Drama Techniques in Foreign Language Learning: Everyday Situations and Tales

Introduction to Drama Techniques in Foreign Language Learning

TOPIC 19 19. Drama Techniques in Foreign Language Learning. Dramatization of everyday life situations and representation of tales, characters, jokes ... Group work in creative activities. The role of the teachers. 19. Técnicas de animación y expresión como recurso para el aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras. La dramatización de situaciones de la vida cotidiana y la representación de cuentos, personajes, chistes, etcétera. El trabajo en grupos para actividades creativas. Papel del profesor.

Outline of Drama Techniques

OUTLINE 1. Introduction 2 2. Drama Techniques in FLL. 2 2.1. Advantages of drama. 3 2.2. Theoretical support for the use of Drama in FLT. 3 2.3. How to use drama in the classroom? 4 3. Dramatization of everyday life situations and representation of tales, characters, jokes (didactical proposal) ... 5 3.1. Dramatization of everyday situations. 5 3.2. Representation of tales and characters. 5 3.3. Puppet shows. 6 3.5. Miming 6 4. Group work in creative activities. 6 4.1. Advantages of pair and group work. 7 4.2. Organizing pair and group work. 7 5. The Role of the teacher. 7 6. Conclusion. 8 7. Legal Framework and References. 8 7.1. Legal framework. 8 7.2. Reference Literature. 9

The Stage of Language Learning

11. Introduction. All the world is a stage and all the women and men ... merely players William Shakespeare

The profile of the students in Primary Education demands the use of communicative elements. Their immature minds make it almost impossible for them to cope with abstract concepts. In addition to that, the Communicative Approach highlights that the learners' needs, interests and knowledge must be always considered. Therefore, Educational Authorities have fostered the use of authentic, stimulating and familiar materials and techniques, such as drama, to motivate the pupils and make them participate in the classroom. Learning situations, introduced by LOMLOE and defined in RD 157/2022 (article 12.f) as the set of situations and activities that foster performances associated to the development of Key Competences and Specific Competences, establish that the final product has also to address students' needs and should be designed considering a center of interest that is relevant to them, so drama activities are clear examples of this implementation.

Drama is a powerful language teaching tool that involves all the students interactively all of the class period. Through drama, a class will address, practice and integrate the four linguistic skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening, in an integrated way, fostering pupils' motivation. It can be developed by creating a suitable context.

Drama is a powerful language teaching tool that involves all of the students interactively all of the class period. It can also provide the means for connecting students' emotions and cognition as it enables students to take risks with language and experience the connection between thought and action. Teaching English as a foreign language inevitably involves a balance between receptive and productive skills; here drama can effectively deal with this requirement.

We deal with an essential topic since students' motivation and interests are among the most important factors when learning a foreign language, and drama contributes to create positive feelings towards English due to their connection with real life (learning situations). Royal Decree 157/2022 introduces the specific competences: at least the first and third make emphasis on the significance of this topic by including Comprehension and Interaction using different expressions. The use of certain drama techniques such as gestures, facial expressions or posture will be useful in order to communicate more efficiently.

Drama Techniques in Foreign Language Learning

2. Drama Techniques in FLL. Communication is the basis of understanding among human beings. Genuine communication involves, first of all, interaction (specific competence 3) between a listener and a speaker that are constantly changing roles. The language that they use depends on several factors such as the purpose of the message, the context and the channel used.

Apart from verbal communication, there is another level of communication which is more general and affects the transmission and reception of the message: non-verbal communication. It includes aspects such as body position and movement, gestures, facial expression, accent, intonation or auditory and visual aids.

Drama is very suitable to train students in the use of verbal and non-verbal language in interactions. In addition to that, children feel at home in imaginary worlds, where they can 2act out a role, dress up and for a short while become another person. Therefore, they enjoy the use of drama techniques. Drama is not only a final performance of a play. It is part of the process of language learning, since children become actively involved in a text and this personalization makes language meaningful and memorable.

Let's now concentrate on the advantages of drama in FLT.

Advantages of Drama in Foreign Language Teaching

2.1. Advantages of drama. According to Bolton, drama is a unique tool, vital for language development. It enables the teacher to introduce, reinforce or recycle contextualized vocabulary and grammar, and improves pupils' pronunciation, developing both the segmental and suprasegmental features of the language.

