Attitudes towards English Literature: The Case of EFL Students at Three Saudi Colleges

The primary aim of the study was to investigate the attitudes held by Saudi EFL students and the difficulties they have in studying English literature. Another aim was to explore gender differences in attitudes towards English literature. The relationships between (1) general motivational orientations to learn English and attitudes towards English literature, and (2) general motivational orientations to learn English and attitudes towards English literature, and performance in literary courses were also explored. A cohort of 180 Eighth level majors at three Saudi colleges completed a researcher-developed 28-item questionnaire probing their general motivational orientations to learn English and attitudes towards English literature in terms of emotions associating studying English literature, cultural and religious sensitivities about studying English literature and the importance of studying English literature. Participants were found to hold positive attitudes towards English literature. They reported no cultural or religious sensitivities about studying English literature in their context. The difficulties they reported facing when studying English literature included difficult vocabulary and literary terms, difficult content and long pieces of literature, lack of language proficiency, and having to exert great effort. No gender differences were found in attitudes. Intrinsic motivation was found to be a significant predictor of positive attitudes towards English literature. Finally, a significant positive relationship was found between general motivational orientations to learn English and attitudes towards English literature, and performance in literary courses. Instructional implications and suggestions for further research are provided.


Introduction
Researchers identified a number of challenges that Saudi college EFL students face in studying English literature. Some of the reasons for these challenges are unique to the Saudi context, while other reasons are common to all EFL settings. Of the reasons that are specific to the Saudi context are social, cultural, and religious sensitivities (Shah, Hussain, & Nasseef, 2013). Because of its religious status, Saudi Arabia is known to be the most conservative among all Arab and Muslim countries. Undoubtedly, this can affect the teaching and learning of foreign literature at Saudi universities. Foreign, especially western literature in Saudi Arabia is often conceived of as threatening to the national Muslim identity "which promotes anti-religious and anti-cultural values" (Hussein & Al-Emami, 2016, p. 126). There is no research-based evidence that these views are widespread in Saudi Arabia taking into consideration Faruk's (2014) assertion that Saudis' attitudes towards English are becoming highly positive because most Saudi people have come to believe that English is vital to the country's future prosperity. In fact, the extent to which these views are widespread needs to be explored and documented. But based on the unfavorable comments that students give from time to time about the literature of non-Muslim societies in Saudi universities, the researcher can allege that such views do exist. Another reason is that foreign literature is totally absent in the curricula of pre-university schools. High school curricula only include oversimplified and unrepresentative works of native male writers (Zaalah, 2010). Exclusion of foreign literature at pre-university schools is done with the purpose of averting such objectives of using multicultural literature as fostering acceptance and appreciation of cultural diversity and developing sensitivity to social inequalities (Hussein & Al-Emami, 2016, p. 126). Thus, students initiate their university education with almost no idea about English literature. Hussein and Al-Emami (2016, p. 127) mention another important reason, i.e., lack of critical thinking which is required for understanding and appreciating literary texts. They attribute lack of this type of thinking to rote learning that is the dominant learning mode at Saudi schools where students, as asserted by Alkubaidi (2014), memorize answers and paragraphs sometimes without fully comprehending them. Like most students in all EFL settings, Saudi students find literary texts rather difficult as they lack language proficiency and reading strategies. This can reduce benefits students get from studying literature. Littlewood (1986, p. 181) asserts that appreciation of literary works is not likely without linguistic readiness, "it is fruitless to expect pupils to appreciate literary works for which they are not linguistically ready". Mohammed (2017) suggests that when literature is taught to students with poor language proficiency and reading strategies, the literary aspects of the text are de-emphasized.
Finally, Saudi students lack interest in reading literature owing to cultural factors and to a factor that applies worldwide, i.e., the heavy dependence on the new technologies, particularly the Internet (Mohammed, 2017). The superficial nature of on-line reading has significantly changed people's reading habits (Birkerts, 1994). That is, most people no longer read in-depth to fully comprehend and appreciate what they read. challenges they face in this area, the teaching and learning of English literature in academic programs at Saudi colleges is under-researched (Mekheimer, 2011;Hussein & Al-Emami, 2016). An area that needs to be researched is Saudi college EFL students' attitudes towards English literature. The challenges that Saudi students face with English literature provide convincing rationale for exploring the nature of their attitude towards English literature. There is a general consensus now that attitude is one of the affective factors that influence language learning. Positive attitudes are known to facilitate language learning, while negative attitudes inhibit it (DeBot, Lowie, & Verspoor, 2005;Visser, 2008). It is imperative that teachers and learners know how to "overcome problems created by negative emotions" and how to "create and use more positive, facilitative emotions" (Arnold & Brown, 1999, p. 2).

