West Visayas State University

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
La Paz, Iloilo City

LITERARY INTERPRETATION SKILLS OF BSED SOCIAL SCIENCE AND

MATHEMATICS MAJORS OF THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AT THE

WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY

by

Jessie L. Labiste Jr.

Irene T. Torres

Chapter 1

The Problem

Chapter 1 includes eight parts: (1) Background of

the Study, (2) Review of Related Literature, (3) Conceptual

Framework, (4) Statement of the Problem, (5) Hypothesis,

(6) Definition of Terms, (7) Significance of the Study, and

(8) Delimitation of the Study.

Part One, Background of the Study, stresses why

this study was conducted.

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Part Two, Review of Related Literature, provides

information about similar and related studies that had been

previously conducted.

Part Three, Conceptual Framework, presents the

rationale for choosing the problem, as well as the theories

from which this study was anchored.

Part Four, Statement of the Problem, specifically

describes the purpose of conducting the investigation.

Part Five, The Hypothesis, enumerates the

hypotheses to be tested.

Part Six, Definition of Terms, defines some of the

important terms in the study.

Part Seven, Significance of the Study, cites the

benefits that can be derived from the results of the

investigation.

Part Eight, Delimitation of the Study, specifies

the scope and the coverage of this research work.

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Background of the Study

The history of a nation can be learned in its

constitutions, its laws and its political statements.

However, to know the nation’s spirit, one must read its

literature. In literature one can discover how the people

of a nation have reacted to the events around them. One

will know the dreams, anxieties, joys, and problems of the

people.

The study of literature opens the door to life-long

learning and appreciation of the world’s cultures and

languages, so necessary in today's workplaces

(http://www.rit.edu/~420www/DCCSlit.html, in Villa, 2003).

Literature as a subject in secondary schools was

implemented as a means of gaining vicarious experiences,

thus pointing out the value and significance of a literary

piece contributes to the conditions for students’ growth

and development.

Students’ interpretation of a literary piece

affects their thinking skills essential to the appreciation

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of literature. This also helps in showing a keen sense of

values of what is worthwhile as expressed in a literature.

Literary interpretation is viewed as a liberal arts

discipline within which the student may deepen and enlarge

his knowledge and understanding of the nature of literature

(Long, 1974).

In this regard, self-expression or eloquence,

understanding and appreciation can be achieved if ease and

confidence to a literary piece are fostered in the

students’ communicative and linguistic skills and their

concern towards the substance and content of the piece. The

latter considers the different genres, the literary

craftsmanship of the author to develop awareness and

appreciation of the writer’s style and finally values to

underscore the significant insights and universal truths

presented in the literary piece.

Social Science is concerned with the origin and

development of human society, and the institutions,

relationships, and ideas involved in social life. The social

sciences explore human society past and present, and the

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way human beings behave. On the other hand, Mathematics is

a tool that contains the skill for problem solving,

organizing, interpreting data and performing calculations

that are necessary in subjects such as science, business,

and industry.

It is in this study, therefore, that the

researchers will find out if literary interpretation lends

itself to Social Science majors who utilize the historical

backgrounds of their field, and for Mathematics majors who

use much of their logical and analytical side-skills which

are both beneficial for students who interpret a literary

piece.

Review of Related Literature

Selected readings and researches related to this

study are presented. The reviews are found in the

literature published and other studies, which are included

to reinforce this study. The discussion that follows

include: (1) Literature and the Society, (2) Literature and

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other Fields of Study, and (3) Approaches to Interpret

Literature.

Literature and the Society

Literature is the use of well-chosen words to tell

a story through narrative, involving characters in

conflict, or to express an emotion or idea through artfully

arranged images. The purpose of literature is to entertain

and instruct (or to delight and enlighten) the reader

through the use of the imagination. Literature can also

shock, amaze, or provide readers with an escape from

reality for a while (Microsoft Encarta Reference Library

2003).

