Using Spoken Word Poetry in English Classrooms to Reduce EFL Students' Speaking Anxiety, Lecture notes of Poetry

Download Using Spoken Word Poetry in English Classrooms to Reduce EFL Students' Speaking Anxiety and more Lecture notes Poetry in PDF only on Docsity! Örebro University Department of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences English Speaking through poetry - Using spoken word poetry to lower speaking anxiety among Swedish EFL learners Author: Sara Törnqvist Id no 890429-0429 Degree Project Essay VT19 Supervisor: Dr. Claire Hogarth Abstract This paper presents a qualitative study investigating whether exercises inspired by spoken word poetry can be used as anxiety-lowering speaking exercises for Grade 9 students in Swedish secondary school and increase their motivation for speaking English in class. My initial hypothesis was that the students would feel less anxious to speak English in class when performing spoken word than when doing oral presentations. I also thought that the students would feel less anxious performing found poems, where the words in poems are taken from a model poem. To test my hypothesis, I conducted a lesson study consisting of three research lessons and interviews with an in-service teacher and three case students. The findings show that while some students did feel less anxious speaking English when performing spoken word poetry, most of the students’ motivation to perform was unaffected by the exercises used in the research lessons. Instead, the research showed that giving the students the opportunity to choose between writing and performing in groups or alone had the most impact on their motivation to perform. Understanding the poems was another factor with great impact on the students’ motivation to perform. These findings are discussed, and it is proposed that teachers who want to use spoken word poetry in their classroom practice should focus on accommodating their teaching practice to the students’ needs, and that more lesson time should be spent on analyzing the poems than on writing them. 1 1. Introduction In Swedish secondary school today, the core content of the English syllabus requires all students to speak English in the classroom. Skolverket writes that students in Grades 7-9 are expected to learn how to tell stories and how to adapt and vary their oral productions, as well as gain knowledge on how to use linguistic aspects such as pronunciation and intonation in order to improve their communication skills (Skolverket, 2011). When the students finish secondary school in Grade 9, they are expected to be able to express themselves in oral productions in different genres and use strategies to improve their oral productions and communication skills. However, students with speaking anxiety need extra support in order to overcome their difficulties and become motivated to speak English in the classroom. In this degree project essay, I will explore whether exercises inspired by spoken word poetry (poetry intended for performance) can be used to lower speaking anxiety among Grade 9 students in Swedish secondary school. The benefits of working with spoken word poetry in schools have been extensively studied, mostly by researchers in the United States. However, little research has been conducted on this subject in Sweden. I am interested in finding out if exercises inspired by spoken word poetry can lower students’ speaking anxiety and increase their motivation to speak English in class. I am researching this subject through a lesson study design for an action research project conducted collaboratively with an in-service teacher of English in Grade 9 at a Swedish secondary school. The lesson study consists of three research lessons and interviews with students and the in-service teacher. Many teachers have been using spoken word poetry in their English classes for years. The art form developed in the United States in the 1980s and came to Sweden in the 1990s, and has found a lively scene in Sweden, with open mic nights and annual competitions taking place all over the country (Grönborg, 2012; Somers-Willett, 2010). Previous research conducted in the United States on the benefits of using spoken word poetry in the classroom shows that this poetry form is a viable tool for teachers of English, and that performing spoken word poetry can give the students a deeper understanding of poetry than only reading or analyzing it (Ellis, Gere, & Lamberton, 2003; Woodard & Coppola, 2018). But can this research be applicable in a Swedish setting? As teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), English teachers in Sweden need to consider their students’ specific issues as non- native speakers of English, meaning that the students might experience a concept called Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA). FLCA was first researched and documented by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986), and describes students’ experiences with anxiety in 2 the foreign language classroom. Speaking anxiety is probably the most common concern among foreign language students, Horwitz et al. claim (ibid.). Students have been documented to fear the performative part of speaking a foreign language, which affects their second language fluency as well as their general communication skills. By doing exercises inspired by spoken word poetry, students practice their skills in pronunciation, performance, writing, and analyzing. Spoken word poetry could therefore be used as a tool in the EFL classroom to improve the students’ communicative abilities and fluency and might ultimately help them overcome their speaking anxiety. Studies on the use of spoken word poetry in Swedish society and Swedish schools has been done before, but no previous research has been conducted on the use of spoken word poetry in English class at Swedish secondary school. In this essay. I will try to find out if exercises inspired by spoken word poetry can help EFL learners in Swedish secondary school overcome their speaking anxiety and motivate them to speak English in the classroom. I will begin this essay by describing what spoken word poetry is, and present research on how to use spoken word poetry in the English classroom. I will describe how spoken word poetry pertains to teaching practices and address problems such as foreign language classroom anxiety. I will also give suggestions on how teachers can use exercises inspired by spoken word poetry as a pedagogical tool in their classroom in alignment with the English syllabus for secondary school in Sweden. Then, I will explain my methodology and my materials. I will explain what a lesson study is and why it is an appropriate research method for this study, and I will describe the materials used during the lesson study. Thereafter, I will present the results of the lesson study, which are derived from observational research conducted in a Swedish Grade 9 English classroom and interviews with the in-service teacher and three case students. These results will be discussed and put into an educational context. I will discuss if exercises inspired by spoken word poetry can help EFL learners in Swedish secondary school overcome their speaking anxiety, and whether these exercises can help teachers of English in Swedish secondary school motivate their students to speak English in the classroom. Lastly, I will give advice on how in-service teachers can use lesson studies as research method in their own classroom, and present suggestions for future research. Ultimately, I will try to answer the question: Can exercises inspired by spoken word poetry be used as anxiety-lowering exercises for Grade 9 students in Swedish secondary school and increase their motivation for speaking English in class? 