Numerous publications have examined the impact that studying literature has had on second language (L2) development across modes, including its usefulness for advancing language awareness (Lin ), academic writing (Fogal ), reading comprehension (Paesani ) and general academic performance (Badran ). However, limited studies – and with varying results – have explored the utility of studying literary texts for enhancing L2 oral proficiency. Moreover, the sparse literature on this topic blurs an already narrow conception of how literary texts impact L2 oral proficiency and thus invites further research. To address this concern, the present classroom-based study examined changes in L2 learners’ lexical complexity (operationalised as lexical density, diversity and sophistication) after a semester of studying English literature within the context of a discussion and presentation course. Data were collected from a first-year class in an English literature department at a private university in Japan and comprised audio recordings of classroom interactions, classroom observations, post-semester interviews with learners and evidence-based reflections compiled by the course instructor. To examine changes in lexical complexity, a pre-test post-test research design was used, and a Wilcoxon signed-rank test was employed to compare changes in lexical complexity over time. Results showed that learners made no statistically significant gains in oral proficiency. This study discusses pedagogical concerns related with this outcome and offers suggestions for balancing classroom attention on literature, the learner and the language of the text. This work also contributes to advancing research methods related to investigating the efficacy of studying literary texts for developing L2 oral proficiency.

This chapter explores Japanese EFL learners’ responses to poems of different levels of familiarity. The aim of the project was to try to uncover learners’ interactions with poetry and then to consider the benefits of speaking about poetry for second language learning. A Japanese poem by Kenji Miyazawa in English translation was used as a familiar text, and a Dylan Thomas poem as an unfamiliar poem. Four pairs of learners were asked to talk together about the poems and report on what they understood the poems to mean. They were also asked to give a personal response to the poems. It was anticipated that in speaking about the familiar poem, learners’ background knowledge of the Japanese text would support a more detailed interpretation, while the unfamiliarity of the new poem would present barriers to understanding of meaning but could present opportunities for co-constructed meaning creation through speaking. Three sources of data are used in the chapter: (1) a bilingual questionnaire which identified learners’ poetry-reading backgrounds; (2) the learners’ conversations, used to explore spoken responses to the two poems; and (3) follow-up interviews. The results indicate that poetry-reading processes such as noticing, questioning and interpreting meaning occur with both types of poem. The results also suggest that speaking about poetry could be useful for the development of speaking skills such as elaborating, negotiating and also practising specific spoken language such as use of discourse markers and conversation skills. The results also suggest that poetry discussions may help learners to express their feelings in English, which could develop their familiarity with conversational strategies when using their speaking skills in future situations.