Tropes-Based Difficulties Encountering Algerian EFL Students in Interpreting Literary Text

Souad Benguega, Algeria, ID CLEaR2017-424;   Abstract: The aim of English Language Teaching (ELT) is to develop the students’ communicative competence which requires not only the mastery of English language forms, but also the ability to interpret a discourse in its socio-cultural context. For this reason, there is a tendency to teach EFL students literature. However, Algerian EFL students lack enthusiasm toward learning literature because they are unable to interpret the meaning of literary text due to the use of figurative forms affecting language form (schemes) or meaning (tropes). This study aims at investigating tropes- related difficulties that Algerian EFL students encountered when interpreting the meaning of literary text. To achieve this goal, a questionnaire involving three parts administered to 30 students studying literature at English department- Kasdi Merbah University. The findings of this research showed that Algerian EFL students encounter tropes based difficulties when trying to interpret the meaning of literary text. These encouraging results provide us with a viable starting-point for teaching EFL students tropes in order to increase their interpretation of literary text.