3 2. Background In this section, I will present background knowledge of spoken word poetry – how it can be defined and how it is used. I will also present research on the impact that spoken word poetry can have in the English classroom. The benefits that spoken word poetry can have on youths have been extensively studied in several countries, mostly in the United States, but hardly any research has been done in a Swedish context. I will also present research conducted on speaking anxiety among EFL learners, and research on motivation and how to motivate L2 learners. Lastly, I will explain how spoken word poetry pertains to the core content of the English syllabus for Swedish secondary school. 2.1. Defining spoken word poetry Spoken word poetry, also called performance poetry or slam poetry, is word-based poetry intended for performance (Somers-Willett, 2010). Although any kind of poetry recited aloud can be called spoken word, spoken word poetry is a separate art form since the poetry is written specifically for performance. Spoken word artists often use this art form to present important messages to the audience by writing poems about ethnic identity, racism, sexism, political consciousness, etc. (ibid). Spoken word poetry is generally performed at public open mic readings and at fully competitive events, called poetry slams. According to Somers- Willett, the difference between the two settings is the role of the audience (ibid.). At slams, the audience is encouraged to express verbal reactions to everything that happens on the stage, including the poet’s performance, the judges’ scores, and the host’s banter, whereas open mic readings are used as a supportive network for poets who want to perform their poetry in front of a less animated audience and without being scored by judges. Somers-Willett writes that “the accessibility of slam poetry is facilitated and perhaps demanded by the medium of performance, which is bounded by time, space and, – perhaps most important – the audience’s attention span” (p. 5). She accredits the audience’s restlessness as the reason behind the strict three-minute window for poems performed at slam competitions. In addition to the time limit, several other rules for slam poetry have formed over the years (Grönborg, 2000; 2012). The basic rules of slam, which all poets competing in poetry slams must follow, state that the poems must be written by the poets themselves, the poems must not overrun three minutes, props, costumes and musical instruments are not to be used, and the scores awarded to each poet at poetry slams will be combined from the three middle scores, meaning that the high and low scores are dropped to produce a more fair scoring. These rules have become characteristic 6 ends: public (“the dynamic interplay of individuals engaged in YSW activities”) and counterpublic (youth writers and performers whose texts are interpreted by live audiences composed of other youth) (ibid. p. 287). In other words, YSW is poetry written by youths in interplay with each other and performed by youths in interplay with a youth audience. The poetry is interpreted both within and through a performative context, and the audience interprets the individual realities that the YSW performers present. In traditional poetry, Rosenblatt (1994) explains, the poem comes into being in the meeting between the reader and the text; the poet is not present. But in YSW, the poem is being delivered by the poet in front of an audience. YSW should therefore be regarded as an ongoing process created in the meeting between poet, poem, and audience, Weinstein and West (2012) advise. Ellis et al (2003) call this meeting “an interactive experience between a poet and an audience” (p. 49). When researching the field of spoken word poetry, Weinstein and West (2012) discovered the importance of instructing all participating students, whether they are poets or audience, in the values of YSW. They advise teachers who want to use spoken word poetry in their classroom to give their students proper understanding of the values of spoken word poetry before letting them perform, otherwise the students in the audience might respond to their classmates’ performances and poems “as the dominant public sphere is conditioned to respond to an individual on a stage: as a sort of product to be consumed rather than as a participant in an ongoing cultural process in which the audience member is equally invested” (p. 299). Furthermore, Weinstein and West write that “by privileging the poem as a completed product that represents a final pronouncement, audiences /…/ prematurely close off the process of identity exploration that is so crucial to YSW’s practices” (p. 300). This could ultimately lead to the students judging some of their peers to be more successful, “better”, than others, because their poems generated greater approval from the audience. Weinstein and West argue that if exercises in spoken word poetry are to help shy students and reluctant speakers to overcome their speaking anxiety, it is imperative that teachers give their students proper instructions on the values of spoken word poetry, and that the classroom environment remains non-hierarchical, with absolute focus on the creative and playful aspects of writing and performing spoken word poetry. In the spoken word community, poets are being revered for being authentic and true about the identities they express in the poems. A norm to speak the truth – that is, performing poetry that is honest about the performers’ experiences – has therefore arisen in the spoken word community. Spoken word poets often write poems about personal issues and characteristics such as sexuality, gender, and race, which all have a real impact on both the performers’ and 7 audience members’ lives. Somers-Willett (2010) writes that the audience expects the poet to “deliver a more authentic brand of expression than traditional verse, one that promises a special sense of connection, conviction, or personal power” (p. 37). Telling the truth could be problematic, Weinstein and West (2012) write, since poets who perform truthful poems might overidentify with the subject matter of their poems and ultimately feel confined by their own words. They claim that taking the performed poems literally is a problem among spoken word audiences, and that “literal interpretation can freeze young poets in claims that may have only felt conditionally true when the poet wrote them” (p. 293). While sharing personal thoughts and feelings can be powerful and liberating, it can also put extra pressure on performers who are still trying to make sense of themselves. Therefore, Weinstein and West suggest that teachers of spoken word poetry should encourage conversations with their students about the complexity of the personal responsibility that comes with writing and performing honest poems and give their students the opportunity to process what happens both on and off the stage. 