The influence of Islamic Background Knowledge on EFL learners' response in reading English literary texts /
Students from an Islamic educational background would normally employ stored knowledge about Islam in their intellectual skill sets. This cognitive information comes to a Muslim student through gradual acquisition and immersion in the Islamic education system, and in both formal and informal sett...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Kuala Lumpur :
Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia,
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Click here to view 1st 24 pages of the thesis. Members can view fulltext at the specified PCs in the library. Click here to view 1st 24 pages of the thesis. Members can view fulltext at the specified PCs in the library. |
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| Summary: | Students from an Islamic educational background would normally employ stored knowledge about Islam in their intellectual skill sets. This cognitive information comes to a Muslim student through gradual acquisition and immersion in the Islamic education system, and in both formal and informal settings in many different degrees and qualities. As a unit of schematic knowledge, we may assume that such an Islamic schema can shape a Muslim's cognitive process. Employing schema and reader response theories into a theoretical framework, this study examines the use of Islamic Background Knowledge (IBK) by undergraduate Muslim students in their interpretation of Western English literature. This study sheds light on the extent to which such knowledge permeates a student's cognitive process, and has implications for determining the extent to which Islamic knowledge has been successfully subsumed within a student's intellect when they encounter critical evaluations and judgments of cultural contents in studying English. Such an assessment approach conducted in an English classroom would be a crucial foundation for investigating the applicability of Islamic knowledge to real world information and situations, and could yield valuable pedagogical data for the revision of Islamic studies courses to be offered within the wider Islamic based curriculum. Data from this study were collected using a case study method from 50 undergraduate students of Fatoni University's English Department, Thailand, from August 2015 - May 2016. Additional qualitative data were collected from observation of regular in-class activities, a focus group discussion and interviews of individual student responses about the themes presented in the works. Focus was placed on examining both the use and non-use of IBK in the students' reactions. The data were analyzed by content analysis using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. This study finds that there are different reactions towards the social behavior and cultural practices depicted in the two selected works –William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice –and most participants frequently used their IBK in expressing concerns and objections towards the themes presented. This study suggests that reading such works actually contributes to the Muslim students' intellectual development and analytical skills when being asked to approach these texts in a critical fashion utilizing their Islamic background knowledge. IBK can thus operate as a perceptual filter in the students' reading, and serve as an important influence on their reasoning process. |
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| Item Description: | Abstracts in English and Arabic. "A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Human Sciences." --On title page. |
| Physical Description: | xv, 242 leaves : illustrations ; 30cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-188). |