Abstract of

Does Feeling Come First? How Poetry Can Help Readers Broaden Their Understanding of Metacognition

Amy L. Eva-Wood

Assuming that readers' emotional responses can enhance readers' metacognitive experiences and inform literary analysis, this study of 11th-grade poetry readers features instruction that models both cognitive and affective reading processes. The author

• Presents a case for more explicit attention to emotion in language arts classrooms

• Provides a practical overview of the “think-and-feel-aloud” instruction used in a poetry classroom

• Describes the reading strategies students drew on to help them understand poems

Analyses of classroom discussions indicated that students used four strategies, which appeared to be driven primarily by sensory and emotional responses rather than cognitive processes alone. These included

• Responding to key words and phrases

• Visualizing and using the senses

• Relating the text to personal experiences

• Identifying with the poems' speakers

Based on the study$apos;s findings, the article provides justification for a more expansive definition of metacognition, which includes “thinking about feeling.”

Abstract from Eva-Wood, A.L. (2008, April). Does Feeling Come First? How Poetry Can Help Readers Broaden Their Understanding of Metacognition. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 51(7), 564–576. doi: 10.1598/JAAL.51.7.4