Menu
AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, Volume 4, Number2. May 2020 Pp.82 -90
This study examines the perception of English as a Foreign Language female students in the Department of English at Umm Al-Qura University regarding feminist poetry. It offers an insight into their understanding of the genre and its themes and how these are relevant to women’s changing roles in Saudi Arabian society. Research was conducted among forty students who studied the Poetry course (731478-2) during the first and second semesters of the academic year of 2019-2020 at the university. The study adopts a qualitative methodology with a survey as the primary tool to collect data. Students were asked to complete a questionnaire which directly addressed the research questions and were then given a chance to add their comments and personal inputs. Given that women’s empowerment is a vital part of the Saudi vision of 2030, the majority of the responses show positive attitudes towards studying feminist poetry. In doing so, this study sheds light on the value of integrating feminist poetry as it raises students’ awareness of women’s rights in different cultures, allowing them to reflect on their own experience.
Azhar, H. J. (2020). EFL Female Students’ Perception of Feminist Poetry: A Case Study in the Department of English at Umm Al-Qura University. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies 4 (2) 82 -90.
Al-Bakr, F., Bruce, E. R., Davidson, P. M., Schlaffer, E., & Kropiunigg, U. (2017). Empowered but not equal: Challenging the traditional gender roles as seen by university students in Saudi Arabia. FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education, 4, (1), 52-66.
Alvi, A., & Alvi, R. (2019). Text, reader & pedagogy: A reflection upon teaching English poetry to EFL female students at a Saudi Arabian university. Arab World English Journal, Special Issue: The Dynamics of EFL in Saudi Arabia. 154-169.
Ammar, Dania. (2018). Penning her way to power: Feminism and writing in Saudi women’s EFL classrooms. Intersections: Critical Issues in Education, 2, (1), 19-33.
Baaqeel, N. A. (2020). Improving student motivation and attitudes in learning English as a second language; Literature as pleasurable reading: Applying Garner’s theory of multiple intelligences and Krashen’s filter hypothesis. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies, 4, (1), 137-51.
Creely, E. (2019). Poetry is dying: Creating a (re)new(ed) pedagogical vision for teaching poetry. Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, 42, (2), 116–127.
Decke-Cornill, Helene, & Volkmann, Laurenz. (2007). Gender Studies and Foreign Language Teaching. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
Hussein, Elham T., & Al-Emami, Aida H. Al-Emami. (2016). Challenges to teaching English literature at the University of Hail: Instructors’ perspective. Arab World English Journal, 7, (4), 125-138.
Ismail, Manal A. (2012). Sociocultural identity and Arab women’s and men’s code-choice in the context of patriarchy. Anthropological Linguistics, 54, (3), 261-279.
Le Renard, Amelie. (2014). Introduction. A Society of Young Women: Opportunities of place, power, and reform in Saudi Arabia. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Nesi, Hilary. (2000). The Use and Abuse of EFL Dictionaries: How learners of English as a foreign language read and interpret dictionary entries. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.
Quamar, Md. Muddassir. (2016). Sociology of the veil in Saudi Arabia: Dress code, individual choices, and questions on women’s empowerment. Digest of Middle East Studies, 25, (2), 315-337.
Dr. Hadeel Jamal Azhar is an assistant professor of English Literature at Umm Al-Qura University. She holds a PhD in Victorian Women’s Poetry from Edinburgh Napier University, and an MA in English Literary Studies from the University of Aberdeen. Hadeel is currently the Deputy-Chair of the Department of English at UQU. Her research and teaching interests lie in Victorian and Edwardian literature and culture, including women’s writing, interdisciplinary aspects of law and literature, and cross-cultural and comparative studies. ORCiD ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5513-1572
Copyright © 2023 AWEJ-tls.org. All rights reserved.