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Journal of
SOCIAL STUDIES
UiTM
Johor
Volume 9 2009 ISSN 1511-9300
Exploring the Use of Learning Contracts for Language Learning
Normah Ismail
Masdinah Alauyah Md Yusof
The Effectiveness of Reader’s Digest Worksheets For Improving Reading Skills :
A Case study on UiTM Kelantan MUET-taking Students
Wan Zumusni Wan Mustapha
Noriah Ismail
Suhaidi Elias
A Skills-Based Syllabus For The Teaching Of Poetry
S. Kunaratnam Sita Raman
Evelyn Sharminnie Vasuthavan
Planning Student Assignments Using Library Resources
Abdul Razak bin Abu
Maznah binti A. Hamid
Visual Accessibility For Elderly Users On Seeking Malaysia Online Government Resources
Yusnita Sokman
Ahmad Kamalrulzaman Othman
Challenges in the Acquisition of Life-long Reading Habits
Carolyn Soo Kum Yoke
Evelyn Sharminnie a/p Vasuthavan
Ahmad Azman bin Mohd Anuar
Confucius Heritage Culture (CHC) Learners and
Their Left Brain Thinking Preference
Shamsul Kamariah Abdullah
Anbalagan Krishnan
Manipulating Stories to Develop Oral Skills among Young Learners
Sumarni Binti Maulan
Haryati Ahmad
Nor Haniza Hasan
The Use of Metaphors in Advertising Language
Prof. Madya Dr Syed Omar M. Mashor
PEER-RESPONSE IN THE ESL WRITING CLASSROOM : STUDENT DISCUSSION AND SUBSEQUENT DRAFT REVISION
Kamalanathan M.Ramakrishnan
Normah Ismail
Md Ikram Mahadzir
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING
Zuliana Zoolkefli
Noridah Sain
 A SKILLS-BASED SYLLABUS FOR THE TEACHING OF
POETRY
S. Kunaratnam Sita Raman
Evelyn Sharminnie Vasuthavan

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the existing poetry syllabus in the KBSM Literature in English programme and
aims to develop and propose a more objective and manageable skills-based syllabus for the teaching
of poetry in secondary schools. This skills-based syllabus is developed based on Victor Neo’s (1991)
work on a skills-based approach to the teaching of literature in which he highlighted three
comprehensive skills namely, the perceptual skill, the decoding skill and the encoding skill as a basis
to read and appreciate literary texts. The paper examines various syllabus types before proposing the
skills-based syllabus as an alternative. The writer believes that a skills-based approach would not only
make the task of teaching poetry more manageable but would also aid students in appreciating poetry.

Introduction
The inclusion of English literature in the language curriculum was something inevitable because
literature is part and parcel of language learning. The pinnacle of competency in a language is the
ability to appreciate literary works within the specified language environment. However, there are still
many parties who do not see the importance of incorporating literature into the language curriculum.
Sad to say, many teachers too are towing the line quite reluctantly for a number of reasons which
include lack of interest in literature, limited knowledge of literary elements, no training in teaching
literature and the syllabus outline which is too vague and least helpful in developing proper lessons for
classroom instruction.

Background to the Situation

The Literature in English programme was included in the school curriculum in 1990 as an elective
subject with a sincere concern, “ to develop in students a love for reading literary works, and to
develop attitudes and abilities that will enable them to respond to these literary works” (Literature in
English syllabus , 1990:1). This was ultimately aimed at leading students to a better understanding of
themselves, of the people around them and the world at large - a notion perfectly in line with the
National Education Philosophy which emphasizes the overall development of the individual.
However, the subject remained an elective which most students and teachers alike shied away from for
obvious reasons. The inclusion of literature into the English Language syllabus was one way of
getting students to indulge in reading literary texts. The language proficiency then, could be seen as a
connection that could enhance the communicative capacity that would be, ‘at heart a matter of
developing learners’ creative abilities, enabling them to be realized in communicative action through
engagements with these texts” (Carter and McRae, 1996: xiii).

