Poetry writing as expressive pedagogy in an EFL context: Identifying possible assessment tools for haiku poetry in EFL freshman college writing

Abstract

Japanese poetry, haiku, has been widely accepted in western countries. While previous studies have reported on the applicability of haiku poetry to teaching practices in a variety of contexts, few researchers have discussed assessment which is one of the most important factors in language teaching. The aim of this study is to produce assessment tools for haiku poetry writing as expressive pedagogy at the tertiary level in an EFL Japanese context. The study first discusses the concept of haiku poetry writing as expressive pedagogy, and then describes what factors need to be assessed in haiku writing in terms of peer assessment and teacher assessment. It lastly demonstrates a rubric which consists of analytic rating scales. This study also provides a model for designing a rubric for assessing haiku poetry in English language teaching.