The use of pictures in enhancing the understanding of poems among lower secondary students

Literature, which once played a prominent role in language studies was excluded from the English subject syllabus when English is established as the second language. Recently, due to the decline in English among students, its inclusion was necessary and it was then implemented as a component in the English subject in March 2000. The intent of this study was to gain a better understanding of the nature of the relationship between the use of pictures and the learning of poems, which is a genre in literature. A quasi experimental research was adopted in the investigation . The subjects involved were fifty eight form one students. They were students of SMJK Perempuan China. Pulau Pinang. Pictures were used as an aid and students also illustrated pictures on their own when asked to read the poems. Data analysis involved the use of Ancova and analysis in percentage on the perception questions based on the Likert Scale. The results of the study indicated that the Experimental Group performed better than the Control Group. These findings and implications were discussed and it is believed that using pictures can indeed enhance the learning of poems. Therefore, it is strongly suggested that teachers should use pictures to improve students’ understanding of poems and perhaps in other genres of literature.