The renewed focus in literature climaxed with the announcement by the Minister of Education that
there will be more literary studies in secondary school from the year 2000 (The Star, Thursday, July
22 1999). In this new curriculum, students from Form one to Form five will have to do a specified
number of short stories, novels and poems. Students’ literary abilities at all these levels would be
examined in the respective public exams. This time around neither the teachers nor the students can
ignore or take English literature lightly as students’ English language results are at stake and the
teacher would be answerable for poor performances. Though teachers were given short courses on the
teaching of literature, it was still not yielding the expected results.

One possible reason why some teachers and most students do not seem to appreciate literature could
be because of the nature of the syllable outline which is not designed to meet the interest and the short-
comings of most English teachers as a majority of them do not have the basics in literature. Thus their
approach and methodology and their lack of sound literary knowledge could have been a contributing
factor.

Rationale of study

It cannot be denied that literature is a means for language enrichment, personal growth and intellectual
development (Carter & Long: 1991). Yet it has not made its mark in schools. Among the reasons for
this lackluster situation in schools could be language barrier, insufficient exposure to literary works,
‘boring’ texts, scarcity of guidebooks and the lack of prospects for career advancement. Even
Widdowson (1992) concedes that literature cannot instruct in anything which can be turned to material
advantage, earn employment prospects or contribute to the national economy. Teacher related
problems are basically either because they are not trained to teach literature or because of pressure
from administrators to concentrate on core subjects which ‘count’ in government examinations to raise
the percentage of the school’s performance.

Bahruth and Steiner (2000: 143) stated two choices that we can make; either “succumb to the
mainstream and become programmed towards deskilling our intellect, or we can become critical
pedagogues and liberate ourselves and those who choose to join in the dialogue”. Having chosen the
latter, it is identified that it is the syllabus that needs scrutiny. The syllabus is the nucleus to the whole
Literature in English programme. It is based on the syllabus that books are selected, the scheme of
work is drawn up, lessons are planned, students are taught and even guidebooks are written. A little
adjustment to the present syllabus would go a long way in improving at least at instruction level.
Students too should be made to realize through carefully planned lessons and a systematic approach
that responding to literature is not merely a matter of basic understanding of the language of the text. It
is the significance of the text that is important, not its ability to be translated (Brumfit, 1985:107) or
paraphrased. Reading literature therefore requires different skills and a different approach for plausible
interpretation. The vaguely outlined syllabus is so general in nature that it becomes complex for
teachers to interpret. It is this aspect of the present syllabus outline that has prompted the researcher to
indulge in an effort to remodel the present syllabus into a more specifically organized and manageable
one which is within the grasp of any language teacher. For a start though, the researcher would dwell
specifically on the syllabus outline for poetry. This paper is undertaken basically, to give teachers who
are teaching poetry, an alternate syllabus which is self-explanatory and easy to interpret and convert
into lessons.

Significance of the Programme

This syllabus is designed for teachers in particular. The skills and contents are drawn up in such a way
that it would aid the teacher in planning the lessons with clear aims and objectives. Students too
would find the goal-oriented and task-based activities purposeful and meaningful. This in itself would
be a motivating factor for students who have usually found poetry a boring subject to study.
It would also give course book writers a clearer direction as to what to include and how to present
the activities and exercises for purposes of practice and as guidance for exams.
Objective of Study

The objective of this study is to propose a skills-based syllabus for the teaching of poetry for
secondary schools. The skills involved are: the perceptual skill, the decoding skill and the encoding
skill. The said syllabus would be ‘teacher-friendly’, meaning that the syllabus will be well described
with specific objectives for each of the items listed. Tasks will be skills-based and ordered from literal
recognition and identification of poetic devices and poetic forms to inferring implied meanings, and on
to communicating personal responses to a poem. The learning outcomes will be clearly defined with
additional content items.

