IMPROVISATION AND DRAMATIZATION OF REAL LIFE EVENTS AS TECHNIQUES TO LOSE FEAR OF SPOKEN ENGLISH
Abstract from Dissertation
The idea
The study’s aim was to investigate the effects of drama techniques as an alternative teaching strategy on
EFL (English as a foreign language) students’ oral proficiency and how they perceived the strategy; for example role-play, improvisation and characterization exercises used in class with the final goal of lowering
the oral production anxiety level.
"Get students to speak"
The problem
Results from previously collected data of an attitude survey during a pilot study, carried out on 25 students from a basic to intermediate English level of the Catholic University Language Department in Quito – Ecuador, showed that they would like to improve their performance of spoken English as well as getting more motivational feedback from their language instructors. According to their statements from the survey, they were bored and not very motivated going through the same learning routine over and over again during each level. (too much focus on grammar)
Justification
- life
- action
- active students
Justification
As a result of my observation studies at PUCE the following problems are being stated:
- no life
- no action
- passive students
- no life
- no action
- passive students
- Classrooms don’t provide motivational input for EFL learners (decoration)
- Students tend to study English without being aware of its importance
- There is little motivation other than passing the exam (extrinsicMotivation)
- Students are afraid of making errors and don’t take risks during oral exercises (embarresment)
- Students have low self confidence during oral production
- Students don’t “feel” this special sensation of recognizing some kind of success after having
fulfilled an oral task (it's ususlly a presentation without any interaction, just memorization) - Students can’t track back their oral performances in order to improve due to a lack of monitoring
- Students don’t “live” the language during classroom activities (little authentic material)
Speaking of the last mentioned point, a major problem in teaching a new language is to match the content
of the lessons to the intellectual and cognitive skills of the students. Too often, students at elementary
or intermediate levels are not stimulated or excited by the content of their lessons, especially the speaking section.
of the lessons to the intellectual and cognitive skills of the students. Too often, students at elementary
or intermediate levels are not stimulated or excited by the content of their lessons, especially the speaking section.
Hypothesis
- life
- action
- active students
-Simulation of real life situations projecting real life size images (creating a semi virtual world) will be an effective language teaching strategy to enhance student’s individual autonomy, self confidence and motivation, with the final goal of lowering speaking anxiety.-
Proposal of “How to lower speaking anxiety”
1. to create an urgent need for real communication through the simulation of authentic, task based life situations
Note: I did try to involve grammar from the units of the course book on which students have been working on before the drama sessions, but I was not focusing in "grammatical correct speech".
2. to encourage cooperative learning during student’s activities
1. to create an urgent need for real communication through the simulation of authentic, task based life situations
Note: I did try to involve grammar from the units of the course book on which students have been working on before the drama sessions, but I was not focusing in "grammatical correct speech".
2. to encourage cooperative learning during student’s activities
3. to stimulate students’ imagination and creativity
4. to stimulate spoken interaction
5. to stimulate improvisation skills
6. to encourage to “living the language”
7. to enhance speech freedom (no grammar pressure)
8. to evolve reward sensation
9. to stimulate awareness of student’s learning ownership
10. to enhance self confidence
11. to develop student’s autonomy
12. to decrease student’s speaking anxiety
Specific objectives:
1. to monitor the student’s learning processes of student produced interactions through audio-visual recordings twice a week.
2. to analyze the student’s motivational and speaking skill progress at the end of the level. With this activity, students will have the opportunity to become aware of their success, mistakes and possible ways to solve them.
3. to expand the "Get It Right" activities located in units 1-6 of student’s book Face2Face Intermediate Level through simulations of real-life drama with specific tasks and appropriate educational materials for communication situations.
4. to develop a teacher’s guide with indications of how to use drama activities in the EFL class.
Click here to get to the link
Click here to get to the link
Setting
This study was conducted in the English Department of the Catholic University in Quito, Ecuador during regular studying hours between four and six o’clock in agreement with the then present teacher of the class over a period of eight weeks.Instruments
Authentic life images were projected on the classroom wall with the help of a laptop in connection with a projector. In order to simulate real characters, costumes and additional background decoration were provided, as well as a digital video camera to record students’ performances. In order to create as authentic an atmosphere as real as possible sound was added according to each situation as well. An alternative would be an overhead projector as you can see here from my pilot study in 2008.
Participants of this research were 10 students with an age range from 19 to 28 old from different faculties and different English backgrounds of the Catholic University of Quito, Ecuador. In order to graduate, each faculty demands certain English levels for the student to be approved. Data were collected from students through pre- and post surveys, oral pre-, mid and post self-evaluations, perception questionnaires and perception interviews regarding oral performance and motivation. In order to provide feedback for the students an audiovisual recording of all activities was conducted which can be seen on this blog.