Statement of the Problem
Poor affect can, in part at least, explain learners᾽ poor performance in language learning. This contention is what urged the researcher to investigate Saudi EFL college students' attitudes towards English literature as a factor that might explain their poor performance in literary courses. For several years, the researcher has been teaching literature to English majors at the College of Sciences and Humanities at Thadiq, Shaqra University, KSA. Throughout these years, the researcher has noticed that students' performance in literary courses is not satisfactory. The investigation was also inspired by the fact that students occasionally voiced negative comments about literature, e.g., "Why studying all these literary courses?", "Why placing all the emphasis on foreign literature to the neglect of national literature?", "skill-based courses are more beneficial to us than literary courses", and "If only we could study more linguistic courses and less literary courses". The present study therefore aimed to explore students' attitudes towards English literature and the difficulties they have in studying it. Gender differences in attitudes towards English literature would also be explored. Another aim was to explore the relationship between general motivational orientations (intrinsic and extrinsic) and attitudes towards English literature. A final aim was to explore the effect of students' attitudes on their performance in literary courses. More specifically, the study addressed the following questions:

Why Literature in College EFL Curricula?
Integration of literature in EFL curricula, especially academic programs is advocated for several reasons. Literature allows for deductive learning of the language and reduces inductive learning that is tiring and boring if used all the time. Overdependence on inductive learning according to Alfauzan and Hussain (2017, p. 2) "burns learners' motivation to exert the required efforts for becoming a competent speaker in English". That is, literature increases incidental language learning or acquisition which is associated with better affective filter. Literary texts are highly motivating and allow for students' involvement (Moon, 2010). Furthermore, literary texts reinforce students' language proficiency (Savvidou, 2004), enhance language skills, especially critical reading and creative writing (Adam & Babiker, 2015) and stimulate higher cognitive skills such as critical thinking (Moon, 2010). Reflecting on the good effect of literature on reading, the main avenue for language input for FL students, Brumfit (1981, p. 5) suggests that "reading is the most autonomous and individualizable ability in language work and literature is a rich and widely-appealing source of material for reading". Adam and Babiker (2015) documented the positive effect of literature on creative writing among Saudi EFL students as judged by 50 university teachers. Perhaps the most significant benefit of using literary texts in EFL curricula is cultural enrichment. Students studying English as a FL at college academic programs need to know about the culture of the native speakers of English. This knowledge is valuable and even indispensable for language understanding and use. This benefit can only be achieved through interaction with literary texts (Tevdovska, 2016). Bataineh (2014) explored pragmatic competence in two groups of Jordanian EFL students: an experimental group that was taught a syllabus based on literary texts from all genres of English literature and a control group that was taught a syllabus without the literature component. The experimental group proved to have better pragmatic competence (discourse function, speech function and speech acts).

