A poetic inquiry into a Japanese pre-service teacher’s English language learning trajectory: Pedagogical and methodological implications for teacher education
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online May, 2025
A poetic inquiry into a Japanese pre-service teacher’s English language learning trajectory: Pedagogical and methodological implications for teacher education
This qualitative, case-study research explores the English language learning history of a Japanese pre-service teacher by analysing five English-language poems and a self-reflective essay regarding her experiences of learning the target language. The methodology chosen in this study was a poetic inquiry through which the investigator reconstructed and analysed the writer’s subject position expressed in the actual descriptions of each poem. The self-reflection essay was also thematically analysed to examine how the participant saw and understood her learning experiences. Research findings showed that the poems illustrated here expressed both positive and negative emotions concerning her personally meaningful experiences of learning English as well as presented her identities as a second language (L2) learner and an L2 user. This study also revealed that, from a future English teacher’s viewpoint, she described in the essay some potential problems of teaching English in the classroom in response to her L2 learning experiences. Overall, the task of poetry writing was a meaningful literacy and reflective practice through which the participant was able to reconsider her L2 learning experiences and explore more effective ways to learn English as a life-long learner. In addition, she could benefit from these experiences in her role as a future language teacher.
AzzaroG.Martinez AgudoJ. (2018). The emotions involved in the integration of ICT into L2 teaching: Emotional challenges faced by L2 teachers and implications for teacher education. In Martinez AgudoJ. (Ed.), Emotions in second language teaching: Theory, research and teacher education (pp. 183–203). Springer.
2.
BishopW. (1999). Places to stand: The reflective writer–teacher–writer in composition. College Composition and Communication, 51, 9–31.
3.
BizzaroP.A. (2004). Research and refletion in English studies: The special case of creative writing. College English, 66, 294–309.
4.
BraunV.ClarkeV. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101.
5.
BrownG.T.GebrilA.MichaelidsM.P.RemesalA. (2018). Assessment as an emotional practice: Emotional challenges faced by L2 teachers within assessment. In Martinez AgudoJ. (Ed.), Emotions in second language teaching: Theory, research and teacher education (pp. 205–222). Springer.
6.
ChamcharatsriP.B. (2013). Poetry writing to express love in Thai and in English: A second language (L2) writing perspective. International Journal of Innovation in English Language Teaching, 2, 142–157.
7.
DewaeleJ.M. (2010). Emotions in multiple languages. Palgrave Macmillan.
8.
DewaeleJ.M. (2019). When elephants fly: The lift-off of emotion research in applied linguistics. The Modern Language Journal, 103, 533–536.
9.
DisneyD. (2014). ‘Is this how it’s supposed to work?’ Poetry as a radical technology in L2 creative writing classrooms. In DisneyD. (Ed.), Exploring second language creative writing: Beyond Babel (pp. 41–56). John Benjamins.
10.
FarrellT.S.C. (2015). Promoting teacher reflection in second language education: A framework for TESOL professionals. Routledge.
11.
FurmanR. (2006). Poetic forms and structures in qualitative health research. Qualitative Health Research, 16, 560–565.
12.
GebhardJ.G.OprandyR. (1999). Language teaching awareness: A guide to exploring beliefs and practices. Cambridge University Press.
13.
HanauerD.I. (2004). Poetry and the meaning of life. Pippin.
14.
HanauerD.I. (2010). Poetry as research: Exploring second language poetry writing. John Benjamins.
15.
HanauerD.I. (2011). The scientific study of poetry writing. Scientific Study of Literature, 1, 79–87.
16.
HanauerD.I. (2012a). Meaningful literacy: Writing poetry in the language classroom. Language Teaching, 45, 105–115.
17.
HanauerD.I. (2012b). Growing up in the unseen shadow of the kindertransport: A poetic-narrative autoethnography. Qualitative Inquiry, 18, 845–851.
18.
HanauerD.I. (2015). Being in the second Iraq war: A poetic ethnography. Qualitative Inquiry, 21, 83–106.
19.
IidaA. (2010). Developing voice by composing haiku: A social-expressivist framework for teaching haiku writing in EFL contexts. English Teaching Forum, 48, 28–34.
20.
IidaA. (2012). The value of poetry writing: Cross-genre literacy development in a second language. Scientific Study of Literature, 2, 60–82.
21.
IidaA. (2016a). Exploring earthquake experiences: A study of second language learners’ ability to express and communicate deeply traumatic events in poetic form. System, 57, 120–133.
22.
IidaA. (2016b). Poetic identity in second language writing: Exploring an EFL learner’s study abroad experience. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2, 1–14.
23.
