The Formeaning Response Approach: Poetry in the EFL Classroom
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Ha rl a n Ke ll e m
The Formeaning Response
Approach: Poetry in the
EFL Classroom
I
n English as a Foreign Language rooms, see Paran 2006.) Although
(EFL) classrooms, where acquisi- these two approaches are typically
tion of English is the ultimate considered mutually exclusive, one
goal, one of the main tasks for the way to marry the two when teach-
teacher is to provide students with ing poetry is to use what I call the
language input and activities that best Formeaning Response approach. This
aid them in their learning process. As approach places equal importance on
different researchers have reported, the study of language elements and
including poetry-based activities in the on responding personally to poetry.
EFL classroom is beneficial (Hanauer This article will first review the Stylis-
2001; Maley and Duff 1989). Among tic and Reader-Response approaches
other reasons, poetry is a source of and their roles in second language
content-rich reading material; a model acquisition, and will then demon-
of creative language in use; a way to strate how to combine them to teach
poetry in the EFL classroom with the
introduce vocabulary in context; and
Formeaning Response approach.
a way to focus students’ attention on
English pronunciation, rhythm, and Teaching poetry with the
stress. Stylistic approach
Two main pedagogical approach- According to Short (1996), stylis-
es to teaching poetry and literature tics is the direct application of linguis-
have their roots in literary criticism: tic evidence to interpret and analyze
(1) Stylistics, an approach that analyz- literature, and is a general analytical
es the language forms of the text, and tool that uses explanations of formal
(2) Reader-Response, an approach aspects of a poem to discuss mean-
that concerns itself with the reader’s ing; for instance, lexical repetition
interaction with the text. (For a histo- can be used to strengthen the impact
ry of using literature in language class- of a word, and the number of turns
12 2009 N u m b e r 4 | E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u ma certain speaker has in relation to another poetry reading, Tomlinson (1998) emphasizes
speaker in a poem indicates his or her relative the need to allow language learners to experi-
impact or importance. ence reading in a risk-free environment. For
Because language is the subject and focus example, when classroom tasks are involved,
of instruction, stylistic analysis strongly repre- it is best to have students draw pictures or talk
sents the EFL instructional perspective. EFL about how parts of a story relate to their own
teaching activities in which students analyze lives. Tomlinson stresses that it is important
poetry stylistically can provide opportunities that reading remain an experience, and that
to explicate the formal features of English— students should not be asked questions they
including the levels of phonology, vocabulary, might get wrong.
grammar, and discourse—and relate them Martin and Laurie (1993), who surveyed
to an understanding of the poem. Rosenkjar participants studying French as a foreign lan-
(2006) gives examples of language-centered guage in Australia about their attitudes toward
activities used for poetry teaching in a uni- literature, recommend that teachers permit
versity EFL class in Japan, where students do students to integrate and relate what they are
the following: reading to their own personal experiences.
• highlight complete sentences in a poem Liaw (2001) studied the effects of Reader-
with alternating colors Response theory in an EFL course taught in a
• categorize words from a poem into logi- Taiwanese university. The students wrote per-
cal groups sonal responses to short stories, and they were
• circle personal pronouns and find a pat- most interested in the texts when they could
tern personally relate and respond to the characters
• underline the main verbs and themes of the stories. The students felt
Buckledee (2002) offers similar activities from that taking their individual responses into
a university EFL class in Italy, where students account clarified the relevance of literature to
look at a poem and answer questions about their language learning goals.
