Beyond Words: A Case Study Exploring Visual and Audio Strategies in the Poetry Classroom

This paper reports a case study that explores ways to improve Saudi students’ engagement with poetry in English by providing them with alternative opportunities to analyse and express themselves using technology and multimedia. It is a strategic implementation of a culturally appropriate pedagogy that utilises visual language to interpret poems in English. Independently constructing their own videos provided students with a chance to replace traditional written interpretations of poems in the classroom. Allowing L2 students to communicate and express emotions visually gives them access to their creative potential, from which they can construct more meaningful interpretations. This supports the concept of no wrong answers in the reading and analysis of poetry and allows the students to create an exploratory relationship towards reading poetry. This is important for Saudi students in particular since they are not as proficient in written English as native English students. This article also reports the students’ perceptions to determine the effectiveness of visual poetry as an alternative to written analysis of poetry. I investigate the relationship between poetry and pedagogy to allow for individualised attempts to present a particular framework as a medium for studying poetry. The study showed, through their personalised videos, that Saudi students are open to using technology and multimedia that liberate them from traditional teaching techniques and allow them to unlock their interpretive skills and represent their interpretations in original ways. These findings might also have greater relevance to wider debates on extending the use of technology and multimedia as a key element for educators hoping to engage L2 students with reading and responding to poetry in English.


Introduction
This study is rooted in my passion for broadening Saudi students' analytical abilities in poetry in English. Over the last 20 years, I have strived to develop different techniques to aid them in the poetry classroom after observing their lack of interest in the subject, which stems from their inability to appreciate and analyse the text due to a number of factors which cause disengagement with poetry in English. This inspired me to explore the ways in which meaning and interpretation can be constructed through the use of visual and auditory language to reinforce their appreciation of the reading and analysis of poetry in English. A Romantic poetry class was designed to explore how students independently reshape the traditional interpretation of a poem by creating individual personalised videos to represent their critical thinking and creativity. The students combined sound, music and images to synthesise their ideas. This paper outlines the methods applied when facilitating this pedagogy in the Romantic poetry class at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, 2020-2021.
It is vital to integrate innovative teaching techniques, especially for L2 students studying poetry in English, to create an exploratory relationship towards poetry. This opportunity to move beyond pen and paper compels me to question what it might look like to strategically implement a pedagogy that explores the "strong bond between poetry and visual arts" (Verdonk, 2004, p. 234). Hughes (2007) explained that digital poetry enables us to maximise our ideas with regard to poetry performed in the classroom, and a poem followed by visual images can be seen as a new text and a different way of performing it.
Finally, this study adopts a novel approach to exploring the shift away from traditional written analysis to incorporating technology and multimedia for interpreting poems. The main purpose of this is to demonstrate the connection between visual language and literature within the context of a poetry class to create original artwork, to allow the students to showcase their "inventive endeavours, and to experiment with interdisciplinary modes of working" across the boundaries between poetry and videos (Sui 3).

