Difficulties Facing English Teachers in Teaching Literature in English for Palestine Grade Twelve Textbook

Abstract

The study examined the difficulties facing English teachers in teaching literature in English for Palestine grade twelve textbook which has been prescribed by the Ministry of Education for the twelfth graders in the West Bank andGaza, and has been taught since the scholastic year 2006-2007. Being a previous teacher and now a supervisor of English, the researcher observed that English teachers face a lot of difficulties in teaching literature which would affect the students' attitudes towards literature. In order to answer the questions of the study, the researcher adopted the descriptive analytical approach. The sample of the study consisted of (184) male and female teachers of English for twelfth graders, and (20) English language supervisors in all the sixGazagovernorates. The researcher reviewed many books, previous studies, journals and related literature to get benefit from and to decide on the relevant procedures to follow while carrying out the study. In order to achieve the aims of the study, a questionnaire of (75) items divided into three domains representing the three literature components (short story, poetry, and drama) was designed by the researcher and validated by a panel of 17 referees to be used as the main instrument of the study. The data of the study were collected, computed and analyzed by using SPSS programme and applying the following tests :Alpha Cronbach Method, Gutman coefficient for unequal halves, Split-half techniques, t-test independent sampleand One WayANOVA. The researcher listed a number of difficulties facing English teachers in teaching English in English forPalestinegrade twelve textbook. The researcher found out that understanding these difficulties will help teachers, supervisors and syllabus designers to identify the problems and find solutions to improve the process of teaching literature. The study also revealed that there were no statistically significant differences attributed to teachers' gender, age or years of experience in the difficulties facing English teachers in teaching literature. In the light of these findings, the researcher suggested some recommendations for syllabus designers, supervisors and teachers to overcome the difficulties facing English teachers in teaching literature and to adopt more effective approaches to teaching literature. The study recommends that teachers should vary the techniques they used to adopt when teaching literature, and to be aware of the values of teaching English literature for the Palestinian society. The study also recommends that supervisors should pass their experience to teachers through training courses, workshops and micro-teaching to train English teachers to teach literature effectively. It was also suggested that further research should be conducted on the effectiveness of teaching literature in the Palestinian culture.