Results
The results showed that dramatization as a learning strategy had positive effects on students’ oral performance as well as on motivational factors. Nevertheless not all students demonstrated stability and constancy during their oral performances throughout this project, due to by factors such as personality, experience and attitude differences. Based upon the insights gained from this study, pedagogical implications, especially for the speaking section of the student’s book face2face (fifth level) were developed and suggestions for future research have been recommended.
__________________________________________________________________________________Theoretical Framework
Communicative competence
Richards and Schmidt (2002) define CC as the knowledge of not only if something is formally possible in a language, but also the knowledge of whether it is feasible (practicable), appropriate, or done in a particular speech community. Furthermore, they say that CC consists of four parts:
1. Grammatical competence - that is the knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, phonology,
and semantics of a language;
2. Sociolinguistic competence - that is knowledge of the relationship between l
anguage and its nonlinguistic context, knowing how to use and respond appropriately t
o different types of speech acts, such as requests, apologies, thanks, and invitations, knowing
which address forms should be used with different persons one speaks to and in different
situations, and so forth.
3. Discourse competence - that is, knowing how to begin and end a conversation.
4. Strategic competence - that is, knowledge of communication strategies that can
compensate for weakness in other areas.(Click here to see an example from the drama sessions)
compensate for weakness in other areas.(Click here to see an example from the drama sessions)
A definition from an educational glossary (2010) says CC is the ability to converse or correspond with a native speaker of the target language in a real-life situation, with emphasis on the communication of ideas, rather than on correctness of language form.
Constructivism
“Constructivism takes the idea of interconnectedness between learner and environment to its logical limits. Here, the idea is that the environment influences internal processes but, at the same time, those same internal processes influence the environment. As a result, we create knowledge in our own heads and that created knowledge may be interpreted differently by each of us. Although Piaget called his view genetic epistemology, he also called his view Constructivism, because he firmly believed that knowledge acquisition is a process of continuous self-construction” (Driscoll 1994:171).
Vygotsky has influenced learning theories in the twentieth century significantly. He places considerable emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive development. Wertsch (1985) talks about Vygotsky's theories stressing the fundamental role of social interaction social interaction in the development of cognition, as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning”. This is often referred to as social constructivism.
Savery & Duffy (2001) say that according to Jean Piaget, John Dewey, and Lev Vygotsky, constructivism is a theory of learning, where learners formulate or construct their own knowledge and understanding based on their experiences.
Constructivism in the Classroom
Teaching students to learn based on constructivism requires consideration by the teacher. Teachers should serve as guides or facilitators of knowledge, learning environments should be authentic, lessons should be relevant to students, students should be encouraged to reflect upon what they learn, and students should be evaluated to discover their future educational needs (Doolittle & Camp, 1999).
Lebow (1993:5) developed eight instructional principles derived from constructivism:
1. Anchor all learning activities to a larger task or problem.
2. Support the learner in developing ownership for the overall problem or task.
3. Design an authentic task.
4. Design the task and the learning to reflect the complexity of the environment they
should be able to function in at the end of learning.
5. Give the learner ownership of the process used to develop a solution.
6. Design the learning environment to support and challenge the learner's
thinking.
7. Encourage testing ideas against alternative views and alternative contexts.
8. Provide opportunity for and support reflection on both the content learned and the
learning process.
2. Support the learner in developing ownership for the overall problem or task.
3. Design an authentic task.
4. Design the task and the learning to reflect the complexity of the environment they
should be able to function in at the end of learning.
5. Give the learner ownership of the process used to develop a solution.
6. Design the learning environment to support and challenge the learner's
thinking.
7. Encourage testing ideas against alternative views and alternative contexts.
8. Provide opportunity for and support reflection on both the content learned and the
learning process.
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
Doughty and Long (2003) define methodological principles as a list of design features that can be generally regarded as being facilitative to second language acquisition. The following list, adapted from Doughty and Long (2003), serves as a guideline for implementing communicative language teaching (CLT) practices.
1. Language as it is used in real context should be introduced.
2. Students should be able to figure out the speaker’s intentions.
3. The target language is the vehicle for classroom communication.
4. Opportunities should be given to students to express their ideas and opinions.
5. Errors are seen as the natural outcome where language is created by the individual.
6. Fluency is much more important than accuracy.
7. Creating authentic situations or tasks to promote “Learn by doing” communication
is one of the teacher’s responsibilities.
