Challenges and Solutions in Teaching English through Poetry to EFL Students at Hajjah University: A Case Study of William Wordsworth’s Lucy and John Donne’s Death Poems
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Abstract
Poetry is an effective and reliable material in teaching English language. It offers astounding opportunities for reading, writing, speaking and listening practices for English learners. Teaching English through poetry has many advantages such as it being of authentic material, being a medium to express emotions and feelings, being a wonderful carrier of culture, and being able to help improve students’ linguistic knowledge and skills. Poetry is often regarded as the most sophisticated genre of literature, comprising a variety of contents that are narrative, lyrical and dramatic in nature. Some of the difficulties teachers face while teaching English through poetry are the students’ proficiency level, the teachers’ method of teaching and the chosen poetry texts. Thus, this paper proposes to explore the advantages of teaching English language through poetry and its challenges at Hajjah University in Yemen, from which suggestions for choosing poetries to teach English will be given with special reference to “Death, be not Proud” and “Lucy”, as well as other suggested teaching methods for students of the Bachelor of Education (English) program at Hajjah University in Yemen.
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References
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