CulturalFamiliarityinLiteraryTexts:ConsiderationforTextselection ZailinShahHj.

Yusoff CenterofModernLanguages&HumanSciences UniversityCollegeofTechnologyMalaysia(UTEC) Pahang

Abstract CulturalfamiliarityinliterarytextsisavariableseldomexploredintheteachingofliteratureintheESL classroom.InMalaysiaawiderangeoftexts,bothbylocalaswellasforeignwritersareusedsideby side.Thelanguagedifficultylevelofthesetextsmaybealmostequalbuttheculturalfactorsvaried.This studyexploredtheperceptionsofteachersandstudentsregardingselectionofliterarytextsfortheESL classroomwithemphasisontheroleofculturalfamiliarityinfacilitatingstudents comprehensionand enjoymentofliterarytexts.Thefindingsofthisstudyunearthedtheirperceptionsandactualresponses towardsfourliterarytexts.Culturalfamiliaritywithaspectsinthetextsuchaswiththecharacter,subject matterorlanguageusedidplayaroleinfacilitatingstudents comprehensionandenhancingtransaction withthetext.Amoreinterestingfindingwasthattherewasanotionofcultural`nea rness and`fa rness. SomeconsiderationsfortextselectionforteachingliteratureintheESLclassroomwouldbetheuseof culturally` familiar textsthathavethemesandsubjectmatterfittingtothestudents generalagegroup andinterestssothatamoremeaningfultransactionwiththetextswouldtakeplace.

Anobservation S1:It ssoweirdlah,Iknowitistalkingaboutdeathbecausethetitlesaysso but S2: sodifferent.Ifitistalkingaboutdeathwhere sthekemenyan(akindof incenseoftenburntatMalayfunerals)orpeoplehelpingtobathethebody. What stheministerdoinginthehouse? S1:NotministerlikeinMalaysialah.IthinkitisliketheTokImam(religious leader)whotakecareoftheyoukno wafterpeopledietheyhavetobe preparedfortheburial. S3:Millinerinmydictionarymeansorangyangmembuatataumenjualtopi wanita(personwhomakesorsellswomen shats).Ha?Idontund erstandthis noconnectionatalltodeath. (JournalEntry6) Isthisacommonscenarioinyourliteratureclassroom?Thesubtlenuancesoftheculture potrayed in the literary text is lost on these students who was observed responding to

There s Been a Death in the Opposite House by Emily Dickinson. Deviations and differences of the culture in the text to their own culture hampered these students understanding.Asaresult,students comprehensionandmotivationtoreadthetextwill declinebecausethe` textmightremaina` mystery tothereader (Delanoy,1991)inspiteof theteacher sattemptsatforegroundingtheculturalbackgroundofthetext.Thismayprove tobeaheavyburdenontheteacherswhomthemselvesmayfindthecultureofthetextalien to them. Would it not be much simpler and more practical to select literary texts that depictedthestudentsownculture?

Introduction Literature in the language classroom is useful in encouraging students to develop their criticalthinkingskillsaswellaspersonalresponsetowardstextsreadincontextoftheirlife experiences.Proponentsofliteratureforthelanguageclassroomemphasisedthepotentialof literatureasaresourceto encouragegreatersensitivityandselfawarenessoftheworld around[them] (CarterandLong,1991,p.3),apartfrome xposingstudentstodifferent styles of writing (Shanahan, 1997, p. 165) through the use of authentic texts. Moral, culturalandsocialvaluescouldalsobeinculcatedinlanguageclassroomsthroughtheuse ofliterarytextswhichi sasourceofqualitativelydemandingauthenticlanguagewithan unmistakablyindividualhumanvoicebehindit[that]dealswitheverydaylifeoccurrences (Hall,1999,p.11).IntheESLclassroom,thesefactorsareapplicableaslongastheteacher scaffoldsthroughappropriateteachingespeciallywhendealingwithculturallyunfamiliar

texts(Isenberg,1990).Ifthetextwasculturallyfamiliar,theteachercoulddrawonthe students culturalbackgroundasaresource.

