Natalia Reilly

What is the Role of Poetry in Second Language Learning and Teaching?

Research in Second Language Acquisition

Natalia Reilly, 2012 ©

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What is the Role of Poetry in Second Language Learning and Teaching?

What is the role of poetry in second language teaching and learning? Is the role of poetry

in second language acquisition beneficial or rather confusing? If it is beneficial or confusing,

why is it so? What kind of qualities of the processes of second language learning can be revealed

by introducing poetry into curriculum? Which style of poetry is more successful to be applied in

teaching a second language? These questions, to name few of them, emerge when researchers

and educators are trying to implement poetry in second language teaching.

The reviewed articles explore the role of poetry in all major aspects of second language

acquisition, such as in the accuracy of pronunciation (Akyel, 1995; Hanauer, 2001; Melin, 2010;

Woore, 2007), development of L2 complex syntax and vocabulary (Akyel, 1995; Hanauer, 2001;

Lazar, 1996; Melin, 2010; Tin, 2011), development of understanding semantics and pragmatics

(Akyel, 1995; Hanauer, 2001; Lazar, 1996), cultural awareness and promotion of

multiculturalism (Hanauer, 2001, 2003; Lazar, 1996; Melin, 2010), deepening the second

language learners’ ways of self-expression and self-realization (Hanauer, 2012; Tin, 2011), and

in students’ motivation (Akyel, 1995; Hanauer, 2012; Lazar, 1996).

I. From Phonetics to Culture: The Role of Poetry in the Major Aspects of SLA

1) The Role of Poetry in the Accuracy of Pronunciation

Poetry, as no other literary genre, draws language learners’ attention to such specific

linguistic elements as sounds of a language, as well as to sounds’ functions and pattering. Nearly

every author of the reviewed studies mentions this unique pronunciation alleviating quality of

poetic genre.

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First of all, poetry helps students to notice sounds—phonetics and phonology—of a

foreign/second language; it is important because to learn something students have to notice this

particular “something”. Studies support the assumption that poetry-reading tasks enhance

students’ awareness in phonetic linguistic items. Thus, according to Akyel (1995), poetry-

reading tasks encourage students to employ their knowledge of all linguistic forms, including the

knowledge of phonetics and phonology, to make meaning of poetic texts. Also, as Hanauer

(2001) states, poetry reading is primarily a construction process of close reading—of noticing

and interpretive categories: noticing, among other elements, the particular sounds and, then,

interpreting the poetical meaning based on all noticed linguistic elements. What's more, taking

into consideration the aesthetic quality of poetry, Melin (2010) considers teaching poetry as

reading-response aesthetic task where sounds play the leading role in conveying the atmosphere

of poetic meaning, so without noticing the sounds the full meaning of poetic texts can not be

derived.

Furthermore, one specific research has been conducted by Woore (2007) to study the use

of poetry as one of the possible ways for foreign/second language learners to improve their

ability to utilize the foreign language’s symbol-sound relationships (grapheme-phoneme

correspondences). In this quasi-experimental study the explicit grapheme-phoneme

correspondence training was administrated to the experimental group. The training consisted of

the “referring back” strategy sequence when the pupils had to (1) identify the target word with an

unknown grapheme; (2) use the poems as a source of analogy; (3) search the poems for the target

grapheme; (4) recall the pronunciation of the familiar word containing the same grapheme; (5)

apply the familiar pronunciation to the new word grapheme; (6) transfer the pronunciation of the

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target grapheme to the target word. The study has shown the small, yet significant improvement

in pronunciation accuracy for the experimental group.

2) The Role of Poetry in the Development of L2 Complex Syntax and Vocabulary

The most studies concerning the role of poetry in SLA are in relation to the development

of L2 complex syntax and vocabulary by second language learners. Thus, Hanauer (2001) has

explored the role of the process of reading and analyzing poetry in second language learning

among advanced L2 learners with the emphasis on the processes of how the non-native speakers

understand poetic texts and how this understanding interacts with their second language

acquisition. This introspective study has revealed the importance of grammar structures in

understanding poetry for language learners. Among the participants’ utterances, divided by the

researcher in 9 categories, the most frequent were the utterances of Noticing category (32.6%).

