Strongly agree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
7 0
19.4%
0.0%
In Item 28, the researcher was trying to find out if reading is all about tests and
exams to students. 27.8% of the students strongly disagreed and 55.6% of them
disagreed that reading is all for tests and exams. Outside reading is also very
important, too. However, there were 13.9% of the students agreed that reading what
was related to the curriculum was the most important. With the coming of BCE,
reviewing the materials that are related to the textbooks and keeping doing a lot of
exercises, in most students’ thinking, are ways that make them get good grades, and
the reasons why their studying in school until nine o’clock in the evening are to get
good grades. Grades decide what they read. This worries the researcher a lot. Once
they are no longer in school and no grade pressures, they might not see reading as part
of their lives. This means, a big part of learning stops. One crucial element that causes
the snowball effect of “read more and learn more” is missing, and that makes learning
difficult to happen. This really indicates that it really takes time to change students’
exam-oriented thinking.
From the data of the responses to Item 29, 41.7% of the students strongly agreed
and 52.8 agreed that reading extensively helps to learn English better than just writing
exercise books that related to the textbooks. There were two students thought that
extensive is not important, at least, not at the time before the big exam, BCE.
The responses of Item 30 showed that 55.6% of the students strongly agreed and
44.4% of them agreed that they liked to listen to the teacher’s reciting outside articles
in class.
In the responses of Item 31, the data revealed that 69.4% of the students strongly
agreed and 22.2% of them agreed that they liked to read for reading’s sake, not for
tests and exams’ sake. With the coming of BCE, three students thought reading for
tests and exams is more important than reading for fun.
The last Item, Item 32 was trying to check if students would read English
literature on their own in their free time after reading aloud the 17 selected children’s
poems in class. 22.2% of the students strongly agreed and 58.3% of them agreed that
they will read some other English literature in their free time. But there were 19.4% of
them disagreed that they will read in their free time. In Item 28, there were 13.9% of
the students agreed that studying the required materials in school is much more
important than extra curriculum materials. The percentages of these two items are
very close, which is worth further discussion. In both items, there were two students
expressed school materials are more important than outside reading and they won’t
read English literature in their free time. There were three students expressed school
materials are more important than outside reading but they agreed that they will try
English literature in their free time in the future. However, there were five students
expressed that they disagreed that outside reading is less important than school
materials but they will not try reading English literature in their free time in the future.
In the first type of combination, the two students didn’t express very much in the
first open-ended question of the questionnaire. One of them, a shy boy, expressed in
the second question that he read the poems many times but still he failed to
comprehend most of the poems. The other was a girl, and she was also shy. She
expressed that too many new words made the poems difficult to her. This reveals that
if the materials are beyond students’ abilities, they will probably kill students’
interests and the fun in reading. If they can’t have a sense of achievement by
comprehending something challenging and have fun from it, they might feel less
confident in reading, and in learning as well.
In the second type, there were three students expressed that school studies are
more important than outside reading but they will read in English in their free time in
the future. They were three hard-working students. They all expressed that there were
a lot of new words in the poems. But their feedbacks in the open-ended questions
were positive. They thought it is fun reading those poems and learning new things. It
showed that maybe they do not have much time for English outside reading now, it is
very possible that they will when the big exam is over. Again, it shows that whenever
there is an exam, students will only read for exams instead of reading for fun. In the
third type of the combination, the five students disagreed that outside reading is less
important than school studies, but they felt reluctant to read in English in their free
time. In the open-ended questions, they all showed positive attitudes toward reading
aloud the poems, but all had the problem of having too many new words. One of them
expressed that when she had many new words and grammatical problems in the
poems, she would feel like giving up reading the poems, but she would take notes
when the teacher explained the poems. This shows that if reading aloud happened in
class, they will be happy to read the poems and listen to the teacher’s explanations.
But if reading aloud has to take students’ free time to make it happen, they would
rather do something else, like watching TV, movies, playing on-line or video games,
going out with friends, or doing nothing, instead of reading English literature. The
results show that over one-fourth of the students are quite passive in their English
learning. They want to have good grades, but what they do is relying on their teachers,
mastering only their textbooks, and distancing themselves away from English. The
exam-oriented mindsets really stymie their learning.
Generally speaking, over 86% of the students agreed that outside reading is no
less important than school materials and they will try English literature reading in
their free time. Though they all have the problem of having too many new words, they
still show positive attitudes toward reading aloud Shel Silverstein’s poems. This
proves that choosing the right materials, though they might be challenging, can create
pleasant reading experiences and motivate students to read more.
To check on what were students’ favorite poems and the reasons why they liked
the poems, the researcher collected the students’ responses from Item 1 in the
qualitative part of the questionnaire and ranked the poems from the most favorite to
the least favorite in Table 5.
Students’ Responses to the 17 Selected Poems
In second part of the questionnaire, there were four open-ended questions. The
first question was trying to check students’ favorite poems and why they liked these
poems. The reasons showed that fun and creativity were the two main reasons why
Shel Silverstein’s poems delighted them so much. Table 5 presented the ranking of the
students’ favorite poems and the reasons why they liked the poems.