According to Salvador P. Lopez in his essay

Literature and Society (1940) “Life is ugly enough as it

is; therefore, we propose to make it more beautiful with

the products of our imagination. Man being what he is, to

attempt to change him or the world he lives in is bound to

be a futile enterprise.”
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Long ago, literature placed to the outward charms,

mountains, flowers, birds, the sea, and the whole realm of

nature, as well as the tragedy, the comedy and the

spiriting growth of man. Now, literature shrines the spirit

of the present day. It fills the reader with the same zest

for adventure that the people of Old England, Spain, Italy,

Portugal and Holland, felt when they stood wondering at the

reports of Columbus or Magellan, Pizarro or Cortez (Shuman,

1995).

Literary work is a self-existent whole which will

reveal its own laws, meanings and implications as it

approach intensely and sensitively (Bain, et.al., 1973).

Moreover, Dagot, et.al.(1974) sited that literature

is of course primarily a humanistic endeavor and as such

has relevance in a very extensive fashion.

Lopez (1940), said that writers are greatly

inspired more on sociological themes, thus, making them

serious on political and social questions, criticizing what

they believe to be the evils brought about, bemoaning and

attacking abuses. History would even say that some writers

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long ago were principal defendants in the most spectacular

abuses that happened to a country and these people were

proven to have a growing spirit of nationalism and the

universal aspiration for independence that marked the full

intellectual maturity of the young literary writers. Lopez

further advanced that the greatest masters of literature

are those who have employed it in the service principally

of reason, and secondarily only of the imagination.

In the end, what really interests the writer is

some sort of assurance that his writing will result in

something that can lay his hands on as good and useful. The

writer who has admitted to himself that the problems of

society are his proper meat and drink has come to a point

where merely technical problems have become small account

compared to the ultimate problem which he is presumed to

have already answered for himself; namely, whether there is

such a thing as progress, and whether it is within the

capacity of man ever to achieve progress. Thus, Lopez

concluded the principle, that, “literature is the

imaginative representation of life and nature.”

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Literature and Other Fields of Study

Seeing the relation of literature to other arts and

to the larger culture of which it is part is chiefly a

matter of thinking about literature in context, related to

a specific time and place – besides having universal and

timeless aspects (Bain, et.al., 1973).

Thus, Law (1929) advanced that the study of science

is linked eternally with literature which, at its best, is

the record of man’s effort to understand his world and his

fellow man. The great English poet, Tennyson, proclaimed

this, when he wrote:

“Little flower – but if I could understand

What you are root and all, and all in all,

I should know what God and man is.”

Bain,et.al. (1973), agreed that literature seems as

vast as the universe itself.

Man turns to literature to seek refuge from the

drabness and chaos of everyday life. It is his self-

expressed and sublimated realm as well as his salvation

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through a hypothetical solution of problems that afflict

humanity (Dagot, 1974).

Until modern times, history was regarded primarily

as a special kind of literature that shared many techniques

and effects with fictional narrative. Historians were

committed to factual materials and personal truthfulness,

but like writers of fiction they wrote detailed narratives

of events and vivid character sketches with great attention

to language and style. The complex relations between

literary art and historiography have been and continue to

be a subject of serious debate (Encarta, 2003).

Graham (2004), cited from “George Eliot’s dialogue

with History” that Eliot’s notebook reveals the vast

quantity of historical research that preceded the

composition of his last four novels; the text themselves,

with their elaborately constructed backgrounds of

historical events allude constantly and insistently to

social and political conditions as determining factors in

the fortunes of their fictional protagonists. Thus it is in

literature that people, from different walks of life, from

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different ages, cultures and traditions find a “community”.

And from these complexities, people, even some of the very

names throughout the ages, so ardently desire for

communication and all too often the situation of our

culture is neatly nailed into dead-end observations that we

must not fail to communicate.

In the lyric poem, “The Red Cockatoo” from over

1100 years ago by Po Chu-I, we share in a communion with

the ages. This is one of the wonders of interpretation, “a

communion with the past.”

Another wonder of interpretation is a communion

across cultures, across more than 800 years, across

incredible differences in technology. But as we look across

the galaxies of the ages of man with the instrument of

interpretation, we come more fully to realize that it is

not just this or that against which we protest – it is the

“human conditions” the awesome challenge of becoming, being

and remaining human (Long, 1974).

