APPLIED DRAMA IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING-Notas

Chapter 3 Literature Review and Theoretical Framework

-> Key theories behind the use of drama in English language leaning

->Theoretical framework from which this study is derived

References:

Maley and Duff, Wessel: Use of drama techniques transposed to the classroom context;

Di Pietro: Strategic Interaction: structured teaching using role-play scenarios that focused
on language acquisition during the process of problem solving

Kao and O’Neill: From scripted role play, through dramatized story, language games,
simulations, improvisational role-play, scenarios and finally at process drama

Kao and O’Neil; Stinson and Freebody: Using process drama to teach additional languages

On the use of textbooks:

Harwood: the textbook materials become bridges to stimulate teacher’s thinking and
become the basis for providing the most appropriate classes in their teaching context

Theory:

Maley and Duff: Bodily-kinaesthetic learning as a part of MI features extensively in many

parts of drama pedagogy

Gardner’s categorisation of multiple intelligences enables the practitioner and the researcher to
better describe their teaching tools as well as what is happening in their teaching context.

Rothwell: kinaesthetic learning and verbal participation of beginner learners

“Teaching using drama pedagogies itself is multimodal, as the teacher and students engage in
multiple modals of communication –written text, speech, movement, story, etc”

Multimodality

Ntelioglou: multimodality; situates practice (utilise the students’ own life experience to create a
powerful, meaningful content with which the student can engage; 2011 p597) Their personal
stories become the driving force of the lessons
Use of drama for language learning:

Piazzoli

Magos and Politi

Peregory adn Boyle_ They speak of FUN!

Scaffolding for learners: Nawi

Motivation due to drama pedagogies:

Richard-Amato, 1988;

Stinson, 2009;

Kao & O’Neill, 1998;

Maley & Duff, 2005;

Rieg & Paquette, 2009;

Baldwin, 2012; among others

Para futuras referencias:

“how much does the teacher have to know in order to be able to utilise drama pedagogy in the
classroom, and utilise it well?

“it cannot be denied that cultural values have to be taken into consideration when implementing a
teaching and learning system that is completely different than to what students, or even teachers
themselves, are used to”.

The Natural Approach

Affective filter: Krashen

The Input Hyphotesis i+1-

Affective Filter Hypothesis: “learning is sifted through the affective filter that is directly
influenced by the learner’s emotional responses to the learning environment. “This hypothesis is
relevant to the study because one of the most important reasons as to why drama pedagogies
are used is to make sure that students are in a positive learning environment where they are
free to use their imaginations, and make choices that they would not usually be able to make
within the bounded context of their classrooms. – Nrieg and Paquette
Current directions inf the field of language teaching:

Sociocultural theories of language learning: Gee

Learning and Acquisition: “acquisition is defined as learning to become competent using language
for ‘real communication’; and ‘learning’ being a process where the learner ‘knows about’ the
‘formal knowledge’ of language to be learned- Krashen and Terrell. “While language acquisition is
central to the language learner, it does not provide 100 percent of the source of competence in
the target language. There is still a need for learning grammar, spelling and aspects of good writing
like punctuation that even native speakers still need to learn.

Drama and the brain

Although there has been research carried out on drama and the effects of drama on learning,
there is still a large gap in knowledge of the connections between drama and the processes that
happen in the brain of learners who are taught using drama. (…) there have so far been no
empirical studies that explicitly study the connection between drama and the cortical level of
learning; specifically, drama, language learning and the brain.

Patricia Baldwin: “it is no coincidence that language learning, synaptogenesis and dramatic play
typically happen in the first five years of a person’s life, the processes are interrelated”

Dramatic play is inherent in how children make sense of the world (Ghiaci and Richardson;
Lindsey and Colwell; Bodrova and Leong; Benson) and is also inherent in how children learn
language. They imitate what they hear and see in dramatic play, and the reinforcement they
obtain from dramatic play enables them to better learn a language (Hendy and Toon)

“the brain is both a pattern-seeker and a pattern-maker, and is always seeking ways to connect
patterns of new input to patterns of prior knowledge. If it can identify new input with pre-existing
knowledge, the brain is able to absorb the information almost immediately. However if there is a
discrepancy between the two pattern sources, the learning outcome can be incomplete, and
learning is either delayed or disrupted. In order to make more patterns for the brain, it is
important for the brain to build as many connections as possible between existing knowledge and
target knowledge. Drama can be used for this purpose as it is multi.modal in nature, and it
provides a learning environment that is rich in context, which may enable learners to overlap
these learnt ‘patterns’ for better learning acquisition.

“Another connection that Baldwin makes between learning using drama and how the brain
works is through the utilisatio of mirror neurons. (those which fire up when a human being
carried out an action or observes an action carried out by another) (…) this would suggest that
students who are engaged in genuine communication in a simulated drama environment may
also learn from these simulations, as much as they would in real life.” “mirror neurons also play
a part in other more social behaviors such as grasping the intentions of other people
“Baldwin suggest that there is “a neurological value in pretending, in imagining and acting out”
where dramatic play could be seen as both internal and external simulations of a virtual reality.

“The relevance of brain-based learning and multiple intelligence in my research is that it would
suggest merit in using drama in the ESL classroom as a teaching method that engages how
students naturally learn.

Drama, multiple intelligences and language learning styles

Learning styles: “cognitive and affective traits that are relatively stable indicators of how learners
perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment” (Keefe) “natural, habitual, and
preferred ways of learning” with a “clear, comprehensible and coherent set of likes and dislikes”
(Willing)

Drama has the potential to cater the different intelligences and learning styles (Ashton-Hay;
Wagner)

Non-verbal aspects of drama, where the movements of the participants give rise to language
learning: Malley and Duff; Di Pietro, Wessels, Kao and O’Neil

Bodily kinesthetic intelligence: “the potential of using one’s whole body or parts of the body …
to solve problems or fashion products

According to Gardner, the movement in drama has the potential to cater the bodily kinaesthetic
intelligence.

Language through emotional engagement in drama

Connection between emotions and learning: Gardner; Krashen; Goleman

“The management of emotion, emotional intelligence and the application of interpersonal skills
are needed in both genuine communications, as well as the simulated context of the drama class.

The acquisition and application of interpersonal skills influence the development of learning skills:
Elliott

For language learning to be effective, activation of both the right and left brains are crucial, and
drama offers a way to balance between the cognitive and affective attributes of genuine
communication: DiNapoli

Drama offers a medium that “connects and mediates affective and cognitive understandings” and
teaches the students how to relate to themselves and to others in their community: Miller and
Saxton
The works of Greenwood (2005), Heathcote (1995)and Miller and Saxton
(2004)among others opened my mind to the possibilities of teaching in a
more substantial drama environment where learning could occur in the
context of the drama, as well as taking the drama techniques and
injecting them in the language classroom that I had been previously
exposed to. The teacher and students work in various roles, where they
explore a situation or a problem, and through several dramatic activities
work toward a resolution (O'Neill, 1995). However, using process drama
specifically in an ESL context with specific language learning objectives is
a field that saw a limited amount of documented research (with perhaps
the exception of Kao, 1995, and Kao and O’Neill, 1998), until a
resurgence after the new millennium (see Piazzoli, 2011; Stinson, 2009;
Stinson & Freebody, 2006; Stinson & Winston, 2011)among others)