Drama in EFL Classroom

College of Foreign Languages,Bohai University,Jinzhou,China Email:veronicalee@163.com

[Abstract]Because of the great potentials it can provide in language learning,drama has gained increasing attention from the researchers and practitioners in foreign language teaching.This study reviews the current research findings in order to achieve a clear understanding of the role drama plays in foreign language classrooms.It begins with a discussion of the connection between current learning theories and drama activities.An analysis of the role played by drama in EFL is then made based on current literature.After that,a practical guideline of the approach in integrating drama into EFL classroom is provided.

[Keywords]Drama in education;non-verbal communication;communicative environment;collaborative atmosphere

Introduction

Drama in education can be described as“an educational approach that transforms the teacher-centered concept of classrooms to a teaching understanding,which initiates the use of learners’background knowledge and experience”(Ustuk&İnan,2017,p.29).This initiation enables students to reconsider their own knowledge and former experience,and achieve a better understanding of the target language.In this way,teachers provide the students with the opportunity to be actively engaged into a series of exciting drama experiences through interaction with the dramatic context,to build a new understanding of art forms of drama,and learn to use them in a skillful way(Bowell&Heap,2013).

Drama is increasingly arousing the attention and interest of more and more English language teaching researchers and practitioners.It is mostly due to the fact that drama techniques connect well with those widely accepted theories of learning.Piaget believed that children construct new knowledge on the basis of their former experiences through interaction within their social and physical environment,and Vygotsky called for collaborative learning.In addition,constructivists appreciate that drama allows for students’imagination,and provides the possibility for them to build their own understanding.Drama also appeals to those rejecting the dullness of traditional behaviorist way of teaching English.In language classroom,drama can create learning environments quite different from the normal situations,in which students can communicate in the target language in a meaningful way.

While bringing great potentials,drama can also lead to certain difficulties in EFL classroom(Olaniyan,2015;Angelianawati,2019).This article would explore the current studies,trying to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of drama in EFL classroom and provide guidance for its usage.

The role of drama in EFL classroom

Since the 1990’s,there has been a remarkable amount of researches into the affordance of drama in EFL classroom.As the findings suggest,drama can be used for a variety of purposes,which include“fostering communication competence,embodied and engaging learning,contextually-situated interaction,confidence and motivation in learning and using language and deeper engagement with literature”(Belliveau & Kim,2013,p.18).No doubt that the idea of making drama in class is constantly arousing the interest of language teachers and researchers,for the ability to interact and to communicate in efficient ways is the fundamental goal of language teaching and learning.

First of all,drama in education fits into the communicative environment which is essential condition for natural acquisition of language to occur.Traditional EFL classroom is often regarded as an artificial linguistic environment,where the affective filter may always be up(Krashen,1982),and can bring great pressure to students.Drama in EFL classroom,with a variety of activities like improvisations and role-plays,can create a more real-life situation.Roleplaying activities enable students to practice language skills in an environment reflecting real-life language use(Dodson,2002).Simulating certain aspects of natural communication in drama activities can serve as a“training field”for students,and can be highly effective(Bancheri,2010).Drama activities create a safe and warm learning environment that is sensitive to the individual personality of the students,and therein helps to reduce anxiety in language learning process,and promote nonthreatening interaction among students.Students become highly motivated and learn the language more effectively in such environment.Students are provided with opportunities to experience the foreign language in realistic situations in classroom drama activities,which is considered beneficial to their language learning(Miccoli,2003).Ntelioglou(2011)studied the foreign language class in university level,and found that dramatic activities can involve a variety of language skills and create a social constructive environment for collaborative learning.Kao,Carkin,and Hsu(2011)emphasizes several factors shared by drama and language:context plays an important role in facilitating communication;they are both socially structured;active participation is essential.

In addition,drama helps to establish a creative and collaborative atmosphere in EFL classroom.Drama can bring a strong motivation for the student to speak,which is beneficial to language learning but can sometimes lead to a sense of insecurity or stage fright(O’Neill & Lambert,1982).Collaborative activities and fictional atmosphere in classroom drama can help students feel at ease.“These peer-to-peer relationships are extremely useful not only for establishing a positive effective climate in the group,but also for promoting language learning and helping students develop critical thinking skills”(Marini-Maio&Ryan-Scheutz,2010,p.5).

Moreover,the involvement of emotions in drama activities add affective flavor to language elements which will make them more memorable.Drama embraces the emotional elements of language,which are often neglected in textbooks,and gives students a chance to practice language skills in fictional situations resembling real life.Communication between two persons can occur at two levels,conscious and unconscious ones,like the wave and the undercurrent in a river(Boal,2002).Thus language and emotions are parallel systems,with the latter affecting the performance of the former,and both are important in human communication process.

