Japanese university EFL learners’ responses to lexically easy short English poems

Abstract

This study explored the diverse responses of Japanese university-level learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to lexically easy short poems. These participants had attained a high level of English proficiency and were able to grasp the literal meaning of the poems. The investigation employed confidence level and reading time as supplementary data points. The study yielded the following findings: (a) the majority of responses were heavily dependent on literal content; (b) learners typically did not substantiate their readings by referencing the poems, but when interpretations deviated from the literal content, they provided more supportive evidence; (c) the learners’ confidence level in creative interpretations was relatively low; (d) considerable variations were observed in meaning construction; and (e) learners spent the same amount of time to produce various interpretations with and without supportive evidence.