verb tenses, possessive adjectives, and singular There is also evidence that not including
versus plural forms. students’ personal backgrounds with the study
of literature has a negative effect on language
Teaching poetry with the Reader- learning. In a survey of EFL students and
Response approach teachers in private high schools in Istanbul,
The Reader-Response approach moves the Akyel and Yalçin (1990) found that the stu-
focus of reading from the author and text to dents did not see literature as a way to reach
the reader. The approach treats the creation language learning goals because they were
of meaning as inseparable from the act of often not called upon to respond person-
reading. (For more on the Reader-Response ally to literature, nor were the language-based
approach, see Schultz 2001, 6–10.) activities in the classroom communicatively
A wide range of research extols the benefits useful. Likewise, Davis et al. (1992) found
of the Reader-Response approach for second that although students in EFL contexts have
language acquisition. One example is provid- favorable attitudes toward literature, language
ed by Ali (1993), who incorporated the theory learning goals are not realized when the teach-
while teaching EFL to engineering students at ing style does not allow for personal responses
a university in Malaysia. Ali found that when that would make the literature relevant to
students personally responded to a short story, learners.
they became engaged in independent meaning
making, which enhanced their reading experi- Transactional theory
ence. Davis (1989) draws exclusively on Iser’s It is also important to mention Transac-
(1978) Reader-Response theory and discusses tional theory, which is linked to the Reader-
its potential applications to foreign language Response approach and clearly explains the
pedagogy. Davis also calls for the experience of reciprocal reaction that occurs between the
“what happens during reading” to be the foun- reader and the text. According to Fish (1980),
dation of meaning (Davis 1989, 424; italics it is more accurate to consider what literature
in the original). In what he calls experiential does as the reader encounters a literary text
E n g l i s h TE a c h i n g F o r u m | Number 4 2009 13than to try to describe what the text means, tion of meaning through focusing on formal
because the meaning is an event that is gener- aspects is due to a procedural error that
ated through the participation between the did not allow for the participants’ aesthetic
reader and the text. According to Rosenblatt reading of the poem. And in Hall’s (2003)
(1978), reading is also an event that involves response to Hanauer, he argues that pleasure
a nonlinear transaction between the text and and understanding, not understanding alone,
the reader; meaning is not created by a pre- are equally important in reading poetry. It is
conceived interpretation of the text but by the task of the teacher, he writes, to “motivate,
the unique individual, whose emotions, back- to contextualize and to individualize often
ground, and ideas create meaning during a anxious and insecure readers’ experiences of
particular time and setting. Rosenblatt (1978) texts to promote pleasure and understanding”
places reading transactions on a scale from the (Hall 2003, 398; italics in the original).
efferent stance, or reading to get information, While some researchers feel that an analy-
to the aesthetic stance, or reading for the expe- sis of language forms and style is paramount
rience or for pleasure. Tutas (2006), who con- to the study of poetry in the EFL context,
ducted an empirical study about the effects on other researchers claim that it is the personal
EFL learners exposed to Rosenblatt’s (1978) relationship with poetic themes that positively
scales, found that responding aesthetically to affects learning English. This dichotomy does
literature facilitates students’ enjoyment and not need to exist, and I am proposing to com-
engagement with literature. Hirvela (1996) bine both approaches into one.
also explores the way that Rosenblatt’s trans-
actional approach is applied in the EFL The Formeaning Response approach to
classroom. He argues that the meaning that teaching poetry in a language classroom
is created during reading is produced through I have coined the term formeaning (form +
a transaction between the learner and the meaning) to represent Stylistics, the language-
text, which is key to the successful teaching centered approach to teaching poetry. Form
of literature. and meaning are inseparable in a stylistic
analysis, because to correctly describe and
The tension between Stylistic and understand a language form—such as a lexi-
Reader-Response approaches cal item or grammatical structure—one must
It has often been argued that reading a consider the form in a meaningful context.
poem is different from analyzing its linguistic Therefore, form and meaning are not two
parts. Gower (1986) states that stylisticians separate aspects to consider when analyzing
are concerned only with analyzing the lan- poetry—they must be considered one and the
guage of a poem, and he recommends the same. EFL teachers know that learners must
inclusion of personal responses in which stu- focus on language itself in any type of read-
dents talk about whether they liked the poem ing, and especially poetry, which often has
or thought it was any good, a practice that is uncommon usage issues and utilizes rhyming,
likely “anathema” to academics involved in metaphor, and even format to create mean-
stylistics (129). This observation is indicative ing. EFL students are primed to attend to
of the sharp divide between the Stylistic and linguistic features because they aim to learn
Reader-Response approaches in the context of a foreign language, and successful lessons and
EFL instruction. activities must be relevant to this linguistic
The process that learners go through in goal. When classroom activities include sty-
understanding and discussing a poem was listic analysis, the language itself takes center
empirically researched by Hanauer (2001), stage, and discussions of meaning must derive
who reported that learners constructed mean- from and coincide with discussions of linguis-
ing “95.94 per cent” of the time by focusing tic features.