Using drama to teach English results in real communication involving ideas, emotions and feelings. It offers a context for listening and oral production, encouraging learners to use their own language resources. It also fosters reading and writing. Drama is particularly useful when working with literary texts, as it helps to analyze the plot, the characters and the relationships between them. Research has shown that it increases children's curiosity about literature before independent reading begins (McMaster, 1998).

Drama creates a pleasant atmosphere in the classroom and motivates both good and weak students, because they are so engaged that they forget that they are learning English. This helps to develop positive attitudes towards the language. Moreover, it covers the Universal Learning Design principles, helping attending the diversity.

Social skills are developed through drama. Acting together is a shared social experience that develops the class identity. It also improves the relationship between the teacher and the students, because the distance between them is reduced.

Moreover, as Royal Decree 157/2022 states concerning foreign language basic knowledge (Communication), self-confidence, basic communicative functions, basic strategies or skills will be developed when using drama, as children will use the language as a means of communication without being conscious that they are learning a language.

Finally, some of the plays or stories to be performed are authentic resources. Consequently, they provide examples of the way in which language is used by its native speakers, developing the students' socio-cultural competence and fostering attitudes of respect towards foreign cultures.

Theoretical Support for Drama in Foreign Language Teaching

2.2. Theoretical support for the use of Drama in FLT. There are two authors that support the use of drama to learn a foreign language.

Stephen Krashen's Hypothesis

Stephen Krashen: According to Krashen's acquisition-learning hypothesis, there are two ways to develop knowledge of a foreign language: acquisition and learning. Acquisition occurs if learners are exposed to examples of the language that they understand. Learning takes place through a conscious process of study and attention. In order for acquisition to occur, learners need to be exposed to input that is just beyond their current level of competence in the language: Krashen referred to it as comprehensible input. 3As it was mentioned before, language is contextualized in drama activities. Therefore, students are exposed to comprehensible input. This language will be learnt unconsciously and acquisition will take place, since learners' attention is focused on drama rather than on the language used.

In the affective filter hypothesis, Krashen explained that a learner who is tense, angry or bored may filter out input, making it unavailable for acquisition. He defined the affective filter as an imaginary barrier which prevents learners from acquiring language from the available input. The use of motivating materials like drama helps to weaken the affective filter, as they create a pleasant atmosphere in the classroom.

Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner: Gardner claimed that individuals have at least eight different intelligences that can be developed over a lifetime: mathematical, visual, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, verbal and naturalist.

Traditionally, schools have just focused on the development of linguistic and mathematic intelligences. Therefore, teachers need to design activities that focus on the eight intelligences, not only to facilitate language acquisition among diverse students, but also to help them realize their full potential.

Drama is connected to a variety of intelligences. Among others, we can mention interpersonal intelligence, since acting is a social activity; kinesthetic intelligence, because students employ non-verbal language to communicate and verbal, as they use their four linguistic skills in an integrated way.

Implementing Drama in the Classroom

2.3. How to use drama in the classroom? When the teacher plans a drama activity, s/he needs to know his/her aims. There are activities for accuracy and fluency work, to practice language skills, to revise language from previous lessons ...

The children's age also affect the kind of activity planned. Younger children find it more difficult to work in groups so whole-class activities are better for them. Older children may work better in smaller groups in which they take more initiative. Other factors that also influence the success of drama activities are the amount of drama they have done before; the kind of teaching environment they are used to or the atmosphere in the classroom.

Not all children are good at acting, so drama needs to be introduced in small steps, using easy and guided activities, like miming animals or actions. As children gain confidence, they can move on to less controlled activities such as plays. Total Physical Response (James Asher) activities in which children respond physically to commands before they produce verbal responses are an excellent way to introduce dramatization.

The organization of the physical environment in which drama activities take place is of paramount importance, since students have to stand up and move around the room. The classroom can be arranged in different ways: the desks and chairs can be places against the walls or a semicircle can be formed by using desks or chairs. Universal Learning Design principles must be taken into account when designing the classroom management.

However, if there are real space problems puppets can be a solution.

Finally, it is necessary to give feedback on what children have done, not only the final product but also the process they went through, the way they cooperated ad how they came 4 HO EsanKa