EUPHORIC ATMOSPHERE IN LANGUAGE LEARNING WITH DRAMA

Drama is a type of literature that has a performance to be shown and an audience. It is considered a mother of all arts because it combines everything and captures moments of our lives. According to Styan (1975, Drama, Stage and Audience, as cited in Lazar, 1993, p.133), “…drama is not made of words alone, but of sights and sounds, stillness and motion, noise and silence, relationships and responses.” Drama is also useful in language learning, and even I do incorporate drama within language learning. I enjoy watching movies, so I tend to watch some movies in the language that I am currently learning. I think it has some positive impacts on my language skills such as listening and speaking. By listening to what is in the movie, I can get used to the language placement into the context. I can also practice my speaking skill by imitating the spoken words in the movie after watching the movie daily. It gives pleasure in language learning rather than gives pressure. Incorporating drama within language learning is indeed an enticing idea.

The aesthetic dimension such as art, music and song, literature, drama, and the film is frequently stranded. However, many opportunities for language learning activities are offered by these inputs. (Maley & Kiss, 2018). Accordingly, incorporating drama within language learning can be implemented in language learning classroom activities. Drama can include mime, role-playing, simulation, or any interaction activities. Students may do this according to what they wish to do and communicate with others using their personal store of language. However, like all classroom activities, drama must be prepared properly by knowing the reason for using this in classroom activities. Davies (1990, p. 89) states “some reasons for using drama could be its relevance to the syllabus, the chance to increase awareness of paralinguistic features, linguistic accessibility, intrinsic interest, practicability in terms of lesson time, student numbers and space, and the possibility of using dramatic activities in the future, thereby providing continuity.” Consequently, teachers should set the classroom activities well so that the activities can be enjoyed and meaningful for the students.

One of the classroom activities that can be conducted by teachers is an improvisation show with no script. The learning activities:

1. Students are grouped into two or three groups according to the number of students in the class.
2. Students are explained the assignment by the teacher to show performance about students reaction when there is a sudden quiz.
3. Students are team up and arrange the idea of the performance in a group discussion.
4. Students present the performance based on the arranged idea with improvisation and no script.
5. Students conclude the things that have been learned from the spontaneous drama activity.

This activity suits high school students. By conducting this spontaneous improvisation in the class, students can practice their language and communication skills and develop their emotional range by playing roles unfamiliar to their experience. (Davies, 1990). The improvised drama also can be a source of linguistic creativity. (Maley & Kiss, 2018). In addition, “‘it is in spontaneous operational speech that the grammatical system of a language is most fully exploited, such that its semantic frontiers expand and its potential for meaning is enhanced.’” (Halliday, 1994, xxiv, as cited in Hall, 2005, p.26). Furthermore, authentic communication can be developed because of the dynamic and real contexts provided for language. (Winston, 2011). Because of this enjoyable activity, students will be more encouraged to participate in the classroom activities and gladly learn the language. Hence, incorporating drama within the language learning activities is one of the interesting ways to improve the euphoric atmosphere in language learning.

Reference

Davies, P. (1990). The Use of Drama in English Language Teaching. TESL Canada Journal, 8(1), 87. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl.v8i1.58

Hall, G. (2005). Literature in Language Education. Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Lazar, G. (1993). Literature and Language Teaching: A Guide for Teachers and Trainers (Cambridge Teacher Training and Development). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511733048

Maley, A., & Kiss, T. (2018). Creativity and English Language Teaching: From Inspiration to Implementation. Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46729-4

Winston, J. (Ed.). (2011). Second Language Learning through Drama: Practical Techniques and Applications (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203805114