2.4. Foreign language anxiety among EFL learners EFL learners are more prone to experience anxiety in the foreign language classroom than in other situations. Anxiety is defined by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) as “the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system” (p. 125). When the anxiety is restricted to a specific situation, such as foreign language learning, it is a specific anxiety reaction rather than general anxiousness that can occur in several situations. Horwitz et al call the anxiety experienced by EFL learners in the foreign language classroom ‘foreign language anxiety’, which they define as “a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” (p. 128). Horwitz et al. argue that “since speaking in the target language seems to be the most threatening aspect of foreign language learning, the current emphasis on the development of communicative competence poses particularly great difficulties for the anxious student” (p. 132). Since EFL learners are at greater risk of developing speaking anxiety, it is essential for EFL teachers to not only be aware of but actively try to reduce their students’ speaking anxiety. Speaking exercises can help with creating a safe environment and give the students strategies to use in all EFL speaking situations, and teachers should set aside time before presentations for their students to use these strategies. Students’ performance in the EFL classroom is highly susceptible to their anxious beliefs 8 about language learning. Horwitz et al draw parallels between foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and three types of performance anxieties: communication apprehension, text anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. Communication apprehension is found in shy students who avoid communicating with others in the classroom, during group work and/or during presentations. Horwitz et al write that these students are “likely to experience even greater difficulty speaking in a foreign language class where they have little control of the communicative situation and their performance is constantly monitored” (p. 127). This means that students who are talkative in other school subjects might become silent in a foreign language class. Students who suffer from text-anxiety put extreme demands on themselves and believe that they are required to perform flawlessly on tests. Oral tests are particularly anxiety-provoking for these students, according to Horwitz et al. Fear of negative evaluation is defined as “apprehension about others’ evaluations, avoidance of evaluative situations, and the expectation that others would evaluate oneself negatively” (p. 128). In foreign language class, this anxiety is likely to occur in speaking situations. Horwitz et al explain that when communicating in their native language, speakers perceive themselves as intelligent, socially adept individuals. But the second language communication that occurs in foreign language class challenges these believes, and Horwitz et al say that “any performance in the L2 is likely to challenge an individual’s self-concept as a competent communicator and lead to reticence, self-consciousness, fear, or even panic” (p. 128). 2.5. Motivating EFL learners L2 motivation (motivation to learn a second language) has been researched for many years, and much progress has been made in the field. Since the nature and role of language is multifaceted, it is not surprising that L2 learning is a complex task. Dörnyei (1994) explains that L2 learning is not only about learning new information and gaining knowledge; it is also affected by the learners’ personality traits and social components present in the classroom environment. L2 motivation is highly influenced by the social dimension of language use, and it is not enough to regard motivation as simply integrative (a personal want to learn the L2 and join its community of speakers) or instrumental (practical needs for L2 proficiency, such as getting a better job). Dörnyei writes that “sociocultural context has overriding effect on all aspects of the L2 learning process, including motivation” (p. 275). Additionally, L2 motivation is highly dependent on who the learner is, what language they are learning, and where the learning takes place. L2 motivation consists of many different components. Three of them are intrinsic/extrinsic 11 and interest, task fulfillment, satisfaction, learner autonomy, and learning techniques. One strategy that teachers can use is to demonstrate a belief in the students’ abilities to achieve their goals. This will help the students develop self-confidence and self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is also helped by the students being taught strategies for learning, communication, information processing, and problem-solving. Student anxiety can be decreased by creating a learning environment of support and acceptance, and by teaching the students anxiety- reducing activities and techniques. Students’ interest and involvement in the tasks is greatly affected by how varied and challenging the tasks and activities are. Interacting with their peers can also impact the students’ interest, and group work is especially important in this regard, according to Dörnyei. Also, along with matching the difficulty of the tasks to the students’ abilities in order to increase their expectancy to succeed, teachers should prepare the students before each task by familiarizing them with the task type, guide them through the procedures and strategies required by the task, and offer ongoing assistance during the lesson. In order to facilitate student satisfaction, teachers should let the students create finished products to perform or display and encourage the students to be proud of themselves. Teachers can promote learner autonomy by presenting the students with options of how to attain their goals. For example, letting the students design and prepare activities themselves gives them the sense of autonomy and authority over their own learning. The last of Dörnyei’s strategies for increasing L2 motivation concerns cooperative learning techniques. Dörnyei advises teachers to frequently include groupwork in their classes, so that the group’s achievement is evaluated instead of the individual’s. 2.6. Spoken word poetry and the subject syllabus for English Since working with spoken word poetry combines all four language skills – listening, speaking, reading, and writing – it is not difficult to find documented support for using the