Practice-Oriented Paper

Go and Open the Door: Literature in
the University English Classroom

Mary Hillis
Kwansei Gakuin University
Incorporating literature into the university level English curriculum may present challenges
for the teacher, such as finding level-appropriate and available texts. However, educators
are encouraged to “go and open the door” and use literature as a resource for language
learning and as means of creating opportunities for students’ skill development. Research
has shown that in addition to language learning, literature can increase student engagement
and motivation, and can be a catalyst for change and empathy by engaging students with
universal themes and real-world situations. This article will propose three ways to makeconnections to literature through academic or personal interests, contemporary society,and cultural exploration. Suggested poems and classroom activities will be given, including
specific examples of pairing literary works with other types of texts, designing language
learning activities for the four skills, using scaffolding to aid learner comprehension, andusing research as a basis for creative work. These examples will be drawn from a university
level literature class on poetry.
“Go and open the door. Maybe outside there’s a tree, or a wood, a garden, or a magic city”(Holub, 2006).

There are a number of ways to approach the study of literature in the English
classroom. Carter and Long (1991) outlined the use of literature for studying
language and culture and for personal development. By reading literature,
students are exposed to authentic language with an array of vocabulary, sentence
structures, and connective devices; moreover, they employ reading strategies,
especially making inferences and guessing meaning from context (Collie &Slater, 2001). In terms of culture, “… literature does seem to provide a way ofcontextualizing how a member of a particular society might behave or react in163

Hillisa specific situation”; however, the author argues for the critical examination ofculture portrayed in literature in order to avoid generalizations or stereotypes(Lazar, 1993, p. 17). Students can use literature for personal development bydeciding which areas of the reading or reading process to examine in further
depth, or by discussing their own feelings and experiences related to the text
(Parkinson & Reid Thomas, 2000).
In addition to providing opportunities for linguistic, cultural, and personal
development, literature is authentic material on universal human themes (Khatib& Rahimi, 2012). If students are motivated, their engagement with the text canincrease as they become immersed in the plot and invested in the characters(Collie & Slater, 2001). Literary texts can add variety and offer students theopportunity to use language creatively. Finally, reading literature can assist withthe development of intercultural understanding, and even serve as a catalyst
for change and empathy with other groups of people (Khatib, Derakhshan, &Rezaei, 2011). These are compelling reasons to use literature as a part of English
language curriculum.
However, there can be challenges associated with the use of literature forteachers. The first is lack of class time to include additional activities, such as
reading poems, short stories, or novels. If teachers are preparing students forstandardized exams or teaching a coordinated curriculum, they may not haveinstitutional support to teach literary content. Incorporating literature in the
curriculum does not mean that other text types and language learning activities
will not be used (Khtib & Nourzaden, 2011). Literature can be paired withother types of texts; for example, teachers can assign a poem and a news article
on similar themes. The second challenge for teachers is finding literature thatis accessible and appropriate for the specific group of learners. Yilmaz (2012),
and Khatib and Nourzaden (2011) developed lists of factors to consider whenselecting literary texts, including students’ varied interests, as well as points
related to the text itself: length, genre, theme, classic status, availability, language,
and culture. When considering the items in this list, it is necessary to be familiar
with program and student needs in order to choose the most appropriate readingmaterial.
164

Go and Open the Door, OCJSI 1, pages 163-175

The challenges of text selection can be mitigated in several ways. One is forthe teacher to read widely, keeping an eye out for potential class texts and seeking
out recommendations from other educators. The International Associationof Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) Literature Special
Interest Group is one organization dedicated to providing resources for teachersinterested in using the arts in their classrooms. In Japan, likeminded professionals
can be found in various communities, for example the Japan Association for
Language Teaching ( JALT) Literature in Language Teaching Special Interest
Group (LiLT SIG) and the Liberlit Conference which brings together university
educators who advocate the importance of literature in the university English
classroom (Liberlit, n.d.). Another efficient way to find classroom materials
is to use a commercial textbook like Real Reads: An Introduction to Literature(Nakanishi, Bibby, & Ota, 2014) that includes texts, activities, and explanationsof literary elements used in each piece so that students can discuss literatureeffectively. In addition, ready-made poetry lesson plans can also be found online
at the following websites: Poetry Foundation, Academy of American Poets, The
National Council of Teachers of English, Asymptote for Educators, and Words
Without Borders Campus.

