The Effect of the Use of Smartboard in Teaching Poems on the English Learning Performance: A Case of Grade 11 School Students in Colombo District, Sri Lanka

The study attempts to examine the influence of poem teaching with smart boards on performance in English learning among Sri Lankan grade 11 schoolchildren. The study collected data from 102 Sri Lankan grade 11 schoolchildren studying in government schools in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Data were collected for a pre-tested structural questionnaire and were analyzed mainly with partial least-squire structural equation modeling. Five hypotheses related to the use of smartboards to present poems and the English learning achievement of grade 11 students at school were examined in this study. The result demonstrated that student participation, comprehension and explanation, and student attitude while presenting poems through smartboards have positive effects on the English learning achievement of grade 11 students at school. On the other hand, visual and auditory engagement, and recall and retention on learning poems with smartboards are not statistically significant on grade 11 school students’ English learning performance. In conclusion, the study presents sound empirical findings that smartboard use in poetry lessons can be a huge boost to students’ English learning performance. All these findings suggest that in class poetry, teachers ought to give special attention to interesting students’ interest, understanding of, and interpretation of interactive and through smartboard activities. Additionally, even though these variables were not a major statistical contributor in this research, teachers must come up with other methods to capture visual and auditory attention, retention, and memory by utilizing technology such as smartboards.