Teaching Adjectives through Poetry in the ESL Context

Abstract

English poetry is an integral part of ESL teaching in Sri Lanka. The mode of teaching poetry can be done in various ways, especially when spoken and performance aspect of poetry is considered. However not all English teachers use poetry as supplementary material to teach grammar. This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of using poetry for language learning purposes in the ESL classroom. The investigation was conducted involving 40 students from grade 6 who are learning English as a second language at Alawwa Central College. An experimental group of 20 students were taught adjectives using poems. The other 20 students in the control group were taught adjectives without using poems. A pretest was conducted to ensure that both the experimental and control group students were homogenous. Two short tests were administered after the teaching session for both groups. The overall findings of the study signify that poetry can be effectively used for language learning purposes in the ESL context. In conclusion, it can be said that students seem to respond to the lesson better when the teaching tools are creative. Further research into different approaches towards using poetry is recommended in order to have a more holistic idea about this filed.