Teaching context

This article describes how poetry has been used in a course that is part of auniversity English language program in Japan. When students matriculate, they
are placed into the low or high stream English classes and all students are required
to take two years of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses. In the highstream, students are required to take the following courses: reading, writing,seminar, listening, presentation, and special topics. The special topics course istaken in the second year, after students have developed foundational English skills
and is an opportunity to study academic content in English. The course goals are
to practice the skills learned in other English courses, engage in research, andparticipate in small group discussion. The teacher is free to choose the theme forthe course, and these have included literature, environmental studies, behavioral
economics, disaster management, and film studies. There are five or six sections of165

Hillisthe special topics course offered each semester and students can choose the topic
that they think is most interesting. The class meets once a week for 90 minutes
and class size varies from 18 to 30 students.
In this context, students are not English language or literature majors.
Therefore, in order to open the door to literature and underscore the relevanceand currency of poetry, everyday life and the themes of literature are connected.
This article presents three ways to establish this relationship: linking poems withstudents’ academic or personal interests, contemporary society, and cultural
exploration.

Making connections: Academic or personal
interests

If teachers design a literature course that is part of an established English
curriculum, they can relate the skills used in a poetry course with the language
skills that students have learned and activities they have done in other classes.
For instance, one familiar starting point for students is reading adapted academic
articles or newspaper reports. Therefore, students can start by reading a nonfiction
piece about the poet with information about his or her life and work for
homework; this article can also preview some of the vocabulary, literary elements,or themes included in the poems. For example, in preparation to read The Great
Figure (Williams, 1921), students read information about the author who
worked as both a poet and a doctor, and wrote about American subject matter.
They also learn definitions of vocabulary (the multiple meanings of “figure”), andbasic information about literary elements (the use of sensory imagery in poetry).
After reading the article, students answer multiple choice questions, write down
definitions for the key terms, and note points that they think are interesting about
the poet’s life. In this way, students are prepared to read poems because they havestudied background information about the author and work, and when students
come to class, they are ready to read, discuss, and listen to the poems. This processincorporates the four skills and helps to alleviate some of the possible challenges
of using poetry in the classroom by scaffolding new vocabulary and other areas,such as unfamiliar settings or literary techniques.
166

Go and Open the Door, OCJSI 1, pages 163-175

In other teaching contexts, where courses are not connected, a link could
be made between poetry and the textbook’s unit themes or required activities.
Poems can be used to supplement English textbooks to provide students withauthentic input and add variety to the lessons. Knoxville, Tennessee (Giovanni,1968) is an easy to read poem that works well with units on food, family, or
vacation; it could also be used in an introductory lesson after summer vacation.
In the poem, several foods and feelings associated with home are listed. Asking
students to discuss and write about their summer vacation in the form of apoem would provide an alternative to a typical first lesson at the beginning of
the fall semester. Another poem titled Oranges (Soto, 1983) pairs well with units
focused on talking about the past or telling a story. In this poem, a man recallsa memory from when he was twelve years old, so students could read the poem,
notice the use of the past tense, and talk about an interesting memory of theirown. If class time is short, alternatively, poems can simply be included on theclassroom handouts, and students who are interested can read them on their own
for an enrichment activity.
Poetry can also be connected to students’ academic or personal interests.
Students studying science may be interested in poems dealing with scientificthemes and containing subject specific vocabulary; Power (Rich, 2013) is about
the Nobel Prize winning scientist Marie Curie and Not Nothing (Hahn, 2015)
is a short poem about the brain. With regards to students’ personal interests or
hobbies, Kitzman (2016) found that one of the most popular topics for Japanese
university students is music. Many poems are related to music, either in theirsubject matter or use of literary techniques. Kasala for Myself (Mujila, 2017) or
Lenox Avenue Midnight (Hughes, 1926), include references to jazz music andmusicians. The author of Remember (1983) and She Had Some Horses (Harjo,2008), uses repetition and other musical elements in her poetry. Another popular
topic for students is movies (Kitzman, 2016), and The Movies (Collins, 2000)
has wide appeal because it is about the familiar activity of watching an adventure
movie at home and is written with straightforward language.

