USING DRAMA TO TEACH ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN LARGE CLASSES:

A sure approach to effective L2 Teaching and Learning

INTRODUCTION

We live in a global world where the knowledge of a foreign language, particularly

English, is almost a must. English has become a natural part of our everyday lives, we
can encounter it in media, advertising, shopping and it becomes absolutely inevitable
when it comes to travelling and making oneself understood abroad. The knowledge of
a foreign language gives young people considerable advantage when looking for a job
or simply communicating with peers from abroad on the Internet. That is why
students should not learn English just because it is a part of most curricula, but
because they can see its significance in their future lives. And that is where English
teachers should help them and encourage them.

As we know, it is very important nowadays to learn a foreign language, but as we also

know, it is also a complex and long process. We have to take into account that our
students are more and more de-motivated especially in Secondary Education. As
English teachers we have to look for new ideas and activities in our English classes to
motivate our students and make them feel like learning a foreign language. One area
in which we could catch their attention is the use of drama, since drama is an
excellent means through which students can learn pronunciation, speaking and
listening skills as well as developing collaboration and group interaction.

Drama in English Language Teaching Classes

Drama is an active approach to learning where participants identify with roles and
situations to be able to engage with, explore and understand the world they live in.
This goes beyond language, as social interaction involves communication on multiple
levels that cross cultural and language boundaries. By being part of a drama ensemble
and participating in a fictitious context, the class is experiences a shared moment of
intensity that involves emotions, facial expressions, gesture, movement and a
heightened awareness of others, that would not necessarily be experienced outside the
drama environment. Students are thus freed from the constraints of precision of
language that may be required in the conventional language classroom, and are
equipped with many other tools with which to communicate meaning.

Humans are physical, mental and psychological beings. When encouraging our
students to learn another language we need to recognise and satisfy their ‘whole
person’ needs and abilities. In other words we need to address physical, mental and
psychological as well as purely linguistic needs. Typically, language learning is
confined to the mental world of problem-solving, rule application and artificial
contexts. Drama is a way of unlocking the ‘whole-person’ and developing physical,
creative, imaginative and emotional responses to learning contexts.

Essentially drama liberates the student from the confines of the conventional
classroom environment and structure and gives the student the opportunity to draw on
their own experiences and imagination, in creating the material on which part of the
language class is based. These activities draw on the natural ability of every person to
imitate, mimic and express him or herself physically. They are dramatic because they
arouse interest by drawing on the unpredictable emotional power generated when
emotional memory is triggered by a stimulus and when a person is brought together
with others.

As an ensemble the class can learn and discover together, all the while feeling part of
something larger than themselves and experiencing the support of the group. By being
part of this safe environment students are able to take risks, build on the strengths of
others and grow in confidence, making decisions and taking actions on behalf of the
group. The Drama context also allows participants to be distanced or liberated from
themselves to speak and behave in role, allowing their character to voice truths and
opinions that the individual may not express in daily life.

Drama takes as its starting point ‘life’ not language and by so reversing the learning
process, that is, by beginning with meaning and then moving to language later we are
able to draw on the full range of a learners’ multiple intelligences and exploit learning
as a ‘whole-person’ approach. The Drama environment builds on the personalities,
energy and ideas of the participants, so is alive and always changing and evolving.
Because of this no two Drama lessons are the same, and the level of the work is
determined by the nature of the group. One Drama idea or plan is therefore very
versatile and can be used and adapted for multiple levels and ages.

The advantages of using drama.

One of the main aims of using drama in a language course is to provide an active,
stimulating, fun and creative environment in which to develop the student’s language
learning potential. Students are encouraged to explore English through their
imagination and creativity and to express this through language, and other forms of
communication, that may include: movement, action, dance, and role-play.

These activities aim to develop:

· Confidence, motivation, trust and participation

· Oral and written communication skills

· Awareness of interpersonal and socio-cultural communication skills

· Accuracy and fluency of expression

· Rhythm and pronunciation

· Linguistic intelligence

· Social interactive skills

Why use Drama?

