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Role-playing as an instructional technique in English as a foreign language and English as a second language settings: a systematic review
Abstract
This state-of-the-art paper reviews studies employing role-playing as an instructional technique in English as a Foreign Language and English as a Second Language contexts. Through a systematic review of 32 peer-reviewed studies published between 2000–2023, the paper highlights the potential of role-playing to facilitate experiential learning and promote cognitive, affective and self-regulative learning outcomes. The paper identifies key components of role-playing and explores their connection with learning outcomes. The review demonstrates that role-playing consistently enhances linguistic skills like fluency, pronunciation, and vocabulary mastery and affective outcomes. However, the effectiveness of role-playing can be influenced by components such as structure and agency. Longer role-playing sessions and well-structured activities, especially when embedded within the curriculum, yield enhanced cognitive and affective gains. Teacher roles and the level of student engagement also play a critical part. The review underscores the importance of intentional design, preparation and reflective debriefing to enhance the pedagogical impacts.
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While the diversity and complexity of the links between creativity and emotional skills as well as their effects on cognitive processes are now established, few approaches to implementing them in schools have been evaluated. Within the framework of the enactive paradigm, which considers the complexity and dynamics of language as a cognitive process, we study how an approach based on performative theatre can synergistically stimulate creativity (artistic, bodily and linguistic), emotional skills (identifying and understanding emotions) and executive functions (especially inhibition, cognitive flexibility and emotional control), all as components defined in the context of oral communication. Stimulating this synergy in the context of foreign language teaching may be especially beneficial for children with communication disorders. This paper presents the first results of the CELAVIE pilot study (Creativity, Empathy and Emotions in Language learning with Autism for an Inclusive Education) through a case study of a pupil with a neurodevelopmental disorder included in a 4th-grade class. The results show a progression in oral communication in English as a Foreign Language (EFL), in emotional skills and creativity.
One way that language educators can extend a role‐play is by adding a complication to encourage the learner say more. This study uses multimodal conversation analysis to explore such obstacles to progressivity among Japanese learners of English at an experiential language learning facility. We first examine an interactional practice in which the educator orients to a learner contribution as misaligned and creates a role‐play‐specific basis for rejection that expands the sequence, draws attention to linguistic form, and realigns the learner's responses with the task. We then analyze a related practice in which the educator “feigns” a next‐turn display of misunderstanding to signal trouble located in some aspect of the learner's prior turn and thereby occasions the learner's reflection on possible pragmatic, syntactic or lexical issues with their contribution. The educators therefore create a temporary interactional barrier that the learner must overcome to progress the sequence. These practices allow the educators to emulate the way that mechanisms like repair, correction and rejection operate in mundane interaction beyond the classroom (i.e., “in the wild”) and offer insight into how unscripted role‐play tasks can provide opportunities for expanded L2 use.
Marking as one dramatic turnover in language teaching, task-based language teaching (TBLT) has proved itself beneficial and effective in bringing about real situations of language use to take place and in satisfying communicative needs of learners while the former methods were unable to meet actual demands of learners to communicate in the target settings. Accordingly, it has been duly embraced by practitioners and material developers simply because it specially pays serious and real attention to oral abilities. Relying on the theoretical background of this paradigm, the current study focused on role-play as a praised technique in task based language teaching (TBLT) to investigate and display its effect on boosting EFL learners' speaking skill. Following the termination of the study, the findings indicated for a positive effect of TBLT-based role-play technique on the candidates' speaking skill.
This research examines the importance of role-playing in teaching a language. The technique of role-playing if used right could promote a positive atmosphere among the students in the classroom. After all, the goal of teaching any language is to get the students’ attention by engaging their learning abilities successfully. Therefore, all aspects of teaching through role-playing are explored and guidance is provided on how to use them in the classroom.
Because most real-life foreign language speech is naturally unpredictable, spontaneous speech should be practiced in the foreign language classroom. Student teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) may benefit from practising methodology for spontaneous speech practice. This article reports the findings for a study into EFL student teachers’ experiences with using improvisation activities, exploring the relevance of improvisation activities for spontaneous speech practice. The data include semi-guided texts and reluctant speakers’ interviews. The findings showed that improvisation activities facilitated spontaneous speech practice and strengthened speaking confidence through enjoyment. The ‘spontaneous speech mindset’ enabled participants to explore linguistic and creative boundaries. The study showed that application of improvisation activities is an excellent method for spontaneous speech practice in EFL teacher education.
