The use of poetry for EFL: Exploring the beliefs of primary school trainees

Abstract

This study explores the perceptions of primary EFL (English as a foreign language) trainee teachers on the potential of poetry as an instrument to enhance their knowledge of English. The aim was to determine whether or not learners’ opinions coincided with theoretical principles established by scholars in favour of using literature in EFL classrooms. An 18-item questionnaire was distributed to 270 trainees to obtain quantitative and qualitative data on alleged linguistic, motivational and intercultural benefits. The results confirm that trainees believe poetry-based English lessons to be more useful for developing language skills, pronunciation, grammatical and lexical knowledge than for intercultural or motivational gains. The present study contributes to the academic expansion of the field in two main ways: i) by providing evidence which empirically tests the predominantly theoretical drive of work available to date; and ii) by offering a systematic and holistic exploration of the potential advantages of poetry which goes beyond the methodologically inconsistent and fragmentary views offered by existing research.