The influence of the cultural and linguistic orientations of Omani female college students on their responses to literature

Foreign language learners come to the literature classroom possessing a native language and a culture that could be very different from the English language and its cultures. This could have profound effects on how these learners interact with and respond to the literature of the target language. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the influence of the cultural and linguistic orientations of Omani female college students who are majoring in English on their comprehension of and response to literature. Four stories were chosen to be read by the participants: two Arabian culture stories and two American culture stories. Two stories were presented in English and two in Arabic. The instruments of data collection included a free response task, a reflection on response task and an interview.;The major finding of this study indicated that the participants' culture had a powerful influence on their comprehension of and response to literature. When reading the Arabic culture stories, the participants made significantly more generalizations, predictions and hypotheses and reasoning responses than when reading the American culture stories. The participants produced significantly more misinterpretations and inquiries when reading the American culture stories than when reading the Arabic culture stories regardless of the language in which each story was presented. Furthermore, the participants had more associations and self-involvement responses when reading the Arabic culture stories than when reading the American culture stories.;The results further indicated that the effect of language was dependent on culture. Familiarity with the cultural content and context of each story affected the participants' alertness to the linguistic cues found in them as well as their perceptions regarding the coherence of these stories. The interview results revealed that the participants possessed a good level of awareness about the factors that affected their comprehension of and response to literature.;The conclusions suggested by this study call for the utilization of students' knowledge and the creation of democratic foreign language classrooms.