Beaumont, N. (2022). Poetry and Motion: Rhythm, Rhyme and Embodiment as Oral Literacy Pedagogy for Young Additional Language Learners. Education Sciences, 12(12), 905.
In this article, Beaumont put forward an interesting argument about the integration of oracy, poetry and embodiment as a way to facilitate language development for young children who are learning English as an additional language in school. The analysis demonstrated that the children involved benefited in terms of using English and learning English literacy, with improvements in comprehension and vocabulary acquisition also clearly evident.
The paper provides a review of literature in areas such as the use of poetry and rhyme as tools for learning the speak and read in English, the impact of singing on language development, the place of drama in literacy pedagogy. There is a detailed discussion of the approach taken to teaching poetry in the class, which would be very useful for teachers of young children wanting to try some similar poetry activities. This detail is further explicated in a short vignette of practice that illuminates a what the approach might look like with young children. The article finishes with a convincing argument about the place of poetry in early literacy teaching that would be a useful support for early childhood teachers wanting to justify why they might use embodied poetry techniques in their classrooms.