서강대학교

초록/요약

In the search for ways to heighten motivation for English-learning students in Korea, this research project utilizes what Freire asserts as a liberatory pedagogy, while undertaking to explore the possibilities of teaching language learners to participate actively in classes. This study suggests a series of models which are designed for facilitating learners’ cognitive and affective abilities in language learning. Conducted with third grade middle school students, these classroom experiments set out to test the hypothesis that poems could bear pedagogical value ─ promoting language learning while motivating students ─ and to test the viability of learner-oriented writing activities in class ─ through using a range of heuristic methods ─ aiming toward fostering each learner’s motivation through foregrounding creative play within language learning pedagogical contexts. In this investigation, I use three poems from T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and have chosen these particular poems for my young adult English learners because these genre texts contain intriguing stories that may attract the attention of young learners; further, it is speculated that young language learners may have their interest piqued when reading second-language literary texts alongside mixed media versions of the same (including in this instance Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical adaptation of Eliot’s poems, Cats). Also, word choice and literary composition are anticipated to enlarge language learners’ knowledge of English vocabulary and syntax. Integral to my investigation is Natalie Hess’s discussion in “Real language through poetry: a formula for meaning making” in which the researcher asserts that reading poetry and making creative writing promotes engaged and meaning-filled pedagogical experiences in which students are encouraged to give particular (lexical, syntactical) shape to their own life stories; the initiative here lies with the student, and Hess finds motivation to be augmented through such learner-lead exercises. In total, three lessons have been delivered to eight third-grade middle school students whose language proficiency rests at an intermediate level. Classes were conducted with minimal interference from the lecturer, and students were asked to utilize their personal experiences in order to produce a short work of creative composition, using structures they learned in the classes. In order to verify the effectiveness of the experiment (cognitive and affective), I have employed a learner survey based in self-evaluation in order to have students assess their own L2 acquisitions through these simple pedagogical strategies. Though the data set is small, the results suggest that after my L2 creative writing classes, students improved not only in their motivation toward learning English; a number of proficiencies were also acquired while using the L2 as a creative material.