Moreover, what the participants were noticing the most were grammar structures (90.13% of

noticing were about the form, with 84% of unusual grammatical usage, and only 9.87% about

literary meaning). Therefore, the participants used grammar structures to construct meaning.

Another introspective study (Tin, 2011) went into more detailed exploration of the

process of writing poetry and revealed the differences in the use of vocabulary and syntax by

language learners while discussing and writing two types of poems—acrostics (poems with high

formal constrains) and similes (poems with loose formal constrains). While working on acrostics

the students of all levels—from under-intermediate to advanced— demonstrated vocabulary

exploration and syntactic elaboration; on the other hand, while working on similes the same

students were using familiar vocabulary and simple syntax. Also, while discussing acrostics, the

students were using the L2 to directly access the meaning of the upcoming poems, and in the

process the co-emergence of form and meaning chaotic brainstorming occurred. In terms of the

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theory of creativity, chaos is a necessary predecessor of anything new to emerge, and, as a result,

in the case of working on acrostics, new vocabulary and new for the students, more elaborated

syntax were coming into existence.

The possibilities of the use of poetic texts for vocabulary and syntax development was

also demonstrated in more holistic approach to teaching poetry, while regarding the connections

between the stylistic analysis of poetry and specific poetic linguistic features, and taking into

consideration students’ attitude toward being taught poetic texts. According to Akyel (1995), it is

possible to develop positive feelings about poetry by focusing students’ attention on the lexical

items and on the unique choice of words and word associations used in poems to create meaning.

Poetic vocabulary has its own specific features, which are beneficial for second language

learners. According to Lazar (1996), poetry widely uses polysemous words in different contexts,

and by decoding the meaning of the polysemous words, students acquire deeper understanding of

grammatical and semantic contexts.

In addition, the use of technology and multimedia resources in teaching poetry—the

supplementary informative digital and multi-media materials—have revealed the broader

functions of poetry such as strengthening language learners skills, especially vocabulary (Chun

& Plass, 1996; Etienne & Vanbaelen, 2006, as cited in Melin, 2010).

3) The Role of Poetry in Understanding Semantics and Pragmatics

Studying poetry helps understand relationships in meaning between words. As it has been

mentioned in part 2, Lazar (1996) has emphasized the importance of focusing on polysemous

words in poetic texts for better understanding semantic contexts; moreover, the author stated that

poetry is often semantically rich because it is very rich in multiple levels of meaning, and that by

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decoding these multiple levels of meaning, the language learners develop their interpretive

abilities, which are crucial in second language acquisition.

To create meaning in poetic texts the unique word associations are used, so the stylistic

analysis of poems with the focus on the uniqueness of the word associations, which are more

memorable, improves language learners’ understanding of discourse of the target language

(Akyel, 1995). The understanding of discourse, in its turn, enhances language learners’

interpretative and inference-making skills; moreover, it develops language learners’ awareness of

how the target language can be used to produce a particular meaning (Akyel, 1995).

The poetry reading, according to Hanauer (2001) is a construction process of linguistic

interpretation, in which, by noticing and understanding grammar structures, as has been

mentioned in part 1, second language learners construct and develop interpretations of the poem

content. The author has determined the series of progressions of the process of linguistic

interpretation of meaning from noticing linguistic items to semantic and pragmatic construal,

such as noticing the sequence of linguistic items, noticing and questioning the sequence, moving

on from world knowledge to interpretive hypothesis sequence, then new interpretation following

world knowledge sequence.

