used in the questionnaire to measure learners’ perceptions.

i) The aspects of literary texts

This scale was designed to measure the learner’s identification of key features of the literary texts, which may motivate them to learn English. The scale consists of following six items. Items included in this scale were related to English language learning and the elements within the texts such as characters and events.

1. English literary texts encourage to learn English.

2. English literary texts help in English language learning.

3. English literary texts increase students' interest to learn English language.

4. Like characters in literary texts.

5. Like events in literary texts.

6. English Literature is important in English language learning.

ii) General interest in Literary texts and the importance of English

This scale measures interest of EFL learners towards the reading of literary texts and their relation towards understanding the importance of English as a foreign language. This scale Items included in this scale were related to different aspects of learners’ interest in literary texts. This scale consists of 10 items.

1. Enjoy reading literature which reflects personal experiences.

2. Like to read English literature such as poetry, short stories etc 3. English literary texts help to understand society in a better way.

4. Reading literary texts help to understand other subjects.

5. Students read literary texts besides course books.

6. Read stories or poems published on the internet.

7. Literary texts help to know about people and culture.

8. Enjoy reading literature which reflects diverse experiences.

9. Interpret the literary texts according to one's own understanding of the text.

10. English literary texts are enjoyable to study iii) Language competence

Researchers argue that literary texts have power to increase linguistic competence of the language learners. They help not only in learning language skills but also other aspects of language such as grammar. This scale is composed of six items.

1. English literary texts help to improve speaking skills in English 2. English literary texts help to improve writing skills in English 3. English literary texts help to improve reading skills in English 4. English literary texts help to improve English language vocabulary.

5. English literary texts help to improve listening skills in English

6. Students feel improvement in English language after reading a literary text.

iv) Cultural enrichment

The role of literary texts is considered as an important authentic material that may encourage learners to expand their knowledge of culture of the target population.

Moreover, the literary texts, as representative of a certain society may also enhance learners understanding of their own socio-cultural situation. This scale consists of five items.

1. Literature increases knowledge of the culture of different countries.

2. English literary texts help to appreciate the culture of different countries.

3. English literary texts increase understanding of culture other than their own.

4. Learn to respect culture of other people.

5. Develop the understanding of one's own culture.

v) Attitudes towards non-native literature

Kachru (1986) and Talib (1992) proposed that the use of non-native literary texts could be effective in EFL classrooms where learners can identify their own culture through the

medium of a foreign language. This scale, therefore, focuses on the possible role of non-native literary texts in English language classrooms and consists of 6 items.

1. Cultural references and symbols in local writer's works are easy to identify.

2. Literary texts by Pakistani writers help to improve English language better than those of the foreign writers.

3. Literary texts by local writers enhance awareness of learners' own culture.

4. Social settings in English literary texts by Pakistani writers are quite familiar to learner.

5. One enjoys literary texts in English by local writers.

6. Literary texts by Pakistani writers are easy to understand.

7. Events presented in literary texts by local writers are similar to one's personal experiences.

vi) Attitudes towards classroom participation

This scale is based on the perception that the nature of literary texts may affect learners’

participation in the classroom as a discussion about an interesting literary text may encourage more students to participate in it. This scale consists of five items.

1. Participate in the discussion on literary texts in the classroom.

2. Literary texts taught in English language class are not boring.

3. Enjoy literary text-based lessons in the class.

4. Like to read literary texts in the classroom.

5. Discuss literary texts in the classroom with classmates.

vii) The problems (if any) faced by the learners in language learning

This scale includes some possible difficulties Pakistani learners might face while reading or interpreting a literary text. This scale comprised of eight items.

1. Literary texts taught are not very difficult to understand.

2. Dare to read literary texts with difficult vocabulary.

3. The meaning of literary text is not difficult to understand.

4. Teacher's explanation of the text is satisfactory.

5. Long stories in the course do not cause loss of interest.

6. Literary texts symbols are not difficult.

7. English literary texts in the course present culture which is familiar to the reader.

8. Prefer to read literary text in simple English.

Before actual data collection, the questionnaire was first piloted (details in section 3.6 of this chapter). After the piloting, the questionnaire was translated into Urdu. To cross check the Urdu version of the questionnaire, a non-participant teacher from one of the colleges with high level of proficiency in English and Urdu languages was consulted. The final questionnaire used in this study was in English and Urdu.