The Role of the Reader-Response Approach to Teaching Short Stories in Developing Students’ Critical Thinking in EFL Literature Classes: A Quasi-Experimental Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21271/zjhs.27.SpA.26Keywords:
Reader-Response Approach, Critical Thinking Skills, Critical Reading, Reader-Response TheoryAbstract
Literature has become one of the major concerns of EFL classes. It is now regarded as one of the authentic resources that can be used in the language classroom along with other resources. On the whole, literature does not only improve EFL learners’ language skills, their communicative and cultural competence, and their motivation, but it is also assumed that it enhances learners’ critical thinking, creativity, and interpretive ability. One of the approaches used to teaching literature, which is thought to be of great benefit is the Reader-Response Approach. This study attempts to find out the role of the Reader-Response Approach, which is a student-centered approach to teaching short stories in enhancing and improving the level of EFL university students’ critical thinking skills. To this end, 60 sophomore students from English department in the colloge of Basic-Education at Salahaddin University-Erbil were the subject of the study. The participants were divided into two classes. One class served as the control group and received no reader-response instruction; the target class (the experimental group) received explicit instruction and practice in the reader-response strategies. Results revealed that the implementation of the Reader-Response pedagogy has a solid link with the development of the university students’ critical thinking skills. Finally, the study ends up with some recommendations and suggestions for further studies in this line.
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