Școala: GIMNAZIALĂ AUREL VLAICU ARAD [310541]

[anonimizat] – ȘTIINȚIFICĂ

PENTRU OBȚINEREA GRADULUI

DIDACTIC I ÎN ÎNVĂȚĂMÂNT

COORDONATOR ȘTIINȚIFIC:

Conf. univ. dr. NARCISA SCHWARZ

CANDIDAT: [anonimizat]: ANDREEA – CRISTINA STRETCU

Școala: GIMNAZIALĂ “AUREL VLAICU” ARAD

Arad

2014

[anonimizat]:

Conf . univ. dr. NARCISA SCHWARZ

CANDIDAT: [anonimizat]: ANDREEA – CRISTINA STRETCU

Școala: GIMNAZIALĂ “AUREL VLAICU” ARAD

Arad

2014

Table of Contents

Introduction

CHAPTER I

THE DRAMATIC TEXT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE LITERARY THEORY (AS A LITERARY OBJECT )

1.The double function of the dramatic text

2. The discursive duality of the dramatic text

2.1 The contents of illustrations / The stage directions

2.2 Dialogue vs. monologue

2.2.1 The Dialogue

2.2.2 The Monologue

3. The Fictional Universe of Drama

3.1 Space and time in the dramatic text

3.2 Plot and conflict in the dramatic text

3.3 The dramatic character

CHAPTER II

THE DRAMATIC TEXT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE THEATRE THEORY

1.From text to performance

2.Semiotics of the performance

2. 1 Theme

2. 2. Plot

2. 3 Characters

2. 4 Dialogue

2. 5 Music

2. 6 Visual Element

3 . [anonimizat]

1. Drama education in English language teaching

1.1 What is Drama in ELT?

1. 2 The use of drama in English language teaching

1. 3 Who needs drama?

1. 4 Why Use Drama?

1. 5 Advantages and disadvantages of using drama in the English language classroom

2. Traditional vs modern

2. 1 Students’ communication

2. 2 Students ‘motivation and success

2. 3 Meaning in context

2 .4 Learning styles and multiple intelligences

2 .5 Students’ affective filter

2. 6 Psychological benefits

2.7 Drama and environment

2. 8 Drama and the role of the teacher

2 .9 Conclusion

3. Teaching language skills through drama

3.1 Language systems and language skills in the context of drama

The nature of communication

3. 3 Speaking

3. 4 Writing

3. 5. Reading

3.6 . Listening

3.7 [anonimizat]

3. 8 [anonimizat]

4. Methods and techniques of drama used in English language teaching

4. 1 Role-play

4.2 Simulation

4.3 Drama games

Guided improvisation

4.5 Acting play scripts

4.6 Prepared improvised drama

4.7 Interpretation of dialogues and texts

4.8 Improvisation

4.9 Narrative Mime

4.10 Props, Costumes

4.11 Role on the Wall

4.12 Conscience Alley

4.13 Frozen Frames/ Still Images

4. 14 Thought-tracking

4.15 Teacher in Role

4.16 Mantle of the Expert

CHAPTER IV

THE TEACHING EXPLOITATION OF THE SPECTACULAR DIMENSION OF THE DRAMATIC TEXT

1 . Didactic experiments

2. Formative dimensions of the theatre club

3. Assesment of drama as an approach of teaching English

4 . [anonimizat]

I would like to give my cordial thanks to Lecturer Professor Narcisa Schwarz for her kind guidance that she provided me as my supervisor. I [anonimizat].

Finally, I [anonimizat] keep on learning!

INTRODUCTION

This work intends to consider the acquisition and teaching language skills through the techniques of drama. More generally, the aim is to show how drama techniques can enhance the effect and quality of teaching English as a foreign language.

It is important to realize that drama in this context does not mean a theatre performance on the stage in front of audience, but rather, it is used here to bring the various aspects of drama into teaching, mainly involving and stimulating the feelings and imagination of the students, providing them with various stimuli and enriching their learning with an experience on the deeper level.

