Page 38 - FINAL RESEARCH PAPER THESIS 2020

Insufficient time

The result from figure 17 showed that one (12.5%) respondent expressed that insufficient time was
one of the challenges experienced in teaching poetry this was because the time allocated to poetry

lesson was limited to cover all the lesson components. The teacher continued to indicate that
teaching poetry requires enough time to help learners master the basic competencies, which are in

the syllabus, or else it would serve no purpose.

The issue of time forces teachers not to give sufficient work to the students that could allow them

to do a sufficient assessment. This still speaks to the issue of time because teaching poetry is time-

consuming. In addition, this lead teachers explaining all day long, and not finishing what they
prepared for that day. This teacher further expressed that limited time affects their lessons

negatively because they might not be able to make learners understand everything they need to

cover. Consequently, if the elements are not well explained, learners memorise what they are being
taught without understanding.

Too many reading

The findings in figure 17 one (12.5%) respondent observed that teaching poetry requires more

reading this was another challenge experienced by student teachers. There was a lot of reading
involved by learners as well as teachers because they sometimes had to read lengthy poems.

In connection with this challenge of too many readings, in the literature review The Ministry of

Education, Arts and Culture in the English second language syllabus (2015) stated that learners
should be taught to appreciate and enjoy poetry. To actualise this, learners should understand the

content of the poem. Poems should not be memorised. Learners should rather be guided towards
the ability to read with expression and interpretation of the emotions involved. It further stipulated

that the minimum prescribed reading per grade: Grade 8: 8 Poems and 2 short stories and a novel

(all compulsory) Grade 9: 9 Poems and a novel and a drama (all compulsory). All this requires
more time for reading for both learners and teachers.

Assessing learners’ understanding

The result from figure 17 one (12.5%) student teacher respondent pointed out that among the

challenges faced in teaching poetry was the difficulty of not knowing the level of the learners’

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