Poetry in primary school efl classroom: A language based approach

Much study has been done on the strategies for efficient language learning and teaching. As one of the strategies, representational language learning develops students? awareness of language (McRae, 1996, p.19). Some texts contain features of representational language demonstrating how language works. In addition to their motivating quality, literary texts, which have distinguished linguistic features, are the most appropriate source for representational learning. Instead of traditional literature teaching approaches, applying a language-based approach to literary texts which also gives way to literary criticism is favoured. Language Based Approach (LBA) focuses on the integration of language and literature in classroom teaching (Carter, 1996, p.2). It introduces to students, awareness of what literary communication is and how it works, which is the basic problem of teaching literature (Widdowson, 1975, p.70). In this study it is suggested that LBA affects students? awareness of language use and thinking skills. Considering the rich linguistic patterns of poetry, some poems selected both from British and American Literature will be analyzed in the sense of LBA by eighth grade students at a state school. This study will investigate how the students? awareness of language use and thinking skills are affected adopting LBA whose implications may lead to different strategies of text analyses in English language learning classes. Key Words: Language Based Approach, Language Awareness, Critical Thinking Skills