In the 80s, a widely recognized American applied linguist Stephen Krashen came up
with a theory about “two independent systems of second language performance: ‘the
acquired system’ and ‘the learned system’. The ‘acquired system’ or ‘acquisition’ is
the product of a subconscious process very similar to the process children undergo
when they acquire their first language. Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in
the target language, natural communication, in which speakers are concerned not with
the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and
understanding.
The ‘learned system’ or ‘learning’ is, on the contrary, the product of formal instruction
and it comprises a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge ‘about’
the language.” Taking into consideration the distinction between the “subconscious
and anxiety-free acquisition and conscious process where separate items from the
language are studied and practised in turn, Krashen suggested that teachers should
concentrate on acquisition rather than learning and that the role of the language
teacher should be to provide the right kind of language exposure, namely
comprehensible input (which is language that students understand more or less, even
if it is a bit above their own level of production)”. (Harmer, 2007: 47)

However, second language learners have much less opportunities to be exposed to the
language they want to learn than children who acquire their first language in a natural
way. That is why Harmer suggests that “a rich classroom environment should not only
expose students to language, but also give them opportunities to activate their
language knowledge and to study language and the way it works”. (Harmer, 2007: 48)
In other words, both acquisition and learning should be provided to language learners
because they both play an important role in the process of the second language
learning and teaching. If I we look deep into this Harmer’s position, we will see that
what he is trying to propose is ‘Drama in Education. Drama helps students to engage
in interactions and thus afford them the opportunity of activating the said language
knowledge.

Anyone who has worked with young children knows that they learn chiefly by
exploring their world using their imagination and engaging in pretend play. The link
between imaginative, or pretend play, and language is particularly strong.
Communicational and conversational skills develop as children develop scenarios
("this is our house, and this is the baby, she is just born and she has to sleep now");
assign roles and direct the action ("I'll be the mommy and I'm going shopping. You're
the daddy; you have to go to work!") and slip "in and out of multiple roles" ("now its
my turn to be the teacher ").
This imaginary play gives the child an understanding of the power of language and,
by including others in his games, he learns that words make it possible for him to tell
a story or organize a game. Church, in The importance of pretend play, points out that
this process plays an important part in helping the child "make the connection
between spoken and written language" Acknowledging the importance of this aspect
of a child's development, most preschool and kindergarten classrooms include a
dramatic play area where children can act out their fantasies.

The combination of imagination and learning, however, need not be confined to pre-
school children. For older children drama provides practical experience in
communicating, both written and oral, gives them the opportunity to learn to work
together, to develop tolerance and empathy as they begin to see the world from
different perspectives, and promotes active learning, enriching and reinforcing their
more traditional school experiences. So, when it comes to teaching English as a
second language, no matter the age of the student, drama and children are still a
winning combination.

Correction to some wrong assumptions

Despite a widespread interest in using drama by teachers who strive for more
contextually situated, engaging, and communicative language use in the classroom,
ironically drama does not seem to be widely implemented in language classrooms
(Kao & O’Neill 1998; Liu 2002; Even 2008; Dinapoli 2009), as transmission models
of language learning remain prevalent in many educational contexts (Kramsch 1996;
Wagner 1998; Paran 2006; Gilmore 2007; Cummings 2009, 2011). Even when
integrated, the use of drama has often been limited to decontextualized scripted role-
plays, memorization of superficial dialogues, and warm-up games that fall outside the
curriculum (Dinapoli & Algarra 2001; Dodson 2002; Marschke 2004; Matthias 2007).
The reason for this is not far fetched- Many teachers are wary of trying to introduce
drama in the classroom. This is particularly so among the more traditional of us who
feel that teaching cannot take place without a textbook in hand. These teachers, and
many parents, see drama as 'play' and, as we all know, learning English is hard work!
Yet findings have shown that teaching Literacy through arts increases fundamental
literacy skills in elementary school students.

Another common fear, particularly among younger and less experienced teachers is
that of losing control of the class and many confuse the 'busy buzz' of involved
children with rowdiness.

A further argument against the use of drama is lack of time. We often hear teachers
saying- "The curriculum is too full, there is not enough time to fit everything in, I
couldn't possibly add drama as well." This argument is easily overcome when teachers
realize that drama is not an addition, but a method of teaching. Finally there are those
retiring souls who exclaim, "I couldn't possibly use drama, I can't act!" I stand here to
tell you today that you don’t necessarily have to be an ‘expert’ actor before you can
use drama in education. It is the children who are going to act, and they are experts in
acting already!

The importance of Drama to language acquisition

Why should we use drama for teaching English? First of all, it's authentic. Using
drama enables children to use English appropriately in real conversations, expressing
emotions and ideas and listening to the feelings and ideas of their peers. In other
words, English is taught in the context in which it will be used, which is far removed
from lists of vocabulary and work-sheets and which makes students aware of the
language first and foremost as a means of communication.

