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vary according to their favorability and un-favorability for various attitudinal objects. Attitude is not a static trait rather marked by changes as experience
accumulates.
1. Characteristics of Attitudes
Baker 1988 identifies the following characteristics of attitude: 1. Attitudes are cognitive .i.e. are capable of being thought about and affective
.i.e. have feelings and emotions attached to them. 2. Attitudes are dimensional rather than bipolar-they vary in degree of
favorabilityunfavorability. 3. Attitudes predispose a person to act in a certain way, but the relationship
between attitudes is not a strong one. 4. Attitudes are learned, not inherited or genetically endowed.
5. Attitudes tend to persist but they can be modified by experience. According to social psychologists, an attitude consists of three
components: an effect a feeling, cognition a thought or, and behavior an action. Eagly and Chiaken 1993 refer these components as the ABC of attitude.
The affective response is an emotional response that expresses an individual’s
degree of preference for an entity. The behavioral intention is a verbal indication or typical behavioral tendency of an individual. The cognitive response is a
cognitive evaluation of the entity that constitutes an individual’s belief about the
object. In language teaching, a number of factors contribute to developing teachers’ attitudes and these vary from teacher to teacher and from one culture to
another.
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2. Attitude and Behavior
In their conceptual framework of attitudes, Fishbien and Ajzen 1975 confirm that attitudes are a function of beliefs. People hold a set of beliefs about
an object, and these beliefs serve as the basis to determine their attitudes. Attitudes influence behavior because a person’s attitude toward an object affects
the person’s intentions to perform behavior relating to that object. For example, teachers’ use of literature in the EFL classroom may be influenced by the kind of
belief held towards the resource.Manystudies indicate that attitudes do influence teachers’ behavior either positively or negatively. Thus, a teacher can have either
positive or negative attitude over a teaching material.
3.Attitudes in Teaching Literature in the EFL Classroom
According to Wright 1987, the whole educational process is deeply influenced by beliefs and attitudes. They are results of either direct experience or
observational learning from the environment.Karavas 1996 says teachers’
beliefs and theories although in many cases unconsciously held, have an effect on their classroom behavior. Teachers bring their personal views of life that interfere
with the work in the classroom. In language teaching, these attitudes can be observed from the way teachers use teaching materials. As professionals, teachers
are expected to be dynamic in handling innovations that may be initiated in the system.Kennedy and Kennedy suggest changes in ELT materials and methods
require a change in teachers attitudes and beliefs. What teachers make of an educational resource is shaped by their attitude. McMeniman and Evans 1998
acknowledge that language teachers alter their practices and beliefs or “learn”
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When “presented with evidence that shows the positive effects of the new
teaching method on the quality of learning outcomes ” and “develop expertise in
the new method ” p. 1.
Kleinsasser and Savignon 1991cited in Karava, 1996:188 admit that: In our quest for the improvement of language teaching, we have
overlooked the language teacher. Exploration...Of teachers’ perception of what they do and why they do it holds promise for understanding the
frequently noted discrepancies between theoretical understanding of the second foreign acquisition and classroom practice Karava, 1996:188
Breare 1985 notes that teachers’ attitudes may be the fulcrum that determines
the success in implementing policies and programs and many educators believe that one of the most important influences
on a student’s educational progress was the classroom teacher.Hui 1997: 38 points out that teachers are more active than
students, who simply follow their teachers rigidly and mechanically. So, teachers influence students not only by what they teach but also through their attitudes and
practices in and outside the classrooms, the decisions they make and their attitudes towards the teaching materials and methodologies.
Krahnke 1987 cited in Van Lier 1986 highlightsthecomplacency amnong teachers
’ when confronted with literature.“When called upon to teach literature in the classroom, most teachers will simply “hark back to how they themselves were
taught”. McRae 1991:9 states that many language teachers have told me that they feel inadequate when faced w
ith literature’, either because they have no ‘literary’ qualification or because they have not studied since their university
days. Others leap in enthusiastically because they enjoyed studying literature because they read a lot, or because it seems like f
un’.
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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
