A critical investigation, using approaches drawn from action research, into how Year 9 students' learning about unseen poetry can be developed through a focus on accent and dialect in writing
Emily Jade Thomas
(PGCE Secondary English, 2021-2022)
email: et480@cantab.ac.uk
Abstract
Uniting the importance of sound within the teaching of poetry, with the notion of identity actualised through poetic voice, this study examines how poetry written in a dialect can influence and thus develop students’ approaches to unseen poetry. The small-scale investigation focuses on a Year 9 class completing a sequence of lessons that concentrated on the poetry of Benjamin Zephaniah, Tom Leonard, Mike Jenkins and John Agard. Explored are the ways in which studying dialect poetry facilitates meaning-making within a ‘new typical poetry classroom’ that intertwines ideas of performance and analysis and how, by extension, this offers a space to reflect on students’ own identities and the world around them.
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The full paper is available for download as a pdf file: [pdf] 161-192thomase
Citation: Thomas, E. J. (2023). A critical investigation, using approaches drawn from action research, into how Year 9 students' learning about unseen poetry can be developed through a focus on accent and dialect in writing. Journal of Trainee Teacher Educational Research, Volume 14 pp. 161-192. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.96938