Motivation
Oral
Students Comments
Interview with the students
Patrick: Did you have fun doing acting in class?
Student 1: Yes, a lot.
Patrick: Have you ever thought of you know becoming an actor maybe going to the
theatre and do something like that?
theatre and do something like that?
Student 2: I don’t like to act, but it was a great experience.
Patrick: How did you like acting or using drama in class?
Student 3: Yes is nice, funny and you learn. You learn how to be “loose”.
Patrick: How about this class? How about this experience?
Student 4: Well I think it was a very good experience, because we connect with real situations
that might happen to us any other moment and we are kind of more prepared
to that. Also we are improving our spoken English.
that might happen to us any other moment and we are kind of more prepared
to that. Also we are improving our spoken English.
Interview with the teacher
Patrick: Who are you?
Teacher: I am a teacher. I‘ve been teaching English for many years, and I think that the
students now are having fun with these drama lessons. And I have seen that they
are improving.
students now are having fun with these drama lessons. And I have seen that they
are improving.
Patrick: Really? Is that true? They are more spontaneous, they are more “loose” and I was
surprised how naturally they act.
surprised how naturally they act.
In the following questionnaire I got positive feedback on this research from the current teacher of this
class, who liked being part of it, and is very interested in adding some of the drama activities to the
teaching program.
class, who liked being part of it, and is very interested in adding some of the drama activities to the
teaching program.
Teachers’ questionnaire on motivation and oral production applying drama activities in the EFL Classroom
1. After 11 sessions of drama application in the EFL class with fifth level (intermediate) students, what would you say about this hypothesis? Please state your point of view.
“Simulation of real life situations through improvisation, projecting real life size images is an effective language teaching strategy to enhance student’s individual autonomy, self confidence, and motivation with the final goal of lowering speaking anxiety.”
Teacher: Undoubtedly, improvising a role play is something that brings students very close to a real-life situation in which they have to use the language. It is a good way to help students develop their ability to apply theoretical input that is usually acquired in a language classroom. It helps them really “feel” and “live” the language and, for that reason, they become more confident and get highly motivated.
2. You as a teacher were also part of the drama activities during this cycle, which I found spectacular. One of your statements was: “I’ve never had so much fun in my English Classes”, after being part of a dramatization scene.
How would you describe your experience from a students’ point of view? What did you observe? How did you feel?
Teacher: At the beginning, there was tension, and many of the students were trying to avoid participating, but as the project went on, they showed less and less anxiety and started to enjoy their classmates acting, as well as their own acting, and, of course, the teacher´s acting, which was not such a great thing!
3. In one of my video interviews, you have mentioned that students have improved a lot regarding spontaneity. What do you exactly mean?
Teacher: The atmosphere that was created through images, music, and the situations themselves created a special mood in the students, which help them relax and be more spontaneous.
4. Do you agree with the following statements? Please explain yourself by giving examples from observed actions during this project. Which of these beneficial statements do you think occurred during the drama activities of this research project?
Using drama techniques in the EFL classroom
- develops imagination and emotional expression while speaking English Yes/No
- strengthens the ability to improvise with language and creates
spontaneous verbal expression Yes/No
spontaneous verbal expression Yes/No
- helps develop fluency Yes/No
- discourages the mechanical use of language Yes/No
- creates an urgent need for real communication Yes/No
- encourages interpersonal relationships among students Yes/No
- encourages cooperative learning during student’s activities Yes/No
- stimulates spoken interaction Yes/No
- encourages to “live the language” Yes/No
- enhances speech freedom Yes/No
- evolves reward sensation Yes/No
- stimulates awareness of student’s learning ownership Yes/No
- enhances self confidence Yes/No
- develops student’s autonomy Yes/No
- - decreases speaking anxiety Yes/No
- - offers unequalled opportunities for catering to learner differences
through emphasis on whole-person learning and multi-sensory inputs Yes/No
through emphasis on whole-person learning and multi-sensory inputs Yes/No
- - fosters and sustains motivation through the variety and sense of Yes/No
expectancy generated by the activities
expectancy generated by the activities
5. After the midterm exam, you said: “The images awake creativity in the students and therefore they are getting motivated in order to speak”. Please give more details.