Table 5 Ranking of the Students’ Favorite Poems and the Reasons Why They Liked the Poems
Ranking Title of the Poem Frequency (Percentage)
Reasons ( the top three reasons)
1st Sick 29(80.6%) 1. The excuses for not going to school are very cool and creative
2. Very rhythmic, I like to
read it again and again.
‘knock knock joke’ is 3rd The Crocodile’s
Toothache
19(52.8) 1. The illustration is so cool.
2. Fun
3. Very rhythmic 4th Sarah Cynthia Sylvia
Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out
18(50.0%) 1. I know many disgusting stuffs that I’ve never known before.
2. I know lots of vocabulary about food.
3. Funny and tongue-twisted.
5th Kidnapped 16(44.4%) 1. The excuse for being late is cool and creative.
2. It’s fun to read it again and again.
3. I can relate to the kid.
6th Bagpipe and the Turtle
15(41.7%) 1. The turtle is pathetically lovesick. I pity him.
2. Very creative. I’ve never read a poem like this.
3. The turtle is not afraid of showing his love. Go, Turtle!
Brassiere on the Camel
9(25%) 1. Very creative and funny 2. The illustration is cool
and funny.
10th Lazy Susan 8(22.2%) 1. It’s fun reading this
simple, short, and special poem.
2. I’m surprised by the way the girl drinks.
11th Rock ‘N’ Roll Band 7(19.4%) 1. To be in a rock and roll band is like every child’s dream. I can relate to the poem.
2. Very Rhythmic 12th One Inch Tall 5(13.9%) 1. A poem full of
imagination.
2. A cute poem. I can relate to the one-inch tall kid, because I’m not tall.
13th Tired 4(11.1%) 1. I can relate to the kid.
Lazy and pressure-free but pretending to be busy.
2. Very rhythmic 3. It’s fun reading it.
Anchored (No reason provided)
OH Have You Heard Rhythmic
14th
Whatif
3(8.3)
A poem full of imagination
15th Hat 2(5.56%) A cute and creative poem
From Table 5, the reasons why the students like the poems can be concluded as
that (a) the poems are fun to read (b) the poems are full of creativity and imagination
(c) the students themselves can relate to the poems. (d) the students can learn
something they’ve never known before.
Though new words in these 17 poems would cause difficulty in students’ literal
comprehension and inferential comprehension of the poems, the vocabulary problem
Silvertein’s combining humorous sketches, whimsical poetry and fanciful word play.
Humor, the most important element in his poems, humor, really is the core
essence of childhood. After reading this poem, “Sick”, children will give their
understanding smiles on the girl’s having the energy to play but none for school in this
poem. Kids will find this poem funny and refreshing because it treats them like people
instead of little kids. Humor in his poems helps to speak to children at their level and
reveal morals without talking down to them.
Shel Silverstein’s poems are witty, memorable and usually contain a moral
message without preaching.Children might giggle when reading the poems, but at the
same time, they can think if they are like the kids in Shel Silverstein’s poems without
being lectured by adults. No wonder the students could relate their own experiences to
his poems even though there were many new words in his poems. They could still
have the fun reading the poems.
And what can make reading Shel Silverstein’s poems even more fun is watching
his drawings for the poems. In “The Crocodile’s Toothache”, the combination of
drawing and words makes this poem even more readable. This poem is an experience
that would be diminished without the visual aspect. Students may not remember every
sentence of the poem, but they sure would not forget the drawing of a dentist with a
weird smile trying hard to pull all the teeth of the crocodile
Furthermore, with Silverstein’s whimsical poem like “Bagpipe and the Turtle”,
which is about the unrequited love of a turtle for a bagpipe, students would actually
have pity for the turtle which were trying hard to woo the bagpipe in vain.
Though the whole poem is framed as a nonsense story, in which realistic details
are added to make it read like a logic one: “It was nine o’clock at midnight at a
quarter after three.” After the turtle has departed, dejected, with no affirmation of
mutual affection from the bagpipe, the narrator asserts the story’s reality by
suggesting that the reader confirm the facts with the bagpipe: “Just walk up and say,
‘Hello, there,’/ And politely ask the bagpipe if the story’s really so. / I assure you,
darling children, that the bagpipe won’t say ‘No’” because the bagpipe cannot say
anything at all. Though this love is impossible to happen, through Silvertein’s crafty
pen, we are convinced that the turtle’s heart is broken and that we admire the turtle’s
courage to express his love.
At last, but definitely not the least, the play of word in Shel Silverstein’s poems
contributes to make his poems beloved all over the world, too. The poem “Sarah
Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out” is a proof. The force of the
poem is its plethora of imaginative, disgusting detail that the narrator reels off.
Silverstein’ power of imagination makes all his readers wow. Not only can he think up
so many disgusting stuffs, but also he can make most of them rhythmic at the end of
each sentence.