art form in the English classroom. The steering documents for the English subject in Swedish secondary school state: Undervisningen i ämnet engelska ska syfta till att eleverna utvecklar kunskaper i engelska språket och kunskaper om områden och sammanhang där engelska används samt tilltro till sin förmåga att använda språket i olika situationer och för skilda syften [Teaching of the English subject should aim at helping students develop knowledge of the English language and knowledge of places and situations where English is used, as well as gain confidence in 2 their ability to use the language in different situations and for different purposes; my translation]. (Skolverket, 2011, p. 30) Spoken word poetry pertains to this goal because its performance in classroom environments involves linguistic knowledge, situational knowledge and communicative ability. Divided into three knowledge areas (communicative content, reception, and production and interaction), the core content for English in Grades 7-9 describes areas that the teaching of English should cover, several of which can be connected to aspects of spoken word poetry. Listening to spoken word poetry, preferably performed by poets from different English- speaking countries and with different social backgrounds, provides an opportunity for students to experience spoken English in the form of oral poetry. Also, by doing exercises inspired by spoken word poetry, students can learn strategies for both listening and reading, as well as practice linguistic aspects such as pronunciation, grammar, and style. When writing and performing spoken word poetry, students learn the traditions and characteristics of the genre and practice how to create structure and cohesion within a poem. Lastly, when doing exercises in spoken word poetry, students learn how to process and adapt their writing and speaking skills, as well as develop their communicative abilities. 3. Methodology To test my hypothesis that exercises inspired by spoken word poetry may lower speaking anxiety among EFL students in Swedish secondary school and motivate them to speak English in the classroom, I conducted a qualitative case study in the spring of 2019 consisting of a lesson study in a Grade 9 English class. I also did interviews with the in-service teacher and three case students. I recorded the audio of the interviews but not the three research lessons since some of the students expressed great discomfort with being recorded. I worried that Swedish Grade 9 students would find performing spoken word poetry in a foreign language to be too difficult and intimidating – an assumption that proved to be incorrect. I expect my study will provide insight into how exercises inspired by spoken word poetry can lower EFL students’ speaking anxiety as well as develop EFL teachers’ classroom practices and help motivate their students to speak English in the classroom. 3.1. Lesson study 2 I conducted a lesson study as described in “Lesson Study: A Handbook for Teachers and School Leaders” by Peter Dudley (2014). I followed the guidelines set forth in the handbook, with slight adaptations as the Lesson Study Group consisted of only me, the pre-service teacher, and the in-service teacher, instead of the three teachers that Dudley suggests. For example, instead of alternating between teaching and observing, I taught all three research lessons while the in-service teacher took notes in the observation sheet from the handbook, and I also interviewed the case students alone. Additionally, since the research ended with the third Post Research Lesson Discussion between me and the in-service teacher, there was no time to share the results of the research with other professionals via presentations or open house research lessons, as Dudley recommends. I used the Lesson Study Cycle presented in the handbook, which consists of three research lessons encircled by pre-lesson planning sessions and post-lesson interviews and discussion sessions. I began the entire lesson study by having an initial meeting with the in-service teacher, where I described my research methods and presented my plan for the three research lessons. A couple of days later, I met with the class to introduce myself and informed them about my research project. During this first meeting with the class, the in-service teacher helped me choose three case students and one back-up case student. All students gave their informed consent. Later that week, I met with the in-service teacher for the first pre-lesson planning session where we used Dudley’s research lesson planner to plan the three research lessons and the observation sheet to predict how the case students would respond to each stage of the lessons. Even though the study was conducted with the entire class, the main focus was on the three case students chosen by their teacher, as is the practice for a lesson study (Dudley 2014). I wanted to follow the case students’ progression closely over the course of the study and interview them to learn their opinions on the spoken word exercises. Focusing on individual case students can increase teachers’ awareness of the individuality of all students in a class, Dudley writes (ibid, p. 4). The three case students can either belong to different groups of learners in the class regarding for example specific aspects of learning, or belong to the same group, such as students that need extra encouragement. Since the focus of my research is speaking anxiety and motivation, I asked the teacher to choose three students on different levels of those two aspects. The progression the three case students made during the Lesson Study was compared with their results from the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (see 5.6). In this essay, the case students will be referred to as case student A, B, and C. Case student A was an A-level student, case student B was a C-/D-level student, and case student C was an E-level student who often had help from a second teacher during the English lessons. 5 poem fulfilled all my criteria. Alicia Keys has a slow talking pace and enunciates the words clearly. The overall level of the language in the poem is suitable for Swedish EFL students in grade 9, partly because most of the words in the poem are common, everyday words, and partly because several of the words and phrases are repeated throughout the poem, giving the students a better chance of understanding the words in context. Additionally, the poem does not include any explicit language. The poem also fulfilled the six guidelines proposed by Brannon (2012): the phrase patterns can be easily replicated; it is a free verse poem that does not follow conventions of a specific genre; Alicia Keys experiments with sentence and line length; the subject matter – how unspoken words hinder the ability to move forward – is relevant to teenagers; the poem is contemporary; and the poem’s clear-cut division into sections of different length provides a great starting point for imitation. The model poem is a clear example of spoken word poetry, but it does not follow all