Using literature as a resource in the ESL classroom has to take several factors into consideration,suchaslearners languageproficiencyandthespecializedmannerinwhich language is used in many literary texts. Apart from that, another factor that has to be consideredistheculturethatisembeddedinthetext.Withavarietyoftextsdrawnfroma diversityofcultures,culturalunfamiliarityofthetextsmaybeaproblemtothelearners. Thuswayshavetobefoundtoalleviateproblemsandenhancethepotentialofliteraturein ESL classrooms. Ali (1994) suggests that literature could be made accessible to ESL learnersthroughaccurateselectionoftextsandclassroomactivities,whichallowedlearners tovi ewliteratureasanexperiencethatenriches[their]life (p.289).Thequestionnow shouldbe:Dowesticktothecanonsorselectmoreculturallyfamiliartexts?Rosenblatt (1976) indicated that the reader brings to the text, ` past experiences, prior knowledge, social,[cultural]andpsychologicalassumptions,surroundingcircumstances,[which]may playanimportantroleinthemakingofmeaning (p.79)ofthetextread.Thusifwewere abletoselecttextsthatmatchthis,wouldntth etransactionwhenreadingtheseliterarytexts beamoremeaningfulonefortheESLlearner?

Whatareculturallyfamiliartexts? BeforeIexplainwhatImeanbyculturallyfamiliartexts,letusfirstbeclearofwhatImean whenIrefertothewordculture.AdefinitionthatIwillbeusinghereisawholewayoflife;

distinguishingpeopleofonegroupfromanothermaybeshapedbytheplaceaswellasthe historicalperiodinwhichtheylive.Culturegoesbeyonddistinguishingrace,religionor colour to include distinct patterns of behaviour, perceptions, interpretations, ways of thinkingandfeelingwhicharesimultaneouslysharedbyandyetuniquetothegroupof peoplewhosharethesameculture.Cultureinfluencespeople sperceptions,responsesand reactionstowardsthingsorissuesinlife.Thus,itisassumedthatMalaysianswillsharea generalcultureregardlessofethnicityorage.Culturallyfamiliartextsarethenliterarytexts that depict aspects of the readers culture such as way of life, way of dressing, food, artefactsandothers,thatareuniquetothereaders cultureandarefamiliartothem.Brock (1990)explainsthatculturallyfamiliartextsorwhathecallsas localizedliterature are textsthatcontaincontent,settings,culturalassumptions,situations,characters,language, and historical references that are familiar to the second language reader (p. 23). Lazar (1993)suggeststhattherearemanycategoriesofculturaldimensionsthatcanbeportrayed inaliterarytextsuchaslanguage,objects,customs,rituals,beliefs,political,historicalor economicbackground,humour,roleandrelationships.Threeofthesedimensions;language, objectsandcustomswillbediscussedinmoredetailhere.

LanguagepertainstotheuseoftheESLreaders mothertongueorcolloquiallanguagethat thereaderisfamiliarwith.InthecaseofMalaysians,using lallang insteadoftallgrass conjuresapictureofabandoned,unusedlandthickwithundergrowthwhileifthelatter descriptionisuseditgivesaconnotationofanEnglishmeadowinthepeakofsummer. Samuel(1997)saysthatalthoughthisisconsideredadeviationfrom` correct Englishuse,

itisacceptedandusedinmanyMalaysiantextsbecauseoftheemotionsthattheword evokesinthereader.Otherthanthat,theuseofthewordKakakorAbangtoshowrespect for an older person is unique to the Malaysian culture that only Malaysians share this languageuse.IfthewordsweretranslatedintoEnglishitwouldbringanentirelydifferent connotationthantheintendedmeaning.

Objectsthatarespecifictoaculturewouldbethosethatexistsinonesocietybutnotin another,suchasreferencetothesarongwornbyBabaandNyonyainShirleyGeokLims MonsoonHistoryonlyexistswithintheMalaysiansettingbecausefirstly,suchdresscodeis onlytraditionallywornbyChineseoftheBabaandNyonyadescendantsandnotbyother ChineseinMalaysia.Secondly,the BabaandNyonyaheritageisuniquelyMalaysianand peoplefromoutsidetheculturemaynotunderstandthesubtledifferencesbetweenthemand otherChinesecommunitiesinthecountry.