Furthermore,drama activities make difference in the language itself.Meaning is emphasized over form,therefore error correction rarely occur.In drama activities,students should use the target language as much as possible,and try not to speak their native language.Teachers play the role of a facilitator,encouraging the use of target language,and providing support when and where necessary.Drama can help in the language learning process by ensuring that the target language is used in an appropriate context,no matter how‘fantastic’this context may seem.Students are encouraged to practice and improve their language skills in the dramatic context,interacting with other characters in the drama in a way quite close to authentic social communication(Sam,1990).

Finally,drama activities provide students with opportunities to develop and make use of non-verbal communication as well as verbal communication.Drama does not depend on language alone,but also convey message through objects,gestures,sounds and images(Palechorou&Winston,2012).Non-verbal competence is closely related to students’fluency in oral communication,but it is rarely approached in textbooks.Proficiency in nonverbal traits of the foreign language distinguishes culturally aware learners from those who are merely exposed to bookish oriented teaching.Drama activities emphasize paralinguistic way of communication such as gestures or facial expressions,drama in education greatly enriched the dimensions of language in the classroom,not just grammatical forms(Liu,2002).

Approaches of integrating drama into EFL classroom

Drama has been an important way of human expression for hundreds of years,in which actors all over the world create fictional situations representing human conditions on the stage to entertain the audience.Drama in education,also called educational or classroom drama in different situations,is an activity in which a teacher and students invent and enact dramatic situations for educational purposes rather than for an outside audience.In classroom drama,teachers and students work together,using games,drama strategies and theatre based rehearsals to create and further develop a dramatic world.By playing drama roles,the students are able to communicate their understanding of life in an aesthetic way to themselves and their fellow participants(Rasmussen,2010;Neelands,2009).

Drama has been employed educationally in a number of ways including theatrical performance,process drama,and games and improvisations.Theatrical performance involves students in rehearsing and performing a scripted play and it is based on the view that cultural knowledge of dramatic literature is essential for a fully educated adult(O’Toole & O’Mara,2007).This approach is employed as a means of introducing cultural concepts to foreign language learners for it is believed to be able to augment students’language skills through necessitating the use of the target language for a meaningful purpose(Via,1972).Shier(2002)found it able to increase the sophistication,confidence,and accuracy of communication.Students learn theater terminology,collaboration in team-work,and the literature and historical background relevant to the performance as well(Lys,et al.,2002).

Process drama was originally called“drama-in-education”or“educational drama”,and it requires students to take part in in-class performance,not for outside audience.It is said to be process-based rather than product-based for its not aiming at creating a final product(McGovern,2017).Students seek to respond and interact in the way suitable for the characters and the situation in the play.Students and teachers collaborate in creating a dramatic world,and it engages students into meaningful acts of communication.The benefits of process drama include facilitating natural interaction among students and teachers,allowing for a wider variety of registers to be explored(Kao,et al.2011),increasing student engagement and participation(To,et al.,2011),reducing affective barriers(Piazzoli,2011),and resulting in embodied,multi-modal interaction(Rothwell,2011).

Games and improvisations call for an array of theater games to be used in foreign language classroom.Spolin(1986)and Boal(1992)developed the most frequently cited drama related games.Paul(2015)believes that there is a parallel between the goals of the communicative approach and those of improvisational theater techniques,so he encourages teachers to make use of a large variety of games.However,Harman and Zhang(2015)insist that the use of gaming techniques with language learners should be from a critical perspective.

Whatever approach is used to integrate drama into language learning and teaching,the main purpose is to provide aesthetic,creative and imaginative learning experiences for second/foreign language students.

Conclusion

a review of the literature suggests that drama in education can bring much potential to the EFL classroom.Based on this,a number of authors support the use of drama in English language teaching.In addition,many current empirical studies clarified the benefits of using drama in language education.Like any other teaching approaches,a drama also has some potential difficulties.However,using good preparation,they could be anticipated,reduced,or avoided.

In conclusion,it is highly recommended that involvement of drama in education for foreign language purposes in the academic environment could be of great help,especially for people with difficulties in social relationships and interactions in a foreign language.Teachers should be encouraged to adopt an appropriate approach of teaching,which is dynamic and flexible,and consider how they can make foreign language teaching and learning more effective.

Acknowledgements

This paper is funded by Bohai University Educational Reform Project(No.2019ZXXJG23).