Why a skills based approach?

A skills-based approach is advocated because it is learner-centered and involves close scrutiny and
free expression. Most approaches encourage intellectual laziness as learners begin to refuse to think
for themselves because they do not have the 'means' - the competence to attempt it with confidence.
They therefore solely depend on the teacher as an expert for an understanding, and an interpretation of
a given text. Teachers thus "bombard students with their own views of the focus of literary text that
students do not feel the need to call on their own experience to respond to the text" (Akyel & Yalcin,
1990: 179).

Developing a skill such as writing poetry is generally most successful when the skill is broken down
into small steps or subskills and approached sequentially rather than randomly (Laudano, 1983). A
skills-based approach also provides students with the tools for deriving meaning from the text. It is
like teaching a person how to fish as opposed to giving him the fish whereby he will look upon you for
more fish! Likewise, "mere stylistic analysis, instead of aiding their reading, actually impedes" the
purpose of it all (Gover, 1986: 125). Thus to go beyond the written text, a student must be equipped
with the necessary skills. This will eventually also develop students' literary and communicative
competence. Brumfit (1991) asserts that the development of literary competence, however basic, in
our students, also enhances their communicative competence.

The present syllabus outline of the KBSM Literature in English programme adheres to a more content-
based and structural approach. Such approaches would naturally encourage ‘parroting’. Students
would be able to 'take the text apart' in a mechanical fashion and probably 'put it back together' in
another way without much imagination simply because they lack the means - the skills. It is not the
teachers' or the students' fault that teaching and learning literature has become an end in itself. Fingers
should actually be pointed at curriculum designers and syllabus writers because, "students attitudes
and goals in terms of linguistic and literary competence are not given due importance in curriculum
design" (Akyel & Yalcin, 1990: 174).

In a skills-based syllabus students work on literary texts, perceiving surface features and decoding the
texts using their own schemata and literary competence to infer, predict, associate and categorize
events, characters, themes, and the techniques employed by the writer in any given text. It is important
therefore to equip students with the necessary skills so that they themselves will be motivated to
scrutinize and respond intelligently and confidently. With continued indulgence in skills-based tasks
the student would eventually be able to encode his/her own literary masterpieces and hence become a
competent user of the language.

Learner Autonomy

There is a place too for learner autonomy in a skills-based syllabus. Leaner autonomy is an important
ingredient in creative writing (encoding skills). Literary text can be read from various platforms,
depending on the individual’s beliefs, experiences, and background knowledge. Thus providing a wide
scope for multiple or varied interpretation. Learner autonomy should be viewed as a state of
progression towards innovation, creativity and maturity on the part of the learner. It is not to be
equated "with lack of control and possibly chaos in the classroom" (Sinclair, 1996:142).

The capacity to be autonomous is not innate, there must be training: Learners need to be trained as
"learners need to understand what they are doing and why and how this can be transferred to other
texts" (Sinclair, 1996:143). This is exactly what the skills-based approach seeks to create via the
perceptual skills, the decoding skills, and the encoding skills. Through the many tasks and activities
aligned to this skills-based syllabus, learners would eventually be equipped with the necessary skills to
read and appreciate literary texts in their own capacities

Literary Competence

One very important aspect in indulging in poetry is literary competence. Just as we cannot
communicate effectively without a certain level of competence in language use and usage, it is quite
impossible to interpret and appreciate literary text without some level of literary competence.

