The Use of Local Literary Texts as Reading Materials in English Language Classrooms: An Analysis of Teachers’ Perspectives

Abstract

. It is common for Malaysian primary school pupils to have difficulties in reading English texts. One of its factors concerns text selection. Hence, a careful selection of the text is needed to ease their reading experience in ESL (English as Second Language) classrooms. This study explored teachers’ perceptions on literary text selection for Malaysian primary schools. An online questionnaire was distributed to gauge teachers’ perceptions on the current materials in terms of its impact on the students and lesson effectiveness. Respondents were 34 teachers of Years 4 to 6 in primary schools in Terengganu, the east coast Malaysia. Data analysis revealed that the teachers perceive local materials as more relatable to pupils in comparison to the foreign texts. The local texts are also perceived to have greater impacts on the students and lessons despite doubts remaining within the autonomy of this selection. This study is hoped to be helpful to the Ministry of Education and the teaching community in improving text selection in the future.