Effects of the Embodied Imagery Strategy on Poetry Learning among Middle School Students

Imagery strategies have been effective in diverse learning contexts; however, their applicability to classical poetry learning remains unclear. This study introduces an embodied imagery strategy, which encourages learners to simulate poets' emotional and mental states, and examines its effectiveness for improving middle school students' classical poetry learning outcomes. Experiment 1 compared the effects of embodied imagery, general imagery, and free learning strategies on poetry learning. Experiment 2 investigated whether instructional scaffolding (visual imagery versus background information) could enhance the effectiveness of embodied imagery. Experiment 3 involved a 10-week intervention using embodied imagery in authentic classroom settings. Results indicated that: (a) embodied imagery significantly improved students’ poetry learning outcomes—particularly their emotional interpretation—compared to general imagery and free learning conditions; (b) visual imagery scaffolding further enhanced the effectiveness of the embodied imagery strategy; and (c) prolonged classroom interventions employing embodied imagery significantly benefited students with lower prior knowledge. These findings suggest embodied imagery as a promising instructional approach to enhance middle school students’ semantic comprehension and emotional engagement in classical poetry learning.