This article intends to add to the rising discussion related to the employment of authentic plays and drama within a high school compulsory curriculum for enhancing learners’ foreign language (L2) oral skills. In particular, it examines the pedagogical use of authentic contemporary plays for developing learners’ L2 oral production in terms of (1) complexity – syntactic and mean length of AS-units (MLAS) and (2) accuracy – global and pronunciation accuracy. For this purpose, a class of 10 final year high school students with a lower-intermediate to upper-intermediate level of language in an Italian context was exposed longitudinally to a blended-drama approach – the use of literary play scripts, drama games and techniques, and a full-scale performance – conducted over two terms for a total of 40 hours in-class lessons. A control group was taught through a traditional approach over the same period. Quantitative data were collected through a pre-test/post-test design with three tasks under different conditions regarding status and interaction: oral proficiency interview (OPI), story-retelling and guided role-play (GRP). Findings revealed that drama significantly improved learners’ pronunciation accuracy, syntactic complexity and MLAS. There was no significant statistical result on global accuracy between the two groups. Pedagogical implications for teaching practice will be discussed.
The purposes of this study were to examine the effects of using role playing activities to enhance students speaking skills as well as to investigate the usefulness of role playing activities in the development of selfconfidencein oral English. The experiment was conducted with an intact group of 50 Thai EFL undergraduate students. The data were collected by using (1) the pre-speaking test and the post-speaking test on oral competence in English communication, (2) the assessment form on students’ self-confidence in speaking English, and (3) an interview form on students’ opinion and self-confidence in speaking English before and at the end of the course. The research results revealed that role playing activities had positive effects both on student’s oral competence and self-confidence in speaking English. The frequent practice over the period of time through the role playing activities is the vital key to enhance students’ speaking abilities and improve their speaking confidence.
The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement, published in 2009, was designed to help systematic reviewers transparently report why the review was done, what the authors did, and what they found. Over the past decade, advances in systematic review methodology and terminology have necessitated an update to the guideline. The PRISMA 2020 statement replaces the 2009 statement and includes new reporting guidance that reflects advances in methods to identify, select, appraise, and synthesise studies. The structure and presentation of the items have been modified to facilitate implementation. In this article, we present the PRISMA 2020 27-item checklist, an expanded checklist that details reporting recommendations for each item, the PRISMA 2020 abstract checklist, and the revised flow diagrams for original and updated reviews.
Drama activities are reported to foster language learning, and may prepare learners for oral skills that mirror those used in real life. This year-long time-series classroom-based quasi-experimental study followed a between-subjects design in which two classes of college EFL learners were exposed to two oral training conditions: 1) An experimental one in which drama-based training pedagogy was employed; and 2) the comparison one in which ordinary public speaking pedagogy was utilized. The experimental participants dramatized a picture book into a play, refined and rehearsed it for the classroom audience, and eventually performed it publicly as a theatre production for community children. Diachronic comparisons of the participants’ oral presentation skills under the two conditions showed that a significant between-group difference began to become pronounced only after the experimental participants started to present for real-life audiences other than their classmates. This finding suggests that drama-mediated pedagogy effectively enhanced the experimental participants’ presentation performance and became more effective than the traditional approach only after a real-life audience was involved. In addition to the participants’ performance data, survey and retrospective protocols were utilized to shed light on how drama-based tasks targeting both classroom and authentic audiences influence college EFL learners’ presentation performance and their self-perceived oral presentation skills. Analysis of the survey and retrospective data indicated that the participants’ attention to three presentation skills—structure, audience adaptation and content—was significantly raised after their presentation involved a real-life audience. Based on these findings, pedagogical implications for drama for FL oral presentation instruction are discussed.
This study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the role-play as the teaching and formative assessment strategy for the undergraduate English major students from the Riyadh region of Saudi Arabia. To find the effectiveness and the impact of role-play as a teaching strategy, a quasiexperimental method was employed by using a pretest-posttest design wherein the pre and posttest results of 70 EFL students from experimental and the control groups were compared. The experimental group was taught some new areas of grammar, functions and vocabulary using roleplay; simultaneously, the control group was taught the same items using the traditional method of teaching. The pretest revealed no significant difference in the knowledge level of the students between the two groups. On the other hand, the posttest results showed that there was a significant difference in the knowledge level of the students in favour of the experimental group. Further, a structured questionnaire was used to understand the perspective of the teachers on the efficacy of role-play in the assessment of students in the English language classes. A sample size of 20 teachers was used where it was found that role-play had a significant impact on the formative assessment. The findings of the study suggested role-play as an effective technique for the undergraduate English-major students in Saudi Arabia to solve the classroom interpersonal troubles, and it would help the students to imbibe the human-relation along with increasing their proficiency in the English language.
