Poetry reading and writing

Enhancing literacy in less proficient readers of five to eight years

Abstract

This article sets out to demonstrate the possible links between poetry and the acquisition of literacy skills, especially in less proficient learners. First we examine poetic and psychological theory to show how poetry responds to both requirements of learning to read: becoming other and connecting with the function of language by adopting a semi-objective position. Lacking somewhat in support from the official programmes in France, we have tried to collect data from expert and less-expert teachers as well as from children in difficulty, and to relate this to the reality of students’ oral or written poetic compositions, which are far richer than they might appear. The first comparisons are encouraging, despite the fact that poetic didactics is, to a large extent, neglected in this country.