Literary Competence
 The appreciative and fluent reader

Cultural Linguistic Literary

awareness competence awareness

society/ traditions/ language language knowledge of literary

customs/ etc. skills awareness techniques/ elements

Adapted from Brumfit (1991: 18-22)

Looking at the diagram above it is evident that linguistic competence is integral in literary
appreciation. Linguistic Competence defines the system of rules that governs an individual’s tacit
understanding of what is acceptable and what is not in the language they speak. Therefore, it is quite
impossible to be able to appreciate literary texts without appreciation of the language in which they are
constructed. This is true with cultural awareness as well - without a sound understanding of the setting,
the nature of a society and their way of life, a literary text can be misinterpreted in many ways.
Brumfit (1985: 106) strongly subscribes to this notion. He says that the negotiation of meaning "will
include the interplay of event with event, relationships between characters, exploitation of ideas and
value systems, formal structure in terms of a genre or other literary convention, and relationships
between any of these and the world outside of literature"
Culler (1983), concurs and asserts that this literary competence, regarded as a kind of grammar of
literature, is essential and posits that it is acquired in education institutions. This implies that teachers
must work towards students’ literary competence overtly and not assume that they will acquire the
competence level by and by.

The Proposed Skills-based Poetry Syllabus

Below is a proposal for a skills-based syllabus for the teaching of poetry for secondary schools. The
design of the syllabus is based on the three language skills put forward by Victor Neo (1990) i.e., the
Perceptual-skills, Decoding-skills, and the Encoding –skills.

A Description of the Proposed Skills-based Syllabus

The Skills
The syllabus is based on the three language skills for literary explication. The first skill is the
Perceptual skill. This skill is used by the students to identify and recognize structures, techniques and
other physical aspects of a poem. The second skill is the Decoding skill which involves close reading
of the poem for understanding and interpretation. While the third skill is the Encoding skill which
involves deeper scrutiny of the poem and requires students to evaluate, appreciate and give personal
and emotional responses.
The skills and sub-skills were adapted and formulated specifically to suite the contents and tasks
drawn up for the teaching of poetry. These skills and sub-skills are summarized and tabulated below :

SKILLS SUB-SKILLS

Perceptual Skill  Ability to recognize forms of poems. i.e. ballad, ode,

sonnet, haiku etc.

- Related to learners’ ability to  Ability to observe common features of language

used in verse i.e. rhythm patterns (meter), rhyme etc.
to observe, recognize text
 Ability to identify the presence and use of literary
structure as well as other
devices i.e. metaphor, symbol, simile etc.
surface features

Decoding Skills  Ability to derive denotative meaning from literary

the poem

- Related to the learners’ ability  Ability to infer connotative meaning

to use schemata (Knowledge of
the world), knowledge of
literary discourse and
knowledge of the works
previously read.
 Ability to infer and determine the writer’s tone
 Ability to use the pragmatics of communication
 Ability to make predictions in relation to issues/
events in the poem

Encoding Skills  Ability to use the lexico-grammatical system of

- Related to written or oral
production of personal
responses about the poem or
related issues.
standard English to express ideas/ personal responses
coherently and cohesively
 Write correctly and adequately on give topic/ task in
relation to the poem
 Ability to make judgments, evaluations and relate
personal responses in relation to the poem or related
issues.
 Ability to recite the poem with correct stress,
intonation and rhythm

The Content

The content is basically made up of all the topics prescribed in the present syllabus and some
additional topics which were probably overlooked by the people concerned but which are important
for reading poetry. The content is sequenced chronologically according to the need for precedence
due to the nature of the topic and difficulty level. It commences with poetic devices which are the
basics that students should know and ends with tone which is considered as one of the most difficult
in literary analysis (Bennett, et el., 1964) as it requires analysis of the choice of words and selection
of details and partly the time and the social and cultural background against which it was written.

The topics itemized in the contents are ordered in such a way that items 1 - 4 is concerned with the
physical or structural aspect of the poem – aspects that can be recognized with knowledge of
definition of terms and regular patterns of encoding poems. It actually resembles a testing situation in
that explicit information from a text must be identified, recalled or reorganized. Items 5 – 7 require
students to engage in processing input and in communicating surface meaning and implied meanings.
Items 8 – 10 involve a global understanding of the poem as students are required to make judgments
and provide personal and critical responses to the poem.
The Tasks
The tasks are all categorically divided according to the three language skills which form the basis of
this paper. All tasks are worded in such a way that they can be transformed to become the objectives
of the lesson. This is to the advantage of the instructor who only needs to determine student level and
select a suitable poem for his purpose.