the basic rules for slam poetry as defined by Grönborg (2000; 2012; see longer definition in 2.1). For example, the poem is only two minutes and thirty seconds long, which is somewhat shorter than the average slam poem, and Alicia Keys uses a prop in her performance, which is not allowed in slam poetry. However, these violations do not affect the poems suitability as model poem for EFL learners in Swedish secondary school. In fact, it could be argued that this poem being shorter than similar poems makes it more appropriate as material for imitation. As Brannon (2012) explained, imitating an entire poem is unrealistic in a classroom environment, and students will discover that just a few lines are enough for them to express themselves. Lastly, while using a prop violates the rules of slam poetry, performing without props is not a requirement for spoken word poetry performed outside of competition, as is the case of Alicia Keys’ performance of “P.O.W.” As long as this distinction is brought to the students’ attention, teachers should feel free to use this poem as classroom material. 4.2. Teaching materials The research lessons consisted of exercises inspired by spoken word poetry, such as watching a clip of a spoken word artist performing their poem, analyzing and imitating that model poem, the students writing their own poems, and ultimately performing them in English class. During the research lessons, I provided the students with worksheets on the poem and exercises connected to spoken word poetry. The worksheet for the model poem included numbered lines, making the poem easier to work with (see Appendix B). I collected the worksheets after the first two research lessons to use as ground material for planning the next research lesson, but after the last research lesson the students got to keep the worksheets. 6 I used classroom-tested exercises on spoken word poetry published by the American organizations International Literacy Association (ILA, previously IRA) and National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) on their joint website ReadWriteThink.org. ILA and NCTE have composed standards for the English Language Arts in the United States that are used as a base for lesson plans, lesson materials, and other resources administered at ReadWriteThink. The lesson plans are classroom-tested and are available for teachers to use free of charge. I used two exercises from ReadWriteThink: “Getting ready to recite” (2019a) and “Marking your text: the first reading” (2019b). Both exercises were adapted by me to meet the specific needs of students in a Swedish Grade 9 English class (see appendices C and D). In “Getting ready to recite”, the students get to practice how words sound and feel in their mouths. The purpose of the exercise is to introduce the students to a fun way of practicing pronunciation before reading a text in front of the class. “Marking your text: the first reading” is a simple exercise in text analysis. The students read the text carefully and mark each line with different symbols: a check after each line they truly understand, a question mark next to each line they have a question about, and a heart by each line they really liked. After marking each line, the students answer questions about the text they are working on. In this study, all students completed the first part of the exercise, while the analysis questions were used as extra material for students who finished early. The students were instructed to write found poems during the last two research lessons. A found poem is created by taking an existing text and use words and phrases from the text to create a poem (Dorfman & Cappelli, 2017). The words can be placed line by line on a page or be rearranged in creative ways. It is up to the student to decide how to arrange the words and phrases from the text. In this study, the model poem by Alicia Keys, “P.O.W.”, was used as anchor text for the students. An example of a found poem is attached in Appendix B. 5. Results and analysis In this section, the qualitative findings derived from the research lessons and the interviews are presented. The results of the interviews are divided into six different topic areas: working in groups, approaching the task, accommodating to the needs of individual students, adapting teaching materials to all students, motivation to perform, and speaking anxiety. During the three research lessons, the pre-service teacher tried different working methods to see if the students became more or less motivated to speak English in the classroom (see the complete research lesson outline in Appendix E). Table 1.1 displays an overview of the 7 outline of the lessons. The students tried performing six lines from the model poem, writing and performing poems created by using words from the model poem, and writing and performing their own poems alone and in groups. The chairs and tables in the classroom were organized in groups of 4-6 students. RL1 RL2 RL3 Introduction Watch video of model poem Feedback from previous lesson Watch video of model poem Stage 1 Analyze model poem Go through difficult words in groups Write a poem in groups or alone Stage 2 Speaking exercises Write a poem alone Speaking exercises Final stage Perform the first six lines of model poem in groups or alone Perform poem alone Perform poems in groups or alone Table 1.1 Research lesson outline 5.1. Working in groups During RL1, the students were instructed to perform the first six lines of the model poem alone. But the group with case students B and C were very apprehensive about reading the lines alone, and as soon as one of them suggested they could read one line each, the rest of the group said “Yes, let’s do that”, to which the pre-service teacher agreed. The option of performing the six lines of the model poem was communicated to the rest of the class by the pre-service teacher. At the end of the lesson, all members of case students B and C’s group performed one line each. In the post research lesson interview, the in-service teacher said that the option of performing the first six lines of the model poem in groups was better than the students not performing at all. Working in groups can be perceived differently by teachers and students. After being given the option of reading the first six lines of the model poem in a group during RL1, case student B’s motivation to excel fell. The in-service teacher said that case student B would have achieved more if he had been pushed more during the lesson. However, case student B himself said that he appreciated being given the option of either performing alone or as a group, and case student C agreed. They said that it was good that those who did not want to perform were not forced to do so. Both case students B and C also enjoyed the fact that everyone in the class performed the same six lines. They appreciated that they were not alone and felt comforted when the whole class did the same task. All three case students said that performing in groups was great and should be incorporated into every lesson. They felt 3 As explained by