Methodological potential of the concrete poetry for development of written speech in foreign language teaching

The article considers the possibility of using methodological potential of concrete poetry for writing development in foreign language teaching at universities. The two-stage experiment of employing concrete poetry texts for teaching writing in German consisted of the reproductive stage and the productive stage. The teaching of creating poetic works was based on “from simple to complex” principle. At the reproductive stage students got acquainted with the genre of concrete poetry: its definition, history, traditions and the most prominent concrete poets. They focused on the original poetic work, imitated its structure. At the productive stage students created poetic works of their own. A survey was conducted among 3d and 4th year students majoring in Linguistics at the Department for the Humanities at Novosibirsk State Technical University. The paper gives recommendations on how to use concrete poetry texts in teaching writing skills at German lessons, provides examples of student’s works. Finally, the key findings are analyzed. The main purpose of the experiment is achieved: the methodological potential of concrete poetry is unleashed. The use of concrete poetry texts makes it possible to improve students’ motivation for writing in a foreign language, to develop creative skills, self-expression and self-knowledge and make writing in a foreign language more expressive and original.

concrete poetry, development of foreign language written speech, teaching German, development of creative skills