Researching Chinese History and Culture through Poetry Writing in an EFL Composition Class

Abstract

This article describes a pedagogical project designed to optimize opportunities for individual, creative expression in L2 academic writing. Conducted in four EFL Composition classes in a university in mainland China, a writing project using poetry as a research methodology, first introduced by Hanauer (2010), was implemented and assessed for effectiveness. The writing activities for this project were designed to empower individual voices, advance L2 research writing skills, and provide "opportunities to construct deeply 'local' meanings" (Blommaert, 2005, p. 390). Following a genrebased approach to classic English poetry, students researched personal memory of Chinese history and culture through poetry writing. The second language writers/poets created a body of over 200 poems that both informed and individualized personal understandings and cultural identity. In this paper, I argue that the use of poetry as a research methodology is an effective tool for exploring personal memories and knowledge of national history and culture. I further argue that creative writing in L2 academic contexts equalizes linguistic inequities, establishes a unique space for personal identity negotiation, and promotes second language development.

Prospective ESL/EFL Teachers’ Perceptions towards Writing Poetry in a Second Language: Difficulty, Value, Emotion, and Attitude

“…Also, both groups acknowledge the values of writing poetry in a second language. Their perceived values are in line with existing literature on the values of writing poetry (see Chamcharatsri, 2013;Garvin, 2013;Hanauer, 2010Hanauer, , 2015Iida, 2012aIida, , 2012bIida, , 2016aIida, , 2016bLiao, 2016;Tin, 2010). Therefore, having resistance from students should not discourage poetry writing instruction in ESL/EFL classrooms.…”

“…On the other hand, while prospective ESL/EFL teachers, advanced ESL students, acknowledge the feasible skills as the value, they are also able to recognize the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and affective development. These perceived values are addressed in existing literature, such as self-discovery, expressing emotion, or connect self-experiences with others (see Garvin, 2013;Hanauer, 2010Hanauer, , 2011Iida, 2016b;Liao, 2016). These lines of research along with the current study indicate that ESL/EFL students are aware that they can benefit from writing poetry in a second language.…”

“…This shows an increasing interest in utilizing poetry writing in both ESL and EFL contexts. Among these studies, many have addressed the value of writing poetry in a second language: (a) re-experiencing the moments in one's poems and enabling the readers to connect others' experiences with theirs (Garvin, 2013;Hanauer, 2010, 2011, Iida, 2016b, (b) expressing emotion (Chamcharatsri, 2013), (c) self-discovery (Garvin, 2013;Hanauer 2010, 2011, Liao, 2016, (d) transferability of skills to prose writing (Iida, 2012b), and (e) linguistic development (Hanauer, 2010;Iida, 2012b;Tin, 2010). From these standpoints, writing poetry is considered as a process that is free, expressive, transformational, and enjoyable for L2 student writers.…”

“…Going beyond linguistic characteristics, there are scholars who tackled the inquiry on what ESL/EFL students compose in their poetry in terms of the content level (see Garvin, 2013;Hanauer, 2010;Iida, 2016a). In Garvin's study, 75 EFL Chinese students were guided to write three poems based on a "personal memory of a famous person, place, or object/event in Chinese history and culture" (p. 82).…”

“…In order to humanize language classrooms for ESL/EFL students to express themselves, Hanauer (2011) proposed a meaningful literacy learning approach through writing poetry. Many scholars have studied the use of poetry writing in ESL/EFL classrooms: (a) the use of poetry writing practice in ESL/EFL classrooms (see Garvin, 2013;Hanauer, 2011;Tin, 2010), (b) the connection of emotion in writing poetry and L1/L2 languages (see Chamcharatsri, 2013), (c) the values of poetry writing (see Iida, 2012b), (d) the characteristics of ESL/EFL poetry (see Hanauer, 2010;Iida, 2012bIida, , 2016a, and (e) the poetic identity and voice in ESL/EFL poems (see Hanauer, 2010Hanauer, , 20142015;Iida, 2016b;Liao, 2016). While these studies have contributed to the understandings and pedagogical ideas on the topic of poetry writing in a second language, few empirical studies focus on examining how ESL/EFL students perceive writing poetry in their second language (see Iida, 2012a;Liao & Roy, 2017).…”