Improving Saudi EFL Reading Skills with an English Novel

Abstract

This mixed-methods study looked at how 10 Saudi EFL university students perceived the use of authentic literary materials during a three-week intensive reading intervention based on Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations. Saudi university EFL reading classes tend to follow traditional methods of teaching, where most lessons are based on a teacher-centered approach, with students given an inactive role in the learning process. An experimental group and a control group were randomly assigned to the participants. The study included a pre-test and post-test to measure reading improvement, as well as semi-structured interviews to gather qualitative information. Participants had positive feelings about employing interactive instruction with actual literary materials, such as novels, in the Saudi EFL reading classroom, according to the findings. Despite this positive attitude, participants encountered several difficulties during their first encounter with the experiment, primarily due to a lack of vocabulary and unfamiliarity with reading such a long text.