Teacher: It is a completely different experience for students if you just “explain” a situation to them and ask them to act it out. With images, they can actually put themselves in the scene and become more creative; that sense of “quasi reality” motivates them to speak as if they were in a real situation.
6. Here are some possible disadvantages of using drama techniques in class. Which ones do you find relevant? Which points could you observe during the sessions? State your point. If not, was it different? Please mark yes or no.
- Activity is artificial - Richards (1985) observed that although role-play is supposed to provide authentic situations for students to use language, the situations sometimes created were artificial and not relevant to the needs of the students.
Teacher: Yes. This could be true to a certain extent, but is there another way to make language practice less artificial?
- Activities are difficult to monitor - With so much activity and both physical and verbal
going on, it is sometimes difficult for the teacher to monitor a student's performance. There is the fear among teachers that students are having too much fun and that no learning is taking place.
going on, it is sometimes difficult for the teacher to monitor a student's performance. There is the fear among teachers that students are having too much fun and that no learning is taking place.
Teacher: No. I completely disagree with this, I don´t think that learning has to be painful; on the contrary, more can be achieved if the students have fun.
- Causes embarrassment - In some situations, especially among adult learners, role-play and simulation activities cause a lot of embarrassment, awkwardness, and very little spontaneous language use. The choice of appropriate roles for different students is thus very important.
Teacher: Yes. I think that it is very important for the teacher to be aware of the feelings of the students regarding role playing. The teacher should be careful not only in choosing the appropriate role for each student, but also in diminishing feelings of anxiety and embarrassment.
- Encourages incorrect forms - Since the teacher is not encouraged to correct mistakes immediately so as not to discourage students, this provides opportunities for learners to produce and practice ungrammatical and inappropriate forms.
Teacher: Yes. For me, this was the most difficult thing to do; it was hard not to interfere and correct incorrect forms.
- Teachers' fear of losing control - Since the activities require full participation of the students and minimum participation from the teacher, the teacher may fear that he may lose control of the class. Furthermore, the students may get carried away and become disruptive.
Teacher: No
- Spontaneity is lost - Very often the students get too caught up with WHAT to say. They hesitate to choose their words and do not interact spontaneously.
Teacher: No
- Timing lessons is difficult - The teacher has to spend a lot of time in preparation work, especially for simulations. He is not able to predict the amount of class time that will be taken to carry out the activity, since the ability of each class varies.
Teacher: Yes
- Since a drama activity is planned, students do not get a chance to improvise. They are afraid of making mistakes by not memorizing the script correctly.
Teacher: No
7. Do you agree that applying drama techniques can work as a multi-functional strategy for all learner types, speaking of multiple intelligences?
Teacher: Yes, to a certain extent; it involves a lot of interacting with other people, which can help develop interpersonal skills. It also involves controlling your own feelings and learning about yourself, which can be part of intrapersonal skills. Students do not have to be sitting; acting requires a lot of movement and corporal expressions: kinetic skills. And, of course, the most relevant skill to intervene in role playing: the use of language: linguistic intelligence.
8. “I have never imagined becoming an actress...” This is a statement of yours after the very fun activity of renting an apartment. Why did you feel like this?
Teacher: I´m rather a shy person and have never participated in any kind of performance, not even when I was in school, so it was quite an experience to take part in some of the role plays in your project. At the beginning, I felt that it was my duty to set an example for my students and that is why I did it; later on, I participated with less stress, but I definitely do not have this “actress spirit”.
9. Do you think that designing a blog where students can see their progress and listen to themselves watching the recordings is an advantage?
Teacher: By seeing the students’ response when we saw the videos recorded during the course, I think that this kind of feedback was very important to evaluate their progress.
10. What would you recommend or suggest to further research in that issue?
Teacher: It would be very useful to find out how these activities influence in accuracy of the language acquired by students, accuracy regarding grammatical structures, pronunciation intonation, and the use of appropriate vocabulary.
Other observations:
Teacher: Now the question is: How can we as regular teachers include such activities in our regular programming, taking into account the limitations of time and emphasis of evaluations in the syntax of language? Very difficult, I guess, but your project has helped me to think of working as far as possible with more role plays and more spontaneous interventions.
