Exploring challenges caced by grade 11 learners when studying English first additional language poetry

Abstract

This article explores the challenges faced by English First Additional Language (FAL) Grade 11 learners when studying poetry. Poetry in South African secondary schools is a compulsory literature genre that is taught in both mother tongue and first additional languages. The literature genres as prescribed by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) are short stories, poetry, drama and novels. Even though poetry is taught in schools, there are challenges since the learners’ performance is generally lower in this genre. This was the case in a study of two secondary schools in Soweto that teach poetry in the subject English FAL. The study was qualitative and collected data through questionnaires, interviews and document analysis. Eighteen learners were sampled, nine from each school, for data collection. The reader-response theory by Rosenblatt which places emphasis on the relationship between the readers and the poems was used as a theoretical lens from which the study was viewed. The findings revealed that the learners struggled while studying poetry. Some challenges could have been as a result of the discrepancies between the CAPS Annual Teaching Plan (ATP) and the Grade 11 poetry anthology. There was less preference for poetry because of the difficulties in the language of poetry. This article concludes with the implications and recommendations that responded to the discrepancies in the CAPS, ATP, and poetry anthology for improved teaching and learning of poetry.