"I immediately think about philosophy" : A study of learners' attitudes toward English poetry in the EFL classroom

Abstract: Poetry has great potential benefits for second language (L2) classrooms as a source for increasing language awareness and linguistic structures different from the rules learners may be taught in class. This potential of poetry and methods for teaching poetry is relatively well researched, while the learner perspective has received comparatively little attention. The aim of this study is to explore learners’ attitudes toward poetry after working with poetry in English foreign language (EFL) classrooms as well as the correlation between reading habits and attitude. To accomplish this aim, a mixed approach was used: two classes read poetry in English class and were asked to participate in questionnaires and interviews both before and after the lessons. The results show that working with poetry has a real possibility of showing learners that poetry may include more types of text than they first expect, and may also affect their attitude toward the difficulty level of English texts. Regarding correlation, reading habits appear to be an important factor for motivation and confidence, but less important for their opinions of reading poetry in class. The results show the complexity of the matter of learners’ attitudes toward poetry, and the importance of a learner focus when working with poetry in the L2 classroom.