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Poetry As A Teaching Resource in ELT Classroom: E-Mail
Poetry As A Teaching Resource in ELT Classroom: E-Mail
Meutia Rachmatia
E-mail: meutiarachmatia92@gmail.com
Sriwijaya University
Palembang, Indonesia
1. Introduction
In this era there are some controversies about the function of literature in teaching
a language, especially in ELT. The need of teaching literature in language class has been
questioned in this time. It also becomes a big question to the benefits of using literature
in ELT classroom. Sell (2005) in his paper showed the reason why the teacher should
teach literature. He argued that literature in a target language may enhance language
learning, literature in written the target language may give learners insight into other
from those culture and also literature‟s content may be truer to live. It means that there
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Paper Presented at Fourth South Region Sumatera TEFLIN, Sriwijaya University, Indonesia,
February 7, 2015.
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Althought there are some benefits of teaching literature in language class, the
teacher who intergrated literature in their language class is still low. Khatib and
Nourzadeh (2011) states that in traditional classroom there are several problems with the
graduates of English literature who tried to teach literature the same way they were
thaught. Sometimes the teachers and lecturers of literature feel difficult to justify their
professional existence and the teachers or lecturers sometimes find the difficulties to
justify the inclusion of literature in their lesson plan (Sell, 2005). In line with this
To integrate literature in ELT classroom, the teacher should know clearly about
the real meaning of literature itself. To support the teachers to integrated literature into
their language class, here there are ten recomendation to intergrating literature into EFL
1. The teacher should work for learner‟s personal involvement with literary text.
2. The inclusion of literary texts does not mean the exclusion of other text types.
as an end in itself.
4. Learners should have the chance to use literary language in creative ways.
5. Teachers should consider the accessibility of literary texts for their language
classrooms.
6. The four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) should be
integrated.
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10. Learners should be protectes againts cultural imperialism.
many researchers (Lazar, 1993; Collie & Slater, 1994; Ur, 1996; Carter & Long, 1996;
Pison, 2000; Maley & Duff, 2001) as the advantages of using literature as a language
teaching resouce. Tasneen (2010) interpreted clearly these reasons in the following
ways:
1. Linguistic reason: the students are exposed to real, authentic usage of language in
literary texts; these text show them a variety of styles, registers and language
3. Motivational reason: As literary text are the product of the writers particular
feeling about certain aspect of life, this „genuine feel‟ motivates the reader a lot.
Students can easily be stimulated to express their opinion, to relate the topics
Since there are many part of the literature, McRae (1991) names the category of
literature into two categories; literature with small „l‟ and literature with capital „L‟. He
states that, in literature with small „l‟ are includes imaginatives texts which can be used
as language teaching resources and are not ussually to be literature, for example:
advertisments, newspaper headlines, articles, jokes, puns, songs, computer games, etc.
Whereas the examples of literature with capital „L‟ are novels, poetry, plays and so on.
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In this paper, the writer will discuss about one part of literature with capital „L‟ i.e
poetry. The writer will provide that poetry can be a one of teaching resource in ELT
classroom. Many scholars (Cubukcu, 2001; Hussein, 2004; Khansir, 2012) discussed
about the ultilization of poetry to teach English language. As Hussein (2004) in his
article discussed about using simple poetry/ poems to teach grammar in language class.
As Finc (2004) states, the learners from all levels can use the medium of poetry to
express themselves in the target language. The statement above encourage the writer to
explore the utilizatition of poetry. The writer convinced that poetry have a positive
Based on the explanation above, in this paper the writer will explain briefly about
how did poetry can be a teaching resource in ELT classroom and also will explain the
The use of literature into ELT classroom has received a big attention from the
researches. The researches has been solved a problem of the utilization of literature.
They proposed the purpose of literary text, i.e, short story, plays, poetry, etc. Poetry as a
part of literature get a exclusive attention because the usefulness. Some of the researches
stated that poetry was taught in literature class but the teacher take too much part. In this
activity the centered are the teacher, so it cannot improved studens‟ language skill and
creativity. The teachers should pay a more attention for this problem since the key of
this problems are the teachers should leave a traditional approaches to teaching poetry in
their class. Based on the problems above, the writer will shows a new approches by
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2.1 Reasons for using poetry in ELT classroom
Many researches was conducted a research about teaching poetry. Many new
approaches has founded by the researches and also the reason for using poetry into ELT
centered so the students will get nothing if the teachers use this approach
teaching poetry to Saudi ESL learners by using stylistics approach. The aims of
his research to explore how stylistics approach can used as a powerfull teaching
resource. His founding present that by using stylistic approach the students was
attractive and centered is not on the teachers like a traditional one. There is an
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3. Poetry to teach grammar
Sometimes, most of the teachers get the difficulties to teach grammar. Hussein
(2004) states that blended learning and simple poems usefull in teaching
grammar, as follow : (1) Adjective poem, (2) Adjective placement poem, (3)
Alphabet poem, (4) Adverb poem, (5) “I am” or “We Are” poems. Susikaran
(2013) stated that poetry, by using playful poems also usefull in teaching
grammar. By using the framing questions method, the students can get a clear
In Iran, the problems about the difficulties of poetry has clear because the new
that many university students in Iran do not enjoy English poetry. By using a
these new approach, Khatib can build a positive attitude of the students and then
According to Tomlinson (1986), there are seven criteria for selecting poems to
1. Universal appeal
Special topic might have great appeal in selecting a poetry for a few students but
universal topic as youth, old age, marriage, birth, love, education, friendship, etc
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2. Surface simplicity
It is especially important for ability of the students that poems used are
linguistically accessible for the weakest students and that there is nothing in the
3. Potential depth
Potential depth also very important that poems are used have a potential depths
of meaning and can thus challenge the brighter the students who have no
4. Affective potential
Poems which express strong emotions, attitudes, feelings, opinions, or ideas are
usually more productive than those which are gentle, descriptive, or neutral.