Making connections: Contemporary culture and167

Hillissociety

Connecting poetry with contemporary culture, such as social media andadvertising campaigns, is another way to generate interest in reading poetry. To
informally gauge whether students enrolled in the special topics poetry course
have interest and experience with reading and writing poetry, students discuss
several questions with a partner on the first day of class. These discussion
questions include (1) Do you like to read poetry? (2) Have you ever written apoem? (3) What do you think about poetry? Although most students haveprevious experience studying literature in Japanese or English, some may thinkpoetry is interesting, but others may find it difficult or even irrelevant to daily
life. According to a survey of university students in central Japan, Fraser (2018)
found that nearly 75% of students responded that they “like” or “very much like”
reading in Japanese; however, the percentage of students who have written stories
or poems in English was less than 8%.
Information about poetry and its role in contemporary society is includedin the course materials. According to a survey by the National Endowment for
the Arts (2018), in the United States, the poetry-reading rate was 11.7% in
2017, which is an increase from the 2012 rate of 6.7%. While the organizationis still investigating the causes of this increase in poetry reading, it is believedthat social media has played a role. In recent years, Instagram poets have risen
to fame through posting poems, illustrations, and photographs on Instagram.
Rupi Kaur’s Instagram page features her poems about womanhood, and herbook Milk and Honey (2014) has sold millions of copies and has been translated
into 25 languages, including Japanese (Mzezewa, 2017). Poetry can also befound trending on Twitter, and Ward (2016) reports that amidst gun violence
and injustice in United States in 2016, poems were shared on social media.
For instance, the first lines of Tired (Hughes, 1931) “I am so tired of waiting/ Aren’t you, / For the world to become good / And beautiful and kind?” andthe last lines of Allowables (Giovanni, 2013) “I don’t think / I’m allowed / To
kill something / Because I am / Frightened” were especially poignant. Becausesome poems are short enough to fit the character limits of social networking
sites and these posts can easily be shared, it is possible that through technology,168

Go and Open the Door, OCJSI 1, pages 163-175

poetry reaches an even larger number of readers than before. By reading these
poems and learning about their connection to contemporary society, students
can examine the relevance of literature across time and space.
Poetry has also reached a wider audience through advertisements on
television and on the internet. Poems are often used into advertisements andthese can be exploited for classroom use because they connect poetry and withfamiliar brands or famous people. One example is Nike advertisements which
use poems written in the past paired with footage of athletes in the present.
Examples of these include Nike ads using Harlem (Hughes, 1951) with videoof Sanya Richards Ross running track and field; and Still I Rise (Angelou, 1978)
with video of Serena Williams playing tennis. After students read and understandthe poems, they can watch the videos online for additional audiovisual support.
The videos provide a discussion point on how the themes of these poems connect
with contemporary society; on the other hand, they might provoke a debate
about the use of the artists’ work for commercial purposes. This can be exploredthrough the Nike advertisements or Under Armour’s Unlike Any campaign.
Each of the advertisements in this campaign features video of an athlete and an
original poem composed by a spoken word artist. Pairings include ballet dancer
Misty Copeland with slam poet and musician Saul Williams, and skier Lindsey
Vaughn with spoken word poet Safia Eihillo.

Making connections: Cultural Exploration

Reading and writing poetry not only enables students to learn about othercultures but also to explore their own culture. Cultural investigation andcreative expression intersect when students read and write ethnographic poems.
In an excerpt from House to House, Al Bastaki (2018) presents ethnographic
research from her undergraduate thesis in poetry form. As part of this project,
she interviewed people living in the Dubai Creek area about their way of life in
Arabic or other languages, and then used the interview transcripts as the basis forpoems which she translated into English, but with select words transliterated orleft untranslated (Al Bastaki, 2018). In one poem, the speaker recalls memories
related to food and in another, the speaker talks about showing her childhood
169

