USE OF POETRY IN LANGUAGE TEACHING FOR SOCIETAL VALUE CHANGE - Maryam Mahmud Muhammad

International Journal of Research and Development Studies

Volume 7, Number 2, 2016

ISSN: 2056 – 2121

USE OF POETRY IN LANGUAGE TEACHING FOR SOCIETAL VALUE CHANGE

Maryam Mahmud Muhammad

School of Languages

Federal College of Education, Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This paper attempts to show the importance of poetry as a strategy in language teaching for inculcating moral values in students. It has been found out that many African poems are philosophical, rich in virtues and morals that are important for the survival of the society. The paper posits that these poems, if fully exploited   in language teaching can bring about the desired value change in our society.

Introduction

          Today, the Nigerian society is in a state of moral decadence worse than ever witnessed before. The implications and consequences of such decadence heavily tells on us in all facets of our lives-social, religious, political, economic, and educational. Hence there is that fervent need to change our ways in order not to reach the stage of societal perish-which is where the Nigerian society is obviously heading to.        This can only be achieved through re-orientation via proper communication.

          Man as a social animal needs to interact with his fellows to pass across his thoughts, information, message and receive understanding. Githns (1990) sees communication as not just the giving of information, it is the giving of understandable information and receiving and understanding the message. It is the transferring of a message to another person so that it can be understood and acted upon.

          Language is the essential medium of human communication. It is a set of linguistic features, spoken or written, that simplify our effort towards decoding the encoded message. Indeed the key function of teaching and learning is to be understood and hence acted upon.

          It can be said that a society owes its being to literature. This is because, as rightly observed by Okam (1991) literature is at one and the same time history’s bequest to mankind and the principal corrective of history.  This is especially true because literature starts as an experience and ends as fiction. Poetry is a component of literature that fulfills this particular role.

Some definitions of poetry:-

          Poetry is said to be as old as man. However, poetry is really difficult to define because no single definition can capture its complex nature. The New Encyclopedia Britannica defines poetry as a literature that involves a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific emotional response through language, chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound and rhythm. Poetry exploits the resources of language and uses language more suggestively and more inventively than any other literary activity.

          Poetry is a form of literary act in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning (Wikipedia 2002). Poetry often uses particular conventions to suggest alternative meaning in the words, or to evoke emotional or sensual responses. Chen, cited in Nyuidze (2014) observes that poetry makes more meaning to its audience as it describes feelings through images and imaginative language thereby making its message vivid. By way of using poetic language in a sensitive manner, the poet makes his poem logically sufficient to deliver philosophical ideas.

          Poetic expressions erupt from deep-seated emotions from the heart. This means that they are born out of experiences that affect the poet’s total being. Some forms of poetry are specific to particular cultures, responding to the characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. The

Use of Poetry in Language Teaching for Societal Value Change

functions of poetry depend on the attitudes, ideas, beliefs and philosophy of the poet and this also varies from one tradition to another (Senanu and Vincent, 1982).

          Poetry in one form or another is  a cultural heritage of almost all peoples. In traditional African societies which have rich traditions of meaningful oral poetry, poetry and religion are related. Therefore, poetry is used to persuade, enlighten, correct, express life and entertain. It can be written on several themes such as love, marriage, sickness, birth, death, religious and social virtues, etc. Even in the modern African societies, Senanu and Vincent (1982) observe that there still exist communities, in which different types of oral poetry are a living tradition and serve as constant reminders on community norms and values.

          Edwin (1991) maintains that pleasurable reading of poetry requires sensitive ears attuned to the word, ability to react to impressions, power to use personal background experience to interpret what has been said.

Teaching Poetry as a Strategy For Inculcating Moral Values:-

          Some of the objectives of formal education as reflected in Nigeria’s National Policy on Education (2004) are, among others:-

·         To inculcate in the child the spirit of enquiry and creativity.

·         Moral training and the development of positive attitudes.

·         Raising a generation of people who can think for themselves and who respect the views and teachings of others.

It is the position of this paper that these and other objectives can be achieved through the teaching of poetry.