Literature Review
A portrayal of historical development and expression of the human psyche, echoing entropy and manifesting the profound need for morality and virtue; literature is often perceived as a phenomenon open to exploration. Following the teleology of human perception and comprehension, the analysis of works poses a difficulty for anyone who does not pertain to an identical schema to that of the writer. As with any other art form, literature is only as potent and resonant as the reader wills it to be, and its potency is limited to the extent of each individual's ability to receive the message encoded within each work. To ease students into the steadfast sociological and psychological impact of literature, interpretation through multi-modal composition allows them to elicit a response through the transfiguration of a theoretical idea into one grounded on dimensions they are able to resonate with.
The importance of exploring digital modes of literal interpretation prevails through the numerous studies that have been undertaken in this specific field. Digital modes of interpretation include Jocius, 2013; Ringler et al., 2014 study of students' composition of slideshows from novels, creating an interwoven and multifaceted representation using music, sound and images. Utilizing the accessibility and comprehension of digital videos, Dallacqua & Sheahan, 2020; Vasudevan et al., 2010 discuss their composition as a means of elevating the voice of the student in discussions encompassing various literary narratives and forms. The creation of cogent compositions was prioritized in Smith's 2018 study of utilizing modal contextual cues in the classroom, creating a multidimensional knowledge of students' distinct and interacting multimodal composition objectives through precise modal matching and developing thematic meaning, which ultimately produced a multisensory experience that was representative of the narrative universe of the novel. In Kesler et al. 2016 study, the interpretive process is seen under the foundational notion of transactional reading as a series of exchanges between the reader and the text in question. A reader's contribution to the transaction is described by Rosenblatt (1938Rosenblatt ( /1995Rosenblatt ( , 1978Rosenblatt ( /1994) as a lived-through experience of a text that solidifies into a reaction. This notion was then displayed in each student's digital story.
In the application of different modes of expression with regard to students' responses in the classroom, an apparent increase in the ability to explore literary devices, characterization and themes was observed, aligning with the conclusions drawn by Curwood & Gibbons, 2009; Jocius 2013; Smith, 2019. Miller, 2011 discusses an ideology characterized by students' limitations in areas including analysis, synthesis, symbolic and metaphoric thinking, and thematic abstraction, and how multimodal composition offers students ways to engage with literary texts on a level they have yet to access. To specify even further, multimodal compositions play a significant role in translating the extent of students' comprehension of poetic texts by facilitating an in-depth exploration of the poetic text and fostering analytical and interpretive thinking. This phenomenon is showcased in Coles and Bryer (2018) by granting students opportunities to closely examine not only the meaning of the text but its structure and thus encouraging critical interpretive acts. Shifting away from a poetry curriculum that focuses on written analysis and prompt and meaningful interactions between students was observed to be a turning point in encouraging student enjoyment and shying them away from the fears of not being able to produce an interpretation that is deemed as correct. Through this subtle change, Curwood & Cowell, 2011, were able to come closer to creating a more inclusive poetry education experience.
This study approaches poetry teaching and learning with the potential for multiple interpretations. Poetry thus becomes a creative activity to be viewed as a relationship between text and a student's personal schema. In the present study, literary responses are understood as a meaning-making process that is intertwined with social and cultural factors. This study attempts to implement a new teaching strategy through a case study inspired by culturally relevant teaching. This uses the background, knowledge and experience of the students to formulate teachers' lessons or teaching methods.
In order to provide a framework for the case study, as well as to provide a theoretical lens for data analysis, this research is located in the following areas of enquiry: 1. Culturally appropriate pedagogy 2. Technology and multimedia Culturally relevant teaching is a term used by Gloria Ladson-Billings (1994) and refers to teachers creating a bridge between student's home and school lives to integrate their culture with the syllabus while continuing to meet the curricular requirements of the district and state. There are many other terms used to describe this type of pedagogy, including culturally responsive, culturally respective, culture-sensitive, culturally rooted, culturally relevant, culturally appropriate and culturally congruent (Campbell, 2004;Gay, 2010;Ladson-Billings, 1992, 1994Yamauchi, 2005). Though the terms may differ, the spirit is the same: respect for cultural differences. Phuong-Mai Nguyena (2006) explained that culturally appropriate pedagogy focuses on educational competence in a global context and addresses the cultural context of learners and teachers. The call for culturally appropriate pedagogies has found supportive echoes in relation to the import of Western or European educational theories, practices and knowledge in other parts of the world. The present study draws on such research since it focuses on the particular issue of teaching poetry in English to Saudi students.
Ladson-Billings first introduced this teaching approach as a way of making teachers aware of the reality that many of their students would come to their classrooms with different cultural, ethnic, linguistic, racial and social class backgrounds. Many researchers have developed and supported theories of culture-centred pedagogy which posit that "since how one thinks, writes, and speaks reflects the culture and affects performance, aligning instruction to the cultural" concepts of different students "can improve student achievement" (Gay, 2010, p. xv-xvi). These researchers include Au and Jordan (1981), Gay (2010), Howard (2001), Irvine (2003), Ladson-Billings (1994, 2001, Lee (1995) and Villegas et al. (2017), who all support the potential of theories of culturecentred education to decrease the educational gap due to distinctions between cultural forms.
Embury et al. (2020) explained that culturally relevant teaching strives to include literature from other cultures, parts of the world and diverse authors. It also focuses on drawing students into content using their past experiences and personal schemata. They state that ordinary, established education does not address the realities of today's students, and culturally responsive teaching can resolve a difficulty or improve the situation regarding the inclusion of literature from other cultures.
The present paper focuses on this particular issue and attempts to shed light on how a culturally appropriate teaching intervention can be supported through technology and multimedia to create an exploratory relationship towards reading poetry. This entails the use of visual and audial language, evolving from methods of communication that contemporary students can utilise to communicate and analyse a poetic text without using written language. This gives them a chance to express and analyse artistic works artistically.
McBride (2004) stated that those who teach the humanities need to "reconceptualise the intersections between the humanities classroom and visual rhetoric" (p. xix). In Miller's (2010) opinion, this entails revaluating teacher education: "Preparing teachers for the 21st-century digital world . . . requires teacher educators to take up the pressing issue of effective pedagogical frameworks for multimodal composing" (p. 198).
Nelson (2014, 2016) defined digital poetry as a medium in its most basic form and stated that digital poems were born from a combination of technology and poetry. Poets and writers use all forms of multimedia elements (sounds, images, movement, video and interface/interactivity) as critical texts to bring forth new poetic forms and experiences. He further explained that digital poetry communicates the exceptional perception of the ordinary by infusing colour, reader interaction and art.
Dymoke argued that "poetry is a playful" genre, and instead of it being "destined to be stranded forever on the printed page" (Xerri, 2012). She urged teachers to "do their utmost to keep it so: If you leave poetry on the page in your classroom, you will be in danger of sounding its death knell: it is an organic, enriching communication tool, which taps into all our senses and is constantly renewing and reinventing itself to afford us new ways to express ourselves ." (pp. 80-81). Snapper (2009) agreed with this and claimed that "Teachers also know that poetry can be "brought to life" for students by translating it from the printed page to other media" (p. 2).
The present study aims to explore a pedagogy which encourages students to bring it to life in the poetry classroom through the strategic implementation of illustrative videos. It questions whether such activities improve students' learning of poetry in English and how they perceive this approach. Students were asked to create these videos to encourage an alternative approach to the conventional word-bound analysis of a poem mostly used in the poetry classes at King Saud University. It constitutes an innovative form of representation based on each student's own schemata and world experience. The main focus of attention in this approach is the text itself and how the students draw on whatever resources they need to convey their meanings of it, rather than commentary or extensive background knowledge of the poet and their period. My contribution will attempt to address a gap in the literature by dealing with an area that is understudied and, based on my knowledge, has not been given enough attention in Saudi universities. There is a need for research and new pedagogy regarding Saudi students who face difficulties in the poetry classroom. The teaching method I have formulated responds to a particular problem within a specific context. This study addresses the following questions: 1. How do Saudi students respond to a teaching approach which utilizes technology and multimedia in the poetry classroom? 2. How do Saudi students redesign and replace written analysis of a poem in English by creating videos to respond to them?