5. Contemporary language
This is also important for most non-literary learners because the language of the
poems they are asked to read resembles the language they are being asked to
learn.
6. Brevity
Some learners will be capable of enjoying long poems, but it safer to use short
It means that the good poems can give many interpretation for every reader.
The reader can ilustrate the meaning of the poems, so the learners or readers can
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3. Possible poems to be a teaching resource
There are some criteria for selecting a poems as stated by Tomlinson (1986).
Here, the writer will show some kinds of poetry that are possible to be teaching
As Finch (2004) states, four kinds of poetry that will be a teaching resource, are:
1. Picture Poems
Picture poems offer a visual perspective on the arrangement of words, and are
therefore an effective means encouraging learners to interact with the target vocabulary.
Picture poems can encourage the creativity and experimentation the target language,
helping students to view the use of English as apleasurable and creative experience.
2. Haiku
expressions without the burden of sentences structure. Haiku often present pairs of
contrasting images, followed by observation thus evoking mood and emotion, but
leaving commentary to the reader. The content of haiku also close to the nature, so the
students can get the point easily because the content closer to their live.
3. Pattern Poems
Holmes and Moulton (2001) states that pattern poems can promote a number of
positive learning function. They was mentioned nine learning function by using pattern
poems, such us for (1) grammar, (2) awareness of phrase and sentence structure, (3)
interactive modeling, (4) collaborative groups, (5) cooperative groups, (6) inductive
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4. Pop-song Scripts
Finc (2004) states that pop-song script are popular in the EFL classroom for a
number of reasons, though they are rarely regarded as poetic texts, or as models of
creative English composition. He also states the content of pop-song scripts often closer
to our live ie., about love, live, culture, ect. That reason seemes like Tomlinson criteria
There are many reasons for using poetry in language class, some of them was
stated by Tomlinson (1986). He stated there are six positive gains in using poetry in
language classes and in particular in those classes which are heterogeneous in ability:
1. Educational value
Poetry can open and enrich the content of language lessons, can provide useful
opportunities for gaining experience of the worl, and can contribute to development of
the „whole pperson‟ as well as the „learner of language‟. It means that poetry can support
the educational value by the content of poetry. It can also provide the content of poetry
2. Affective value
Poetry can built the response of the learners actively and also the learners
language activities. Because the content of the poetry can motivated the learners, open
the learners language intake, and the learners most eager to use language when their
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3. Achievement value
Poetry can fulfil the achievement of the learners when the poems are met as parts
of larger communication activities, and if the teacher helps the learners to make them
accessible through pre-reading activities focused on content rather than language, then
4. Individual value
Poems have the great potential value of appealing to each individual reader in
different ways of being accessible on many different levels of meaning. If the teachers
helps the learners to focused on the content of the poems, the learners can get the
brightest that can gain the great satisfaction of imaginative and individual insights into
the potential meaning of a poem. It means that, the learners who have a different
interpretation to the one poems can get the satisfaction to explore the meaning of the
content from the imaginatively sides. So in individually, the learners can get the point of
5. Stimulus value
Poems which affective responses from learners can stimulate the learners
achievement can bring great satisfaction and pride, and it can even lead to more accurate
appropriate use of language in follow-up activities which challlenge and engage the
new-found pride.
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6. Skills development
Poems more than any other type text can give valuable opportunity for learners to
use and develop such important skills as deduction of meaning from linguistic and
situational context; prediction; relating text to knowledge and experience of the world;
reading creatively; and the recognition and intepretation of assumptions and inferences.
5. Conclusions
This paper has attempted to show the way how poetry can be a teaching resource
Some researches showed the result of the research about poetry, almost of their research
indicates that poetry can be a teaching resource in ELT classroom if the teacher brings
the poetry right on the track. By using poetry, the learners can get many benefits in their
classroom activity and poetry can also stimulate its positive activity such us encourage
REFERENCES
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Biodata
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