on and discussing the linguistic elements of a The Formeaning Response approach’s
poem (316). His research about the primacy response component, which comes from Read-
of language analysis to construct meaning did er-Response theory, is based on recognizing
not go unchallenged. Mattix (2002) argues that when students personally relate to liter-
that the learners’ 95.94 percent construc- ary themes, the subject matter becomes more
14 2009 Number 4 | E n g l i s h TE a c h i n g F o r u mrelevant—and that this relevance, in turn, Form and meaning activities
assists the learning process. When students After the warm-up activities, stu-
relate their own experiences and beliefs to dents are ready to look at the poem. But
make sense of a poem and its language, there instead of reading the poem in its entirety,
is often less direct focus on the linguistic they can participate in activities like the fol-
forms. This is because students construct an lowing and focus on the form and meaning of
overall meaning through a transactional pro- the poem’s essential linguistic elements.
cess largely based on their own backgrounds, • Alternative words exercise. In this mul-
memories, and ideas. tiple-choice exercise, individual words
The combination of the Stylistics and throughout a poem are put in paren-
Reader-Response approaches makes poetry theses. Then, two or three alternative
learning motivational and personally rele- words are added to each original one
vant to students. The Formeaning Response as choices, and students as a whole
approach is designed to bridge the gap between class or in groups choose which word
aesthetic and stylistic reading approaches, and they think is most suitable (see Maley
to show how pleasure and understanding can and Duff 1989, 39). This activity gives
coincide and feed off of each other. Following students a chance to look at individual
are examples of activities that teachers can words in the context of the surrounding
use to teach poetry by using the Formeaning lines, and to think about fine distinc-
Response approach. tions in meaning and how vocabulary
items work together in the poem.
Classroom activities and the Formeaning • Listening cloze. Certain words are
Response approach blanked out in a poem, and as the
Teaching poetry or literature is similar to teacher reads the poem out loud, the
implementing any EFL activity in that teach- students fill in the blanks with the miss-
ers must consider the language level of the stu- ing words. This exercise offers students
dents so that the material selected is not too another way to focus their attention on
difficult. It is also important to stress that all individual words in context.
students can and should freely express them- • Listing. Students make a list of words in
selves when discussing poetry. This freedom a poem; this could be a list of pronouns
of expression ensures a collaborative, learner- or verbs or concrete objects. Students
centered classroom that takes into account the then manipulate the list by ranking the
EFL students’ individual differences, learning words in order of importance or group-
goals, and affective factors. ing them together into categories based
A good way to ease students into a poetry on their characteristics or definitions.
lesson is to give them a general feeling for The above exercises focus attention on
the ideas presented in the poem by provid- individual linguistic items and push students
ing a warm-up activity. Students should first to make choices based on a limited context
brainstorm and express their opinions about rather than on the entire poem. This is a
the themes of the poem. Initially, they may necessary first step in helping students realize
not feel confident that they can simultane- how they can point to actual language and
ously express their opinions and refer to the form in the poem when expressing their own
linguistic aspects of a poem, so teachers might ideas as readers.
want to choose warm-up activities that do not
necessarily refer to the language in the poem, Response activities
but to a theme or image. For example, teach- As students read the poem in its entirety,
ers can show a picture of an item or character the following activities help them discover
and let students answer questions about the and express what the poem means to them as
picture, or have students interview each other individuals.