The present study aimed to investigate the effect of role playing in storytelling classes on Iranian young EFL learners’ narrative writing. Forty-seven pre-intermediate young EFL learners who were within the age range of 9 and 16 participated in this study. They were members of four intact classes, which consisted of two classes of boys and two classes of girls. One class of boys and one class of girls were randomly assigned to the experimental groups and the other two to control groups. The researchers used the role-playing technique for storytelling classes in the experimental groups and only reading stories aloud for storytelling classes in the control groups. After the treatment, the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was run to compare the four groups’ improvement on narrative writing. The results signified that the use of role playing in the storytelling classes had a significant impact on the narrative writing of Iranian young EFL learners as compared to the reading stories aloud technique. Furthermore, the findings showed that using role playing in storytelling classes enhanced learners’ understanding of the narrative writing style and patterns of the target language.
Traditionally, pronunciation is taught through recognition- or repetition-based mechanical drills. Upon the arrival of the communicative approach, pronunciation has been neglected in the ELT classroom because these types of activities are considered uncommunicative and form-focused. The teachers and coursebooks, however, have failed to replace these activities with communicative ones. The need to find other ways of teaching pronunciation whereby students will be engaged with the language in meaningful ways integrated with other skills is highlighted. In this study, by means of dramatic situations, the students are provided with a meaningful context which gives them a communicative purpose for giving constant priority to accuracy. By this means, they engage in the communicative activity and still get the benefit from repetition and focus-on-form while learning pronunciation. The researchers developed 18 hours of creative drama sessions directed towards a variety of segmental and suprasegmental level problems which Turkish learners of English can encounter. These sessions were then held with a group of 12 volunteer students from the ELT department during a 6-day period. The effect of the creative drama sessions was measured via a read-aloud task which was given to the participants as pre- and post-test. All participant students did better in the post-test. The results showed that the students’ pronunciation improved more at the suprasegmental level.
This article reports the findings of a qualitative study based on a long-term application of a theater content-based methodology for L2 learning, supported by professionals in theater and in foreign languages, in The E Theater: an English as a foreign language theater interdisciplinary group at Universidad Nacional de Colombia that has been active since 2008. The data were collected through a longitudinal semi-structured survey, interviews of the participants of the event, and a focus group. As a result, participants stated lowering their affective filter and benefits in their production and comprehension of L2 skills, their intercultural competence, and their cognitive processing of the language derived from the methodology carried out.
Anxiety is a dimension of L2 speaking that has been heavily investigated over the past several decades, but there is a paucity of research investigating instruction aiming at lowering anxiety. While research suggests drama lowers L2 learners’ anxiety, it is unclear to what extent anxiety is affected by drama. This article reports results from a mixed methods study examining whether drama impacts foreign language anxiety (FLA). The participants were 24 Brazilian adolescents who took part in two distinct four-month EFL programmes: a drama and a non-drama programme. An adapted version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) was used as pre- and
post measures. Analyses from FLCAS indicate a significant reduction in FLA levels among learners in both groups over time, with a slightly better improvement among learners in the drama group. Further analysis provides evidence that drama can enhance comfort levels when speaking the L2. Implications for research and language teaching are discussed.
In an increasingly global and mobile society, we are faced with greater cultural diversity both in our professional and private lives. As a result of this, more and more emphasis is being placed on the need for intercultural awareness, adaptation and respect for cultural differences. This is reflected in the updated (2013) Higher Education (HE) curriculum for the two-year Business Administration and Management program in France, which now includes an intercultural communicative language teaching strand for Business English (BE) classes. For English language teachers, the real challenge is to find a meaningful and entertaining way to sensitize learners to the complexities of this topic, while assisting them in the development of their professional English and metacognitive skills. This teaching note investigates the implementation and results of pedagogical method which involves a group of first year business students for a professional peer collaborative role-play activity by means of the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach.