This thesis represents the result of my qualitative and quantitative teaching work that I have achieved in my 10 years of teaching ,of my numerous training courses on the English methodology or of my opinions exchange with my colleagues who I have learned from how to master my own didactic behaviour that is always demanding an elevated teaching style defined by teaching competence , team spirit , dedication and commitment .

Why a thesis on drama ? The reasons of choosing to write on this subject are both objective and subjective. First of all , my choice is the result of my own desire of getting closer to the art of the theatre that had always preoccupied me in my high school years .

Secondly, I have always been unhappy because, unfortunately the elementary school curriculum lacks the dramatic gendre although it has multiple formative dimensions that can bring a lot of advantages for the students. Using drama in teaching, particularly in teaching foreign languages, provides countless advantages.

The dramatic text , due to its dual existence – literary and spectacular – has an important value because it helps the students to form the communicative and the cultural competence and it gives the teacher the chance to lead the teaching process over the ordinary and formal class and make teaching look like a game . By getting the students involved in preparing a theatre play as actors or directors , their creativity , unconstraint , courage and the transdisciplinary learning are stimulated and also, the communicative competence is connected with the artistic , musical and physical ones. That is why I have always encouraged my students to love theatre and to worship art , literature and culture because of their numerous advantages in life.

The thesis is divided into two main parts structured in 4 chapters . The first part, the theoretical one, deals with the concept of drama from a literary and artistic perspective in comparison with other literary gendres.

The second part explores the field of drama methods , techniques and approaches of teaching English though drama. It also deals with the description of realised activities I have created for and with my students who really enjoyed to learn more about drama and how to practically use it in their classes or extracurricular activities .

CHAPTER I

THE DRAMATIC TEXT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE LITERARY THEORY (AS A LITERARY OBJECT )

1. The double function of the dramatic text

The dramatic text has a special status in the literary territory, due to at least two aspects: its longevity and its contradictory, paradoxical and artistic characteristics , being located at the confluence of two arts, two types of artistic communication with different encodings.

First, the dramatic text belongs to literature as a literary object produced by an author in a particular spatio-temporal, historical and social context, with aesthetic autonomy, which fulfills all the criteria literarity (I refer to the dialogue) and can be received by the act of reading.

Secondly, this text is claimed to be an art that works after different laws and rules , and configures its communication through several additional languages, belonging to different semiotic systems: that is the art of theater. In this respect, the dramatic text is a constituent part of a communication act full of complexity, whose draft status is both in the text itself and in its discourse duality . The spectacular aim of the dramatic text is its representation on the stage, with the help of the actors , or the director ‘s stage indications. Thus , the dramatic dimension of the dramatic text is intentional, aimed by the playwright and not as an alternative way, as in the case of the dramatized epic texts or poems set to the music. The reading reception of the dramatic text during the theatrical performance is after its production and only in terms of temporality and not of intent. We could say that the dramatic work is produced with literary means and it is intended to be perceived by means of theater.

Roland Barthes, who once wrote in Essais critiques said that theatricality, defined as a density of signs, as an informational polyphony, is in fact specific to the performance and not to the text . But, Ubersfeld shows that this feature belongs both to the text by its dual discursive organization , determined by the intention to transpose it into spectacular code.

The components of the two types of communication, literary and theatrical, through which the dramatic text can be perceived could be synthetically represented in the following manner:

The contradictory status of the dramatic text by its two-dimensional character has provoked controversial and disputes between those who favour the text , its written form and those who favour the play itself , considering that the written text is just a simple element of the show without a major importance .

According to those who favour the text, the dramatic text should be regarded as a literary reality which may be subjected to reception reading, like any other kind of literary text. Followers of this theory believe that the dramatic text is the core of theater performance that it predetermines and its stages implementation is only its translation, being semantically congruent.

Appia and Craig are among the first who attempted to define theater. Their idea was mentioned by the critic George Banu in his article In the search of theater . Both of them agree with the classical ideal of art and with the idea of ​​the single creator of a complete work.