Thefinalcategorythatwillbediscussedhereisbeliefsandthisincludesrituals,customs, traditions,superstitions,festivals,rolesandrelationships.Itmaybedifficulttotalkabout the Malaysian celebration of festivals to a person not from a multiethnic culture. The thoughtofvisitingneighboursduringthesefestivalswithoutaprior`a ppointment may beforeigntopeopleoftheWesternculturebutitispartofMalaysianculture.Theuseof culturespecificlanguage,objectsandbeliefsinliterarytextsmayengageadifferentbut morefamiliarschemathanaculturallyunfamiliartextthatmayworktotheadvantageof thereader.Manystudieshaveshownthatthecomprehension(Gatbonton&Tucker,1971,

Johnson,1981,Brozo,Valerio&Salazar,1996)andresponse(Jimenez&Gamez,1996)of ESL learners showed a marked improvement when reading culturally familiar texts in comparisontoculturallyunfamiliarones.Thelearners abilitytoidentifywithandimmerse intheculturethatisportrayedinthetextenhancestheirengagementandunderstandingof it.ThisfamiliarityfortheESLlearnermayovercomesomeofthelinguisticcomplexity syntacticorvocabularyofsuchtexts.Brock(1990)emphasizesthatlinguisticcomplexity shouldbelessofaconcernthanculturalfamiliaritywhenchoosingliteraturetextsforthe useofESLlearners.

Literarytextselection TextselectionfortheESLliteratureclassroomisandshouldbeadelicateprocess.Certain factors pertaining to the text and to the readers need to be taken into consideration. Importantfactorssuchasthelanguagelevel,subjectmatter,priorknowledgeoflearnersand interestlevelshouldbeguidelinesforliterarytextselection.Thismayprovetobehelpful fortheteacherwhenteachingthetextsbecausethroughsuchaselectionitcombineswhatis to be read and what is known about learners life worlds to achieve maximum comprehension.Culturalfamiliaritymayhaveitsplaceintextselection.Familiaritywith thesubjectmatterofthetext,certainlanguageuseorreferencetoobjectsuniqueofthe readers culturemayhelpactivatethereader sexistingpriorknowledge,whichinturnmay work to aid reading and comprehension. Through the activation of the readers prior knowledgeandconceptualabilities,theymaybeabletoprocesswhatisreadevenifthey havelowlanguageabilitybecausetheirabilitytorelatewhatisreadtothet heoriesofthe

world in [their] heads (Smith, 1978b, p.69) can compensate for it. As a result, comprehensionofthetextreadmaybeachieved.

Apart from this, because enjoyment of a text read would stem from the readers comprehensionofit,itisimportantforcomprehensiontobeachievedbyreaders.Ifreaders wereabletounderstandwhatisread,theywouldsubsequentlybeabletorespondtoitata personallevelandperhapsenjoyit.Enjoymentofthetextmayalsobeenhancedthrough appropriateselectionoftextsthatinitiateinterestinreaders.Thesubjectmatterofthetext alongsidethesettingandmessagethatcouldbederivedfromthetextmayaffectreaders interestinreadingthetext.Oftensociallyorculturallyfamiliartextswouldinitiatemore interestinreadersthanculturallyunfamiliartexts.Thus,becauseculturalfamiliaritymay aidreading,comprehensionandenjoymentofaliterarytextintheESLclassroom,itis perhapsafactortobeconsideredintextselectionfortheESLliteratureclassroom.

TheStudy ThemainobjectiveofthisstudywastoprobeintotheESLclassroominMalaysiaand exploredlearners responsesandtransactionwithselectedliterarytextswithemphasison theroleofculturalfamiliarityincomprehension,enjoymentandresponsestoliterarytexts. Inthisstudy97participantswererandomlyselectedtoanswerquestionnairesadministered, while5participantswerekeyinformants.Outofthe5;2werefemaleand2malestudent participants,and1teacherparticipant.Theywereselectedbasedontheirgender,ethnicity, languageabilityandhomebackground.Alltheseparticipantswereavidreaders,whichwas

another criteriadeemedimportant for thepurpose of this study. Asthestudyaimed at lookingattheculturaldimensionsinliterarytexts,thesecriteriawereconsideredimportant tothestudyasthecultureandlifeworldsofeachparticipantmightprovideinsightsinto theirresponses.Inaddition,enjoyingreadingwouldgivethemtheabilitytocompareand contrastdifferentreadingmaterialsmoreeffectively. Thekeyteacherparticipantwasthe teacherteachingthefourkeystudentparticipants class.Ifeltitwouldbemorepertinentif theteachingandlearningwithinaclassroomwasalsoobserved.