Challenges Saudi Students face with English Literature
Several factors have been reported to challenge the teaching/learning of English literature in Saudi Arabia. Some of these factors relate to the environment. One of such factors is social, cultural and religious sensitivities (Shah, Hussain, & Nasseef, 2013). In the theoretical background of their study, Hussein and Al-Emami (2016) mention six factors explaining the daunting task of teaching/learning literature in Saudi Arabia, two of which relate to the environment. The first factor is the conservative nature of the Saudi environment and the second is the view of literature as a threat to the national and Muslim identity. These two factors in the researchers' point of view result in "anti-religious and anti-cultural values" (p. 126) and explain the total absence of English literature from the curricula of public schools. The researchers contend that this exclusion of foreign literature is intended to avert some objectives of teaching literature, i.e., "challenging the dominant ideologies, fostering acceptance and appreciation of cultural diversity, developing sensitivity to social inequalities, and encouraging transformation of the self and society" (p. 126). These views are, in fact, theoretical contentions and  (Parkinson & Thomas, 2000). This is why literature teachers find themselves involved in two challenging missions: language teaching "since it is quite impossible for students to penetrate literary meanings without a minimum of language proficiency" and dealing with "students' lack of interest in reading literature" (Mohammed, 2017, p. 58). In fact, lack of interest or motivation is another factor that affects the teaching of English literature in Saudi Arabia negatively. Several researchers reported lack of motivation as a general characteristic of Saudi EFL learners (e.g., Fareh, 2010;Khan, 2011;Al-Khairy, 2013, Alrabai, 2014b. In addition to poor reading skills, students lack interest in reading in general and reading literature in particular. Mohammed (2017, p. 59) suggests that this has become a universal issue "owing to the heavy dependence on the new technologies, particularly the Internet". Birkerts (1994) attributes this phenomenon to on-line reading that has significantly changed people's reading habits. Owing to on-line reading people' reading has become unfocused. Saudi students are no exception and they are affected by this modern trend. In addition to this factor that applies worldwide, Saudi students lack interest in reading because the culture of reading is absent in their context. This is why they lack reading habits www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/selt Studies in English Language Teaching Vol. 8, No. 3, 2020 6 Published by SCHOLINK INC. (Shah, Hussain, & Nasseef, 2013). Hussein and Al-Emami (2016, p. 127) mention another important factor, i.e., lack of critical thinking which is required for understanding and appreciating literary texts.
They attribute lack of this type of thinking to rote learning that is the dominant learning mode at Saudi schools where students, as asserted by Alkubaidi (2014), memorize answers and paragraphs sometimes without fully comprehending them.

Attitudes towards English Literature
In his socio-educational model, Gardner (1985) includes attitudes towards the target language as a major component of motivation along with motivational density and desire to learn the target language. Ajzen (1989, p. 241) defines attitudes as "an individual's disposition to respond favorably or unfavorably to an object, person, institution, or event". Referents of FL attitudes include, among others, attitudes towards the target language, its community, its culture and social values associated with target language (Gardner, 2001). Attitudes are conceived to have three components: cognitive, affective and behavioral (Wenden, 1991 181) concludes "positive attitudes towards the self, the native language group, and the target language group enhance proficiency". Research documented a strong correlation between positive attitudes to the target language and language learning achievement (e.g., Alrahaili, 2013;Gardner, 2001Gardner, , 2010Al-Tamimi & Shuib, 2009). Negative attitudes on the other hand were found to correlate with poor performance (e.g., Kiptui & Mbugua, 2009 Vol. 8, No. 3, 2020 aware that inclusion of western literature in their curricula is beneficial to them and that this literature should not be rejected altogether for its social and religious values that clash with theirs. A similar finding was reached in a study conducted long ago (Al-Haq & Smadi, 1996) where 1,176 undergraduate university students representing all universities in Saudi Arabia were surveyed for the impact of English on the local culture. The vast majority of students did not believe the learning of English to push them away from their Arab/Muslim culture towards a more westernized lifestyle and belief system.
In another study (Hagler, 2014), Saudi EFL students' positive attitudes extended to the target language culture. A cohort of 210 male and female Saudi university students responded to an open-ended questionnaire groping their attitudes towards western culture. A clear majority showed a positive disposition towards Western culture and indicated that they liked some aspects of the Western culture.

Gender Differences in Attitudes towards English Literature
To the best of the researcher's knowledge, gender differences were not explored in studies that investigated attitudes towards English literature in Saudi Arabia or other countries. However, studies that explored attitudes towards general FL learning reported mixed results concerning gender differences, with some studies reporting either males of females as having more positive attitudes (e.g., Abidin, Mohammadi & Alzwary, 2012;Soleimani & Hanafi;Abu-Snoubar, 2017), and other studies reporting equal attitudes (e.g., Durer & Sayar, 2012). For instance, Abu-Snoubar (2017) explored the attitudes of Al-Balqa Applied University students towards learning English as a foreign language. The effect of gender on attitudes was also explored. Females proved to be more positive in their attitudes. Conversely, Soleimani and Hanafi (2013) investigated the attitudes of a group of Iranian EFL students towards English language learning. Male students' positive attitude was found to be higher than that of female students'.