Anne Ubersfeld emphasises that the semantic equivalence between text and performance is an illusion, because the whole textual signs can not be identical to the set of spectacular signs: all the visual, auditory, musical signs , created by the director, decorator, musicians, actors is a connection (or a plurality of directions) beyond the entire text . The overlap of the two systems of signs, that of literature and theater, is thwarted by the schematic nature of the literary work, by the presence of those fictional areas of the text. So, the reader is forced to link them making use of his imagination and his cultural baggage. Hence a semantic plurality of the text derives from the reception process that can not include its performing on stage . On the other hand, the director may, voluntarily or involuntarily, resize the semantic text configuration, giving the show his/her own vision, sometimes quite different from that of the playwriter . The faithful translation of the text in the artistic language is both not possible and desirable, because, as I pointed out, would deny the virtual semantic infinity of the text and would say that the theater reproduces and not produces the artistic act.

The theory of those who favour the play considerably diminishes the importance of the text , admitting it is just a pre-text of the show, a script , a prescriptive embroidery, an element of the theatrical communication act that has lost its importance in the show. So , concerning the comparison between the text and the show those who favour the play/the show agree with the great importance of the vision of the director .

There is also a group of critics that consider that the text and the show/the play are in a close connection. This idea is highlighted by the actor Radu Beligan in the work named : Pretexts and subtexts : How could I think that the text is an infiltration in the theater originating from another area, hindering more than helping a show? […] It is true that the theater is an expression of totality, but the dramatic poetry remains sovereign of the whole. I'm an old and stable partisan of the view that between poetry and theater are not certain correspondences and analogies, but a deep kinship. […] In the magic ceremony of the scene the word is not description or evocation, but deed. This is why I do not understand why the split between verb and act in theater is being discussed when we should speak about their full unity .

As a literary work as double existence , as a literary object (text) and the stage reality (show ), the dramatic text can be approached from several perspectives:

a) from the literary perspective , poetics, which explore the fictional universe grid reading narrative text, querying spatio-temporal coordinates , ways of building the conflict and characters;

b)from the dramatic perspective that takes into account the analysis of discoursive elements that confers specific text theatricality;

c) from the theatrology perspective that will analyze text scenic transposed in relation to other semiotic systems specific to theatrical art.

The object literary dramatic text is always the same and has a great effect and can be reproduced faithfully in a full class of children. Do the same thing happens with the oral variant, uttered on stage, enjoying an unrepeatable character to the text? In this case the text can never be played the same form, even by the same actor in different representations of the same show. Another significant difference between the two forms of existence of the dramatic text is the type of reading that can be perceived.

2. The discoursive duality of the dramatic text

2.1. The Contents of illustrations / The stage directions

Drama is definitely very different from poetry or novel. The way it is conceived is determined by its duality . As I have mentioned earlier, drama can be studied as a literary object and as a play/show/performance . The dramatic text includes two complementary types of discourses that is the stage directions and the actors’ parts .

The stage directions are the instructions for performing a play and the descriptions of settings, characters, and actions. They help you visualize the play. The directions indicate the directions on stage: upstage, downstage, stage right, or stage left.

The differences from these two aspects can be illustrated in the following scheme:

One of the conventions of writing the dramatic text deals with the sequential organization of the material , such as :

a) macro sequences(acts)

b) average sequences (scenes or paintings)

c)micro sequences or main speech acts (interrogations, commands, reproaches) or stage acts (speech acts + physical actions, eg Hamlet kills Polonius)

An act is a division or unit of a drama. An act is a part of a play defined by elements such as rising action, climax and resolution.

The number of acts in a performance can range from one to five or more, depending on how a writer structures the outline of the story. The length of time for an act to be performed usually ranges from 30 to 90 minutes, but may be also 10 minutes .

The term can also be used for major sections of other entertainment, such as film, television, variety shows, music hall, and cabaret.

A scene is a part of an act defined with the changing of characters.

Acts may be further divided into scenes; in classical theater each regrouping between entrances and exits of actors is a scene, while the later use describes a change of setting.