The aim of this article is to review the state of the art of research and theory
development on student learning patterns in higher education and beyond. First, the
learning patterns perspective and the theoretical framework are introduced. Second,
research published since 2004 on student learning patterns is systematically identified
and reviewed. This part includes two main sections. In the first section, new evidence on
internal and external relationships of learning patterns is reviewed. Four themes are
covered here: the dimensionality and the internal relationships of learning patterns and
relationships of learning patterns with personal, contextual, and outcome variables. In the
second section, new directions in learning patterns research are examined. These include
studies on learning patterns in new international contexts and populations, longitudinal
development of learning patterns over time, methodological advances in learning patterns
research, and studies on fostering the quality of students’ learning patterns. Next,
relationships with adjacent theories on student learning are discussed, the learning
patterns perspective is critically examined, and pathways are derived to move the model
forward. Finally, future conceptual and methodological directions for learning patterns
research are derived.
In theory, computer game-based learning can support several vocabulary learning affordances that have
been identified in the foreign language learning research. In the observable evidence, learning with
computer games has been shown to improve performance on vocabulary recall tests. However, while
simple recall can be a sign of learning, observation of skill application in communication is a better
indicator of skill mastery. Further, observing this use in separate communicative contexts could constitute
evidence of transferability of skills. Hence, this paper presents the results of two investigations of learning
outcomes in EFL classes at a Japanese university using computer game-based lessons. The first study was a
quasi-experiment comparing use of targeted words in a writing task between a group of students who
participated in a computer game-based lesson, and a group of students who did not. The second study was a
cross sectional analysis comparing use of targeted vocabulary in a writing task with amount of participation
in computer game-based lessons. The results suggest that computer game-based approaches to foreign
language education in real-world classrooms can improve transferability of learned vocabulary.
This article describes research-based role-play on academic integrity. In the role-play, doctoral students negotiated the revision of an institutional integrity policy representing different groups of academics and students. On the one hand, role-play as a teaching method and learning activity demonstrated the difficulty of accommodating different perspectives; on the other, it showed the power and necessity of negotiation in matters that involve value judgments. The role-play is described in detail along with its underlying pedagogical foundations and its contextualisation in a doctoral summer school where it took place. The purpose of the article is to describe how academic integrity was approached through role-play and to discuss theoretical and pedagogical foundations of role-play in teaching academic integrity. Although the article does not describe empirical research on role-play as a teaching method, it demonstrates how role-play in teaching academic integrity was developed based on prior research on the topic.
– Teaching English as a foreign language using modern Internet technologies is considered in the paper. A special attention is paid to the Webquest–based role play organized by means of up-to-date Internet technologies as an approach to raise technical students’ motivation to studying foreign languages. Emphasis is upon applying this approach to organizing conference weeks at National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU). An overview of the Webquest–based role play activities is also given in the paper.
Simulations are of growing interest within the social studies in terms of research and practice. Although the findings of early research were unfavorable to simulations in terms of student learning, recent research has revealed new and interesting findings related to different domains of student learning that earlier research did not. In light of these conceptual and practical findings, it is important that teachers be granted access to the growth of knowledge in this burgeoning area of inquiry. To date, few scholars have disseminated to teachers the findings of existing research about simulations as it pertains to student learning, and to practitioners’ planning and practice. In this article, I provide an account of research on simulation that will be
helpful to teachers. The paper includes five critical areas that seek to help teachers better understand what simulations are, their affordances and challenges, as well as suggestions relating to the implications for teachers’ curricular planning and implementation of simulations in their classrooms.
This study explores students’ perceptions of role-playing as a pedagogical approach in language learning. A questionnaire was administered to 112 participants to gauge their views on the effectiveness of role-playing in enhancing language proficiency. The results indicate a generally favorable perception among students, highlighting role-playing’s ability to simulate real-life situations, promote engagement, and foster creativity in language use. Participants reported that role-playing activities effectively facilitated the practice of spontaneous language production and enhanced student engagement. Various types of role-playing activities were evaluated, revealing that scripted role-playing increased confidence, semi-scripted formats supported the use of set phrases, and improvised role-plays improved fluency. Additionally, students recognized benefits such as improved speaking fluency and pronunciation. However, challenges such as performance anxiety and time management issues were also identified. This research highlights the significant potential of role-playing in language education while addressing the associated challenges, suggesting that careful implementation can maximize its benefits.
