Effects of an L2 Writing Poetry Pedagogy: Tracing Learner Development of Authorial Voice and Agency.

This study explored language learning as a transformational event in which success is not measured in terms of cognitive and communicative ability, but rather allows learners to reflect on experiential identity forming moments through writing. The pedagogy attached to the action research portion of this study attempted to access learners' identity and agency through L2 poetry writing that fostered the ability for an individual to create an authentic authorial voice. The creative writing pedagogy acted as the frame in which a qualitative multiple case study was carried out to examine the effects of authorial voice on learners' agency. The case study was conducted at a university in Japan with three EFL learners and traces their development as L2 writers and language learners. Results showed that the presence of authorial voice alone did not necessarily increase a learner's sense of agency; however, if a learner believed they had achieved authorial voice, then an increased level of agentic behaviors was observed. The negative counterpart was also found to be true. Therefore, a relationship of mutual causation was identified between a learner's agency and the learner's personal belief in the achievement of authorial voice. In the authorial voice and agency system (AVAS) of mutual causality, the considerations acted interdependently in which change in one effected change in the other, either positively or negatively. Additional factors such as community of practice, discourse community, the teaching of literary devices, and translingual writing strategies were found to effect authorial voice and thus generate changes in learner agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]