Sentences like, “With bacon rinds and chicken bones,/ Drippy ends of ice cream
cones,/ Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,/ Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,/” keep
going for two pages, and just by asking students to picture what the food are like, it is
quick enough to draw their full attention to this poem, of course, along with their
talking about how disgusting the poem is. They have never had an experience of
reading aloud so much rhythmic decayed and rotten food in English before, and it was
an exciting one.
Though there were many new words for them, with their teacher’s explanation,
students could have the audio fun of listening to their teacher’s and Silverstein’s
recitation and then they could read aloud with their teacher and had the oral fun of
reading a bunch of revolting and nauseating food. By reading this disgustingly
impressive poem, it is relatively easy to remember some new words from it.
Even though they gave their feedback as there were many new words in the
poems, their attitudes toward reading the poems were positive, and they learned what
their textbooks could not provide. This convinced the researcher that reading aloud
different genres in English from time to time in class can spice up teachers’ teaching
and students’ learning in English.
The Difficulties in Reading the Poems
To investigate what difficulties the students had in reading the poems, the
students’ responses from the questionnaires were ranked in priority in Table 6.
Table 6 Ranking of the Difficulties in Reading Poems
Ranking Difficulties Frequency(Percentage)
1st There were too many new words.
36(100%)
2nd I couldn’t read the poems fluently (pronunciation and intonation).
6(16.7%)
3rd I couldn’t fully
comprehend the poems.
5(13.9%)
From Table 6, all 36 had the vocabulary problem. Though from the data
mentioned above, most students liked to read the poem and enjoyed the fun reading
them, they still thought they couldn’t take that many new words at the same time. 6
students thought they couldn’t read the poems fluently, because they were afraid that
their pronunciation and intonation were not good enough. There were 5 students
couldn’t fully understand the meanings of the poems.
As to how students dealt with their difficulties in reading the poems, the
researcher collected the students’ responses from the questionnaires, and ranked them
in priority in Table 7.
Table 7 Ranking of Students’ Ways to Deal with Their Reading Difficulties
Ranking Ways Frequency(Percentage)
1st Listen to the teacher’s explanation and take notes
26(72.2%)
2nd Look up the new words in the dictionary
13(36.1%)
3rd Discuss the poems with
the classmates
8(22.2%)
4th Read the poems over and over again
7(19.4%)
5th Try to guess the meanings of the words from the context
1(2.78%)
According to Table 7, 72.2% of the students would listen to the teacher’s
interpretation of the poems and take notes on their handouts. 36.1% of the students
would consult a dictionary and 22.2% of them asked their classmates for help. 19.4%
of the students read the poems over and over and gradually they understood the poems
better. Only one student tried to guess the meanings of the words from the context.
From table 7, it is shown that there were 26 students, which is a large majority of
the students, depending on teacher’s explanations of the poems, only one student tried
to guess the meanings of new words of the contexts. This indicates the difficulties of
reading aloud. In reading aloud, the teacher is the reading model, and he/she is
responsible for arousing students’ interests in reading. In order to achieve that goal,
tests and exams of vocabulary and grammar are avoided to create a pressure-free
reading atmosphere.
In the study, every time when reading aloud took place in the classroom, it
always took place at the time when the school required materials were finished. The
teacher took it as a time to share the love of reading with her students, and she wanted
her students to like reading, not just for grades, so there were no tests for the poems,
and that is one of the reasons why students liked to read aloud the poems. But that
also worries the researcher because if once there are no reading models sharing books
with them and for them to depend on, they may stop their reading when they have
difficulties in reading.
Thus, if time permits, besides reading aloud to motivate students to read more in
English, teachers can also help students in how to use dictionaries to learn the usage
of the words and letting students work in groups to promote their responsibility and
autonomy. The most important is, if students have strategic competence in language
learning, they will be more possible to solve the problem in language learning
independently, and keep the habit of reading longer.
H. Douglas Brown (cited from Canale and Swain) described strategic
competence as “the verbal and nonverbal communication strategies that may be called
into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to the performance
variables or due to insufficient competence.” That is to say, if the students are not
afraid of taking the risk of losing faces and try out what they learn in English, they
can make more progress in learning English. But as in the analysis of the students, it
is shown that the students care about their studies and grades and most of them are
shy to express themselves in front of the class. They felt embarrassed if they made
mistakes in front of the class, so it was not very surprising to know that only one
student used the context to guess the meanings of the new words. But in language
learning, the process of the trials and errors is very important as Brown cited from
Rubin that successful language learners make willing and accurate guesses. If learners
do not try out what they learn, they will never know how well they learn, and the
progress will be limited. Once their progress is limited, they will feel incompetent in
language learning. The vicious circle is happening. However, teachers can help to stop
such vicious circle. Teachers should create an affectively comfortable classroom that
encourages participants to experiment and to discover the target language, allowing
themselves to take risks without feeling embarrassed. Gradually, the students will
open their hearts to learn, but it takes time.
open their hearts to learn, but it takes time.