Modern plays often have only one level of structure, which can be referred to as either scenes or acts at the writer’s wish ; and some writers dispense with firm divisions entirely. Successive scenes are normally separated from each other in either time or place; but the division between acts is more about the overall dramatic structure of the play . The end of an act often coincides with one or more characters making an important decision. A decision which has a profound impact on the story that is being told.

To be more specific, the elements that create the plot of a play or any other story, and divide a play into acts include the exposition, which gives information, setting up the rest of the story. Another is the inciting incident, which starts all of the action that will follow. Going along with the inciting incident, the major dramatic question is formed; this holds the rest of the play. The majority of the play is made up of complications. These are the things that change the action. These complications lead up to the crisis, this is the turning point. Most of the time, at this point, the major dramatic question has been answered. Finally, there is the solution. This is the end of the play where everything comes together and the situation has been solved. This solution leaves the audience satisfied with the play as a whole. These more specific elements of plot in a play are the main things used to divide a play up into acts and sometimes scenes.

The acting scene requires a representation of action, mainly by visual means.

Sometimes it can work as a macrosequence also fulfilling the role of an act.

In other playwrights , the acts may include both scenes and acting scenes and the stage becomes a sequential unit subordinated to the acting scene.

The speech acts are the smallest sequences that structure the dramatic text material and they are delimited by changing the transmitter. In addition, some parts have different boundaries, which make direct reference to the universe of the show: the gong, the clapping the the curtain.

The text itself is preceded by a list of characters that can be displayed by various criteria: the importance in carrying out the action, the social status or the gender (male characters before the females). The character names may be accompanied by brief references to their physical or moral portrait, occupation, social class, the nature of the relationship with the other characters. More rarely, the list of characters does not provide any information about them, being limited to the names that they bear .

The prompts of the characters in the contents of illustrations / stage directions speech, might be included in the specific epic narrator's speech, but in some cases it is no longer allowed. This observation can be explained by determining the ratio between the narrator and the fictional world of the epic text, on the one hand and the author of the dramatic fictional world of the text on the other hand. If in the epic text, the narrator is only in the papers ,being imaginary , and whose existence is only in the fictional world, whether he is one of the characters or just a voice that recounts the events. In the case of the dramatic text , the transmitter is the author of the text (or his abstract projection in text), which comes outside of the fictional world.

The relationship between the stage directions and the text is different depending on the two forms of existence of the text: written and oral (spoken on stage). Regarding the written text, aimed for its reception by reading, the stage directions play a descriptive part , establishing temporal and spatial context or making references to the moods, portrait or clothing of the characters. The stage directions have a complementary function to that of the characters that assures its consistency. Performing the play on stage , changes will not have a textual existence, but they will be converted into motion, mimicry, simulation, spatial stage, that is , the code will be translated from the linguistic code into the spectacular one. The prescriptive script accompanying the written text is now implemented with the director ‘s effort to materialize the author’s indications.

2.2 Dialogue vs . Monologue

Unlike the epic gendre, the main way of generating fiction is the narrative discourse , but in drama the fiction results not through narration but through representation, through discourse , exclusively through dialogue. Drama is a writing that is meant to be performed by actors for an audience . The script consists of dialogues- the words the actors say – plus stage directions, which are comments on how and where the actors move and speak. When you read drama, you "set the stage" in your own mind, using your imagination to visualize the scenery, lighting, costumes, and actors.

In drama, in contrast to narration , characters typically talk to one another and the entire plot is carried by and conveyed through their verbal interactions. The  language in drama can generally be presented either as a monologue or a dialogue. Monologues mean that only one character speaks while dialogues always require two or more participants.

2.2.1 The Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English ) is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people.

Its chief historical origins as narration , philosophical or didactic device are to be found in classical Greek and Indian literature, in particular in the ancient art of rhetoric. . The dialogue is in fact like a conversation between two or more characters.