Methodology
A case study research design was employed. Students were asked to create videos to express themselves after reading a poem instead of using conventional word-bound analysis. After they created their videos, a survey was conducted to understand their perceptions and evaluate the impact of the innovative teaching technique and the use of visual instead of written analysis. Feedback from the students is important to gather quantitative data to supplement the video portion of the project. Therefore, I distributed open-ended questions to record the voices of the participants and determine their overall perceptions of the project and learning experience. Knowledge of students' views can be instrumental in identifying the problems that arise when studying poetry in English, which could be improved by using the proposed pedagogy.
This case study was implemented in a literature course at King Saud University (KSU). Students' video productions and their responses about the project form the data for this study. This section describes how the project was implemented in the course.
The students studied at an all-female campus, so all participants were female students. Two poetry classes were selected, and 30 students participated. The participants were from a Romanticism course spanning one academic year. The case study was implemented with two different classes; each taught for 14 weeks, in which students were required to study three hours weekly. This course offers a fairly comprehensive introduction to the literature of the British Romantic Period (1789-1830). The students were introduced to a broad selection of texts by the most prominent poets, novelists and thinkers of English Romanticism, as well as their relevant historical, cultural, political and aesthetic milieu. The students also studied the major themes of the period. The study was conducted during the first half of the course, which focused solely on the poetry of the British Romantic Period.
The participants in this study were from a particular target group selected for the purpose of this research. This is known as purposive sampling, which involves selecting a sample based on the researcher's experience or knowledge of the chosen group of students to be sampled (Lunenburg, 2008). In this study, purposive sampling allowed me to study a particular population of students at KSU. The students were all Muslims, and their first language was Arabic. They were from various social backgrounds and had a diverse knowledge of English social, cultural and religious ideologies. The chosen students had taken one or more poetry classes and had experienced traditional teaching techniques.

