Poetry, media, and second language acquisition

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe and analyze how the graduate course: "Writing, Reading and Teaching Poetry" influenced American and international students' writing, thinking, response to poetry, teaching beliefs and English learning through their participating in the class activities. In this study, I examine the following areas: (1) students' experience with and attitudes toward poetry reading and writing, (2) students' experience with and attitudes toward digital poetry, (3) and the influences of poetry and digital poetry on international students' English learning. Eight students and their instructor in a large Midwestern university participated in this study from August 2010 to December 2010. Four of the students are international students and four are American students. Multiple sources of data were analyzed. Five major findings are presented and examples are given to support these findings. The major findings of this study are: (1) Students' attitudes toward poetry and digital poetry changed from negative to positive; (2) Students wrote poetry to cope with life issues; (3) Students experienced self-exploration; (4)International students learned English through reading and writing poetry; and (5) International students were motivated and engaged in English learning while doing digital poetry. This study also makes some recommendations in terms of poetry and digital poetry teaching in the American classroom and the ESL/EFL classroom as well as suggestions for future research.