This conversational use of language promotes fluency. While learning a play, children
are encouraged to listen to, potentially read and then repeat their lines over a period of
time. By repeating the words and phrases they become familiar with them and are
able to say them with increasing fluency. In addition, drama also teaches them to
enunciate their words properly and to project their voices when they speak, helping
them to become clear and confident speakers. Using drama to teach English also helps
to improve the understanding and retention of a word. By the time a child has read,
rehearsed and acted out a scene focusing on the word 'frustrated', for example, there is
little likelihood of ever forgetting it. The same would not hold true if the word had
been memorised for a vocabulary test.
Obviously, then, the active participation required in a drama lesson involves not only
the intellect but also children's imagination and emotions. By encouraging self-
expression, drama motivates children to use language confidently and creatively.

Finally, drama is an appropriate method for teaching children with different learning
styles and at different levels of understanding. No one learns in exactly the same way,
we all have different methods of processing information. By actively involving him in
his own learning process, dramatisation allows each child to absorb the language in
his own way. Similarly, children whose language skills are still very limited are given
the opportunity to communicate using nonverbal cues such as body movements and
facial expressions.

Drama as a tool of Motivation

As teachers we all know that trying to teach an unmotivated child is like hitting one's
head against a brick wall. With very young children we seldom come across this
problem as most kindergarten and preschool children are motivated by curiosity and
love to explore new ideas. Sadly, as a child grows older, learning is often seen as a
chore.

Let's look at some of the reasons children become de-motivated and see whether the
use of drama could be a factor in overcoming them. The child's experience of success
or failure has a significant effect on his motivation to learn. If children repeatedly fail,
even when they have put a great deal of effort into their learning, they are inclined to
approach future tasks with a negative attitude. Using drama as a teaching method and
with the appropriate choice of play and roles, there is no reason why all children
cannot experience success.

The secret here is to make the task challenging, but achievable for each child. Plays
are ideal for this purpose, of handling mixed abilities, as you can give bigger parts to
better students, thus keeping them motivated and challenged while making it
significantly easier for the slower students by giving them fewer lines. In the
meantime all students will be benefiting from being present and hearing the English
spoken over and over again.
The teacher's own enthusiasm also goes a long way towards motivating a child.
Anyone who has taught a classroom of children knows how quickly they pick up and
reflect your moods. If you think your English grammar lesson is boring, so will they!
By using drama as a teaching method and allowing children to experience language in
the simulated reality of a play they will derive far more fun from the lesson and fun is
always motivating.

In addition, chances are they will be considerably more motivated to use the language
in similar situations in real life. Obviously then, drama techniques motivate children
to learn by breaking the monotony of the English class and lifting the tempo as
children discuss and act out their roles, learn what they are going to say and decide
how they are going to say it.

Which leads to the third major factor concerning a lack of motivation, which is the
child's need to belong. Watch an apathetic child in the classroom come alive on the
playing fields and play his heart out for his team. That is where he feels he fits in, his
talents are respected and he is part of the team. Lumsden, in Student motivation to
learn, points out that "if students experience the classroom as a caring, supportive
place where there is a sense of belonging and everyone is valued and respected, they
will tend to participate more fully in the process of learning"

In a drama lesson all children are equally and actively involved, each role is essential
for the successful performance of the play. A sense of belonging can be achieved here
that is difficult to attain in the more traditional classroom setting. In a way, drama
lessons are the playing fields of the classroom.

Another important motivational factor, related to success, is self-confidence. As

children become familiar with their lines in a play, they become more confident in
their use of language. Even timid children, who generally withdraw from group
activities and are shy about talking English in front of their friends, will often come
out of their shells when given a role which they are capable of handling.
Role-playing comes naturally to children, especially the younger ones and when
playing a role they easily shed their shyness and inhibitions. As they discover that
they can be anything, just by pretending, children grow in self-esteem In fact the
power of the persona is such that children who might otherwise be hesitant about
speaking in public are often able to do so unselfconsciously when playing a part.

Useful Dramatic activities for large English Language classes

 Mime

Mime helps develop students’ power of imagination and observation and can also be
quite simply “a source of great enjoyment” with students tending “to be very
enthusiastic about this aspect of drama”, (Hayes, 1984)

Its strength lies in that although no language is used during the mime, the mime itself
can act as a catalyst to generate and elicit language before, during and after the
activity.