Highlighting the features of the dramatic dialogue we must take into consideration its double enunciation as written text, as perceived by reading and as an oral text interpreted by the actor on stage. I will examine, in turn, the peculiarities of the dialogue speech in the context of the two forms of its existence. In the written dramatic text , the dialogue, as a way of representing the action is a direct statement that uses the first person (I, we) and second (you will), but both the speakers, and the space-time coordinates are fictitious. Uttered on stage, the text generates a communication situation with real speakers (actors) and real , concrete spatio-temporal coordinates represented by the space scenes and the actual duration of the show. But things are not that simple, because there must overlook the fact that by changing the visual perception channel into that audio , the communication situation becomes real, but simulated. With actors a fictitious communication situation "is made". The world portrayed on stage looks real, , even if it is adressed to the audio , visual, olfactive perceptions of the audience . Even if the actors have not declared their identities, they are simulating what is happening on stage in front of the public eye. This is not reality, but an illusion of it. In these circumstances, the identification of the components of the communication situation proves difficult. A solution to this problem is provided by C. Kerbrat-Orecchioni that identifies three areas of theatrical communication:

The Enunciation Pole The Reception Pole

E1 – author asymmetrical real communication R1 – reader /public

E2 – character symmetrical fictional communication R2 – character

E3 – actor symmetric real communication actor R3 – actor

The asymmetrical real communication (author – lecturer / public)

In the theatrical communication, the real transmmiter of the entire dialogue and discourse is the author, whose extratextual existence is determined in space and time. His receiver is definetely the audience, the public or the reader , according to the two modes of the reception of the dramatic text. Communication is not made directly, but mediated through the characters, creatures without ontological consistency with intratextual existence. The dialogical discourse does not contain the author’ s voice , but bears the mark of his style. There are situations in which the author's voice can be easily recognized in the speech of some individual characters (the charater or the jester saying the prologue and epilogue) or some collective characters (the ancient chorus with its role as raisonneur). They indirectly , mediate the features of this kind of communication that determines asymmetry to the communication. But asymmetry is achieved through different spatio- temporal contexts of the production, respectively of the reception of the playwright.

b. The symmetric fictional communication (character – character)

The dramatic text like the narration , creates an imaginary world in which fictional speakers are engaged in fictional communicative situations The symmetry of this type of communication is provided by the dialogue interaction between the two speakers who communicate directly in the same space-time context.

The symmetric real communication (actor – actor)

In the context of the play the fictional communication between characters is transferred to the real world, that wants nothing but to look real and they behave as if they were someone else, such as indefinite pronouns defining the fictional universe which gives the illusion of a reality show simulation based on a contract between actors and audience .

The actor takes the statements that do not belong to him/ her , but he/she starts playing the part of a character with a certain tone of speech, rhythm, intonation, cut phrases, facial expressions, gestures, as shown in the stage directions filtered by his/her interpretative skills.

Translating the written text into the oral text , that is the play , the actor can even investigate the text semantically, this being not the author’s intention. This latter type of theatrical communication has a double receiver, since the actor addresses first to his stage partner and secondly, to the public / audience with the role of a passive receiver in the traditional theatre, but also involved in communication as in the modern interactive theatre type: “Thus, we can say that the dramatic dialogue is double aimed: inside the stage (from actor to actor) or diegetic (from character to character) and outside the stage, addressed to the public, or extra diegetic, for the reader. This privileged receiver (audience or reader) is not considered a real party of the actor or author. The relationship of the public with the actor-character in the form of a dialogue is only in the modern theatre. In the classical theatre the audience, as the reader, have the passive roles of contemplators. The public could not interfere in the show, as the reader could not enter into dialogue with the author” .

The stage dialogue resembles the usual conversation, except that the dramatic dialogue is artistic .In the ordinary conversation, the language communicates something while the discourse dramatic dialogue both communicates and is communicated .

The extrapolation of the direct speech in the dialogue aims creating a dialogue whose function is doubled , that is “to say” means “to do “ like Austin mentioned in his theory . If in the epic text , the narrator communicates what the characters do, in the dramatic text the characters assume the role of the narrator , too.

