Revisiting Haiku: Application of haiku to ESL (or EFL) freshman college writing.
Let me start asking you these questions.
- What is haiku?
- What is creative writing?
- What is voice?
- What is academic writing (or research paper)?
- Are creative and academic writing different? No connection?
- Why isn’t creative writing regarded as being important in English as Second Language (ESL) contexts?
- Is creative writing less important than academic writing in ESL contexts?
- How meaningful is the application of creative writing to ESL/EFL freshman college writing?
My dissertation is going to deal with the above questions. Some questions are very broad, but important to think about all of these questions.
<Summary>
Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry which uses specific rhetoric. It appeared in the sixteenth century and the concept has succeeded to current era. It is one approach for the Japanese to express their feeling. It looks very simple, but it takes complicated process to compose it.
Haiku is now used in discursive contexts all over the world. The application varies depending on the purposes: writing haiku for mediation therapy in self-healing in Finland (Sky Hiltunen, 2005); understanding Japanese culture while studying haiku at the secondary level in an English classroom in the United States (National Endowment for Humanities, 2000); reading and writing haiku as a study of Japanese literature in fourth grade in the United States (Stokely, 2000) and writing haiku as creative writing in an English classroom in the United States (Cheney, 2002). Previous studies on English language teaching have provided just some practical models of applying haiku, but they have not yet reported on the justification of using the poetry in writing classrooms. The same is true in second language (L2) writing contexts: very little research on literature use in L2 writing classrooms has been conducted and it is arguable regarding what features in composing English haiku contribute to L2 literacy development and how it can be associated with academic writing. In contrast, studies on L2 literary reading have been developing (Paran, 2008) and have reported on the theoretical rationale of using literature (e.g. Hall, 2005; Hanauer, 2001; Hanauer, 2004). These studies will provide a first step to explore possibilities for literature use in L2 writing in order to develop second language proficiency.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the contribution of English haiku to L2 academic writing. Specifically, this study will examine characteristics of English haiku writing focusing on the three points: structure (how structurally designed features affect L2 academic writing); process (what factors in the process of composing haiku are transferrable to L2 academic writing); and social function (how the writer’s social positioning relevant to meaning-making impacts the way in which the writer situates him/herself in academic disciplines in L2 writing).
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If you are interested in my dissertation topic or want to discuss haiku/creative writing/ academic writing, feel free to email me: atsushi.iida at hotmail dot com I have looked for places (writing classrooms) where I can collect data in Japanese universities. If you are willing to help my study, please let me know. I appreciate your advice and help.
