Teaching Poetry Writing in the Communicative EFL Classroom

Abstract

This paper analyses the influence of Content and Language Integrated Learning and Task-Based Language Teaching on the educational paradigm. The creation of the Common European Framework of Reference further stimulated the shift in educational theory from explicit instruction towards a communicative approach. This approach relies heavily on somewhat recent theories in language acquisition research, namely the research of Krashen (1980), Long (1989), Swain (2005) and Ellis (2005), who emphasise the use of meaningful interaction in second language acquisition over learning grammatical principles by heart. This development provides new opportunities for a change in foreign language teaching by focusing on skills development and content teaching to achieve linguistic competence goals. Poetry can provide a key contribution to this development by its diverse nature, comprising reading, writing, listening and speaking within a single format. A haiku and a collaborative poetry lesson plan are provided to be used in EFL CLIL contexts.