Page 5 - FINAL RESEARCH PAPER THESIS 2020

ABSTRACT

Teaching poetry is one of the important activities in English language as a subject. Studies
revealed that poetry is considered a key element of many literature curricula around the world.

This study intends to investigate the the challenges experienced by student teachers in teaching
poetry in English as a second language focusing on the University of Namibia students at the

main campus in Windhoek, Khoams Region.

Using a qualitative design, the study focused on full- time final year student teachers who were
pursuing Bachelor (Honours) Degree in education majoring in English second Languages at

the University of Namibia (Main campus) in Khomas region.

The finding significantly showed that some of the prominent challenges that student teachers

faced in poetry teaching were: time allocated for the poetry lessons, learners’ motivation to

participate during poetry lessons, teachers’ thorough understanding of all different forms of
poetry, relevancy of prescribed text poetry textbooks to specific grades, confusion in the use

of old and modern English words in the poems and learners beliefs towards the importance of
poetry.

Despite of the challenges the study showed, the findings of the study also explored the benefits
of poetry, some of these benefits showed in the study as indicated by the student teachers

include that: poetry enhances learners’ creativity and critical thinking, improves understanding

and writing skills, poetry inspires students to read more, imagine more, think more, discuss
more, and write more, poetry improves the language usage of learners and teachers. They

further expressed that poetry language helps the learners with articulation and how they can
use certain charms in their lives, as well as how to express themselves. Finally, student teacher

employed positive strategies during poetry lessons or classes.

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