Literary interpretation is an important theoretical

work for teachers of literature at all levels. It

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demonstrates, among other things that teacher talk no

matter how brilliant and well informed it is, does not

yield lasting results in helping students to interpret

literature. Teachers who prod their students with salient

questions and who encourage them to think through and, in

small group discussions, to talk through their reactions to

work of literature produce students who are better able to

deal independently with texts when they encounter them

outside the classroom (Shuman, 1995).

Dagot (1974), stated that it encompasses any kind

of human situation or phases of human activity by means of

its own particular mode or modes of presentation. It

therefore mirrors reality and at the same time transforms

that reality into an ideal which man strives to achieve.

Approaches to Interpret Literature

According to Maramba (1993), there are several ways

of responding to literature. Some of these are through:

(a) Formalistic or Literary Approach, (b) Moral or

Humanistic Approach, (c) Historical Approach,

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(d) Sociological Approach, (e) Cultural Approach,

(f) Psychological Approach, and (g) Impressionistic

Approach. These approaches provide a framework for students

to analyze and respond to literature independently at

higher levels of thinking and reaction than the literal and

interpretive levels.

These approaches are old hat with changing names.

Theoretically, the teacher has heard of their approaches.

It is only the versatility and the imagination with which

the reader can apply that is sometimes missed. Approaches

to literature can assist in formulating questions, in

teaching literature and attempting to come up with

criticisms for a better literary appreciation.

Formalistic or Literary Approach. The first

approach is called “formalistic” or “pure” or “literary”.

The selection is read and viewed intrinsically, or for

itself; independent of author, age, or any other extrinsic

factor. This approach is close to the “art for arts sake”

dictum. The study of the selection is more or less based on

the so-called literary elements which more or less boil

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down to the literal level (subject matter), the affective

values (emotion, mood, atmosphere, tone, attitudes,

empathy, etc.), the ideational values (themes, visions,

universal truths, character), technical values (plot,

structure, scene, language, point of view, imagery, figure,

metrics, etc.) and total effect (the interrelation of the

forgoing elements) and communication. This approach could

also include the study of the selection against any

literary concept or term like “satire”, “comedy”, “symbol”,

etc. or against any literary tradition or movement like the

folk tradition, classical, romantic or realistic tradition,

etc.

Moral or Humanistic Approach. Another approach is

the moral or humanistic approach where the nature of man is

central to literature. The reader or critic more or less

“requires” that the piece present man as essentially

rational; that is, endowed with intellect and free will; or

that the piece does not misinterpret the true nature of man

is hotly contested, making literature all the more

challenging. Whatever the case, this approach is close to

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the “morality” of literature: to questions of ethical

goodness or badness.

Historical Approach. The very popular approach,

based on Taine’s “moment-milieu race”, sees literature as

both a reflection and a product of the times and

circumstances in which it was written. Man as a member of a

particular society or nation at a particular time, is

central to the approach. (From this approach; the

sociological approach may be said to have branched out.)

this historical approach is often suitable to high school

classes, to survey courses, for average classes, and for

pieces tackled or discovered for the first time. It

operates on the premise that the history of a nation has

telling effects on its literature and that a piece can be

better understood and appreciated if one knows the times

surrounding its creation.

Sociological Approach. The sociological approach,

which, is mentioned previously, may be considered an

extension of the historical approach, sometimes looms so

large, that it is sometimes equated for the latter or taken

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by itself. It considers literature as principally the

expression of man within a given social institution. Often,

this social institution is reduced to a question of

economics, in which men are somewhat simplistically divided

into the “haves and have-nots”, thus passing into the

“proletarian approach”, which tends to underscore the

conflict between the two classes. The sociological approach

stresses social “relevance”, social “commitment”,

contemporaneity, and it deems communication with the reader

important. Wanting to disseminate a “message,” especially

when it tends subtly or deliberately towards propaganda

(another controversial matter in literature), the selection

has to be understood. Socially-committed literature almost

deliberately invites questions using this approach.

Cultural Approach. This approach considers

literature as one of the principal manifestations and

vehicles of a nation’s race or “culture” – the

technological, the artistic, the sociological, the

ideological aspects; and considers the literary piece in

the total cultural milieu in which it was born.

