Presented by supervised by MORSLI Lynda Pr. Guendouzi Amar Subject

219 Pages·2017·1.92 MB·English

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
University Mouloud MAMMERI, Tizi-Ouzou
Faculty of letters and Humanities
Department of English

Dissertation Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Magister in English
Specialism: English
Option: Didactics of Literary and Civilization Texts
Presented by supervised by
MORSLI Lynda Pr. Guendouzi Amar
Subject:

Investigating Attitudes Toward Literature and Movies:

Second Year LMD Students of English at UMMTO

Examiners:
Dr. Zerar Sabrina. Pr. University of Tizi Ouzou …………………………. Chair
Dr. Guendouzi Amar. Pr. University of Tizi Ouzou ………………… supervisor
Dr. Riche Bouteldja. Pr. University of Tizi Ouzou ……………………examiner
Dr. Ameziane Hamid. Pr. University of Tizi Ouzou …………..…….. examiner

Academic Year: 2015/2016

Contents:
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………1
Literature Review and Methodology …………………………………………………….4
Part one: Methods and Material …..……………………………. 12
Chapter 1: Methods
Section I: Attitudes …………….………………………………………………………. 12
1. Definition of attitudes ………………………………………………………..12
2. Origins and types of attitude………………………………………………….17
a. Affective………………………………………………………………….17
b. Cognitive…………………………………………………………………18
c. Conative …………………………………………………………………18
d. Explicit and implicit ……………………………………………………..20
e. Dissonant ...………………………………………………………………21
Section II: Attitudes, culture and FLL …………………………………………………..23
1. Attitudes and Culture …………………………………………………………..23
2. Culture and EFL Classroom ……………………………………………………27
3. Attitudes in EFL Classroom ……………………………………………………33
Chapter 2: Materials …………………………………………………………………. .36
Section I: Questionnaires ………………………………………………………………. 39
Section II: Classroom Observation …………………………………………………….. 40
Section III: Interviews ………………………………………………………………… ..40

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Part 2: Results and Discussion ……………………………………42
Chapter 1: Results ……………………………………………………………………. 42
Section 1: Pre-viewing results (questionnaire) ………………………………………… 43
Section 2: post-viewing results ………………………………………………………… 49
Chapter 2: Discussion ………………………………………………………………….52
Section 1: Attitudes towards Literature …………………………………………………52
Factors influencing attitudes to literature ………………………………………53
a. Reading experience ………………………………………………………… 54
b. Motivation and perception on reading ……………………………………… 60
c. Language proficiency ………………………………………………………. 63
d. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………...68
Section 2: Attitudes towards movies …………………………………………………. .. 69
1. Attitudes towards movies vs. attitudes towards literature ……………………. 69
2. Attitudes to Movies as learning devices ………………………………………75
3. Attitudes to the use of movies in the EFL Classroom………………………… 76
Section 3: Attitudes to Culture in Literature and Movies ……………………………… 78
1. Attitudes to literary cultural contents …………………………………………. 84
2. Attitudes towards Movies’ Cultural Contents ………………………………… 90
3. Factors influencing Attitudes towards Culture ……………………………….. 93
a. Culture Shock and Acculturation ………….……………………………… 93
b. Social groups ……………………………………………………………… 98
c. Dissonance …………………………………………………………………102
d. Negative attitudes and Stereotypes ………………………………………. .108
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e. Intercultural competence ………………………………………………… 110
4. General Conclusion ………………………………………………………….. 112
Works Cited ………………………………………………………………… 116
Appendices ………………………………………………………………….. 122

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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Pr. Guendouzi Amar
without whom this dissertation would not have been completed. I am grateful for his
continuous support, insightful guidance and patience.
Many thanks should also go to Pr. Riche Bouteldja and Pr. Zerar Sabrina for
launching the Magister course in our department and for kindly accepting to examine my
work despite their tight schedule. I also wish to thank Dr. Ameziane Hamid for taking
part in the examination panel. I thank them all for the valuable input they provided me
during my studies. I am equally grateful to them for having introduced me to the field of
didactics, a field that was alien to me. In addition, I owe them many thanks, particularly to
Pr. Riche and Pr. Zerar, for the training sessions in the art of teaching, without which I
could never be able to teach.
I would also like to thank Mr. Haddadou for giving me the opportunity to carry a
classroom observation and attend his class.

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To my parents, sisters and my fiancé for their support, help and continuous encouragement.

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List of Tables
Table 1: Students’ Attitudes Towards Literature ……………………………………...45.
Table 2: Students’ Attitudes Towards Watching Movies ………………………….…46.
Table 3: Attitudes towards movies as learning devices ……………………………….47.
Table 4: The use of movies in literature and civilization class ………………………. 48.
Table 5: Students’ attitudes towards the culture depicted in the movie………………. 49.
Table 6: Students attitude toward the movie (post-viewing) ………………………… 50.
Table 7: Students’ attitudes toward watching films in the classroom…………………51.
Table 8: Students’ attitude towards films as learning devices …………………………52.

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List of Abbreviations:
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
ESL: English as a Second Language
ELT: English Language Teaching
ELT English as a Lingua Franca
L1 culture: the native culture
L2 culture: the culture of the target language

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Abstract:
This research probes into the Algerian students’ attitudes to culture in movies and
literature within the context of the literature and film studies classroom. Inspired by critical
categories from cultural anthropology, and deploying a mixed method approach combining
classroom observation, interview and questionnaires. It shows that students’ attitudes are
hugely shaped by the native culture, most notably, the culture of shame which makes most
students resist the predominantly popular culture of British and American movies, as well as
the erotic dimensions of classical novels such as Jane Eyre. The degree of resistance varies
from student to student according to the amount of exposure to the target culture and reading
experience of the students. the latter, move generally from cultural resistance to cultural
negotiation
Key words: Literature, movies, attitudes, culture rejection.

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