about personal experiences related to the • Discussion questions. In pairs, small
themes of the poem. In this way, students groups, or as a whole class, students
activate the background knowledge that will discuss how they would feel if they were
help them analyze and understand the poem. a character in the poem, or speculate
E n g l i s h TE a c h i n g F o r u m | Number 4 2009 15about what a character in a poem will develops statements that either relate to
do next and why. the language of the poem or are associ-
• Draw pictures. Students draw pictures ated with its main theme. Students
depicting scenes or characters in a mark the statements as True or False,
poem. This activity lets them move then discuss the reasons for their choic-
from linguistic to pictorial representa- es. This exercise is more formeaning-
tion of a poem; doing so requires an focused if the students have to make
understanding of the poem’s language choices based on linguistic evidence
and themes. (such True/False statements might be
• Role play. Adopting the role of char- “The poem is written in the present
acters in the poem forces students to tense” or “The narrator of the poem
think about and act out their feelings is angry about the situation”), and is
and ideas in relation to the themes of more response-focused if students have
the poem. to personally relate to the ideas in the
• Letter writing. Follow-up activities are poem (e.g., “The poem makes me feel
an effective way for students to respond happy” or “If I were the narrator of the
to poetry. For example, students can poem, I would react in the same way”).
write a letter to a character in the poem,
giving that character advice or offering Conclusion
sympathy, or write a diary entry while The Stylistic and Reader-Response
imagining that they are the character approaches are both useful for teaching poet-
in the poem. By writing to a charac- ry in the EFL classroom. However, instead
ter, or as a character, students must of strictly following one of the approaches,
place themselves in the situation of the the teacher can develop activities that help
poem. students work with the language and engage
with and personally respond to the material.
Formeaning Response activities By designing activities that allow students to
When feasible, it is desirable to combine focus on linguistic aspects of a poem as well as
the two types of activities mentioned above. personally relate to ideas represented in poet-
Teachers can adjust lessons and activities to ry, teachers can motivate students to attend
provide scaffolding where needed, based upon and respond to both the form and the overall
whether students need assistance with the meaning. Combining both approaches in the
language in the poem or are ready to apply same lesson, and in the same exercise when
personal experiences and ideas. possible, anchors students in the language of
• Discussion of the alternative words exer- a poem while inviting them to express their
cise. Teachers can easily adapt this activ- own responses to the themes of the poem.
ity to different classrooms and students. Some EFL teachers may approach the
Each student explains to a partner why idea of using poetry in their classrooms with
he or she chose certain words in the trepidation. That is understandable. Two
previously mentioned alternative words researchers who express reservations about
exercise. Students’ reasons can range using literature in the language classroom are
from phonological (“I like the way it Edmondson (1997) and Horowitz (1990).
sounds”) to discourse (“That’s what Horowitz’s argument is that the language used
he’s supposed to say”) explanations. in literature may not be richer than language
Although the students are responding used in some nonfiction genres (164), while
to the language of the poem, this activ- Edmondson asserts that literature is not an
ity deepens their understanding of the essential piece of the language learning puzzle.
main themes and ideas, and it helps My stance, however, is that poetry can be
them relate the poem to their lives. a useful type of input for EFL learners who,
• True/False exercise. A True/False exercise by definition, need to understand linguistic
can be formeaning-focused, response- aspects to reach meaning, and it also deepens
focused, or both, depending on the their acquisition of English by giving them
type of written statements. The teacher the opportunity to describe and interpret
16 2009 Number 4 | E n g l i s h Te a c h i n g F o r u mtheir experiences and to express their opin- Iser, W. 1978. The act of reading: A theory of aesthetic
ions in an interesting, meaningful context. response. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press.
By studying poetry with the Formeaning
Liaw, M. L. 2001. Exploring literary responses in
Response approach, students are attending to an EFL classroom. Foreign Language Annals 34
the language of a poem, using that linguistic (1): 35–45.
evidence to discuss the poem, and relating the Maley, A., and A. Duff. 1989. The inward ear:
themes to their own ideas and lives. Poetry in the language classroom. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
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