Concrete Poetry Inclusion in EFL Classrooms to Enhance Students’ Creative and Language Skills

Abstract

Previous studies revealed that poetry inclusion in ESL/EFL classrooms has effectively developed learners’ language and creative skills. Concrete poetry was rarely used among various implemented poetic forms despite being well-suited for the beginner level and challenged students. Concrete poetry with a physical arrangement of words or letters on the page helps students grasp the meaning. Unfortunately, in Indonesian schools, English poetry is generally assumed to be too difficult for students to understand and write. As a result, concrete poetry and its merits are not known in the educational setting. This qualitative case study aimed to demonstrate how concrete poetry implementation with the Genre-Based Approach significantly enhanced students’ language and creative skills and how the experience with concrete poetry transformed their perceptions of poetry inclusion in language learning. The participants were three students from SMP Hikmah Teladan, Bandung. The data from structured interviews and the students’ works were analyzed thematically. The findings show that students gained new positive perceptions of poetry inclusion in EFL classrooms. The assessment of students' work shows enhancement in language and creative skills.