Colluding in the ‘Torture’ of Poetry: Shared Beliefs and Assessment

Assessment is most often held responsible for teachers' and students' mechanical approach to poetry in class. This article shows how examination pressure leads a group of poetry teachers and A Level English students at a post‐16 college in Malta to perpetuate an approach to poetry that is characterised by an emphasis on finding hidden meaning. However, it is also argued that to blame only assessment for this approach is to run the risk of ignoring the shared beliefs that teachers and students have about poetry.     

Taking Poetry off its Pedestal: The Place of Poetry Writing in an Assessment-Driven Curriculum

This paper examines the location and status of poetry writing within an assessment‐driven curriculum. Drawing on the critical perspectives of Carter, Benton, D'Arcy and Driver and the observations of a sample group of secondary English teachers about assessment of their pupils' poetry, it argues for the development of an assessment model that could remove the mystique surrounding poetry and establish it on an equal footing with prose text types in the National Curriculum for English.     

大学英语中诗歌教学的意义及策略研究

在大学英语课堂中,诗歌教学一直被广大师生所忽略。诗歌是一种最纯粹的语言艺术,学习英语诗歌能有效地提高学生的英语水平,文化素养,培养其人文精神。在教学策略上要注重鼓励学生反复朗读,发挥想象,尝试改写简单易懂的诗歌,并且利用现代多媒体技术,培养学生的学习兴趣,调动其学习积极性。     

Shared Writing via Contemporary Poetry

This article describes how some basic tenets of shared writing can be applied to a class of 16‐year‐old L2 speakers of English preparing for a high stakes examination in which poetry is assessed by means of the traditional critical response. It examines how by means of this technique students who have never written any poetry can develop the confidence to write their own poems. By using a poem by Gerard Woodward as an example, this article also demonstrates that creative writing helps to boost students’ engagement with the contemporary poetry they are expected to read for examination purposes.     

Evolution and Contingency: Poetry,Curriculum and Culture in Victoria,Australia

This article explores the changing place of poetry studies in the broader English curriculum of Victoria, Australia. Its focus is on how students learning to become English teachers engage with poetry studies. Setting this problem within the context of pedagogical theory and evidence about the evolving Victorian curriculum, we have interviewed six first‐year students to explore their perspectives on the study of poetry. A clear finding is that exposure to the study of poetry is very limited in Australia’s secondary school system. A more surprising finding is that students do not clearly recognize their exposure to poetry studies as such.     

Becoming Poetry Teachers: Studying Poems Through Choral Reading

Abstract

The poet, Seamus Heaney, argues that transformations for both teachers and students may be engendered through recognising the connections and distinctions between the language of poetry and the language of everyday life. This article explores some of the ways in which choral reading of poetry, using multiple voices like musical instruments, may change student teachers’ perceptions of poetry. Five small groups of Secondary English student teachers on an initial teacher education Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course constructed choral readings, each group working with a different poem. During the session, they wrote journal entries about how creating the readings and listening to other people led them to think differently about studying poetry with students in the classroom as future secondary English teachers. Several months later, a small voluntary group met to recollect the session and consider more critically the potential of choral reading as one possible approach to teaching poetry.     

"陌生化"理论与英语诗歌教学创新

"陌生化"是俄国形式主义文论的一个重要概念。在英语诗歌课堂教学中,适当地以陌生化理论作指导,能有效地避免传统教学模式带来的弊端,促使教师坚持对教与学进行研究,重视诗歌的讲授之道,把对诗歌本质的体会、理解和精神传授给学生,从而激发学生的主动性和创造性,让诗歌教学真正成为文学教育的重要组成部分。     

Poetry writing as expressive pedagogy in an EFL context: Identifying possible assessment tools for haiku poetry in EFL freshman college writing

Japanese poetry, haiku, has been widely accepted in western countries. While previous studies have reported on the applicability of haiku poetry to teaching practices in a variety of contexts, few researchers have discussed assessment which is one of the most important factors in language teaching.The aim of this study is to produce assessment tools for haiku poetry writing as expressive pedagogy at the tertiary level in an EFL Japanese context. The study first discusses the concept of haiku poetry writing as expressive pedagogy, and then describes what factors need to be assessed in haiku writing in terms of peer assessment and teacher assessment. It lastly demonstrates a rubric which consists of analytic rating scales. This study also provides a model for designing a rubric for assessing haiku poetry in English language teaching.     

Poetry – Primary School Pupils’ Knowledge and Attitudes with Specific Reference to Year 5

It is probably true to say that poetry for children is still a fairly neglected area of study. There have been very few studies which have attempted to ascertain what primary pupils prefer in poetry. Such information is vital if teachers are to build upon their pupils’ tastes and experiences. Geoff Fenwick and Denis Burns here discuss the results of a small scale look at children’s poetry preferences. They raise several points which will be of interest to primary teachers interested in using poetry with their classes.     

Poetry and Assessment: An Investigation into Teachers' Perceptions of the Impact of Closed Book Examinations on Teaching and Learning at GCSE

In 2015 the government initiated reforms to GCSE English Literature which included a shift from open book to closed book examinations. This change, now being implemented in schools, has been overlooked in research and policy discourse. This study compares government intentions for the reforms with teachers’ experiences of teaching poetry, using data drawn from interviews with seven teachers. Teachers felt the demands of closed book examinations affected their autonomy, distribution of classroom time and students’ creative relationship with poetry. This study raises questions as to whether closed book examinations are appropriate for assessing poetry and are conducive to a fulfilling poetry education.     