4) The Role of Poetry in Cultural Awareness and Promotion of Multiculturalism

The role of poetry in second language learning goes beyond the benefits acquired from

linguistic interpretations. As Hanauer (2001) has pointed out, poetry reading can create cultural

awareness while language learners are noticing the gap between the poem content and their own

world knowledge of the target culture. In his later study the same author (Hanauer, 2003)

outlined the role of poetry in SLA in terms of poetry’s multicultural significance by reviewing its

epistemological (in regards to the nature and scope of poetic knowledge) and ontological (in

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regards to two categories of being— individual and social) statuses. In this secondary study, the

epistemological principle of unique is considered in terms of the capability of poetic texts to put

the reader in the linguistically mediated poet’s unique individual situation through the

individualized meaning constructions (Jakobson, 1960, as cited in Hanauer, 2003). Ontologically

poetry bears socially constructed and individually contextualized meanings (Weinstein, 1999, as

cited in Hanauer, 2003). Taking into consideration that poetry is a non-paraphrased utterance of a

personal understanding, this integration of personal and socio-cultural in poetry creates for the

reader a specific experience of connection with the writer’s individual world, as well as the

writer’s socio-cultural environment. Thus, poetry has the particular value of the unique in terms

of entrance into a multileveled socio-cultural linguistic human experience; consequently, poetry

has value in promoting multiculturalism in the process of second language acquisition.

Poetry as a tool exploring culture is considered by Melin (2010). The author suggests

holistic approach to teaching poetry by combining close reading response and genre-analysis and

adding writerly perspective, readership issues, and culture-performative aspects of poetry. The

researcher considers that the separate approaches may inadequately address issues of culture. She

emphasizes that poetry is a part of other domains of culture and should be considered in

connection with language and literature cultural sources. According to the author, poetry

emphasizes language-literature-culture relationship, explores the target language culture, and

promotes the learning of the target culture.

The combined linguistic and sociocultural analysis of poetic texts gives language learners

the access to the target culture (Hanauer, 2001, 2003; Lazar, 1996; Melin, 2010). Thus, by

comparing language and cultural background of the 18th century poem “The Tiger” with the

contemporary English language and culture, Lazar (1996) explores in details the cultural

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differences of the two epochs. The author looks into the connections between specific language

items, such as grammar, lexis, and context, as well as into more generalizable linguistic

principles, such as interpretive abilities in connection with cultural awareness. As a result, the

author concludes that poetry gives the access to the target culture by offering insights into the

particular society through dramatized situations.

5) The Role of Poetry in Deepening the Language Learners’ Ways of Self-expression and

Self-realization

Poetry can be a tool to overcome the problem of dehumanization of second and foreign

language learning in the contemporary world with its imposition of abstract standards drawn

from business world and the unavoidable decontextualization of the language in the classroom

(Kramsch, 2006; Hanauer, 2010; Newman, 2005; Widdowson 1998, as cited in Hanauer, 2012).

Based on the assumption that humans are in need to explore and express their own lives,

Hanauer (2012) in his study combined the quantitative analysis of corpus of 844 second language

poems with the theoretical research of the dehumanization in language learning. The research

was conducted by using a range of linguistic, textual and literary measures, such as text size,

lexical category, the Lexical Frequency Profile, poetic features, thematic organization, lexical

content, and degree of emotionality (by computing emotional words). According to the author’s

understanding of meaningful literacy as the language learning process of widening and

deepening the individual’s ways of self-expression and self-realization within social settings, the

following three stages of poetry writing has been distinguished: (1) generating personal

motivation for self exploration; (2) initiating the process of autobiographical exploration; (3)

poetic expression of autobiographical memory. This individualization of English as a second

language also changes the EL’s attitude towards the language: from an instrument of

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communication it develops into the resource of a personal, emotive, and expressive self-

realization.

The process of writing poetry can also give second language learners the rare chance to

express themselves in the L2 in a unique way—not only personally and emotionally, but also at

the highest possible level. According to Tin (2011), while discussing and writing poems with

high formal constraints—acrostics—the language learners have more opportunities for standing

“a head taller” than themselves (Vygotsky, 1978, as cited in Tin, 2012).

Not only writing poetry can give second language learners the opportunity of self-

expression and self-realization; reading poetry is also a creative process of individual self-

expression. According to Lazar (1996), decoding the meaning of poetry is more than mechanical

exercise—it demands learners’ personal response, and by personally responding on decoding the

meaning of poetry, the language learners become personally involved.