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Seemingly one of the main thrusts of the present

dispensation, it makes full use of the reciprocal function

between culture and literature.

The approach is one of the richest ways to arrive

at the culture of a people and one of the pleasurable ways

of appreciating the literature of a people. It goes by the

dictum “culture teaching through literature.”

Psychological Approach. The sixth approach is the

psychological approach. Set in dizzying motion, principally

by Freud, perhaps beyond his widest expectations, it

considers literature as the expression of “personality” of

“inner drives”, of “neurosis”. It includes the psychology

of the author, of the characters and even the “psychology

of creation.” It has resulted in an almost exhausting and

exhaustive “psycho-analysis” of characters of symbols and

images, of recurrent themes, etc.

Impressionistic Approach. The last approach is the

now popular impressionistic approach – very personal, very

relative, sometimes very fruitful, sometimes simply the

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lazy man’s way out. Unconditioned by the explanation and

often taking the impact of the piece has communicated.

Standard questions for this approach are the

“reaction-response” papers so much in vogue now.

Students may be asked to react or respond to

anything in a literary piece that may have impressed them

for one reason or another; or to the piece as a whole.

Maramba (1993), however, made some clarifications

about these approaches. She pointed out that there are

other approaches to the foregoing approaches. It is also

possible that one approach cannot really be separated from

others and that approaches are actually interrelated. There

is no such thing as a “best” approach. It depends on the

nature of the selection on to what approach to be used.

Questions on total effect should be asked. Likewise,

questions on style, language, should not be overlooked.

Textual readings, not commentary or criticism, is still the

heart and soul of literature. Lastly, recognizing different

perceptions of readers is a must and should not be

underestimated.
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Conceptual Framework

Every country has a story to tell. Literature gives

life to people. Literature does indeed impinge on other

disciplines and subjects and one reason is that, as Matthew

Arnold said of poetry, literature “thinks.” And what it

thinks about is alien to literature.

Social Science is concerned with the origin and

development of human society, and the institutions,

relationships, and ideas involved in social life. The social

sciences explore human society past and present, and the

way human beings behave. They include sociology, which

investigates the way society is structured and how it

functions, as well as psychology, which is the study of

individual behavior and the mind. Social psychology draws

on research in both these fields. It examines the way

society influences people's behavior and attitudes

Microsoft Encarta Reference Library (2003).

Peterson, 1984 (in Sicabalo, 2003), on the other

hand, stated that Mathematics is a tool that contains the

skill for problem solving, organizing, interpreting data

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and performing calculations that are necessary in subjects

such as science, business, and industry. Through the

development of modern computers and calculators,

mathematics was able to solve problems that were previously

difficult or impossible to solve.

Mathematical problem solving suggests that pupils

should use with increasing confidence, problem solving

approaches to investigate and understand mathematical

content. As stressed by Pendon, 1999 (in Sicabalo, 2003),

Mathematics as communication promotes the development of

pupils in formulating mathematical ideas. Pupils make

conjectures and convincing arguments, reflect on and

clarify their own thinking about mathematical definitions

and expresses generalizations discovered through

investigations.

Bobbit (in Gualferio, 2002) said that it is the

school as well as the teachers to construct the pupil’s

learning environment and learning experiences to their

advantage to various activities and exercises that are

related and demanded by their society.

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(McGraw, 1965), advanced that knowledge of formal

elements of literary work is presumably a large part of

every English teacher’s experience, and it is a knowledge

he alone can transmit to students. Most of what a teacher

can teach and a student can learn about literature is form

– the rhetorical and structural means by which literature

achieves its ends. A student may find his way to literature

in various ways, but all approaches depend for their final

effectiveness on the poem, prose work, or play he reads

becoming alive and meaningful to him. One way to cause this

kind of response is to present the student with literary

works that have aroused strong, and often conflicting,

feelings in other readers. Genuine response to literature

engages our whole being – our emotions and imagination as

well as our critical faculties. To the extent that

literature trains the imagination, exercises the intellect,

and matures the emotions, it is a shaping force in our

lives; it provides the values and locates the terms on

which we must meet the actual challenges in life.