Introductory stage
It is vital for this study to find meaningful ways to engage students with poetry. It is important to move beyond pen and paper and provide them with a variety of strategies to express themselves in alternative ways. With the current advances in technology, students in this study were given a chance to respond to poems using technology and multimedia, which is appropriate for this generation. The purpose was presented very clearly to the students at the beginning of the case study. They were informed that they were being introduced to an innovative teaching method that allowed for more direct and personal involvement in their discourse about poetry. The students were given lectures to introduce and practice with technology and multimedia and the potential for its usage for expressing themselves instead of writing, to inspire an exploration between text and combining sound, music, colour and images to orchestrate their ideas. Many of the students who chose to participate were experienced and confident in their skills in technology and eager to explore this novel experience.
To conduct the case study, the chosen pedagogy was applied in multiple classes with the students in my Romantic poetry class in the period 2020-2021. One of the issues encountered was the difficulty in coming to an agreement about whether to allow students to choose their own poems or assign one for the group. Upon consideration, it was deemed appropriate to implement both strategies to achieve optimum results.

Classroom procedure
After the introduction, the students were asked to read and research the poem for the pedagogic application in preparation for creating the videos. Group one was given two weeks to choose a poem of their interest which was not specific to the Romantic age; they could choose from any of the centuries, while group two was assigned "Tomorrow, at Dawn" by Victor Marie Hugo. The first group was given a choice to select their own poems because most of them had studied more than one literary course prior to taking this course and were chosen accordingly. The first semester was designated to the group that was allowed to choose their own poems. The students were allowed to choose poems that were of significant meaning to them. The second semester was designated to the group that was given the same poem for the purpose of exploring and comparing their individual responses through their creative videos. For the purpose of this study, students in the first semester will be referred to as group one and the second semester students as group two.
In subsequent meetings, the classroom procedures for class practice were explained. The class practice was based on multiple activities. I worked with the students for one hour twice a week for two weeks during the research phase. They were given relevant preparatory guidance to provide them with technological support. This was achieved by forming groups in which all students were encouraged to ask questions and provide support for each other. They could use Photo Story, Movie Maker or any existing multimedia to create their own videos in response to the poems. Students were also allowed to use images, sound effects, music or clips from movies or any visual or auditory digital recordings for composing their videos.
The students were also given questions to guide their responses to the poems, which included the following:

What do you think this poem is about?
2. What does the poet use to deliver their ideas?
3. What do you imagine when you read their words? 4. Does the poem remind you of anything, or can you connect it to any event in your life or to any historical event?
5. What do you picture in your mind/imagination in response to this poem? 6. What sound or sounds do you hear?
Students continued their work on their videos at home, and after four weeks, the projects were completed, and links to their videos were provided with references. In addition, the students wrote a paragraph explaining how they represented their analysis of the poem in their videos. This aimed to discern the students' perceptions regarding the following: 1. Their experience with technology and multimedia-based pedagogy 2. Their discovery of general problems regarding their overall experience

Results and Analysis
The videos completed and presented for this case study were clearly experimental and varied in technique. As creative output, the students eventually generated poetry-inspired visual representations that brought out independent interpretations and talent. Although 30 students originally participated, 10 were chosen randomly to represent the originality of their thoughts. The first section presents the first group, who were allowed to choose their own poems.
To address the comparison of students' interpretations of poetic works in the traditional written form and the video representations, I depended on the students' comments and perceptions regarding their experience with this innovative approach. Additionally, to explore the strengths of the association between visual and written interpretations, I depended on my 20-year work experience teaching poetry to Saudi students.

Video 1
Video 1 exhibits the portrayal of Safia Elhillo's "Yasmeen" and its nostalgic longing for a childhood that was spent in the diaspora. The student explains that "Arab girlhood is not often an experience we see outside the framework of feminism, which I thought was refreshing to read as it explores themes of motherhood and grief," leading us to believe that their incandescent emotions are derivative of their personal experience. This is further demonstrated when the student states that this poem represents a "collective experience to girlhood in West Asia, her mother is all our mothers, the land she longs for is also a land we long for, only because it no longer exists. Safia documents what it means to be an Arab girl in the 21st century, bringing forth all the images that led to what makes us who we are today." The video reflects some of these themes, creating a sense of borderline through the shakiness and tainted colour scheme the student chose to include in the clips, a metaphor for viewing the world through rose-coloured glasses. The student's ability to envision the poem manifested in the imagery of working women, their stories whispered from one ear to another, carrying the history, sadness and weight of what it means to be an Arab in the diaspora. She says, "I see displacement and longing, but without the grief, the topic usually carries," clarifying that while they were able to resonate with the helplessness and sorrow the poem emits, they also noticed the buoyant undertone.

