Cover not available

In:Scientific Approaches to Literature in Learning Environments
Edited by Michael Burke, Olivia Fialho and Sonia Zyngier
[Linguistic Approaches to Literature 24] 2016
► pp. 151–168

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 8. Of learning and poetics

Exploring strategies used by L2 Japanese English learners

 | Prefectural University of Hiroshima
Published online: 22 July 2016
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.24.08nis
This chapter examines the reading strategies of Japanese university-level learners of English with limited experience of reading poetry in English. The aim is to corroborate teaching procedures from the viewpoint of their textual interpretation procedures. To this purpose, data were collected while they were reading Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (1923) by asking them to report on the textual features they noticed when trying to construct textual meanings. Results revealed ten reading strategies, classified into three groups: (1) application of strategies acquired through reading expository texts, (2) examination of repetitive expressions, and (3) reference to semantic intuition and explicit knowledge of English. The main features of poetry reading processes performed by the participants of the study are summarized. The chapter concludes by offering suggestions for effective poetry teaching.
References (46)
References
Badran, D. (2007). Stylistics and language teaching: Deviant collocation in literature as a tool for vocabulary expansion. In M. Lambrou & P. Stockwell (Eds.), Contemporary stylistics (pp. 180-192). London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2012). Metaphor as argument: A stylistic genre-based approach. Language and Literature, 21(2), 119-135. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bouman, L. (1983). Who’s afraid of poetry? Modern English Teacher, 10(3), 14-19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burke, M., Csábi, S., Week, L., & Zerkowitz, J. (Eds.). (2012). Pedagogical stylistics: Current trends in language, literature and ELT. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carminati, M.N., Stabler, J., Roberts, A.M. & Fischer, M.H. (2006). Readers’ responses to sub-genre and rhyme scheme in poetry. Poetics, 34(3), 204-218. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carter, R. (2010). Issues in pedagogical stylistics: A coda. Language and Literature, 19(1), 115-122. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carter, R., & McRae, J. (Eds.). (1996). Language, literature and the learner: Creative classroom practice. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Diaz-Santos, G. (2000). Technothrillers and English for science and technology. English for Specific Purposes, 19(3), 221-236. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eliot, T.S. (1997[1919]). Hamlet and his problems. In The sacred wood: Essays on poetry and criticism, 81-87. London: Faber & Faber.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frost, R. (2002[1923]). Stopping by woods on a snowy evening. In E.C. Lathem (Ed.), The poetry of Robert Frost: The collected poems, 224. New York, NY: Henry Holt.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hall, G. (2014). Pedagogical stylistics. In M. Burke (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of stylistics, 239-252. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hanauer, D. (1996). Integration of phonetic and graphic features in poetic text categorization judgments. Poetics, 23(5), 363-380. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1997a). Poetry reading in the second language classroom. Language Awareness, 6(1), 2-16. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1997b). Poetic text processing. Journal of Literary Semantics, 26(3), 152-172. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1997c). Reading poetry and surface information recall. In S. Tötösy de Zepetnek & I. Sywenky (Eds.), The systemic and empirical approach to literature and culture as theory and application (pp. 453-469). Siegen: Lumis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1998a). The genre-specific hypothesis of reading: Reading poetry and encyclopedic items. Poetics, 26(2), 63-80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1998b). Reading poetry: An empirical investigation of formalist, stylistic and conventionalist claims. Poetics Today, 19(4), 565-580. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2001a). The task of poetry reading and second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 22(3), 295-323. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2001b). What we know about reading poetry: Theoretical positions and empirical research. In D. Schram & G. Steen (Eds.), The psychology and sociology of literature (pp. 107-128). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2003). Multicultural moments in poetry: The importance of the unique. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 22(3), 295-323.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2004). Poetry and the meaning of life. Toronto: Pippin Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoffstaedter, P. (1987). Poetic text processing and its empirical investigation. Poetics, 16(1), 75-91. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1988). Poetic texts or poetic processing? In J.S. Petöfi & T. Olivi (Eds.), From verbal constitution to symbolic meaning (pp. 415-438). Hamburg: Helmut Buske.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoffstaedter-Kohn, P. (1991). Linguistic competence and poetic text processing. In E. Ibsch, D. Schram, & G. Steen (Eds.), Empirical studies in literature: Proceedings of the second international conference (1989) (pp. 87-96). Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Hoorn, J. (1996). Psychophysiology and literary processing: ERPs to semantic and phonological deviations in reading small verses. In R.J. Kreuz & M.S. MacNealy (Eds.), Empirical approaches to literature and aesthetics (pp. 339-358). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kennedy, X.J., & Kennedy, D.M. (Eds.). (1999). Knock at a star: A child’s introduction to poetry (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levin, S.R. (1965). Internal and external deviation in poetry. Word, 21(2), 225-237. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lin, B. (2006). Exploring the literary text through grammar and the (re-)integration of literature and language teaching. In A. Paran (Ed.), Literature in language teaching and learning (pp. 101-116). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McRae, J. (1991). Literature with a small l. Houndmills: Palgrave.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paran, A. (2008). The role of literature in instructed foreign language learning and teaching: An evidence-based survey. Language Teaching, 41(4), 465-496. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2010). Between Scylla and Charybdis: The dilemmas of testing language and literature. In A. Paran & L. Sercu (Eds.), Testing the untestable in language education (pp. 143-164). Toronto: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Picken, J.D. (2007). Literature, metaphor, and the foreign language learner. Houndmills: Palgrave. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pope, R. (1995). Textual intervention: Critical and creative strategies for literary studies. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scott, V.M., & Huntington, J.A. (2007). Literature, the interpretive mode, and novice learners. The Modern Language Journal, 91(1), 3-14. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Simpson, P. (2014). Stylistics: A resource book for students (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, P. (Ed.) (1992). Favorite poems of childhood. New York, NY: Dover.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Teranishi, M., Saito, Y., & Wales, K. (Eds.). (2015). Literature and language learning in the EFL classroom. Houndmills: Palgrave. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tomlinson, B. (1986). Using poetry with mixed ability language classes. ELT Journal, 40(1), 33-41. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Peer, W. (1986). Stylistics and psychology: Investigations of foregrounding. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1990). The measurement of meter: Its cognitive and affective functions. Poetics, 19(3), 259-275. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van ‘t Jagt, R.K., Hoeks, J.C.J., Dorleijn, G., & Hendricks, P. (2014). Look before you leap: How enjambment affects the processing of poetry. Scientific Study of Literature, 4(1), 3-24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watson, G., & Zyngier, S. (Eds.). (2007). Literature and stylistics for language learners: Theory and practice. Houndmills: Palgrave. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Widdowson, H.G. (1992). Practical stylistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yaron, I. (2002). Processing of obscure poetic texts: Mechanisms of selection. Journal of Literary Semantics, 31(2), 133-170. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zyngier, S., & Fialho, O. (2010). Pedagogical stylistics, literary awareness and empowerment: A critical perspective. Language and Literature, 19(1), 13-33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Nishihara, Takayuki
2022. EFL learners’ reading traits for lexically easy short poetry. Cogent Education 9:1 DOI logo
McIlroy, Tara
2019. EFL Learners Reading and Discussing Poems in English. In Literature, Spoken Language and Speaking Skills in Second Language Learning, ► pp. 151 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue