Including poetry in the language classroom: advantages and a lesson plan proposal

The use of poetry in the language classroom is, to say the least, a controversial issue. The medium has been traditionally excluded from ESL/EFL contexts on the basis of generalized beliefs regarding its complexity and actual benefits. Nevertheless, this position disregards potential advantages, which have been reported in the pertinent literature, that poetry-based tasks can have on the learning process of a second or foreign language. Under these circumstances, this paper aims at describing the reported advantages of incorporating poetry-based tasks in several areas of language learning. Additionally, a proposal for an EFL lesson plan that includes poetry composition is provided.