Dörnyei (1994) in 2.5, students’ belief in their ability to complete the task is crucial for their success in the classroom. Case student A was evidently challenged by the level of the task and approached the task with self-confidence; her sense of self-efficacy was high. But case student C felt immediate resignment when being faced with a task too difficult for him. He was unable to finish the task, which affected his sense of accomplishment; his sense of self-efficacy was low. As Dörnyei suggested, providing students with achievable and success-gendering tasks raise their feelings of self-efficacy. In this case, the task should have been adapted to suit case student C’s needs. Another common approach to solving a task in classrooms today is using the Internet. During RL3, the students were given the option of both writing and performing their twelve line-poems in groups or alone. One of the groups, which included case students B and C, took a long time writing their first six lines as a group. When the pre-service teacher approached them, it turned out that they were googling other poems to find inspiration for their own poem. The in-service teacher explained that students often google things they do not know, but that using Google can be both an aid and a distraction. She advised teachers to make sure that students use Google in an appropriate way during the lesson to keep them from not losing their focus. 5.3. Accommodating to the needs of individual students One aspect of teaching that every teacher faces is how to accommodate to the needs of individual students. During the research lessons, the pre-service teacher presented the students with different working methods in order to research which methods would help motivate the students to speak English in the classroom (see Table 1.1 and Appendix E). The students tried methods such as writing and performing alone or in groups, analyzing the poem before performing it, and doing speaking exercises before performing the poem. But finding a method that works for all students is unquestionably difficult, if not totally impossible, for teachers to do. During the post research lesson interview after RL1, the pre-service teacher expressed great concern about teachers who feel the need to choose one group of students over another, and who must make choices about tasks and methods that impact the students: It’s unfair that the teachers are expected to make a choice, that sometimes you have to compromise one group for the other. Either you have to just focus on some students because everyone needs to get an E; that’s the goal in the classroom. So, either you have to focus on students on grade D and E, but then you have these grade A-C students, and they just have to sit and wait and waste time, they’re not challenged in 2 their learning. Or you have to just go crazy with the others, have deep, challenging and fun lessons with those and you end up with clueless kids who just come and go. These groups are in the classroom, but that’s how it is. That’s why you have to constantly adjust and make adjustments. We do that, actually. Although I still think it’s not enough. I try not to do that; I try to give feedback and extra material. But other teachers, and I don’t blame them, do not have time for that. I planned for this, everyone should meet in the middle, the struggling students have to keep up with the rest and high achievers have to take it easy and cool down and try to not ask for more material. But it doesn’t work. When you bring the material, they finish that too. Of course, we have to give feedback, we can’t just make copies of texts and say, “I don’t have time to help you with you extra material.” I know that many teachers give the extra materials just to kill time and keep them busy. Which is normal to do, because you have all the other struggling students who are still not finished. In some classes you give the assignment and explain everything, and some students are done in 10 minutes, while other students still haven’t gone through the questions yet. And these two people are in the same classroom. So, it’s hard to accommodate to each student. This obstacle is something you’re always going to bump into. During the research lessons, the pre-service teacher experienced the difficulties of accommodating to all students in the classroom. During RL1, the more advanced students were given the same options as the rest of the class: to read the first six lines of the poem alone or as a group. A group of four advanced students immediately chose to perform as a group. The in-service teacher explained that she had expected more from these four students, that they all would have been able to perform alone, and that if they had been asked to read the six lines alone, they would have. Another issue that arises when teachers try to accommodate to all students is giving them too many options to choose from. During RL2, the students were instructed to write and perform their six-line poems alone, but during RL3 they could choose to write and perform alone or in groups. During these lessons, several students took a very long time finishing their poems. For some of them, it took as long to write six lines during RL2 as it did to write twelve lines during RL3. The in-service teacher said that giving the students too many options can take too much time because they will spend a long time deciding how to approach the task and which method to use: “Too many options confuse them. They need to be told what to do.” She said that students like case student B need structure in order to solve a task. This is why case student B came up with his own structured method during RL2, where he chose words from the model poem at random to use when creating his own poem. But students like case student C, on the other hand, appreciate being given options on how to approach each task, the in-service teacher explained. 2 5.4. Adapting teaching materials to all students The teaching materials used during the research lessons were met with mixed reactions from the students. The exercises used during the three research lessons, “Getting ready to recite” (Appendix C) and “Marking your text: the first reading” (Appendix D), were adapted by me from their original versions found on ReadWriteThink.org. The adapted exercises turned out to be on an appropriate level for the students with lower grades, but the grade A-C students finished quickly and would have benefitted from more complex tasks. Case students A and B liked the “Marking your text: the first reading” exercise, but only case student A completed the whole exercise. They both said the exercise could have been more challenging. The case students thought the adapted version of “Getting ready to recite” was fun but did not believe it could lower students’ speaking anxiety. The model poem was suitable for almost all students, but case student C would have needed further adaptions, since a majority of the words in the poem were unfamiliar to him. The video of the model poem was also suitable for almost all students. Case student C did not enjoy the video, because the talking pace was too high for him and the words were too difficult. He explained that Swedish subtitles would have helped him, and the in-service teacher agreed, although she did think the talking pace was slow enough for EFL learners in general. 