Sounding Sense: The Place,Problems and Potential of Performance in Poetry

Drawing on a strand of findings from the Cambridge Poetry Teaching Project, a small-scale research study co-ordinated through the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, this article examines contemporary understandings of poetry performance in teaching contexts. Positioning these understandings in relation to past practices, we contend that within contemporary English teaching, the experience of performance is now largely separated from knowledge of poems developed through detailed analysis. Through an examination of theories of poetry and language more generally, we argue that performance should be more fully integrated into poetry teaching, and suggest ways in which a consideration of principles and choices relating to performance has the potential to cultivate the resources of the inner ear and to instantiate a kind of knowledge whose educational value should be given equal status with the analytical understanding of poems that currently drives the examination system.     

用诗意化打造高职心理健康课堂教学

诗意化教学能够激励教师成长。用诗意化打造心理健康课堂教学,教师教学语言要诗意化,导语语言要精心打磨,评语语言让学生快乐;走进文本方式要诗意化;课堂对话层面要诗意化,采用教师引领、学生参与、环境契合等策略;课堂教学环节要诗意化,要精心设计课堂结构,仔细雕琢课堂导入,巧妙抓住重点难点,科学选择提问内容。     

Teaching Poetry Reading in Secondary Education: Findings From a Systematic Literature Review

The aim of this study is to review research on poetry reading pedagogy in secondary education from 1990 to 2015. Today there is little research on poetry teaching in Sweden and thus little guidance for secondary teachers. Therefore, this study thematically analyses peer-reviewed articles from English language international journals. Articles were retrieved through a systematic literature review. The results show that many researchers suggest personal response pedagogies mainly developed from Louise M. Rosenblatt’s work. Further, a progression of poetry interpretations seems to require explicit teaching throughout the years of secondary education. Also, current educational politics, heavily influenced by neoliberalism, impose high-stakes examinations that challenge poetry curricula. Teacher education needs to address this issue. Minor themes found were: ontologies in relation to teaching poetry reading, and poetry reading as identity formation/tool for social critique. These could be possible areas for future research.     

Teachers' Subject Philosophies Related to their Assessment Practices

This paper explores the relationship between the subject philosophy of English teachers and their assessment practices. The research is contextualised within the wider debate about the validity and reliability of course work‐based assessment in English. It examines the history of that debate and then looks at ways in which practitioners and exam boards have sought to grapple with the issue of reliability and validity within English assessment. The research contributes to the debate by suggesting, through a small‐scale indicative study, that English teachers are not influenced by their subject philosophies when assessing pupils' course work but by their understanding or ‘construct’ of grade boundaries.     

A Randomized Experiment of a Cognitive Strategies Approach to Text-Based Analytical Writing for Mainstreamed Latino English Language Learners in Grades 6 to 12

Abstract

This study reports Year 1 findings from a multisite cluster randomized controlled trial of a cognitive strategies approach to teaching text-based analytical writing for mainstreamed Latino English language learners (ELLs) in 9 middle schools and 6 high schools. There were 103 English teachers stratified by school and grade and then randomly assigned to the Pathway Project professional development intervention or control group. The Pathway Project trains teachers to use a pretest on-demand writing assessment to improve text-based analytical writing instruction for mainstreamed Latino ELLs who are able to participate in regular English classes. The intervention draws on well-documented instructional frameworks for teaching mainstreamed ELLs. Such frameworks emphasize the merits of a cognitive strategies approach that supports these learners’ English language development. Pathway teachers participated in 46 hrs of training and learned how to apply cognitive strategies by using an on-demand writing assessment to help students understand, interpret, and write analytical essays about literature. Multilevel models revealed significant effects on an on-demand writing assessment (d = .35) and the California Standards Test in English language arts (d = .07).     

Cognitive and Affective Learning Outcomes Resulting from the Use of Behavioral Objectives in Teaching Poetry

Abstract

This investigation was designed to determine whether use of behavioral objectives in teaching poetry results in understanding on all cognitive levels and response on all affective levels. A poetry unit based on behavioral objectives obtained from teachers and pupils through a modified Delphi survey was taught to two ninth grade English classes. Using the Solomon-Four Group Design, data obtained through pre- and post-tests were analyzed by 2x2 analysis of variance. The data revealed that learning and response to poetry as a result of the use of behavioral objectives were significant at the .05 confidence level on every level of the cognitive and affective domains.     

Poetry in the Curriculum: a crisis of confidence

Attitudes to poetry teaching in schools are investigated and relevant studies are shown to highlight reluctance to teach poetry. The study reports an exploratory questionnaire of middle school teachers which reaffirms teachers’ lack of confidence in encouraging classroom work on poetry. A sample of 100 middle school pupils, on the other hand, indicate interest and receptiveness towards poetry despite its neglect by their schools. Implications are raised for in‐service training and for the implementation of National Curriculum requirements.     

英汉诗歌语音意象比较

英汉诗歌具有许多相似之处,从语音重复和节奏等方面对英汉诗歌的语音意象进行比较,分析二者所采用的方法及其产生的艺术效果,从而提高英语诗歌的鉴赏水平.     

Black Performance Poetry

Black performance poetry can be a crucial aid in the teaching of English. It encourages a positive view of black language and culture, and illustrates the links between the oral and literary traditions. This study of eight black performance poets looks at their childhood and school experiences (both Caribbean and English), how and when they started writing and performing, their favourite poets, how they write and what they think of publishing. The significance of performance poetry is discussed, along with its great potential for the teaching of English.     

汉英诗歌的主语人称差异及翻译

汉语诗歌和英语诗歌存在很大差异,主语人称的模糊与明晰便是差异之一。将汉语诗歌（特别是古诗）译为英语必须顾及这一差异。文章探讨了汉英诗歌主语人称差别具有的不同诗学意义,提出了三种汉语诗歌英译时主语人称代词的处理方法。