A poetic inquiry into a Japanese pre-service teacher’s English language learning trajectory: Pedagogical and methodological implications for teacher education

Abstract

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.