From Isolated Reading to Interconnected Meaning: Exploring EFL Students’ Cross-Poem Connections in a Literature Classroom

This study explores how English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) university students develop the ability to construct connections across poems in a literature classroom. Conducted as a classroom-based study, the research draws on students’ written responses, concept maps, and survey data collected during an eight-week poetry unit. The findings indicate a developmental progression from isolated interpretation toward more connected and integrative forms of reading. Students reported that cross-poem comparison tasks supported deeper understanding, interpretive engagement, and retention of literary meaning, although they also experienced difficulties in identifying meaningful relationships and expressing interpretations in English. The study suggests that scaffolded comparison activities and collaborative meaning-making may support the development of intertextual reading practices in EFL contexts. The findings also offer pedagogical implications for poetry instruction and literature teaching in higher education.