Hillishome to her children. Students read and discuss the poems, paying particularattention to the author’s use of language and how these choices affect the readers’experience. In this way, students can begin exploring the connections between
language, culture, and memory.
By following this example, students can conduct their own small
ethnographic research projects to learn about their own culture and transformtheir results into poems. Gui, Hillis, Bartoszynska, and Zampino (2018a)
outline the following procedure. First, students select a topic: they may choose
to conduct an interview about a memory related to food, home, or anothertopic. Then the students make a plan and receive consent to interview a friendor family member about their topic. The interview may be conducted in thelanguage of the interviewer or interviewee’s choice, and if possible, it could berecorded. Students select a portion of the interview to use as material for theirpoem. This part of the interview should be transcribed and then translated toEnglish, if it was conducted in another language. Working with the English
translation, students should decide where to insert line breaks in their poem andmake decisions about any words they want to transliterate or leave untranslated.
After completing their project, students can share their poems and discuss
their work in small groups. This type of interview and report process is similar
to activities that students often perform in the language classroom; however, it
gives students the additional challenge to conduct ethnographic research and topresent their findings in the form of poetry.
Another way to incorporate poetry and cultural research is to study thework of Amira Hanfi, who created a 2007 project titled Map of the Orders ofSigns. The artist walked the streets of Chicago and recorded herself reading allof the words she saw, and then used these transcripts to create not only poems
but also visual representations of text that pedestrians encounter as they walka city block (Heisler, 2018). Through reading an interview with the artist andconducting their own similar research, students can examine text in public
spaces at the university or a city block with which students are familiar. Gui,
Hillis, Bartoszynska, and Zampino (2018b) outline the process. First, students
note examples of the language found in a public space: words on road signs,
170

Go and Open the Door, OCJSI 1, pages 163-175

advertisements, store fronts, and even flyers. After recording this information,
students compose their own list poems (i.e., poems, which enumerate something,such as people, places, actions, and often use repetition) using the found material.
Although they do not need to write any original content, they will need to makedecisions about the order of information and about the format of the poem.
As a follow up, students discuss their experiences composing the poems, before
moving on to the broader question of how written language in these spaces
conveys information, power, and behavioral expectations. This is a topic ofparticular relevance for students of city planning or architecture. For English
language learners, the activity encourages stopping to notice the language whichsurrounds them in daily life; in addition, students can check for multi-language
signs which have become increasingly important as Japan hosts more foreign
visitors and international events.

Conclusion

Three ways for opening the door to literature in the English language classroom
have been discussed in this article. One way is to become more familiar with
the needs and interests of the students in the class and connect them withstudents’ academic majors or personal hobbies. Another way is to connect poems
to advertising, social networking, or other forms of digital media. Cultural
exploration is yet another way and it combines reading a poem from anothercountry with conducting inquiry into one’s own culture.
A variety of poems related to each of these ways of opening to the door toliterature has been recommended, and these can be used to engage students withboth authentic literary texts and real-world issues. Effective lesson plans revolvearound not only the literary texts, but also small group discussion of the ideas or
research on the themes presented. Although there are some challenges to finding
interesting and level appropriate texts for a specific group of learners, literatureoffers rich potential for improving English language skills and developing
academic competencies.

171

HillisReferences

Al Bastaki, S. (2018). from House to House. Asymptote. Retrieved from https://www.asymptotejournal.com/special-feature/shamma-al-bastaki-house-tohouse/
Carter, R. A., & Long, M. N. (1991). Teaching literature. New York, NY:
Longman.
Collie, J., & Slater, S. (2001). Literature in the language classroom: A resourcebook of ideas and activities. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Fraser, S. (2018). Literature in the L2 classroom: Addressing communicativeand policy goals. The Journal of Literature in Language Teaching, 7(1), 1530.
Gui, J., Hillis, M., Bartoszynska, K., & Zampino, C. (2018a). Language intransit: Understanding ethnographic poetry. Asymptote for Educators.
Educator’s Guide Summer 2018, pp. 5-6. Retrieved from https://www.
asymptotejournal.com/assets/educational/asymptote-guide-for-educators2018-summer.pdf
Gui, J., Hillis, M., Bartoszynska, K., & Zampino, C. (2018b). Written languagein public spaces. Asymptote for Educators. Educator’s Guide Spring 2018,
pp. 12-14. Retrieved from https://www.asymptotejournal.com/assets/
educational/asymptote-guide-for-educators-2018-spring.pdf
Heisler, E. (2018). Amira Hanafi: Cities and Dictionaries. Asymptote. Retrieved
from https://www.asymptotejournal.com/visual/eva-heisler-amira-hanaficities-and-dictionaries/
Khatib, M., & Nourzadeh, S. (2011). Some recommendations for integrating
literature into EFL/ESL classrooms. International Journal of English
Linguistics, 1(2), 258-263.
Khatib, M., & Rahimi, A. H. (2012). Literature and language teaching. Journalof Academic and Applied Studies, 2(6), 32-38.
Khatib, M., Derakhshan, A., & Rezaei, S. (2011). Why & why not literature: A
task-based approach to teaching literature. International Journal of English
Linguistics, 1(1), 213-218.
Kitzman, A. (2016). Working to meet students’ needs with optimal topics.
172

