Poetry and Motion: Rhythm, Rhyme and Embodiment as Oral Literacy Pedagogy for Young Additional Language Learners

Literacy pedagogy that integrates oracy, poetry and embodiment can foster children’s language development in multiple ways: (1) oracy is foundational to emergent literacy as writing extends from oral language, (2) uses rhythm rhyme support letter-recognition the learning of phonemes morphemes, (3) roleplay provide semiotic opportunities for expressive receptive communication. This article shares findings a phenomenological case study investigating how integrated impacted three additional students aged 6. A series weekly classes school Sydney’s multicultural western region were observed recorded on video. instrument was able capture ‘micro-moments’ between peers, depicting physicalisation use effectively engaged whose first not used classroom. Using hermeneutic approach data analysis, revealed embodied explorations immersed participants socially imaginatively whilst pushing them beyond their comfort zone. The also shown increase comprehension acquisition new vocabulary.