Emotions in second language poetry writing: a poetic inquiry into Japanese EFL students’ language learning experiences

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This poetic inquiry investigates second language (L2) learners’ experiences of English language learning and examines the role of emotions in the language learning process.

Design/methodology: The methodology chosen in the current study is qualitative, case-study research through which 209 English poems written by twenty-one Japanese EFL college students were coded and categorized into several thematic issues.

Findings: This study reveals fourteen different thematic issues and twenty-two different emotional responses regarding their English language learning experiences. Poetry illustrated here not only expresses their positive and negative emotions but also represents their challenges, desires, hardship, and failure in their language learning journey.

Originality/value: This study also exemplifies how poetry writing as a form of ‘meaningful literacy’ (Hanauer 2012) can transform the traditional EFL classroom and provide some pedagogical and methodological implications for L2 poetry writing in the EFL context.

KEYWORDS:

• Second language writing
• poetic inquiry
• emotions
• L2 learning experiences
• Japanese EFL students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 With the English curriculum reform, English has been introduced as a subject in the fifth grade since April 2020.

2 The MEXT has also set benchmarks of Grade Pre-1 for Japanese teachers of English in middle schools.

3 One participant submitted his book with only nine poems.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Atsushi Iida

Atsushi Iida (Ph.D., Indiana University of Pennsylvania) is an associate professor of English and the Chair of Foreign Language Education at Gunma University, JAPAN. His research interests include second language writing, poetry writing, literature in second language education, and writing for scholarly publication.

Bee Chamcharatsri

Bee Chamcharatsri (Ph.D., Indiana University of Pennsylvania) is a joint-appointed associate professor in Department of Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies and Department of English at the University of New Mexico. His research interests include sociocultural theory, emotions and writing, second language writing, World Englishes, and arts-based research.