Exploring Vietnamese EFL Students' Perceptions towards Literature Courses in English Studies Program

Abstract

This study aimed to identify Vietnamese EFL students' perceptions of literature courses in the English Studies Program at a university in the Mekong Delta. A total of 77 English-majored learners who were in their final year participated in the study. The researcher employed a quantitative research design and collected the data using a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire asked participants to select the importance, benefits, and challenges when they enrolled in different literature courses. The results indicated that literature provided a volume of grammatical structures and vocabulary, knowledge of culture, and fostered students' personal skills development. The participants also perceived the length of works and the complexity of different literary devices as their most significant challenges when participating in literature courses. Learners generally experienced more benefits than challenges during their literature learning process. The study suggested that stakeholders might take into consideration integrating more literature courses in the English Studies program.