Apartfromansweringthequestionnairestogaugetheirperceptionstowardstheselectionof texts being used, key participants were also interviewed and asked to keep response journals.Inthesejournals,thestudentswereaskedtorespondto4literarytextsthatwerein useintheirESLclassroom:TheNecklacebyGuydeMapaussant(French),Lookingfora RainGodbyBessieHead(SouthAfrican),SiTenggang sHomecomingbyMuhamadHaji Salleh(Malaysian)andMonsoonHistorybyShirleyGeoklinLim(Malaysian).Thetexts were specifically chosen to represent culturally familiar and unfamiliar texts. ` Think questions (Appendix 1) were given as guidelines for them to write in their response journals.Participants levelofcomprehensionandenjoymentofeachtextwereinterpreted usingtheTaxonomyofAestheticResponseadaptedfromSebesta,MonsonandSenn,1995. (Appendix2).Ialsoobservedseveralofthelessons.

CulturalFamiliarityandComprehensionofLiteraryTexts Findingsofthisstudyshowedthatculturalfamiliaritytoacertainextentdidplayarolein participants comprehensionofliterarytexts.Intheparticipants actualresponsestothe literarytextsselectedforthisstudy,itwasevidentthatculturallyfamiliarsettingdidnot enhance students comprehension of literary texts. The participants were better able to decipherthemeaningoftextsthatdepictedculturallyunfamiliarsettingsuchasLookingfor aRainGodandTheNecklace,than MonsoonHistorywhichwassetinMalaysiabecause theywereabletorelatetothecharactersandsubjectmaterofthetwotexts.Forexample, TheNecklace,althoughwassetinaculturallyunfamiliarsetting,hadauniversalthemeof loveandsacrificethattheparticipantscouldrelateto.Brozo,ValerioandSalazar(1996) reportedthatwhenthestudentsintheirstudywereculturallyfamiliarwiththecharacteror subjectmatterportrayedinthetextthey wouldintimatelyidentifywiththecharacters, [issues]andconflicts (p.169)inthetextandrespondedinamorepersonalmannerthanif the text was culturally unfamiliar. This was also how the participants responded to Si Tenggangs Homecoming.Theyshowedahighlevelofcomprehensionandwereableto makeanalogiestotheirownlife,evaluateandhypothesizewhatcouldhappeninthefuture basedonandcontrastedwiththeirunderstandingofTenggangthecharacterintheinfamous Malaysianfolktale.ResponsesportrayedtheirfamiliaritywithTenggangthefolktaleand theirlifeworldexperiencesofhowTenggangwasvaluedintheirsocietyenhancedtheir comprehensionandenjoymentofthetext.

Incontrast,theparticipants levelofcomprehensionandenjoymentof MonsoonHistory whichwassetinMalaccawasverylow.The`m undane portrayalofaneverydaylifeand theanimalimageryuseddidnotinteresttheparticipants.Theyindicatedthattheywanted textswhichhadastrongunderlyingmeaningwithconflict,crimeorsacrificeasthesubject matter,forexampleasportrayedinthethreeothertextsselectedforthisstudy.To the students,MonsoonHistorywasatextthathadafamiliarsettingbutisculturallyunfamiliar tothem.TheyknewoftheBabaandNyonyaheritagebutthesubtleculturalnuanceswere losttothem.Thiswasaddedbythefactthatthewriterhadused` difficult language.Key studentparticipantsalsosaidthattheimageryusedwasafactorthatsignificantlyhindered theircomprehensionofthetext.

Cultural familiarity to a certain extent did facilitate the participants comprehension. Culturallyfamiliarcharactersandsubjectmatterallowedstudentstorelateandrespondto the texts at a more intimate and meaningful level based on their life and cultural experiences.

CulturalFamiliarityandStudentsEnjoymentofLiteraryTexts Comprehensionplayedagreaterroleinstudents enjoymentofliterarytextsthancultural familiarity.Apartfromthisthethemeandmessageunderlyingthetextwasseentohave enhanced students enjoyment. Participants indicated that they found texts that had a powerfulmessageandfamiliarthemessuchasloveandsacrifice,moreenjoyabletoread thantextsthattothemhadaninsignificantmessagethatcouldnotberelatedtotheirlives.

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Again MonsoonHistory wasanexampleofatextthatkeyinformantsfound` trivial and insignificanttotheirlives,whichwasnotajoytoread.

