For 3 years now I’ve been teaching drama in an ELT program in Taiwan. Each year my grade 7 learners put on a drama show. Each homeroom class puts on a separate short play. During this time I’ve made a few observations in terms of how drama can aid English language learning as well as promoting learner confidence and learner autonomy.
Drama holds great power for helping learners improve their fluency, intonation and speech rhythm. In terms of fluency, they will practice saying many of the same things multiple times – the key here is getting them to say those things in a fluent and natural-sounding manner. This is where drama teachers can be extremely helpful in providing models of natural speech intonation and rhythm. However, this can only work if the text one is working with is well within the learner’s ability level. If there are too many unknown words then they will not be able to focus on producing fluent speech. Similarly, if the text consists of long chunks of text, low level learners will have great difficulty in saying their lines in a fluent fashion. To this end, teachers have a significant role to play in text selection. Most commercially available texts will be inappropriate (long chunks, unknown words) for English language learners. Therefore, teachers will either have to modify texts or write their own.
Putting on a play can require a lot of work. In-class role-plays are simply done, but if you’re planning to put on a show then there is a wide variety of jobs that must be completed. From choosing music, designing costumes, making props, choreographing dances, as well as positioning actors on stage, there is a wide variety of jobs which students can take responsibility for. By successfully completing such tasks, students can raise their self-confidence, build teamwork through working towards a common goal with others, and introduce their own ideas and creativity to the classroom. Such actions allow students to really take ownership of the task (putting on a play).
The fact that my learners perform many of these functions in English leads them to raised confidence and self-awareness of their English abilities. It also gives learners a reason for using English other than the normal classroom tasks.