Motivational Orientations
According to Gardner and Lambert (1972), there are two types of motivation. These are integrative and instrumental. Integrative motivation refers to the desire to integrate into the culture of the second language group. Instrumental motivation on the other hand means learning the language for instrumental goals such as getting a good job and reading technical material. Another view of motivation was later proposed by Deci and Ryan (1985) who classified motivation into intrinsic and extrinsic with intrinsic motivation referring to motivation "to engage in an activity for its own sake" and extrinsic motivation to motivation to engage in an activity as a means to an end" (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002, p. 245). Students who perceive learning as a goal in itself and find learning interesting and challenging are intrinsically motivated. Those who engage in learning for external factors such as earning a reward or avoiding punishment are extrinsically motivated (Ehrman, Leaver, & Oxford, 2003;Slavin, 2003).
Until recently integrative motivation was claimed to be more influential in effective learning than instrumental motivation (Gass & Selinker, 2001). However, there is no sufficient research base for this claim. On the contrary, there is some research evidence against this claim. For instance, Wong (2011) explored which type of motivation played a more important role among third-year Chinese ESL undergraduates. Instrumental motivation was found to be more important for those students. Owing to the controversy over the relative importance of the two types of motivation, some scholars included the context where language learning takes place in their view of motivation. In this respect, Dörnyei (1990, p. 48) writes "The nature and effect of certain motivation components might vary as a function of the environment in which the learning takes place". This means that instrumental motivation may work better than integrative motivation in FL contexts (Dörnyei, 1994), where learners have limited access to the L2 culture (Oxford, 1996). Instrumental motivation was empirically found to be more influential than integrative motivation in FL settings (e.g., Moskovsky & Alrabai, 2009;Bobkina & Fernandez, 2012;Tahaineh & Daana, 2013;Goktepe, 2014). For some researchers, the reason why instrumental motivation is more influential in FL contexts is that language in FL contexts are learned away from the target language speakers and their culture (Al-Amer, 1998). items. Students responded to questionnaire items based on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 5 "Strongly agree" to 1 "Strongly disagree". Items with negative statement were reverse coded so that higher means indicated higher motivation and attitude.

Participants
The questionnaire was then administered to the participants (an Arabic version so language would not affect the results negatively). A factor analysis with Varimax rotation and eigenvalues of >1 was conducted on the responses of the participants to decide on the items to be included in data analysis.
Items with factor loadings less than .4 or those that loaded significantly on more than one factor were deleted (6 items) and the correlation matrix was reanalyzed. A five factor solution (see Figure 1)  To further establish the internal consistency of the questionnaire, correlations among items and the total scores of the dimensions to which they belonged (see Table 2) were computed. All correlation coefficients were significant at the 0.01 level, which indicates high internal consistency. The final version of the questionnaire had 26 items probing emotions associating studying English literature (items 2, 4, 8, 13, 14, 17, 18, 22, 25, 26), cultural and religious sensitivities about studying English literature (items 9, 15, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24), intrinsic motivation to learn English (items 10, 11, 12), extrinsic motivation to learn English (items 1, 3, 7), and the importance of studying English literature (items 5, 6, 16).

Data Analysis
The data obtained from completed questionnaires were analyzed using the SPSS 15.0 package program.
Means and standard deviations were used to identify the nature of students' motivation and attitudes. To identify whether means are high, medium or low, the researcher followed Oxford's (2001) scoring system: high (mean of 3.5 or higher), medium (mean of 2.5-3.4), and low (mean of 2.4 or lower).
Correlations were used to identify the relationship between type of motivation and attitudes towards literature, and attitudes towards literature and performance in literary courses. Gender differences in motivation and attitudes were explored using independent samples t-test. Finally, difficulties students face when studying literature were explored via percentages.