Drama learning is helpful for English speaking, however, few studies provided students with opportunities to practice drama conversations individually. This study proposed a Context-Awareness Smart Learning Mechanism (CASLM) and integrated into SmartVpen that consisted of context-aware learning content, context-aware input assistance, oral recognition feedback, peer cooperative learning, and smart conversation robot. The participants were 68 eighth grade-students divided into three groups: an experimental group (EG) who used SmartVpen, a control group 1 (CG1) who used typical camera and voice recorder, and a control group 2 (CG2) who used papers and pencils. The results showed the EG outperformed the other groups concerning oral and conversational skills, which indicated the use of SmartVpen had significant effects in both English oral speaking and conversational skills. Additionally, the number of time to complete conversation practices can predict students’ oral performance by 30%. Furthermore, the results also showed the EG tend to practice drama conversations more frequently than the CG1, which demonstrated practicing English drama conversations using SmartVpen can effectively improve students’ learning motivation. Thus, we suggested English conversations practice activities should be conducted in authentic context with SmartVpen to support students’ speaking and facilitate them to apply what they learned in real-life situations.
The present study investigates the benefits of implementing drama techniques in English language teaching. It also focuses on the means and strategies of creating a learner-centered classroom to enhance English as Foreign Language learners’ communication skills. Two dramatic techniques used in the research are exploiting a scripted play and improvisation. Teacher-researcher conducted a qualitative research method through a case study of First-Year Master Students of English Literature and Civilization studying English as a foreign language in Dr. Moulat Tahar University of Saida, Algeria. The present study reveals the positive impact of teaching English through drama on student’s physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development. It sheds light on the method of putting learners in authentic situations to help them discover their hidden creativity and overcome their fears. In addition to promoting their sense of collaboration, including discussion, negotiation, and performance.
How to provide appropriate feedback to students on their writing has long been an area of central significance to teachers and educators. Feedback in Second Language Writing: Context and Issues provides scholarly articles on the topic by leading researchers, who explore topics such as the socio-cultural assumptions that participants bring to the writing class; feedback delivery and negotiation systems; and the role of student and teacher identity in negotiating feedback and expectations. This text provides empirical data and an up-to-date analysis of the complex issues involved in offering appropriate feedback during the writing process.
This study investigates English as a foreign language learners' emotions and questions the authenticity of the communication in language classrooms in Turkey. To become more aware of learners' emotions and to make a speaking module more engaging, the teacher-researcher decided to utilise process drama as a participatory action research intervention. The data were collected over a three-week process drama. Drawing on ‘ethics of care' and ‘social and emotional learning', the findings demonstrated that authentic communication empowered learners when the content was relevant to their emotion labour. When learners’ emotions are scrutinised explicitly through drama-in-education, they feel respected and more engaged.
This qualitative research seeks to understand L2 student writers’ perceptions of writing anxiety when drama-based pedagogy and linguistic guidance are provided. This study draws on a qualitative analysis of 22 English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students’ episodes of dramatic presentations, reflections, interviews, and English essays collected from an English argumentative writing class at a Chinese university. When the students were exposed to drama-based pedagogy and linguistic support, they reported that their anxiety reduction was a context-sensitive process, which involved the interaction of diverse contextual factors, for example, the instructor’s constant mediation and students’ ongoing adjustments. In addition, the students’ exposure to drama-based pedagogy during writing planning created a comfortable environment for the students to reduce their anxiety about gaining the topic knowledge needed for their writing. The students also felt that the linguistic guidance, which unpacked the interaction between language and content, served as an emotional buttress for their engagement in their writing practice. The study concluded that the combined use of drama-based pedagogy and linguistic guidance as context-sensitive teaching practices could be helpful for L2 students’ anxiety reduction in the process of preparing and practicing writing.
Pronunciation is a common topic of interest in ELT but teachers may be unsure of what features of pronunciation to prioritise, especially in multilingual classes. While research calls for explicit pronunciation instruction that focuses on improving intelligibility and comprehensibility, implementation is still a challenge. This article presents pedagogical applications following the new CEFR descriptors for phonological control. We discuss a 40-hour pronunciation course for international ESL students from diverse L1s in a Canadian university. Pronunciation instruction was delivered through controlled speech practice and drama tasks for practice of extemporaneous speech. Students completed weekly audio recordings, received extensive feedback and completed self-reflections. Moreover, the teacher assessed pre- and post-course recordings to identify change over time. Results show that students developed awareness of pronunciation features that can contribute to more intelligible and comprehensible speech and that a listener’s lack of familiarity with speech diversity can play a role in how speech is perceived.
