Drama for foreign language teaching

Abstract

This thesis shows how drama, when used correctly, can significantly aid second language acquisition (SLA). It was inspired by my own experiences of English teaching, as a student and a teacher, in Japan. Chapter 1 deals with the current situation in Japan. It explains why, despite huge amounts of time and money devoted to English teaching, the majority of students leave school unable to speak the language. Chapter 2 establishes the conditions necessary for SLA to be effective. In chapter 3 the theory of drama in education is reviewed and conditions necessary for drama to be effective are noted. Comparison of these two sets of conditions found many similarities. Chapter 4 reviews existing drama resource books and suggests why they may fail to make the best use of drama with reference to the earlier chapters. Chapter 5 shows how the observations from the previous chapters can be put together to make SLA through drama fully effective. Chapter 6 expands this theme to give example lesson plans for teaching English in a Japanese Junior High School. Possibly the most important finding of this thesis is that there is a great deal of similarity between the conditions necessary for effective SLA and effective drama. In order to encourage language acquisition we have to ensure the high quality of the drama.