5.5. Motivation to perform The focus of the three research lessons was to motivate all students to speak English in the classroom and to try different methods that could achieve that result. During RL1, it became evident that being given the option to choose who they worked with had great impact on the students’ motivation to speak English in front of others. The class were given the task of performing the first six lines of the model poem alone before the class, but a group of six students, which included case students B and C, refused to perform alone. One of the group members then suggested that they could read one line each, and the rest of the group agreed, as did the pre-service teacher. This option was then given to the rest of the class, which led to most of the students choosing to divide the six lines between them in groups. A small number of students performed all six lines alone, and two students chose to read the lines out loud only to the pre-service teacher when given the option to do that. Evidently, performing the first six lines of the model poem together with classmates motivated most of the students to perform. Case student C did a full switch – from absolutely refusing to speak in the class to reading one line out loud as soon as he got the opportunity to perform in a group. The next 2 service teacher said that case student B could have achieved more if he had worked alone, as was evident in RL2 when he, by himself, came up with his own method to solve the task. It is evident that working methods for classroom work need to be carefully selected by the teacher with regards to the students’ individual needs, as suggested by Dörnyei (1994). Sometimes, students might think they benefit from a specific method, such as working in groups, but it is the teacher who possesses the professional ability to make that judgment. The research also showed that the students preferred collaborating with their friends, both when writing individual poems and when writing poems as a group. Having the support of their friends motivated the students to speak English in the classroom. All but one student performed their poems to either the class or the pre-service teacher, and the student that refused did not feel a strong connection to the class, the “classmate comradery thing”, as the in-service teacher said. Performing in the classroom can make all students anxious, as the research conducted by Horwitz et al (1986) shows, but is especially tough for students who do not feel the support from their classmates. The research also showed that understanding the poems has great impact on the students’ motivation to perform. During the research lessons, the students spent more time writing poems than on analyzing and understanding them. Several students expressed that their unwillingness to perform their poems was due to their inability to understand them. They said that the poems “didn’t make sense” and that their texts did not feel authentic. During RL2, the students wrote found poems using words from the model poem. My initial hypothesis was that the students would feel more motivated to perform poems that did not include their own words, that it would feel too personal to perform poems they had written themselves. But as the research showed, feeling ownership over their poems made the students more motivated to perform. These findings are confirmed by Weinstein and West (2012), who encourage teachers of spoken word poetry to have conversations with their students about what it means to write a poem that is honest and authentic. Giving the students enough time to both analyze others’ and their own poems could help them make sense of the poems and develop their ability to write honest and authentic texts. The original version of the exercise “Marking your text: the first reading” (2019b) could be used for deeper analyses of poems. 6.1. How to use spoken word poetry in the classroom Teachers sometimes feel apprehensive about working with poetry because they think it is difficult to implement into their classroom practices. The in-service teacher said that there are 3 both difficult and easy poems that teachers can work with: “There are different ways to work with poetry, it does not necessarily have to be about interpreting poems, it can be about practicing grammar or learning about literature history.” The in-service teacher suggested writing short poems together on the board first, and practice rhyming in the class. Once the students feel more comfortable, they can write poems on their own. The in-service teacher said that she could also choose poems according to whichever theme she is working on at the moment. The in-service teacher did a project on interventions and could have chosen a poem on that topic. If the topic is an English-speaking country, she could let the students listen to a poem by someone from that country or read a poem that speaks about the beauty of that country. The students could use that poem as inspiration when writing poems and talk about their own countries. 6.2. Lesson study as a research method for in-service teachers Lesson study is a tool that teachers can use whenever they want to try something new in their classroom practice. The in-service teacher thought she could use this method herself. She talked to her colleagues about giving students time before presentations to do research and “have their pictures and notes”, and that teachers also need to help their students practice how they are going to read and present texts. The students could be advised on where to stop before moving on to the next topic and how to say the sentences. The in-service teacher thought that such input might help the students feel better and become more willing to perform, or at least not feel that uncomfortable and nervous. She explained that she could “literally see students sometimes go all red”, and she did not want to be the one who causes that, as it felt “a little bit upsetting.” Next time the in-service teacher would have the students do an oral presentation, she would help them with the necessary preparations. She would explain to the students beforehand that she will instruct them on pronunciation, where to stop, how to say and feel the words, and help them focus on what they are saying and not just read from the text or the PowerPoint. The in-service teacher said that as an English teacher, she could do a similar lesson as one of the research lessons in the future. 