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It is in this premise that the study came about

which is better presented through the paradigm that follows:

Independent Variables Dependent Variable

BSED
Social Science
Majors
Literary
Interpretation
Skills

BSED
Mathematics
Majors

Fig. 1. Research paradigm showing the independent and the

dependent variables

Statement of the Problem

This study sought to find out the literary

interpretation skills of the BSED Social Science and

Mathematics Majors of the College of Education at the West

Visayas State University.

Specifically this study aimed to answer the

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following questions:

1. What is the level of literary interpretation

skills of the BSED Social Science and Mathematics Majors of

the College of Education at the WVSU as an entire group?

2. What is the level of literary interpretation

skills of the BSED Social Science and Mathematics Majors of

the College of Education at the WVSU when classified as to

their major?

3. Is there a significant difference between the

levels of literary interpretation skills of the BSED Social

Science and Mathematics majors of the COE at the WVSU?

Hypothesis

Based on the preceding problems, the following

hypothesis is advanced:

1. There is no significant difference between the

level of literary interpretation skills of BSED Social

Science and Mathematics majors.

Definition of Terms
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For the purpose of clarity and understanding of the

textual presentation in this study, the following terms are

defined conceptually and operationally.

Literature – refers to writings in prose or verse;

especially writing having excellence in form or expression

and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest;

the body of written works produced in a particular

language, country or age (The Definitive Meriam-Webster

Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, 1986)

In this study, the same definition was adopted.

Literary Interpretation – refers to all actions

involved in reading from apprehension, appreciation to

analysis; in terms of text analysis, it includes explaining

and clarifying the meaning of a text so that its rich

meaning can be understood (http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/

Literary Criticism/newcriticism/general_introd.html)

In this study, the researchers used the same

definition.

Skill – refers to the ability to use one’s

knowledge effectively and readily in execution or

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performance; to technical expertness or proficiency (The

Definitive Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary of the

English Language, 1986)

In this study, skill referred to the test

performance in literature of Social Science and Mathematics

majors of the College of Education at WVSU.

Social Science - any of the disciplines within

social science that study a particular area of human

society such as sociology, psychology, economics, political

science, history, or anthropology (Microsoft Encarta

Reference Library, 2003)

In this study, Social Science referred to the

specialization of the student-respondents.

Mathematics – science with relationship and

symbolism of numbers and magnitude and that includes

qualitative problems (Merriam Webster, 1998)

In this study, Mathematics refers to the

specialization of the student-respondents.

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Significance of the Study

The result of this study will be beneficial to the

students, teachers and faculty, school administrators and

future researchers.

The findings of this study will make the students

realize their own skills in literary interpretation. This

will encourage studying more and putting on more efforts to

improve their interpretation skills. This may motivate

students to also consider literature as an essential part

of their academic, social and personal lives.

Literature teachers may also benefit from this

study. This is to assess their own efficiency and

effectivity in teaching. As a result, they would be able to

find effective means of improving their strategies and

methods in teaching to provide the students enough

knowledge and skills in literature.

The school administrators may also benefit from

this study. Result may be used as a basis of performance

rating for literature teachers. This study will give them

insights on how to improve their instruction in literature

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especially if their students are inclined more on the other

fields of study. The school administrators will provide

teacher’s trainings to enhance their effectivity and

efficiency. Furthermore, they will know the qualities

needed for an effective teacher. Finally, this can be used

as basis for planning and evaluating literature instruction.

Lastly, this study will serve as a big help for

future researchers whose main interest is on this

competency. This is not only limited to literature teachers

but also to those teachers from different fields of

specialization.

Delimitation of the Study

This descriptive study was limited at determining

the literary interpretation skills of BSED Social Science

and Mathematics majors of the College of Education at the

West Visayas State University.

The student-respondents utilized in the study were

a product of random sampling method and were then

classified according to specialization.

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The data needed for the study were obtained through

an adopted test in literary interpretation constructed by

Victoria S. Villa in her unpublished master’s thesis

entitled “English Proficiency and Literary Interpretation

Skills of College Freshmen at West Visayas State

University”.

The mean, standard deviation and t-test were used

in analyzing the data descriptively and inferentially.