Students' Motivational Orientations to Learn English and Attitudes towards English Literature
Means and standard deviations were computed to answer the first research question about motivational orientations and attitudes that students held about English literature. Table 3 presents this data. high means and the other seven items received medium means. The total mean for the ten items is medium. This indicates that students held positive emotions concerning studying English literature.
As to cultural and religious sensitivities about studying English literature, means ranged from 4.18 (SD=.964) to 3.24 (SD=1.23), with a total mean of 3.75 (SD=0.710). Of the seven items, five items received high means and two items received medium means. The total mean for the seven items is high.
This indicates that cultural and religious sensitivities that some researchers referred to are not existent.
That is, the Saudi context is supportive of English literature being integrated in college English programs.
Students proved to be both extrinsically and intrinsically motivated to learn English. The total means for extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to learn English are 4.42 (SD=0.734) and 4.13 (SD=0.872) respectively. All three items of intrinsic motivation achieved high means. Means of two items of extrinsic motivation are high and the mean of the remaining item is medium. As to the final dimension, the importance of studying English literature, means ranged from 4.11 (SD=1.08) to 3.77 (SD=1.21), with a total mean of 3.95 (SD=1.12). All three items achieved high means.
As to responses to the open-ended question "Is the teaching/learning of English literature in your country unfavorable for cultural and/or religious considerations?", 93% (N=168) of the students reported absence of such considerations. Of those 168 students, 55% (N=92) reported absence of unfavorable cultural and/or religious considerations and gave comments to account for their position.
The remaining 76 students just gave the response "There are no cultural and/or religious considerations". Overall, students gave sound explanations for absence of cultural and religious sensitivities about studying English literature in their university study. This is a sample of comments given by students in response to this question:

Religious Sensitivities
-The belief that English literature can affect one's religion negatively is erroneous.
-Our religion directs us to seek knowledge everywhere.
-It depends on learners. If learners are religiously and culturally aware, it cannot affect them negatively.
-We can take good aspects of other cultures and overlook bad ones. We need to be critical thinkers.
-The irreligious ideas that exist in some literary works are everywhere in various information sources.
It's better if we tackle them critically in our university study.
-All the literary courses I studied had no elements that could threaten my religious and cultural beliefs.
-Prophet Mohammed sent a companion to learn the language of the Jews and Ancient Arabs said who knows a tribe's language is safe from their cunning.
-It can never change one's religious/cultural beliefs and it's good to know about other countries' civilizations.
-It can only change cultural beliefs and this change is inevitable and can be positive.
-The English language is today the first language in the world and it is not associated with a given religion, so learning it has become highly recommended.
-Nothing in our religion or culture is against the study of English literature.
-It widens our culture, which has a positive effect on our today's and future life.
-On the contrary, our religion and culture encourage it.
-It cannot affect our religion and culture. Furthermore, if we learn English we can inform people from other religions about Islam.
-The study of English literature is highly recommended and it has no adverse effects on our religion or culture.
-Our religion isn't against any kind of learning.
-It's good for our development, but it must be treated cautiously to avoid works that violate our religious beliefs.
-We can study it and cling to our habits in the same time.
-I think it is recommended and useful both religiously and culturally.
-It is no threat to individuals who are fully aware of the tenets of their religion and culture.
Only 7% (N=12) of the students reported cultural and religious fears about studying English literature in Saudi Arabia. Of those 12 students, only 5 students provided explanations for their position. These were:  -Some western writers criticize religion in general. They see it as the reason for the retardation of past Europe, so they have developed negative attitude towards all religions.
-It sometimes changes native culture and religious beliefs that we've internalized from childhood.
-It includes concepts that do not fit with our religion.
-It strongly contradicts with Islamic values and virtues.

Difficulties Students Face when Studying Literature
To answer the second research question about difficulties students have in studying English literature, percentages of difficulties given by students in response to the second open-ended question were computed. Table 6 below shows this data. difficult content and long pieces of literature (58%). Slightly more than half of the participants reported two difficulties: lack of required language proficiency (53%) and having to exert great effort (51%).
The remaining two difficulties were reported by 41% (having to study several works within each genre) and 38% (a lot of memorization, e.g., poems) of the students.

