Using poetry in Second Language class

Using poetry in Second Language class is quite helpful for second language learners. According to Collie and Slater (2004), poems offer a rich variety of text and are much enjoyed by teachers and students. The brilliant concision and strong imaginary created in the poem brings a powerful overall effect to language learners.
The advantage of literary text is that it provides a novel way of revising grammar and vocabulary and advancing skills practice. The use of literary text also offers a highly motivating context for practicing the requisite language area (Lazar, 2004).

When using poetry in language classes, it exploits unusual use of language in it as a basis for interpretive abilities. Poetry is often linguistically linked to lexical or grammatical area, which is being taught in certain lessons and is an enjoyable way of reinforcing poetry. Furthermore, certain linguistic features in a poem contain areas specified in the syllabus, so poems could be used as the basis for a lesson which increases students’ awareness of these linguistic features. Poetry rich in dialogue offers students with dramatic script and through drama students become occupied in the free flowing conversation and thus their oral skills develop. Poems which express strong emotions, attitudes, feelings and opinions are more constructive than those which are gentle, descriptive or neutral (Lazar, 2004).

In addition to these, the key aspects of poetical language include the idea that the language dictates meaning rather than the other way around. Besides, poetry seeks to engage the reader in the text, placing importance on reader contribution in the construction of meaning. By breaking the poetic language, the poet is requiring the reader to find a new way to approach the text (ericdigests.org, 2007).

Moreover, poetry contains unusual syntax and by asking the students to identify what is strange, the students will reach at some kind of conclusion about the stylistic effects expressed by the language and hence the meaning of poem. Students could be asked to guess the overall meanings of poems rich in vocabulary and later to find the meaning from the dictionary to improve their vocabulary. On the other hand, if the language used in poems is used as the basis of classroom study, it is a way of integrating poetry into the syllabus, so poetry is not only seen as an activity done in literature class, but also as a way of improving language knowledge (Lazar, 2004).

When selecting poems, teachers should choose poems which are suitable to students’ interests, language level and motivational level. Poems and the length of the poem chosen to this category produce strong response from the reader and motivate students to reading of poetry in second language (Collie and Slater, 2004).

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