date: Saturday, 4.09.2021
hour: 14:00-14:30
place: Ada Puławska
fb: https://www.facebook.com/events/382709863208554
description: I will talk about an action research project that explored two areas of learning: (1) How sensory can stimulate creative writing in terms of literary techniques, and (2) How might an experience in the natural ecosystem reveal attitudes towards the environment. Participant groups were 9th grade English classes (42 students), English language teachers and an English as an additional language facilitator at the American School of Warsaw (Poland).
Creative writing activities were coupled with tasks in the community garden for the development of language attached to each task. The writing was then extended through classroom work. Ecolinguistic analysis was made through a three-step approach by analyzing the language produced in terms of natural ecological elements, then looking at it through the lens of sustainable attitudes and finally, what these narratives may tell us about attitudes or changing attitudes of the participants (Stibbe).
It was found that the experience in the garden led to meaningful and creative development of imagery, similes, and metaphors which contained natural ecological elements as a carryover from the activities. Through ethnographic data collection (questionnaire and video) it was shown that this work had an impact on the attitudes of the learners towards the environment and revealed deeper connections to their natural ecology.
Keywords: Action Research, Creative Writing, Ecolinguistics, Environment, ELL, EAL (English Language Learning).
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