Video 2
Video 2 is a representation of the poem "Ode to Melancholy" by John Keats. The student explains, "When I read it, I was on an emotional roller coaster; one moment, I was devastated and hopeless about life, and in another moment, I was embracing life with all my might. It is so interesting how this poem takes us on a journey of life, with its triumphs and loss, and I wanted to portray that in my video. Therefore, my video has a key theme of contrast between happiness and sadness." To translate this emotion, the student took an approach similar to that of Keats, explaining, "He says to embrace and appreciate your woes and sorrows because in a way they shape your personality and affect you, but don't get too lost in your distress and let it take away the beauty of life because without the existence of misery, we wouldn't appreciate happiness and without happiness, we wouldn't know misery. Keats calls for living life with a balanced appreciation of the two, so that is why in the first half of the video, I chose to display the common ways people deal with their grief, suicide, alcohol and isolation, and after that, I showed how people might idolise their sadness and let it consume them. In the second half, I displayed how beautiful life can be, even if it is temporary. Lastly, at the end of the video, I wanted to show the contrast of life." The change in emotions experienced by the student did not only manifest in the choice of clips but also in the colour scheme. The student explains, "For colour choice, I chose black and white for sad moments where we feel that life is colourless to us, then a transition in the middle to coloured footage as a symbol for hope and a new view to life, and lastly, a mixture of both to show the contrast."

Video 3
Video 3 features a visual and audial representation of the poem "La Belle Sans Merci" by John Keats, predominantly expressed through the tragic story of a man falling in love with a mythical creature. The student states, "The poem reminds me of media I have consumed before and powerful manipulative women prioritising themselves and their own gain." It is evident in the irregular presence of light and colour in the clips that the student is attempting to convey uncertainty and fear as the main emotions the poem invokes. The warmth and hope that are a result of the reassuring and loving lines the poet has written are represented through clips laden with light and warm colours, whereas the lines indicating sorrow, heartbreak and betrayal are devoid of these elements. Despite the student mentioning that they did "not have a personal connection to the poem, nor does it remind me of historical events," they were still able to rely on their schema to aid their expression. All these images, abstract or concrete, deliver the idea that everything is equal, and it taught me that we put value to objects." Unlike other videos we have seen, this student has chosen to express her conflicting emotions through more than one colour scheme and theme.

Video 5
Video 5 focuses on the poem "London" by William Blake. In this visual representation, the student strongly relates the historical context of the poem to their own analysis. This is easily recognised in the black and white theme the student incorporated into their video, as well as the apparent time period the clips were taken from. Despite the fact that the student might have had some difficulty relating to the poem, they clarify that "As a non-native English poem reader, sometimes it is hard and takes time to find an exact word that can convey my view and express my feeling towards the poem, which I can do better by using a picture."

Video 6
Video 6 brings to life the poem "An Autumn" by John Keats. The most prominent element in this video is the colour scheme, an array of warm colours. It is said that the colours orange, yellow and red emit strong feelings of creativity, enjoyment and freedom. The student further demonstrates this point by saying, "I have chosen images to describe autumn, harvest, apple fruit, songs of spring, twined flowers and redbreast and used intense, sensuous imagery to raise the moment's fleeting beauty. Also, I have added sounds of birds and rivers to represent the major theme, nature." In Keats' personification of the season of autumn, this student found a strong sense of flamboyance and enlightenment.
The following section presents the second group, which was given the same poem for the purpose of exploring and comparing their individual responses through their creative videos. The poem discussed in this section is "Tomorrow at Dawn" by Victor Hugo, a poem exploring the loss and grief of a loved one.

Video 1
In Video 1, the student was immediately reminded of "the incident of George Floyd's murder. I think the poem captures the collective grief the world has witnessed in 2020." The student also mentions, "This poem captures the experience of grief. It also reflects one's solitude when they grieve. In addition, it features elements of nature such as the 'dawn', 'forest', 'mountain', and 'night' (Hugo, lines 1, 3, and 8). The poet uses these exact elements of nature to capture grief as the words carry connotations of sadness and loneliness." It is evident in the video that the student has chosen to use sombre clips and music, attaining a high level of grief while telling the story of the treacherous murder of George Floyd. In their explanation of their work, the student states that they "picture the speaker of the poem as one of Floyd's sisters. In my interpretation, the speaker has a monologue where she narrates her justice-seeking fight to her brother, George Floyd," setting an entirely different tone to a poem written over a century ago.
Video 2 Video 2 clearly depicts emotions through the changing seasons and transitions of nature throughout the year. This student chose to include clips of a child growing up through their parents' eyes, introducing a slow and tender piece of music around that same time. The student states, "I imagine a beautiful love story blooming between two people that eventually took a sad and tragic turn.
His words were absolutely magnificent, in my opinion, and I think it's so powerful how he used his words to share his idea." The voiceover used in this video is the student's own, adding a sense of attachment and an unwavering element of intimacy.