     As earlier pointed out that poetry exploits the resources of language and uses language more suggestively and more inventively than any other subject or literary activity, teaching poetry is a very viable strategy towards imparting in our students the spirit of enquiry, imagination and creativity.

     Teaching is the guidance offered to learners through planned activities so that they may acquire the richest learning possible from the exercise (Mahmud and Ateequ, 2014). Therefore, when students are efficiently taught and fully understand the functions and uses of devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhythm, ambiguity, symbolism, irony, metaphor, simile, metonymy and other stylistic elements in poems, surely their imaginative and creative spirits will be evoked. It will also enhance their language acquisition.

     Teaching of African poetry is particularly interesting and at the same time rewarding, in that many objectives can be achieved at  once. Considering the richness of its themes that encompass almost all aspects of our societal norms and values, the teacher is not only able, through a planned  selection of poems, to teach his students elements of language but also to impart morals discussed in the poems into them.

     Poetry and religion are related, and most African countries are religious (Senanu and Vincent 1982). Nigeria, being an African country, is multi-religious most of the population adhere to different faiths, mainly Islam, Christianity and Traditional religions. A lot of Nigerian poets try to propagate the virtues and values of their different religions. These poems are sung orally or written in many Nigerian languages.

     As a language teacher-whether teaching Arabic, English, French or any indigenous language many of such poems are at your disposal. For the English language teacher, selected poems of J.P Clark and Christopher Okigbo readily come to mind. The French language teacher will go almost automatically for Birago Diop’s “Les contes d’Amadou Koumba” (1947) because of the rich themes of his poems.

     The Arabic teacher can use the abundant ‘Shi’ir deeni and ‘shi’ir zuhdi” such as  ‘Al-hikam wal amthaal’ of El-Miskeen (1994). In the traditional Fulbe community, ‘gime’ used to be part and parcel of the instruction routine of the child as he grows up, whereby the child was taught aspects of worship (ibaadah) as well as the virtues of the society. Such poems are still of great benefit. As such the Fulfulde language teacher can make maximum use of them. Examples are

International Journal of Research and Development Studies

Volume 7, Number 2, 2016

‘Cheniido’ (2008) a compilation of poems of Modibbo Raji; and ‘Yimre Bushra’u “of Garba Ibrahim  Diggol (2010).

     The Hausa language teacher can avail himself with selected poems or ‘wake’  of great poets like Sa’adu Zungur and Aliyu Akilu. Similarly selected songs by poet-singers like Danmaraya Jos also fit in this endeavour.

     The Igbo language teacher will find poems like ‘Ekuenti’ of Anozie (2005) very effective in this vein. For the Yuroba language teacher, poems such as

“Isé ni òògun isé” by J. F. Odúnjo (2001) and “Alakikanju” by Taiwo Olúulade (2005) can be used to achieve these great objectives.

     It is worthy to note that, though treated and learnt in the classroom as an academic activity, the experience is then expanded to non-academic situations- in real life situations, there by bringing about the desired attitude in the individual and the society at large.

Conclusion

      Attempt has been made in this paper to show the importance of using poetry, particularly African poetry, in language teaching in order to bring about the societal value change which is  so needed in our society today. The paper has been able to highlight that by using  poetry, especially those that deal with religious and social virtues (which  form the main themes of the bulk of traditional African poetry), the language teacher kills two  birds with a stone. He not only succeeds in teaching elements of language but also in imparting some morals into his students. This will also kindle their spirit of imagination and creativity as their interest is now aroused.

     It is the humble position of this paper that teaching poetry is a very viable tool through which we can attain a better society, a better Nigeria.

Recommendations

     As important as it is, poetry is the most neglected and poorly handled form of literature in our schools, and students tend to believe that poetry is a difficult enterprise (Mahmud and Ateequ, 2014). As such the language teacher should know how to apply some teaching strategies that will facilitate the learning process of his students, hence the better understanding of the teaching experience. The teacher should make poetry interesting to students by using specific actions, behaviours or steps that will enhance the internalization, storage, retrieval or use of new experiences.

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