Review and Application of "Scaffolding Oral Language Development Through Poetry for Students Learning English"
Poetry is used across all cultures in a variety of ways. The focus of Scaffolding oral language development through poetry for students learning English centers on the use of poetry in the oral langua 
ge development among English as a Second Language(ESL) students (Hadaway, Vardel and Young 2001). In describing how poetry is so useful, the authors discuss the unique appropriateness of poetry as a vehicle for providing practice and pleasure in oral language skill development (p.796). Due to the free and unbound nature of poetry, students may be more likely to feel less intimidated and more comfortable listening and speaking poetry, even if the student is ESL. Using poetry which contains vocabulary that both ESL and non-ESL students are less familiar with helps put students on sort of the same level, allowing them to figure out pronunciation and meaning as a group effort. When students feel anxious or frightened, this creates a barrier to communication, so less input gets through to the learner (p. 797).
The use of poetry allows for experimentation in a setting that is safe to fail in. The authors suggest many strategies to encourage and include as many students as possible in appreciating and expressing poetry, and in having meaningful interaction with their peers (p.798). Included in these strategies are teacher modeling, reading aloud, call and response, individual solo lines, singing poems, and physical involvement. The authors push for a continuum of involvement that begins with the teacher, then group, and onto more individual involvement and appreciation. An important aspect of teacher modeled poetry which the authors provide is that the poems modeled are ones which the teacher enjoys reading. In doing so, you are more likely to be more expressive and impressive in speech and motion. For ESL students, poetry with rhythm and rhyme help students in recognition and prediction of word chunks and sounds they make.
The use of poetry allows for experimentation in a setting that is safe to fail in. The authors suggest many strategies to encourage and include as many students as possible in appreciating and expressing poetry, and in having meaningful interaction with their peers (p.798). Included in these strategies are teacher modeling, reading aloud, call and response, individual solo lines, singing poems, and physical involvement. The authors push for a continuum of involvement that begins with the teacher, then group, and onto more individual involvement and appreciation. An important aspect of teacher modeled poetry which the authors provide is that the poems modeled are ones which the teacher enjoys reading. In doing so, you are more likely to be more expressive and impressive in speech and motion. For ESL students, poetry with rhythm and rhyme help students in recognition and prediction of word chunks and sounds they make.
In a 7th grade special education class, I noted that the students were more willing to read a variety of poems. One student, who had achieved very poor grades in nearly all of her classes, keeps a collection of authored poetry.