Genderculturetooplayedaroleininfluencingstudents engagementwiththeliterarytexts. Inthecaseof TheNecklace,thetwofemaleparticipantsseemedtohaveenjoyedthetext andsaidthattheycouldrelatetothemaincharacterveryclosely.Onemaleparticipant howeverfoundthetext` illogical; partlybecauseofthewaythemainmalecharacterwas portrayed.Wemayinferfromthisthatthemaleparticipantfoundithardtorelatetothe malecharacterbecausehewasovertlytolerantofhiswifeandhervanity.Inthetraditional Malaysianvalues,thehusbandisthedominantleaderofthehouseholdandthepersonwho normallyhadthelastword.SointhecaseofLoisel scharacterin TheNecklace hewas regardedasbeinghenpeckedandthiswouldunderminehisstrengthintheeyesofthemale participantinthisstudy.Asaresult,thisinfluencedhisengagementwiththetextashe couldnotrelatetothemaincharacterandthisconsequentlyaffectedhisenjoymentofthe text.

Culturalfamiliarityplayedaveryimportantrolewhenstudentsunderstoodthetextand foundthecharacterorsubjectmatterfamiliartothem.Forexample,students abilityto deeply understand Si Tenggangs Homecoming and relate to the character, setting and subjectmattertotheirownliferesultedinstudents enjoymentofthetext.Furthermore, TenggangisaMalaysianfolktaleknowntomanypeopleinthecountry.Thiscouldbe becausethetalehadbeenmadeintoafilmandbookswhichwereusedinschool.Inallof

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thejournalentriesstudentswrote,thistexts entrywasthelongestandmostprofound.This impliesthatifstudentswerefamiliarwithmostoftheculturalaspectsinthetextandwere abletorelatethemtotheirlifeandculturalexperiences,familiaritycouldenhancestudents enjoymentaslongasthestudentsunderstoodthetextfirst.

Culturalfamiliaritycouldfacilitateenjoymentofliterarytextsaslongasthestudentshad some level of comprehension first. If the initial stage of comprehending the text was achievedstudentswouldenjoyreadingaboutculturallyfamiliarcharactersorsubjectmatter because they werebetterableto relate to and evaluatethetext. This encouraged more profoundengagementsandresponsestotheliterarytexts.

Conclusion Familiaritycannotbeseeningenericterms.Thisstudysuggeststhattherearedistinctions betweenculturaln earness andf arness.Famili aritywiththevalues,themesandissues portrayedinliterarytextsaffectedtheparticipantsc omprehensionandenjoymentofthe textsmorethanconcretespecificsoraculturallocalitysuchassetting,ortime.Atextwith aMalaysiansettingcouldwellbeculturallyunfamiliarincomparisontoatextsetinanother culture,countryortimebecausethesubjectmatterorcharactersinthetextdidnotevoke anyfamiliarityforthereader.However,ifthesubjectmatterandcharactersarerelevantto thelifeworldsoftheparticipants,concretespecificsandlocalityfurtherenhanced comprehensionandenjoymentofliterarytexts.

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Cultural factors should have a place in text selection for the ESL literature classroom. Studentsmayexploreculturallyfamiliartextsmore`i ntimately thanculturallyunfamiliar texts,becausethecultureembeddedinthetextisnotanalienculture.Howeverstudents interests, relevance of the subject matter, theme, characters and values potrayed in the literarytextstothestudents lifeworldsareimportantfactorsthatshouldbeconsideredin textselection.PerhapsESLcurriculumdevelopersandteacherscouldselecttextsandtailor classroomactivitieswhichtakeintoconsiderationtheculturalfactorsinliterarytextstosuit thecultureandlifeworldsoftheintendedreaders.

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Sebesta,S.L.,Monson,D.L.&Senn,H.D.(1995).Ahierarchytoassessreaderresponse. JournalofReading,38:6,March,444450 Shanahan, D. (1997). Articulating the Relationship Between Language, Literature, and Culture:TowardaNewAgendaforForeignLanguageTeachingandResearch.TheModern LanguageJournal,81,ii.,164174. Spiegel,D.L.(1998).ReaderResponseApproachesandtheGrowthofReaders.Language Arts,Vol.76,No.1,September. Valdes,J.M.(1986)CultureinLiterature.InValdes,J.M.(Ed.)Culturebound.Bridgingthe culturalgapinlanguageteaching.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.137146. Weston,B.N.(1998).Speakingthroughliterature.ModernEnglishTeacher,Vol.7No4,31 34.

ThispaperwaspresentedandsubmittedforpublicationattheFifthMalaysian InternationalConferenceonEnglishLanguageTeachingatHotelEquatorial MalaccaonMay1012,2004

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