This study assesses English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students’ writing development when they were exposed to the synergized use of drama-based pedagogy and systemic functional linguistics (SFL)-based teaching in an argumentative writing course. The study focused on qualitative analyses of students’ reflections, essays, interviews, as well as their drama performance collected in a Chinese university EFL argumentative writing course over one academic semester. The results show that although adjusting to the curriculum was a challenging process, the students gradually embraced the drama-based pedagogy, gained knowledge on writing topics through drama participation and post-drama exploration, and enriched the content of their writing. The students also demonstrated their increasing alignment with SFL-based linguistic guidance, exemplified by their improved regulation of writing content through using linguistic resources appropriate to the genre of argumentative writing. The study concludes that EFL student writers could have complex yet positive experiences with the synergized use of drama-based pedagogy and SFL-based teaching.
A leading M.I.T. social scientist and consultant examines five professions - engineering, architecture, management, psychotherapy, and town planning - to show how professionals really go about solving problems. The best professionals, Donald Schön maintains, know more than they can put into words. To meet the challenges of their work, they rely less on formulas learned in graduate school than on the kind of improvisation learned in practice. This unarticulated, largely unexamined process is the subject of Schön's provocatively original book, an effort to show precisely how 'reflection-in-action' works and how this vital creativity might be fostered in future professionals.
The study of 'group dynamics' is a vibrant academic field, overlapping diverse disciplines. It is also highly relevant to language education because the success of classroom learning is very much dependent on how students relate to each other, what the classroom climate is like, what roles the teacher and the learners play and, more generally, how well students can co-operate and communicate with each other. This innovative book addresses these issues and offers practical advice on how to manage language learner groups in a way that they develop into cohesive and productive teams.
The fully revised edition of this 'classic' helps teachers give their learners the tools they need to express themselves through a range of stimulating drama contexts. This completely revised edition of the classic title Drama Techniques provides: *150 ideas for interesting and productive fluency practice *a large selection of drama-based techniques which focus learners' attention on communicative tasks or activities *techniques suitable for all levels *clear instructions for the teacher *advice on how to use the techniques in the classroom
Researchers have been struggling to capture the learning outcomes of role-play simulations of political decision-making, which shows in inconsistencies in findings. In this systematic review study we argue that research designs should not ignore the contextual features of these simulations. This review aims: (1) to comprehensively map variation in learning environment components, and (2) to increase insights into their relationship with learning outcomes. A systematic search in SSCI and ERIC databases yielded 36 studies that were eligible. The following learning environment components were comprehensively mapped: simulation features (structure and agency), student characteristics, the broader learning context, and learning outcomes. Findings reveal that more than half of the studies investigate learning outcomes without taking any other learning environment component into account. Learning outcomes have never been studied in relation to the simulation structure or the broader learning context. Findings are discussed with regard to avenues for future research.
This book explores embodiment in second language education, sociocultural theory and research. It focuses on process drama, an embodied approach that engages learners’ imagination, body and voice to create a felt-experience of the second language and culture. Divided into three parts, it begins by examining the aesthetic and intercultural dimension of performative language teaching, the elements of drama and knowing-in-action. The central part of the book examines issues related to play, emotions, classroom discourse and assessment when learning a language through process drama, in a sociocultural perspective. The third part is an analysis of the author’s qualitative research, which informs a subtle discussion on reflective practitioner methodology, learner engagement and teacher artistry. Each chapter includes a drama workshop, illustrating in practice what embodying language in action can look like when working with asylum seekers, adult learners with intellectual disabilities, pre-service teachers, international students and children involved in a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programme. A unique combination of theory, research and reflective practice, this book provides valuable insights for teacher/artists, teacher educators and researchers in the fields of performative and sociocultural language learning.
I: Background.- 1. An Introduction.- 2. Conceptualizations of Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination.- II: Self-Determination Theory.- 3. Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Perceived Causality and Perceived Competence.- 4. Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Interpersonal Communication and Intrapersonal Regulation.- 5. Toward an Organismic Integration Theory: Motivation and Development.- 6. Causality Orientations Theory: Personality Influences on Motivation.- III: Alternative Approaches.- 7. Operant and Attributional Theories.- 8. Information-Processing Theories.- IV: Applications and Implications.- 9. Education.- 10. Psychotherapy.- 11. Work.- 12. Sports.- References.- Author Index.