The tasks vary in difficulty level as they progress from identification and literal level comprehension
and on to inferential level comprehension (i.e. see Hillock’s Taxonomy). Whereas the rubrics of the
tasks are patterned after the five levels of complexity in the Barrett’s Taxonomy which are ordered
according to increasing difficulty based on the demands on cognition that each level places on
students.

Plus points of the proposed syllabus

Firstly, the syllabus is divided in such a way that the tasks for each topic progresses from literal
comprehension to inferential and then on to personal responses or self expression. In other words,
from less cognitively challenging tasks, the learner will be introduced to more demanding tasks,
closely reflecting the 5 levels of cognitive comprehension in Barrett’s Taxonomy. This gives
allowance for teachers to teach progressively according to the level of the learners without skipping
any topic. As the tasks are well distributed according to the skills in focus, the teacher has the liberty
of picking and choosing the kind of tasks and focus of skills that best suites the ability of the students
and the time of day to the advantage of the students. Secondly, for the convenience of the teacher, each
topic is modeled with the teaching lesson in mind. The tasks can be attempted by the students either
immediately after input is given or after necessary instructions for the explication of the poem is
given. Thirdly, since the tasks in this syllabus are divided according to skills, the teacher can monitor
the students’ development in these areas and work towards developing students’ literary competence
more effectively
Conclusion
Unlike the present syllabus, the skills-based syllabus is modeled in such a way that it is not only
teacher –friendly but also a complete guide for students to refer, plan and manage their revision and
preparation in the subject. Suitable and challenging tasks have been designed to give ample practice in
each of the three skills. The inclusion of a number of topics too makes the syllabus more thorough and
valid.
Teachers too have the liberty of choosing suitable poems that suite students’ cognitive level and
interest. Students can, if preferred, be taken through to perform the entire task under the various skills
with a single poem in a particular topic. Which means the poem would have been thoroughly utilized.
On the other hand, a different poem can be used for different aspects of the task corresponding to the
various skills in the syllabus.
Most importantly, teachers who do not have literature background or specialized training in literature
too would be perfectly comfortable teaching this genre as everything is clearly spelt-out in the
proposed syllabus. They only have to read up what they are not sure of in terms of the definitions of
literary devices and terms. The teacher only facilitates students to perceive, decode and encode.

Poetry is not an easy subject to teach; neither is it easy to convince students that it is not difficult. This
is because this genre, unlike the other genres of literature, concerns compact, precise and concise use
of language. Besides that, the presence of literary convention of time, meter, metaphor and so forth are
problematic beyond the reach and province of most language learners (Clark, 1990:105). This is
because poetry is not written in a spur of the moment inspiration or freely without any control. It is
well thought over and crafted with ingenuity. “Poets would have spent time planning, selecting
appropriate diction, drafted and redrafted numerous times before they finally say ‘it’s done’ (Maley,
1996:104). Therefore a single phrase could set the scene and carry enough emotions to warrant at least
a sigh, while a whole poem, could change one’s whole perspective of life; simply because each word,
each line in a good poem is packed with feelings, experiences and universal truths that give meaning
which surpasses time.
To dwell in poetry and enjoy it, students need to be able to recognize and identify the structures, and
develop the competence to infer meaning through various devices employed by the poet. All these
aspects need to be culminated before one can enjoy reading poems with understanding. Teaching
poetry is therefore not easy but it can be made easy and accessible by acknowledging poetry’s
uniqueness and approaching it in a systematic way. This is exactly what the skills-based poetry
syllabus aims to achieve.

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S. Kunaratnam Sita Raman, Lecturer at The Academy of Language Studies, UiTM Johor
Evelyn Sharminnie Vasuthavan, Lecturer at The Academy of Language Studies, UiTM Johor