Fear of poetry among pre-service teachers in Nigeria

This study investigated the attitude of preservice teachers in a Nigerian university towards poetry. A research question was posed in this regard. Consequently, a questionnaire was developed for preservice teachers to indicate on a scale of 1-5 (lowest to highest) their level of confidence in teaching poetry. A rating of 1 - 2 was considered low, 3 was considered moderate, while 4 - 5 was considered high. The result revealed that 4 participants (5.97%) expressed high confidence to teach poetry, 4 participants (5.97%) expressed moderate confidence to teach poetry. The majority, that is, 59 participants (88.06%), however, had low confidence to teach poetry. The qualitative data shows a transcript of the interviews of volunteers from the sample that responded to the questionnaire. Pseudonyms are used. The result revealed that participants’ developed the phobia for poetry (metrophobia) from their experiences of learning poetry at the secondary school level and beyond.

本研究针对尼日利亚某高校职前教师对诗歌的态度展开调研，就此提出一项研究问题，并据此编制调查问卷，邀请职前教师以1至5分（1分代表最低信心水平，5分代表最高）的评分量表，填写自身开展诗歌教学的信心程度。其中，1-2分被界定为低信心水平，3分为中等信心水平，4-5分则为高信心水平。调研结果显示，仅4名参与者（占比5.97%）表示具备较高的诗歌教学信心，另有4名参与者（占比5.97%）具备中等诗歌教学信心；绝大多数参与者共59名（占比88.06%）的诗歌教学信心偏低。本研究的质性数据包含样本中参与问卷调研的志愿者访谈转录文本，所有文本均采用化名处理。结果同时表明，参与者的诗歌恐惧症（metrophobia）均源于其在中学及更高学段学习诗歌的相关经历。