 Role Play

In role play the participants are assigned roles which they act out in a given scenario.
The main benefit of role play from the point of view of language teaching is that it
enables a flow of language to be produced that might be otherwise difficult or
impossible to create. Role play can also help recreate the language students used in
different situation, the sort of language students are likely to need outside the
classroom

 Simulation

My students have roles, functions, duties, and responsibilities within a structured

situation involving problem solving. Simulations are generally held to be a structured
set of circumstances’ that mirror real life and in which participants act as instructed.

A simulation activity is one where the students discuss a problem within a defined
setting. In simulation activities, the students are either playing themselves or someone
else. A simulation activity provides a specific situation within which students can
practice various communication skills like asserting oneself, expressing opinions,
convincing others, arguing eliciting opinions, group-problems-solving, analyzing
situations and so on.
 Improvisation

Improvisation is an excellent technique to use in the FL/L2 classroom as it motivates

the learners to be active participants in authentic situations thereby reducing their self
consciousness. At the beginning students will be hesitant and shy to participate in the
activities, but after a few sessions they will become more enthusiastic and there will
be a phenomenal improvement in their confidence level.

Improvisation exercises could involve an entire class of learners or smaller groups.

Once the context has been provided the learners will participate spontaneously in the
exercise.

A whole class improvisation exercise could involve the students at a market where
some are the buyers and others the sellers. The teacher’s role is to provide the context
and the participating students act out their roles spontaneously without any planning.

 Puppet theatre

A teacher can also use finger play activities, chants and actions songs to help make
transitions in the junior class more effective, settling everyone down in order to
capture all of the children’s attention and also, help them learn in the most enjoyable
way.

Puppets can be used in an English class to teach greetings, to teach prepositions, to

teach comparatives and superlatives, to dramatize dialogues, in word games, to
present facts about nutrition, in rhythm studies, in biographies, in sketches, etc.

Puppetry is of special benefit to shy and nervous children and also gives the feeling of
involvement and participation to the entire class. A teacher’s puppet show gives a
sense of relief from the tension of classroom teaching and add variety to the lesson.
Therefore, a puppet theatre can be an excellent piece of equipment in a second
language classroom.

In general, Drama activities facilitate the type of language behaviour that should lead
to fluency, and if it is accepted that the learners want to learn a language in order to
express themselves in the target language, then drama does indeed help them achieve
this goal.

The likely problems and solutions

There are many problems that can emerge for an inexperienced teacher in using drama
activities in the classroom. Teachers who work in a traditional environment and
follow a very structured syllabus are often afraid to experiment with more student
centred activities. These fears are usually based around the apprehension that the class
will become noisy, unfocused and the teacher will lose control. The reality is in fact
the opposite: a learner-centred class where students are working collaboratively in
groups, if carefully organized and well set up, is easily managed and apart from
monitoring the groups the teacher is free. This contrasts with the teacher centred class
where the teacher has to monitor and motivate 20–30 individuals continuously
without a minute’s respite. There are however problems that arise in drama based
classrooms. These include:

 Learners use L1 persistently

 Learners don’t participate
 Learners make lots of errors
 Dominant / shy students
 Learners get confused and do not know what to do
 Noise
 Chaos
These problems may occur in many learner-centred communicative activities and can
be remedied by the following solutions:

 Explain the rationale: Students are expected to know the reason why they are
performing such activities. If the aim is to develop oral fluency, then the teacher
 should explain to his/her learners that it is important for them to try to speak in
English and not their L1. Only by practicing speaking in English will their oral
fluency improve. This explanation of the rationale can be reinforced in many activities
by having a penalty for L1 use. One way is to nominate a student as a language
policeman who reports infringements of the rule.
 Prepare students thoroughly: Prior to any communicative activity, learners
need to have sufficient controlled practice of the language they need to perform the
tasks. This will include relevant lexis, language structures and pronunciation practise.
Many weaker students are reluctant to participate in freer activities because they feel
under prepared and lacking in confidence.
 Give clear instructions: Communicative activities are often complex to set
up. The teacher needs to have clear instructions and stage the instructions carefully.
This typically involves the following stages:
1. Introduce the topic / aim of the activity
2. Show any relevant materials
3. Give clear instructions
4. Check instructions by asking checking questions
5. Briefly demonstrate the activity with a student / or get students to do an
example / model.
6. Put students into relevant pairs / groups
7. Monitor students and help them as necessary.
 Allow plenty of preparation time: Students need time to prepare both their ideas
and rehearse the language before they can perform a complex communicative task.
Indeed the more time they have to prepare the better they will perform the task. A lack
of preparation time will produce a poor quality performance and this leads to feelings
of frustration and disappointment- The opposite of what we are aiming to achieve.
Students also need time to think. In a communicative / drama language class, some of
the most productive work is processed during periods of complete silence. Language
teachers are often afraid of silence, as they believe silence means incomprehension.
Teachers should avoid filling silence with their own voice but instead exploit the
silence as necessary learner thinking time.
 Prepare the formation of groups careful. The composition of groups is
important. Learners should have a variety of focus and interact with as many different
 learners as possible. The teacher needs to consider balancing strong / weak learners,
as well as considering personalities, gender etc. If groups are not carefully planned, it
is likely that the strong learners will dominate and the weaker learners soon lose
motivation and interest.

 Feedback: After every communicative / drama task there should be a

feedback stage where the learners reflect on their performance. The focus should be
on how effectively they performed the activity in terms of their communicative
competence. It should not be a stage where the teacher focuses on errors or language
accuracy as the aim of drama based activities is to develop fluency. It is of course an
opportunity to highlight effective language use and introduce language that could
have improved the effectiveness of the communication. The feedback stage should
also be an opportunity to praise the learners on their performance and highlight the
progress and development they are making in their communicative competence. The
lesson should end on a high note with students leaving the class with a smile of
accomplishment on their faces and the ringing of loud applause in their ears.

Suspension of disbelief- A final icing on the cake

When we watch a film or a play on television or in the theatre, we ignore the fact that
the actors are not actually, detectives, doctors or murderers. We engage in the drama
because we are able to suspend our disbelief, we are able to pretend that the actors are
the characters they portray that the locations are not stage sets or studios and the
words spoken by the actors are a prepared script, not the spontaneous thoughts of the
characters.

Students in an ELT classroom also need to suspend disbelief, otherwise they would be
endlessly frustrated by the fact that the teacher does not speak in the mother tongue
she shares with her students.
‘Pretend games’ are a central part of a child’s education. When they dress up as a
princess, they become a princess. Their toys are not painted pieces of metal, wood or
plastic, they are cars, guns, space rockets. Their toys get sick, recover, get angry and
feel emotions.
The ELT classroom is a ‘pretend game’ in exactly the same way.
Few of our students will become princesses or astronauts, but all of them will become
English language users. The classroom game of pretending to interact in English is a
rehearsal for future interactions in English.

Most actors would agree that rehearsals are a time for hard work, careful listening and
intense performance but they are also an enjoyable experience. They are a time for
experimenting and having fun before the real audience arrives.
Students and teachers need to adopt the same attitude to their language classes if
drama in education is to achieve its full potentials.

CONCLUSION
Just a few drama activities can bring an EFL/ESL classroom to life. The trends in
English Language Teaching (ELT) lean heavily toward communicative and
authentic language use. Drama provides lots of immediate resources and is fun
for teacher and students alike.
One advantage to be gained from the use of drama is that students become more
confident in their use of English by experiencing the language in operation. Drama in
the English language classroom is ultimately indispensable because it gives learners
the chance to use their own personalities. It draws upon students’ natural abilities to
imitate and express themselves, and if well-handled should arouse interest and
imagination. Drama encourages adaptability, fluency, and communicative
competence. It puts language into context, and by giving learners experience of
success in real-life situations, it should arm them with confidence for tackling the
world outside the classroom.
It is unlikely that anyone would disagree that the most effective way to teach ESL
children is to provide them with opportunities to learn English in the context of
everyday situations with the emphasis on communicational skills.
Drama combines fun and movement with language usage carefully planned to provide
optimal speaking practice in real life contexts. Roles should be assigned according to
students' language ability levels. Children who are more capable and more confident
can be given parts with more lines, while shyer children or those with a more limited
vocabulary can have fewer lines to say, repeat lines said by other children or speak as
part of a group.
It goes without saying that, when necessary, the play should be adapted for the
teacher’s own situation. The teacher should Keep the script simple, but develop it
further or modify it if students' proficiency or lack of proficiency in English requires
it.
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