8. Social communicative events context is essential in giving meaning to the utterances.
10. The teacher acts as an advisor during communicative activity, a facilitator of students’
learning, a manager of classroom activity, a provider of error corrective feedback, a
recognizer of affective factors of learning among learners or a co-communicator.
11. When communicating, a speaker has a choice about what to say and how to say it
(speech - freedom)
12. Students should be given opportunities to develop strategies for interpreting language
as it is actually seen by native speakers.
13. Students are communicators and are actively engaged in negotiating meaning.
14. Language is used a great deal through communicative activities such as games, role-
play, problem solving.
15. Learners interact with each other in pairs or groups (cooperative learning) , to
encourage a flow of language and maximize the percentage of talking time
The natural Approach
Drama and Language Learning 2. Students should be able to figure out the speaker’s intentions.
3. The target language is the vehicle for classroom communication.
4. Opportunities should be given to students to express their ideas and opinions.
5. Errors are seen as the natural outcome where language is created by the individual.
6. Fluency is much more important than accuracy.
7. Creating authentic situations or tasks to promote “Learn by doing” communication
is one of the teacher’s responsibilities.
8. Social communicative events context is essential in giving meaning to the utterances.
10. The teacher acts as an advisor during communicative activity, a facilitator of students’
learning, a manager of classroom activity, a provider of error corrective feedback, a
recognizer of affective factors of learning among learners or a co-communicator.
11. When communicating, a speaker has a choice about what to say and how to say it
(speech - freedom)
12. Students should be given opportunities to develop strategies for interpreting language
as it is actually seen by native speakers.
13. Students are communicators and are actively engaged in negotiating meaning.
14. Language is used a great deal through communicative activities such as games, role-
play, problem solving.
15. Learners interact with each other in pairs or groups (cooperative learning) , to
encourage a flow of language and maximize the percentage of talking time
The natural Approach
Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell developed the Natural Approach in the early eighties (Krashen and Terrell, 1983), based on Krashen's theories about second language acquisition. The teacher speaks only in the target language and class time is committed to providing input for acquisition. Students may use either the language being taught or their first language. Errors in speech are not corrected as the teacher is focusing on meaning rather than form; however, homework may include grammar exercises that will be corrected. Goals for the class emphasize the students being able use the language as a vehicle for communicating meanings and messages to talk about ideas, perform tasks, and solve problems.
"Acquisition can take place only when people understand messages in their target language”, according to Krashen and Terrell (1983:19)
Communicative activities focus on a wide range of activities including games, roleplays, dialogs,
group work, and discussions. There are three generic stages identified in the approach:
group work, and discussions. There are three generic stages identified in the approach:
1. Preproduction - developing listening skills
2. Early Production - students struggle with the language and make many errors which
are corrected based on content and not structure
are corrected based on content and not structure
3. Extending Production - promoting fluency through a variety of more challenging activities
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action", which is derived from "to do". And this is exactly what students have to do when learning a language. “Perform or do an action”. (from wikepedia)
The following definition I found the most appropriate within the field of language learning.
“Drama is applied to classroom activities where the focus is on the doing rather than on the presentation. It is an activity which asks the participant to portray himself in an imaginary situation; or to portray another person in an imaginary situation. In other words, the students work on dramatic themes, and it is this exploration of the ideas and characters of their target language which is important, for it entails interacting in English and making full use of the various features of oral communication. The students have the opportunity to experiment with the language they have learnt, and the teacher has a chance to see how each person operates in a relatively unguided piece of interaction.”(Holden 1981:5)
Holden (1981) says the purpose of using drama in the EFL class is to bridge the gap between the classroom and the outside world. “They (students) have learnt English in the overprotected world of the classroom, and are unprepared for the ‘coughs and hesitations’ of the outside world. It is up to the teacher to prepare them for this element of the unexpected and, as we shall see, this can often be done through drama…The teacher can provide situations in which his students can experience the emotions and impulses from which communication develops. “Holden (1982:2, 3)
Drama and Constructivism
Lambert and O’Neill (1982) agree with Vygotsky (1978) in that drama activities can facilitate the learner’s cognitive development in creative thinking, problem solving, questioning and negotiation. Group works are sources of creativity that foster new ideas and provide solutions to the problem. According to Vygotsky (1978), individual learners develop thinking processes through dialogues with other individuals. As a group process, it involves learners in a spontaneous situation which enables them to project themselves into imagined roles, as a way of exploring and expressing ideas.
Drama is essentially social, and involves contact and communication of meanings. Fleming (2006) explains that drama is doubtlessly learner-centered, because it can only operate through active cooperation. It is therefore a social activity, and thus embodies much of the theory that has emphasized the social and communal, as opposed to the purely individual, aspects of learning.
