Facilitating Literature Instruction through Cloud-based Animation Platforms. Case Study: Generation Z Students of EFL Literature at Chlef University’s Department of English

Abstract

Student engagement solidified itself as a major precursor for academic growth and success across the past few decades. Indeed, a learner who is behaviorally, cognitively, and emotionally engaged will indisputably prosper academically. Still, the extent to which a learner is engaged is subject to multiple intrinsic and extrinsic factors, including his or her perception of the subject matter being taught, and the manner in which the task in question is performed. Education-wise, the rise of technology and its adoption in all aspects of daily life has caused a gradual deterioration of interest and receptiveness towards the classic modes of instruction among the latest generation of learners, particularly when text-based disciplines such as literary studies are involved. This study assesses the tremors of this phenomenon among generation Z learners of literature. It takes place at Chlef University’s department of English through a mixed methods design built upon direct classroom observation, a student questionnaire, and an online questionnaire involving several internal and external teachers of the discipline. The primary results indicate that a majority of the participants manifests little to no signs of interest towards the matter in question. The same results also point towards the existence of a causal relationship between the observed students’ digital nature, their perception of literature as a discipline, and their resulting disengagement and negative attitude towards its study. Accordingly, this study proposes the adoption of cloud-based animation platforms as a countermeasure against the observed problem based on the premise that videos have already been proven pedagogically beneficial across multiple studies. It also analyses the extent to which the features offered by these animation platforms could enable teachers to tip the scales in favor of achieving a more engaging and active learning environment with said generation.