6) The Role of Poetry in Motivation

Personal involving in the processes of writing and reading poetry can become a source of

motivation which, in its turn, alleviate internalization of the target language (Lazar, 1996).

Moreover, according to Akyel (1995), the stylistic analysis of poems with focus on the lexical

items can motivate not students only, but also the teachers in the process of discovering the

unique choice of words conveying meaning. Plus, Hanauer (2012) pointed out that the first stage

of poetry writing by second language learners is the stage of generating personal motivation

necessary for second language acquisition.

II. Classroom Implications

The reviewed studies have demonstrated beneficial functions of poetry in second

language teaching and learning; moreover, the researchers have pointed out the ways of teaching

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poetry in language classrooms, as well as the possible outcomes of teaching poetry to language

learners.

1) Reading Poetry

Reading poetry, according to Akyel (1995), Hanauer (2001), Lazar (1996), Melin (2010)

focuses students’ attention on the form of a language without which second language learning

cannot take place. To include the activity of reading poetry in the second language classroom is

especially important because the highly praised in language classrooms authentic speaking

activities focus on meaning while quite often ignoring the form (Hanauer, 2001). While reading

poetry in the classroom, it is necessary to introduce the techniques of stylistic analysis of the

poems, and it is important to make a distinction between literary analysis, like finding

metaphors, and linguistic analysis of poetic texts. In the process of analyzing poetry

linguistically, students are to be given the tasks of finding specific phonetic, lexical,

morphological, syntactic, semantic, and discourse forms to derive the meaning of poems (Akyel,

1995). Moreover, there is one more beneficial outcome of parsing poetic texts: with focusing

students’ attention on linguistic forms, reading poetry can increase language learners’ awareness

of different language registers, so it will be easier for them to understand the meaning of native

speakers’ discourses (Lazar, 1996).

In particular, poetry focuses students’ attention on phonetic forms of language. The

activity of reading poems aloud is an efficient tool for teaching the accuracy of pronunciation

(Akyel, 1995; Hanauer, 2001; Melin, 2010; Woore, 2007). According to Woore (2007), the use

of poems and the “referring-back” strategy sequence in the grapheme-phoneme correspondence

teaching methodology in L2 phonological decoding of the L2 orthography can be considered as

one option amongst the other possible teaching methods. In addition, the use of poems as a

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source of analogy for working out the pronunciation of unknown graphemes is the process of

helping, encouraging, and monitoring the applications of strategies in students. The approach

combines the application of a sequence of cognitive and metacognitive strategies and the

application of the poems themselves as a method of teaching the oral decoding of the L2

orthography.

Poetry reading is one of the ways of teaching the target culture; poetry can be used as a

technique to enhance language learners’ cultural awareness (Hanauer, 2001, 2003; Lazar, 1996;

Melin, 2010). As Hanauer (2003) has stated, poetry has the particular value of the unique in

terms of entrance into a multileveled sociocultural linguistic human experience; consequently,

introducing poetry in second language classrooms helps educators in teaching multiculturalism.

In addition to the uniqueness of poetic genre, Melin (2010) has emphasized the

intrinsically holistic qualities of poetry. The researcher has stated that in second language

classrooms, by treating poetry from the holistic point of view as a whole performance, and by

incorporating poetry into curriculum, the teacher can foreground the cultural and social

importance of poetry, stimulate broader classroom discussions about the relevance and unity of

language and culture, and facilitate students’ perception of a foreign/second language as an intact

entity innately connected with the larger domain of culture. According to the author, having been

incorporated into the curriculum, teaching poetry by using the holistic approach has proved to be

beneficial in terms of exploring culture, practicing creative writing, explaining literary

conventions, and eliciting learners’ responses.