Video 3
Video 3 includes a myriad of clips taken in a forest at different times of the day and year; however, the incessant element of fog is constant throughout these clips. This casts a dim and sombre ambiance over the video. The music goes on to demonstrate this with a mellow and resonant piano that fades when the student's chosen vocal element is introduced: sounds of people mourning and crying. The student comments, "I have imagined a sad, depressed person who is detached from this world and cannot wait to meet with the loved one that he lost once again," and that through reading this poem and truly understanding it, they "felt a sense of loneliness and depression."

Video 4
Video 4, on the other hand, is full of clips that appear to be joyous; whether children are playing or flowers blooming, it is with ease that these emotions are noticed. Towards the end of the video, the student begins to add clips depicting loneliness through the solitude of both people and nature. The music begins to sound distant, increasing in volume at times and decreasing at others. The student states, "This poem makes me feel both sad and hopeful," which may explain the use of opposing and conflicting elements in their work. They go on to explain, "I perceive loss as a difficult time, but with that said, I also believe that we should be happy we got to spend time with that person." Throughout conducting this part of the study, I have come to understand that not only did all of these students view loss and grief differently, but they also expressed it differently. In Video 2, the student seems to understand that grief is an ever-evolving emotion, one that follows us and adapts the way nature does to the changing of seasons. In Video 3, the student perceives emotions of grief as overwhelming, depicted with the repeated use of clips of a forest-a large area with no path or guidance and the fear of not being able to make it out without being hurt by the surroundings. Video 4, however, addresses a different perspective: mourning a loved one should include the process of celebrating the life they lived and the memories they shared.

Conclusion
This research began with a class practice at King Saud University addressing the need for culturally appropriate pedagogy through technology and multimedia for Saudi students to become more creative and independent. Overall, students expressed positive feedback on the effectiveness of responding to poetry in English through textual analysis in unique videos (Dymoke, 2012;Nelson, 2014Nelson, , 2016Snapper, 2009). The videos draw on different details of the poem, envisioned and manifested through multimedia components that engage students and allow freedom of response, which textual language often limits (McBride, 2004). As one of the students exclaimed, "It is hard to find an exact word that can convey my view and express my feeling, which I can do better by using a picture." The videos also illustrate the importance of students' imagination in response to poetry, and some go beyond regular images to abstract ones. It is evident in the personal choices of sounds, shades, colour schemes and clips or paintings that students were attempting to convey emotions specific to their own schemata to create a personalised response (Rosenblatt 1938, 1978/1994, Curwood & Gibbons, 2009Jocius, 2013;Smith, 2019, Miller, 2011. These findings also have relevance to pedagogical contexts. In exploring innovative tools for poetry teaching, the students were able to move beyond their fear and anxiety to express themselves artfully. This is especially important when the teaching methodology is embedded within a framework that reduces stress and provides students with the ability to work in a more relaxed and creative atmosphere. Thus, students were offered the opportunity to experience a pedagogy that was compatible with their identities. This finding is in line with the findings of Singh, who explained that culturally appropriate pedagogy "melds instruction to better fit the expectations and cultural patterns of the group being served" (p. 14). This implies that acknowledging students' needs and providing interdisciplinary techniques may develop their skills and imagination for reading and analysing poetry and other forms of literature. It can create a supportive pedagogy that recognises and incorporates artistic teaching, which facilitates new ventures and addresses the needs of a wider job market. These findings might also have greater relevance to wider debates on extending the use of technology and multimedia as a key element for educators hoping to engage L2 students with reading and responding to poetry in English.

Limitations and Recommendations for further research
The limitations of this study are that the conclusions reported in this article are based on an investigative study carried out with a limited sample in two poetry classes at one university. Further research using technology and multimedia based pedagogy would show whether these conclusions can be generalised to other Arab universities. Similar studies should also be conducted in different literary courses, giving students interpretive tools that can improve their abilities in various areas and measuring their effect on the student's learning achievements and attitudes towards English poetry and other literary courses.

Page | 34
Funding: The author extends their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for funding this work.