Authors: Adeleye C. B, Akinwamide T. K.
Abstract: Motivating students to engage actively and passionately in the study of poetry is a significant challenge faced by educators worldwide, particularly in the dynamic and culturally diverse educational landscape of Nigeria. Ado-Ekiti, being a key educational hub in the country, presents a unique setting to explore the strategies employed by secondary school teachers to stimulate students' interest and enthusiasm towards poetry learning. This study aims to comprehensively assess the various techniques employed by teachers in Ado-Ekiti to motivate students to embrace poetry, thereby fostering a deeper appreciation for literary expression. Specifically, the study investigated: (i) techniques that are commonly used by secondary school teachers in motivating their students to learn poetry; (ii) difference in the techniques secondary school teachers employ to motivate students to learn poetry on the basis of gender, qualification, teachers’ experience, and school type. The present study is of descriptive research type. The population for this study comprises both public and private senior secondary school teachers in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria, while the target population consisted of senior secondary schools Literature-in-English teachers. The stratified and proportional sampling techniques were adopted in selecting 117 respondents for the study. A researcher-designed questionnaire titled “Techniques Secondary School Teachers Employ to Motivate Students to Learn Poetry Questionnaire (TSSTEMSLPQ) was used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was determined by adopting the test-retest method, while reliability co-efficient stood at .78. Percentage was used to describe the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Research question one was answered using mean rating, while the independent t-test, and the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to test research hypotheses. Furthermore, the qualitative part of the questionnaire which was open-ended was subjected to the Thematic Analysis. It was concluded that the main technique employed by English literature teachers to motivate students to learn poetry was dramatization in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. The implication is that teachers should consider integrating interactive and performance-based activities to engage students and enhance their understanding and appreciation of literature. It was recommended that educators should incorporate dramatic elements and performance-based activities into their teaching strategies. It was further recommended that teachers of Literature-in-English should foster an inclusive and diverse classroom environment.