Drama, Autonomy and Selfconfidence
Pietro (1987) states that shy students who are not naturally talkative are often the ones with more will to participate in discourse when they realize that can act freely without being dominated by an authoritarian teacher. In this regard, drama appears to be the ideal method for students to develop self confidence.
According to Stewart (PUCE, 2004), in teaching spoken communication skills, drama stimulates the desire of all students to actually speak in concentrating on problem-solving, role play, dialogue or drama itself. Here, production is more important than reception. In order to achieve success, he suggests the class atmosphere has to reflect feelings of trust, relaxation and co-operation among all participants. One of the most important features of the social aspect of oral communication skills is the ability to deliver a speech comfortably, freely, with self confidence.
Summarizing all the important facts of all authors and researchers from above, Maley and Duff (2005) listed many points supporting the use of drama in the classroom:
Advantages
1. It integrates language skills in a natural way. Careful listening is a key feature.Spontaneous verbal
expression is integral to most of the activities; many of them require reading and writing, both as part
of the input and the output.
expression is integral to most of the activities; many of them require reading and writing, both as part
of the input and the output.
2. It integrates verbal and non verbal aspects of communication, thus bringing together both mind and
body, and restoring the balance between physical and intellectual aspects of learning.
body, and restoring the balance between physical and intellectual aspects of learning.
3. It draws upon both cognitive and affective domains, thus restoring the importance of feeling as well
as thinking.
as thinking.
4. By fully contextualizing the language, it brings classroom interaction to life through an intensive focus
on meaning.
on meaning.
5. The emphasis on whole-person learning and multi-sensory inputs helps learners to capitalize on
their strengths and to extend their range. In doing so, it offers unequalled opportunities for
catering to learner differences.
their strengths and to extend their range. In doing so, it offers unequalled opportunities for
catering to learner differences.
6. It fosters self-awareness (and awareness of others), self-esteem and confidence; and through this,
motivation is developed.
motivation is developed.
7. Motivation is likewise fostered and sustained through the variety and sense of expectancy
generated by the activities.
generated by the activities.
8. There is a transfer of responsibility for learning from teacher to learners, which is where it belongs.
9. It encourages an open, exploratory style of learning where creativity and imagination are given
scope to develop. This, in turn, promotes risk-taking, which is an essential element in effective
language learning.
scope to develop. This, in turn, promotes risk-taking, which is an essential element in effective
language learning.
10. It has a positive effect on classroom dynamics and atmosphere, thus facilitating the formation
of a bonded group, which learns together.
of a bonded group, which learns together.
11. It is an enjoyable experience.
12. It is low-resource. For most of the time, all you need is a 'roomful of human beings'.
In addition to Maleys’ advantages of drama usage in the EFL classroom, Desiatova (2009) discovers some more beneficial learning characteristics, as listed below:
- Through language use of real life situations, drama generates a need to speak.
- Drama is an ideal way to encourage learners to guess the meaning of unknown language in a context
which stimulates critical thinking. - Learners will need to use a mixture of language structures and functions ("chunks") if they want to
communicate successfully. - By taking a role, students can escape from their everyday identity and "hide behind" another character.
When you give students special roles, it encourages them to be that character and abandon their
shyness. - To bring the real world into the classroom (problem solving, research, consulting dictionaries, real
time and space, cross-curricular content).
Drama Techniques
According to Scrivener (2005:362), there are six common drama activities found in English language classrooms:
According to Scrivener (2005:362), there are six common drama activities found in English language classrooms:
- Simulation – This is really a large-scale role-play. Role Cards are normally used, and there is often other background information as well. The intention is to create a much more complete, complex “world”; for example, of a business company, television studio, government body, etc.
- Role-Play – Students act out small scenes using their own ideas, or forming ideas and information on Role-Cards.
- Drama games - Short games that usually involve movement and imagination.
- Guided improvisation – You improvise a scene and the students join in one by one in character, until the whole scene (story) takes on a life of its own.
- Acting play scripts – Short written sketches or scenes are acted by the students.
- Prepared improvised drama – Students in small groups invent and rehearse a short scene or story
that they then perform in front of the others.
that they then perform in front of the others.
Improvisation
Some language researchers (Long, 1996, Swain 1995) suggest that the interaction of language use in an improvised way could modify and develop their language system, even when there is no intervention or instruction.
Some other language researchers also suggest that people learn language by being exposed to talking, which often has little regard for grammatical correctness. Dugdale (1996) suggests that people learn language by talking and listening a lot.