6.3. Future research This study has shown that exercises inspired by spoken word poetry may help some students reduce their speaking anxiety, but most of the participating students’ motivation to perform was affected by other aspects, such as working methods and understanding the task. Since 4 only 20 students participated in this study, research conducted on a greater population needs to be conducted before any decisive conclusions about these exercises can be drawn. Future researchers who want to conduct a lessons study on FLCA should make sure that a great amount of time is spent on analyzing the poems, both model poems and student poems, before letting the students write and perform in the classroom. 7. Works cited Brannon, A. (2012). Love that Poem! Using Imitation to Teach Poetry. English Journal, 102(2), 51-56. Dorfman, L.R., & Cappelli, R. (2017). Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children’s Literature, K-6 (2nd ed). Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers. Dudley, P. (2014) Lesson Study: A Handbook for Teachers and School Leaders. Lesson Study UK. Retrieved from http://lessonstudy.co.uk/2015/11/download-a-free-copy-of-the-lesson- study-handbook/ Dörnyei, Z. (1994). Motivation and Motivating in the Foreign Language Classroom. Modern Language Journal, 78(3), 273-284. Ellis, Lindsay, Gere, Anne Ruggles, & Lamberton, L. Jill. (2003). Out Loud: The Common Language of Poetry. English Journal, 93(1), 44-49. Grönborg, P. (Ed.). (2000). Slam! Handbok för estradpoeter. Borås: Passus. Grönborg, P. (2012). Poetry slam: En intervjubok med referat från tävlingar. Stockholm: Publit Sweden] i samarbete med Podium distribution. Hennessy, J., & Mannix McNamara, P. (2012). "What Rough Beast?" Conceptualising the Poetry Teacher in Ireland through the Eyes of the Pupil. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 40(4), 379-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 2012, Vol.40(4), p.379-394. 7 Appendix A Interview questions case students Questions from the Lesson Study Handbook - What did you enjoy most about this lesson? Vad tyckte du bäst om under den här lektionen? - What did you learn? What can you do now that you could not do before? Vad lärde du dig? Vad kan du göra nu som du inte kunde tidigare? - What aspect of the teaching worked best for you? Vilken del av undervisningen fungerade bäst för dig? - If the same lesson would be taught to another class, what would you change and why? Om samma lektion skulle läras ut till en annan klass, vad skulle du vilja ändra på och varför? Questions about the “Getting ready to recite” and “Marking your text: the first reading” exercises - How did you feel when you did the speaking exercise this lesson? Hur kändes det när du gjorde talövningen den här lektionen? - How did you feel when you did the writing exercise this lesson? Hur kändes det när du gjorde skrivövningen den här lektionen? Questions about speaking anxiety - Did it feel less scary performing a found poem, which was written using someone else’s words? Kändes det mindre läskigt att framföra en “found poem”, som skrevs utifrån någon annans ord? - How come you did not want to perform poems that “didn’t make sense” to you? Hur kom det sig att du inte ville framföra dikter som du inte förstod? Questions about the working methods being researched - Did you feel more motivated to speak English when performing in groups? Kände du dig mer motiverad att prata engelska när du framträdde i grupp? 8 Appendix B P.O.W (by Alicia Keys) 1 I’m a prisoner of words unsaid 2 Just lonely feelings locked away in my head 3 I trap myself further every time I stay quiet 4 I should start to speak but I stop and stay silent 5 And now I’ve made my own hard bed 6 inside this prison of words unsaid 7 P.O.W. That’s what I am 8 Not a prisoner of war: a prisoner of words 9 Mostly I say what you wanna hear 10 Could you take it if I came clear? 11 Or would you rather just see me stoned 12 on a drug of complacency and compromise 13 M.I.A. I guess that’s what I am 14 Scraping this cold hard earth 15 for a piece of myself, 16 for peace in myself 17 It'd be easier if you just put me in jail 18 You know, if you locked me away 19 I'd have someone to blame 20 But these bars of steel are of my making 21 They surround my mind and have me shaking 22 My hands are cuffed behind my back 23 I’m a prisoner of the worst kind, in fact 24 I’m a prisoner of compromise 25 A prisoner of compassion 26 A prisoner of kindness 9 27 A prisoner of expectation 28 A prisoner of my youth 29 Run too fast to be old 30 I’ve forgotten what I was told 31 Ain’t I a sight to behold? 32 A prisoner of age dying to be young 33 To my head is my hand with a gun 34 and it’s cold and it’s hard 35 ‘Cause there’s nowhere to run 36 when you’ve caged yourself 37 by holding your tongue 38 I’m a prisoner of words unsaid 39 Just lonely feelings locked away in my head 40 It’s like solitary confinement every time I stay quiet 41 I should start to speak but I stop and stay silent 42 And now I’ve made my own hard bed 43 inside this prison of words unsaid Example of found poem That’s what I am Someone. That’s what I am. I have my hands, my feelings, myself Inside my head are words of kindness I am clear and old I run too fast to be me Just hear my when I speak 12 Appendix E Research lesson 1 The focus of research lesson 1 was spoken word poetry and doing speaking exercises to prepare for performing spoken word in the classroom. Research Lesson 1 outline Introduction Explanation of the history, culture, and characteristics of spoken-word poetry (by pre-service teacher). Watching video of model poem. Stage 1: Analyzing model poem (“Marking your text: the first reading”). All students had to mark the first six lines. Those who finished early continued marking the rest of the poem. Stage 2: Speaking exercises (“Getting ready to recite”). The pre-service teacher had all students stand up to do vocal exercises, as one would before choir practice. The pre-service teacher then guided the class through the “Getting ready to recite”-exercise. Final stage: Reading the first six lines of the model poem out load. The pre-service teacher originally wanted all students to read alone but decided on letting the students choose whether to read alone or in groups. Research lesson 2 The focus of research lesson 2 was to write a found poem by using words from the model poem. The students had to write their poems alone but could perform in groups. Research Lesson 2 outline Introduction: Feedback from the first research lesson. Go through the model poem and discuss difficult words in groups. Stage 1 and 2: Write a six-line poem called “That’s what I am” using words from the poem “P.O.W”. The students had to write the poem alone, not in groups. Final stage: Performing the found poem, either alone or in groups. Research lesson 3 The focus of research lesson 3 was to see if the students’ motivation to speak increased by being given the opportunity to both write and perform in groups. 13 Research Lesson 3 outline Introduction: Watching the video of the model poem. Stage 1: Continue writing the found poem in groups. The students who finished their poems last lesson continued analyzing the model poem, either alone or in groups. Stage 2: Doing the “Getting ready to recite”-exercise with words from the found poem, either alone or in groups. Final stage: Perform the found poem, either alone or in groups.