Gender Differences in General Motivational Orientations and Attitudes towards English Literature
To answer the third research question about gender differences in general motivational orientations and attitudes towards English literature, independent samples t-test was used. Table 7 shows the results of this statistics.  However, there were statistically significant differences between male and female students in intrinsic motivation (t=2.66, p=0.009) and extrinsic motivation (t=2.43, p=0.016) in favor of female students.
That is, both male and female students held similar attitudes towards English literature that proved to be positive as shown by descriptive statistics, while female students outperformed male students in both types of motivational orientations.

The Relationship between General Motivational Orientations and Attitudes towards Literature
Correlations between types of motivation and attitudes towards literature were also computed to explore the nature of the relationship between motivational orientations (extrinsic and intrinsic) and attitudes towards English literature. Data of this statistics is presented in Table 8.

The Relationship between General Motivational Orientations to Learn English and Attitudes towards Literature and Performance in Literary Courses
Correlations were computed to answer the fourth research question about the relationship between general motivational orientations to learn English and attitudes towards English literature and performance in literary courses. For this purpose, the average of students' scores in the literary courses included in their level of study (a score out of 100) was used as an index of performance in literature.
These results are shown in Table 9.  Vol. 8, No. 3, 2020 explored attitudes towards general FL learning (e.g., Durer & Sayar, 2012). However, it is inconsistent with other studies reporting either males of females as having more positive attitudes (e.g., Abidin, Mohammadi, & Alzwary, 2012;Soleimani & Hanafi;Abu-Snoubar, 2017). As to the relationship between general motivational orientations, intrinsic motivation correlated significantly with positive attitudes towards English literature. The relation of extrinsic motivation to attitudes was insignificant.
That is, intrinsically motivated students tend to hold more positive attitudes towards English literature than do extrinsically motivated students. This finding concurs with the contention of Deci and Ryan (1985) that intrinsic motivation improves the quality of language learning. It is also in line with other studies where intrinsic motivation had stronger effect on various aspects of FL learning than extrinsic motivation (e.g., self-efficacy, Fatemi, 2013). However, this is not the same as contending that intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation. That is why when researchers reflect on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, they do not view them as categorically different. Rather, they conceive of them as lying along a continuum of self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 1985), i.e., they just differ in the extent to which motivation is self-determined. That intrinsically motivated students have more positive attitudes towards English literature seems logical since those students show greater interest in FL culture.
Literature satisfies those students' need to know about the culture of the FL and its native speakers.
Finally, a significant correlation was found between attitudes towards English literature and achievement in literary courses. A possible explanation for this is that students with positive attitudes towards English literature exert greater effort when studying it and show more persistence in the face of challenges. This finding is consistent with the mainstream of attitude research where positive attitudes always correlated significantly with language learning achievement (e.g., Al-Tamimi & Shuib, 2009;Gardner, 2001Gardner, , 2010Alrahaili, 2013;Al-Samadani & Ibnian, 2015).

Implications
Saudi EFL college male and female students were found to have positive attitudes towards English literature. However, it is highly recommended that teachers of literature grope their students' attitudes to identify students with negative attitudes or erroneous beliefs about English literature. Dispelling such beliefs can have a noticeable effect on students' willingness to study English literature and ultimately their performance in literary courses. Furthermore, no social, cultural and religious sensitivities deterring students from studying English literature were found in the present study (an area that needs further investigation). Thus, teachers of literature should not worry about such sensitivities. This means that they can easily help students to develop more positive attitudes towards English literature through their supportive practices. Careful selection of literary texts is also recommended. Students in the present study complained about having to study long and complicated literary texts. Therefore teachers should use graded literary texts by using simple and short texts with beginning students and gradually increasing the length and complexity of texts. Teachers also need to help students with difficult vocabulary that they encounter in literary texts. Perhaps teachers can teach students word attack www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/selt Studies in English Language Teaching Vol. 8, No. 3, 2020 strategies, e.g. guessing vocabulary from context and identify the meaning of words by structurally analyzing them. A delimitation that should be mentioned here is the small number of participants. The generalizability of results would have been better if the sample was much larger. It is therefore recommended that the study be replicated with a larger sample from different Saudi colleges and universities. Detailed case studies of students with negative attitudes are also recommended for further research in the area.