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

Abstract

Uniting the importance of sound within the teaching of poetry, with the notion of identity actualised through authentic poetic voice, this study examines how poetry written in a dialect can influence and thus develop students’ approaches to unseen poetry. 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.