An Undeclared Schism: Higher and Secondary Learning about Poetry

An investigation into students’ attitudes towards the value of poetry and their knowledge of poetry analysis

“…The results revealed no statistically significant difference between the pre-service teacher group, and the regular-student group in terms of knowledge and attitude towards poetry. The corresponding hypotheses were based on the limited and contradictory existing research (Benton, 1999;Fleming, 1992;Weaven & Clark, 2014), and thus confidence levels about finding a difference were low. While it is possible that these findings could have been influenced by the problems with reliability outlined above, the fact that the null hypotheses for 1 and 2 were rejected is not entirely contrary to expectations.…”

“…Research consistently reports anecdotal evidence that both teachers and students have a negative attitude towards the subject matter both in schools and in higher education (Benton, 1999;Fleming, 1992;Weaven & Clark, 2014). It has been suggested that school students of English find their enjoyment of poetry decrease as academic demands increase, and that schoolleavers' knowledge of poetry is insufficient for university-level study (Snapper, 2013).…”

“…However, previous research exploring students' attitudes towards literature in general has exposed, in the words of Hirvela and Boyle, "an overwhelming preference for prose fiction, with an equally overwhelming distaste for poetry " (1988, p. 183). Though there is a dearth of research in relation to students' attitudes towards poetry, that which is available tends to reinforce these gloomy findings whilst concurrently recognising its inherent value (Fleming, 1992;Weaven & Clark, 2014). From a methodological perspective, of the available research on attitudes to poetry, most have employed qualitative approaches (Certo, 2012;Vela et al, 2012;Weaven & Clark, 2013;Xerri, 2014).…”