Go and Open the Door, OCJSI 1, pages 163-175

OnCUE Journal, 9(3), 239-260.
Lazar, G. (1993) Literature and language teaching: A guide for teachers andtrainers. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Liberlit. (n.d.). Liberlit manifesto. Retrieved from http://www.liberlit.com/
new/?page_id=19
Mzezewa, T. (2017, October 5). Rupi Kaur is kicking down the doors of
publishing. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.
com/2017/10/05/fashion/rupi-kaur-poetry-the-sun-and-her-flowers.html
National Endowment for the Arts. (2018). The 2017 survey of public
participation in the arts. Retrieved from https://www.arts.gov/artisticfields/research-analysis/arts-data-profiles/arts-data-profile-18
Parkinson, B., & Reid Thomas, H. (2000). Teaching literature in a second
language. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press.
Yilmaz, C. (2012). Introducing literature to an EFL classroom: Teacher’s
instructional methods and students’ attitudes toward the study of literature.
English Language Teaching, 5(1), 86.
Ward, A. (2016, July 9). In a violent week, Americans turn to poetry. Houston
Chronicle. Retrieved from https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/graymatters/article/In-a-violent-week-Americans-turn-to-poetry-8348089.php

List of Poetry

Al Bastaki, S. (2018). from House to House. Asymptote. Retrieved from https://www.asymptotejournal.com/special-feature/shamma-al-bastaki-house-tohouse/
Angelou, M. (1978). Still I Rise. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46446/still-i-rise
Collins, B. (2000). The Movies. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=41059
Giovanni, N. (1968). Knoxville, Tennessee. Academy of American Poets.
Retrieved from https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/knoxville-tennessee
Giovanni, N. (2013). Allowables. Compassionate San Antonio. Retrieved from173

Hillishttps://sacompassion.net/poem-allowables-by-nikki-giovanni/
Hahn, K. (2015). Not Nothing. Academy of American Poets. Retrieved fromhttps://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/not-nothing
Hanafi, A. (2007). Map of the Orders of Signs. Amira Hanafi. Retrieved fromhttps://amirahanafi.com/tagged/maps
Harjo, J. (1983). Remember. Academy of American Poets. Retrieved fromhttps://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/remember-0
Harjo, J. (2008). She Had Some Horses. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved fromhttps://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/141852/she-had-some-horses590104cf40742
Holub, M. (2006). The Door. Scottish Poetry Library. Retrieved from https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/door/
Hughes, L. (1926). Lenox Avenue Midnight. Poetry Nook. Retrieved fromhttps://www.poetrynook.com/poem/lenox-avenue-midnight
Hughes, L. (1931). Tired. Poetry Nook. Retrieved from https://www.
poetrynook.com/poem/tired-4
Hughes, L. (1951). Harlem. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.
poetryfoundation.org/poems/46548/harlem
Mujila, F. M. (2017). Kasala for Myself. Asymptote. Retrieved from https://www.asymptotejournal.com/poetry/fiston-mwanza-mujila-kasala-formyself/
Rich, A. (2013). Later poems: Selected and new: 1971-2012. New York, NY: W.
W. Norton & Company.
Soto, G. (1983). Oranges. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.
poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=35513
Williams, W. C. (1921). The Great Figure. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved fromhttps://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51549/the-great-figure174

Go and Open the Door, OCJSI 1, pages 163-175

Author bio

Mary Hillis has been teaching English language and literature classes in Japan forover ten years. She has taught at Kansai Gaidai and Kwansei Gakuin University.
She also volunteers as an Educational Arm Assistant for Asymptote. Her interests are
academic writing, writing centers, and literature in language teaching. maryehillis@
gmail.com
Received: November 4, 2018
Accepted: April 27, 2019175