IidaA. (2017a). Voicing in second language poetry writing: Implications to English as liberal arts education in the Japanese university context. In The 6th Japan Association for International Liberal Arts (JAILA) Annual Conference Proceedings. JAILA. Available at: http://jaila.org/activity/taikai20170218/proceedings20170218/jaila-proc-006-05-20170218.pdf (accessed March 2022).
24.
IidaA. (2017b). Expressing voice in a foreign language: Multiwriting haiku pedagogy in the EFL context. TEFLIN Journal, 28, 260–276.
25.
IidaA. (2018). Living in darkness at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake: A poetic-narrative autoethnography. Qualitative Inquiry, 24, 270–280.
26.
IidaA. (2021). ‘I feel like I can’t avoid dying’: A poetic representation of a survivor’s traumatic experience in the Great East Japan Earthquake. Qualitative Inquiry, 27, 45–58.
27.
IidaA.ChamcharatsriB. (2022). Emotions in second language poetry writing: A poetic inquiry into Japanese EFL students’ language learning experiences. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 16, 53–66.
28.
IvaničR. (1998). Writing and identity: The discoursal construction of identity in academic writing. John Benjamins.
29.
KimK.KimS. (2018). A poetic inquiry into learning English as an additional language: Korean learners’ perceptions through sijo, Korean poetry. Language Awareness, 27, 295–311.
30.
KimK.ParkG. (2020). ‘It is more expressive for me’: A translingual approach to meaningful literacy instruction through sijo poetry. TESOL Quarterly, 54, 281–309.
31.
LantolfJ.P.SwainM. (2019). On the emotion–cognition dialectic: A sociocultural response to Prior. The Modern Language Journal, 103, 528–530.
32.
LeggoC. (2009). Living love stories: Fissures, fragments, fringes. In PrendergastM.LeggoC.SameshimaP. (Eds.), Poetic inquiry: Vibrant voices in the social sciences (pp. 147–168). Sense.
33.
LiaoF. (2016). Identities in an ESL poetry book: A case study of one Chinese student. The Journal of Literature in Language Teaching, 5, 45–61.
34.
Martinez AgudoJ. (2018). Introduction and overview. In Martinez AgudoJ. (Ed.), Emotions in second language teaching: Theory, research and teacher education (pp. 1–16). Springer.
35.
MezirowJ. (1990). Fostering critical reflection in adulthood: A guide to transformative and emancipatory learning. Jossey-Bass.
36.
NagamineT. (2018). L2 teacher’s professional burnout and emotional stresses: Facing frustration and demotivation toward one’s profession in a Japanese EFL context. In Martinez AgudoJ. (Ed.), Emotions in second language teaching: Professional challenges and teacher education (pp. 259–275). Springer.
37.
NagamineT.FujiedaY.IidaA. (2018). The role of emotions in reflective teaching in second language classrooms: Felt sense, emotionality, and practical knowledge acquisition. In Martinez AgudoJ. (Ed.), Emotions in second language teaching: Professional challenges and teacher education (pp. 145–163). Springer.
38.
NortonB. (2013). Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation. 2nd edition.Multilingual Matters.
39.
PavlenkoA. (2007). Autobiographic narratives as data in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 28(2), 163–188. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm008
40.
PennebakerJ.W.BoydR.L.JordanK.BlackburnK. (2015). The development and psychometric properties of LIWC2015. University of Texas at Austin.
41.
PrendergastM. (2009). Introduction: The phenomena of poetry in research. In PrendergastM.LeggoC.SameshimaP. (Eds.), Poetic inquiry: Vibrant voices in the social sciences (pp. xix–xlii). Sense.
42.
PriorM.T. (2016). Emotion and discourse in L2 narrative research. Multilingual Matters.
43.
PriorM.T. (2019). Elephants in the room: An ‘affective turn’, or just feeling out way?The Modern Language Journal, 103, 516–527.
44.
RichardsJ.R.FarrellT.S.C. (2005). Professional development for language teachers: Strategies for teacher learning. Cambridge Universtiy Press.
SameshimaP.VandermauseR. (2009). Methamphetamine addiction and recovery: Poetic inquiry to feel. In PrendergastM.LeggoC.SameshimaP. (Eds.), Poetic inquiry: Vibrant voices in the social sciences (pp. 275–285). Sense.
47.
TayW. (2014). Curriculum as cultural critique: Creative writing pedagogy in Hong Kong. In DisneyD. (Ed.), Exploring second language creative writing: Beyond Babel (pp. 103–118). John Benjamins.
48.
WatanabeA. (2017). Reflective practice as professional development: Experiences of teachers of English in Japan. Multilingual Matters.
49.
XuY. (2018). A methodological review of L2 teacher emotion research: Advances, challenges and future directions. In Martinez AgudoJ. (Ed.), Emotions in second language teaching: Theory, research and teacher education (pp. 35–49). Springer.