Very interesting is the statement from Nakagawa (2000) who found out that the accuracy-oriented approach is rather neglected among the current ESL pedagogues.
Liu (2006) makes an important point of saying “Improvisation activities mean those in which students, after receiving teacher input on lexis, sentence, structure, and grammatical rules, are called upon to improvise conversational chunks or descriptions in given settings, without previous memorization.”
Davis (2009) defines improvisation as a kind of activity done without preparation. She says that much of the speaking done in ESL/EFL students' classes is done with preparation -even if it's just a couple of minutes. Davis points out that when improvising students must create a scene, speak, act, react, and move without preparing. The decisions for what to say or do are made on the spot. In improvisation, students do not necessarily know what comes next. The scene is created as they go. Participants must pay attention to their partners in order to react appropriately. This forces them to listen carefully, to speak clearly, and to use language in an authentic (i.e., unplanned) way. Improvisation is a great way to get students communicating as they would outside of the classroom. Outside of the classroom, students must be able to speak and act without preparing (planning what to say, looking in the dictionary, writing words, etc.). Improvisation gives students the skills and confidence to be successful when communicating outside of the classroom. Because language outside the classroom is generally unplanned, students should practice speaking in unplanned language situations. They should practice taking risks in language. Improvisation is a great way to do this.
Motivation
Cooperation as the principle strength of motivation is very important for EFL learners, as stated by Aguinaga (PUCE, 2008:17,18,31,75) in her research paper. She mentions “significant learning”, which is vital for students. They must know why they are learning a new language and that it has significance for their future.
Furthermore, she talks about protecting and maintaining each student’s motivation through a variation of exercises.Theory further below) Intrinsic learners are motivated by an inner drive of interest, self satisfaction and
enjoyment in the task itself. Usually, those types of persons are very autonomous and do not need any external pressure. Extrinsic learners are driven by external rewards such as parents, teachers, money, and grades. A student’s motivation naturally has to do with a desire to participate in the learning process. A student who is intrinsically motivated undertakes an activity for its own sake, for the enjoyment it provides, the learning it permits, or the feelings of accomplishments it evokes.
Foreign Language Anxiety
Dramatization is a motivating activity because it is fun, and learners get actively involved and work in pairs or groups; if learners are motivated, their activ filter (degree of anxiety) is low (Krashen, 1984). They are relaxed and will acquire the language almost without effort.
Dramatization is a motivating activity because it is fun, and learners get actively involved and work in pairs or groups; if learners are motivated, their activ filter (degree of anxiety) is low (Krashen, 1984). They are relaxed and will acquire the language almost without effort.
Humor is the characteristic that makes something laughable or amusing, but humor in the English classroom has more than just the 'effect to induce laughter'; it brings together a chain-reaction by increasing the learner's motivation and self-confidence which creates a positive classroom atmosphere for smooth acquisition of the language.
"Humor can help the shy and/or timid students to feel that they are a part of the class and to allow them to contribute or participate without feeling humiliated or vulnerable" (Chiasson 2002). This can act as a means of enhancing student motivation to learn English as well as stimulating recall of the materials taught. (Vadillo 1998)
Jarrín and Cruz (PUCE, 1994) discovered that in Task Based Learning, the quality language produced had an intimate relation with the classroom atmosphere. They also stated that tasks enhance social relations and diminish fear and embarrassment in students, as they felt more motivated to communicate expressing their ideas, opinions and feelings, enriching their own and their compatriots’ communication.
Savignon (1983) says that mime helps learners become comfortable with the idea of performing in front of peers without concern for language, and that although no language is used during a mime, it can be a spur to use language.
______________________________________________________________________________
Links:
Motivation:
"The question that needs to be addressed is how do teachers create a healthy balance between preparing students for the standardized examinations and for life-long language skills."
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Hussin-Motivation/
Fluency:
http://www.herbertpuchta.com/page/handouts/ETAS_Conference_2007/PARROTS_ETAS.pdf
Improvisation:
The classroom use of spontaneous, partially unrehearsed language to suit the demands of a given communicative situation or setting.
http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/digitaltheses/public/adt-acuvp124.25102006/01front.pdf (page 27)
Performing a script-based improvisation
Creating and performing a script-based improvisation can be a highly successful learning experience for ESL students. While it motivates them to generate imaginative and detailed ideas, greatly expand their vocabulary, actively practice language skills and attain far greater fluency, it also provides a setting in which they can explore the social values of a different culture. Finally, participating in this kind of activity strengthens students' confidence in their academic ability, an essential component of successful language acquisition.
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Berlinger-ScriptImprov.html
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