With the high numbers of English learners (ELs) in school and rising demands for students to become proficient in academic forms of English, it is increasingly crucial for teachers to have effective, innovative tools to make content and language accessible to students. Adolescent ELs in particular are at a critical point in their educational careers, yet often underrepresented in scholarship. In this article, the author focuses on findings on academic language instruction derived from a yearlong ethnographic study of a middle school class for newcomers taught using drama-based techniques. The findings illustrate how this kind of work can engender communication and linguistic risk taking among ELs. Concepts from Bakhtin's (1981) analysis of language and power, along with the notion of embodied learning, serve as guiding ideas in examining the data. The qualitative data reveal both the problems of reductive approaches to teaching academic language and the efficacy and power of multimodal, embodied pedagogies wherein students are able to both learn critical forms of language and make them personally relevant.
Undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory educational technology course at a large US Midwestern public university completed a “greatest learning experience” narrative assignment, in which they were prompted to discuss and describe their best learning experience. In many of the narratives (n = 267), students discussed a memorable teacher. Using a coding framework informed by the literature, student narratives were analyzed using a descriptive deductive process. Results indicate that most students described memorable teachers as having a combination of instructional and interpersonal skills, possessing positive attributes (e.g. compassion, sense of humor), and leaving a personal or academic impact. Out of the coding categories, students were least likely to discuss specific positive attributes of the teacher compared to teacher skills/actions and impact. Additional results are shared and specific implications for teacher educators, practising educators, and pre-service teachers are discussed.
Background:
The English language has been recognised as an international language, enabling the globalisation of education and work opportunities. An Institute in Taiwan has committed to strengthening English teaching by implementing a student centered teaching and learning activity using role-play. In addition the involvement of a visiting teacher from Australia has been established.
Method:
Data collection consisted of a questionnaire that collected qualitative and quantitative data that revealed student perceptions and attitudes towards learning English including nursing terminology, teamwork and communication.
Results:
Sixty students participated in the activity, with fifty-five completing the questionnaire. It was found that students regarded this as a positive experience for learning English, collegiality and teamwork.
Conclusion:
This project revealed that students enjoyed this experience, gained confidence in their ability to learn English in a collegial atmosphere where teamwork and supportive relationships were developed, despite the perception that learning English was difficult. These students are not generally exposed to English speaking people and therefore have little comprehension of the advantage this might bring.
Although the development of second language (L2) oral fluency has been widely investigated over the past several decades, there remains a paucity of research examining language instruction specifically aimed at improving this cognitive skill. In this study, the researchers investigate how instructional techniques adapted from drama can positively impact L2 fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness—three frequently discussed dimensions of L2 speech. Following a pretest–posttest design, the researchers obtained speech samples from 24 adolescent Brazilian EFL learners before and after their participation in a 4-month drama-based English language program. The development of oral skills by this group was compared with that of a parallel group of learners who received 4 months of instruction in atraditional communicative EFL classroom. Thirty untrained Canadian native English speaker raters evaluated randomized recorded L2 speech samples and provided impressionistic scalar judgments of fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness. Results indicate that drama-based instruction can lead to significantly larger gains in L2 English oral fluency relative to more traditional communicative EFL instruction; comprehensibility scores also appear to be impacted, but with a much smaller effect; accentedness scores do not seem to benefit from one type of instruction over the other. The authors discuss implications for teaching practice.
Access to the article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tesq.290/abstract
Video abstract: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYUUc5ZMiyo
This book closes the gap between theory and classroom application by capitalizing on learners' individuality in second or foreign language learning. The book examines the existing literature and theoretical underpinnings of each of the most prominent learner characteristics including anxiety, beliefs, cognitive abilities, motivation, strategies, styles and willingness to communicate. This strong foundation, coupled with the wide variety of activities that are suggested at the end of each chapter, arms the reader with ideas to conquer the problems created by negative affect and to capitalize on positive, facilitative emotions. The tasks are unrestricted by language and can be modified for use with technology, emergent learners and large classes, making this book a useful resource for both in-service teachers and pre-service teachers in university language teacher education programs. © 2014 Tammy Gregersen and Peter D. MacIntyre. All rights reserved.
Adults and adolescents in Central America overcame problems in English pronunciation with a teaching technique using skits. Students improved their teamwork skills and self-confidence in speaking English with expression.