Poetry Preferences of Secondary School Students - The Case of Trabzon Province

Abstract

In this case study which focuses on secondary school students (5th, 6th, and 7th grades), the goal was to investigate students’ preferences in poetry. In this study, the singular research designs have been employed. The context of the study was Trabzon city, and the participants were students in secondary schools in Ortahisar, Akcaabat and Yomra provinces in 2018-2019 academic year. The study was conducted with 490 students. Frequency and percentage calculations were made on the data obtained from opinion surveys and the results were analyzed. The study showed that in all three levels, three themes stood out: War of Independence and Ataturk, National Culture, and Reading Culture. Based on the findings, it was concluded that secondary school students like these three themes more and therefore prefer them more. Students prefer poems with 19-22 lines, both with rhythm and free verse and they prefer mostly rhyming poems. Also, title was found to be an important factor in poem preference and that students love and prefer poems with words they know, and lastly knowing the poet and that they know the poem beforehand also affected their preference positively.