Furthermore, Lazar (1996) has pointed out that poetry is a rich source of classroom

activities, such as speaking through time while discussing cultural historical differences, or

speaking across geographical distances when reading global English poetry from South Africa,

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the Caribbean, or Australia. Therefore, as Hanauer (2001) has stated, the activity of reading

poetry, which focuses students’ attention on linguistic forms as well as on the target culture, is a

distinctive tool in teaching and learning second language, and this tool should not be ignored.

2) Writing Poetry

Writing poetry by second language learners is a unique activity to enhance their language

acquisition in a variety of ways. As Hanauer (2012) has stated, based on the research of corpus

of 844 second language poems, this activity can be successfully introduced in second and foreign

language classrooms because second language poetry is short, simple in vocabulary, and focuses

on visual and auditory images. According to the author’s understanding of meaningful literacy

as the language learning process of widening and deepening the individual’s ways of self-

expression and self-realization within social settings, the four following principles of teaching

poetry writing have been formulated: (1) autobiographical writing; (2) emotional writing; (3)

personal insight which promotes students to integrate a reflective process with human condition

in general; (4) authentic public access which means promoting students to understand feelings of

others. Therefore, such capabilities of poetry writing as individualization of language learners’

education, transformation of the learners’ attitudes towards English, and connection the language

learners with other people through authentic public access while expressing themselves makes

the activity of writing poetry indispensable.

Going into more details of writing poetry, Tin (2011) has shown that in second language

classroom, writing poems with high formal constraints (acrostics) is an advantageous activity in

comparison with writing free-style poems of looser formal constrains (similes) because the

highly form-oriented poetic task forces students to stretch and transform their L2 linguistic and

conceptual world at a higher level of knowledge, while the free-style poetry writing task focuses

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students on language meaning expressed in their L1 rather than on form and meaning expressed

in the L2, and this focusing on expressing themselves in the L1 may not be a desirable feature to

dominate in second language learning classrooms. Consequently, to develop students’ L2 in

complexity, the researcher suggests assigning the second language learners with writing acrostics

rather than similes, although the condition of unlimited time needs to be set—enough time to

transform students’ chaotic brainstorming under the selection pressure of choosing the correct

form into the emergence of knew L2 vocabulary, new, more elaborated L2 syntax, and new,

more complex L2 conceptual world.

Concluding Remarks

The literature review has illuminated the beneficial role of poetry in all major aspects of

second language acquisition, such as the accuracy of pronunciation, development of L2 complex

syntax and vocabulary, development of understanding of the L2 discourse, cultural awareness

and promotion of multiculturalism, as well as in students’ motivation. Poetry, as an authentic,

non-paraphrased utterance of personal perception created in certain socio-cultural environment is

a unique linguistic formation. By introducing the activities of reading and writing poetry in

second language classrooms such qualities as developing students’ second language in

complexity, developing the students’ individual ways of self-expression and self-realization

within socio-cultural settings of a second language can be expanded.

.

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References

Akyel, A. (1995). Stylistic analysis of poetry: A perspective from an initial training course in

TEFL. TESL Canada Journal/Revue TESL Du Canada, 13(1), 63-73.

Hanauer, D. I. (2001). The task of poetry reading and second language learning. Applied

Linguistics, 22(3), 295-323.

Hanauer, D. I. (2003). Multicultural moments in poetry: The importance of the unique. Canadian

Modern Language Review, 60(1), 69-87.

Hanauer, D. I. (2012). Meaningful literacy: Writing poetry in the language classroom. Language

Teaching, 45(1), 105-115.

Lazar, G. (1996). Exploring literary texts with the language learner. TESOL Quarterly, 30(4),

773-776.

Melin, C. (2010). Between the lines: When culture, language and poetry meet in the classroom.

Language Teaching, 43(3), 349-365.

Tin, T. B. (2011). Language creativity and co-emergence of form and meaning in creative

writing tasks. Applied Linguistics (Oxford), 32(2), 215-235.

Woore, R. (2007). "Weisse maus in meinem haus": Using poems and learner strategies to help

learners decode the sounds of the L2. Language Learning Journal, 35(2), 175-188.

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