According to Maria Voda Căpușan, the word [in the theatre] assumes separate functions: it reveals what is happening and can be seen in the present or reports events that happened outside the time and space of the scene, , announcing or telling what will happen.

Anne Ubersfeld studies the characters ‘speech as a message from the perspective of the language functions identified by Roman Jakobson. These functions are referential, conative, emotional , poetic, phatic.

In order to be considered a dialogue a text must simultaneously meet several conditions: 1.to know the code by both speakers; 2. the existence of verbal interaction; 3 . to have the syntactic and semantic consistency.

The total exclusion of the dialogue from the theatre, considered an ineffective means of communication occurs in the theatre forms such as pantomime or mime drama. Eliminating the word as a form of communication, this type of theatre show exploits other aspects like : music, gesture, movement, choreography, mimics. I would like to mention a show of the troupe in Arad directed by Adrian Horobet , named The Western Railway, which relies exclusively on the expressive force of step and pantomime in order to represent several events occurring on the platform of a railway station, such as : the train arrival , the emotional meetings, painful break ups, or dramas of some ordinary people .

2.2.2 The Monologue is a lengthy speech that one character addresses to others on stage.

The purposes of both are to reveal character traits and to advance the action of the story.

a. Asides are speeches, often short, made to the audience or to himself, or even to another character, but out of earshot of the other characters on stage.

b . A soliloquy is a long speech that reveals a character's true thoughts or feelings, unheard by other characters, usually while alone on stage.

The purposes of both are to reveal the character's thoughts or confidences while advancing the action of the story.

The Fictional Universe of Drama

Space and time in the dramatic text

When one deals with dramatic texts one has to bear in mind that drama differs considerably from poetry or narrative in that it is usually written for the purpose of being performed on stage. Although plays exist which were mainly written for a reading audience, dramatic texts are generally meant to be transformed into another mode of presentation or medium: the theatre.

For this reason, dramatic texts even look differently compared to poetic or narrative texts. One distinguishes between the primary text, i.e., the main body of the play spoken by the characters, and secondary text, i.e., all the text “surrounding”or accompanying the main text: title, dramatis personae, scene descriptions, stage directions for acting and speaking, etc.

Depending on whether one reads a play or watches it on stage, one has different kinds of access to dramatic texts. As a reader, one receives first-hand written information (if it is mentioned in the secondary text) on what the characters look like, how they act and react in certain situations, how they speak, what sort of setting forms the background to a scene, etc. However, one also has to make a cognitive effort to imagine all these features and interpret them for oneself.

Stage performances, on the other hand, are more or less ready-made from of all these details. In other words: at the theatre one is presented with a version of the play which has already been interpreted by the director, actors, costume designers, make-up artists and all the other members of theatre staff, who bring the play to life. The difference, then, lies in the divergent forms of perception. While we can actually see and hear actors play certain characters on stage, we first decode a text about them when reading a play script and then at best “see” them in our mind’s eye and “hear” their imaginary voices. Put another way, stage performances offer a multi-sensory access to plays and they can make use of multimedia elements such as music, sound effects, lighting, stage props, etc., while reading is limited to the visual perception and thus it draws upon one primary medium: the play as text. This needs to be kept in mind in discussions on dramatic texts, and the following introduction to the analysis of drama is largely based on the idea that plays are first and foremost written for the stage.

The fictional time of the events / the stage acting time

The distinction above corresponds to the relation between the fiction / reality/ time of the characters and that of the audience . The time of the events portrayed in the fictional text can be well defined historically and chronologically being equivalent to the real timeline. In other plays, time can be deduced by knowing the temporal context of the text production. Events can also be placed outside the historical time, in legendary, mythical age.

Time as real one may be suspended, diluted in parallel with the dissolution of the ego in the theatre of absurd of the twentieth century, becoming timeless, cyclic. In Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, the suspension of time is achieved through the idea of ​​a time not forwarded like a broken mechanism. The action in Act II happening the next day, the same time, the same place. It can happen to be no temporal reference, and in this situation the character places the action in time . Time can be marked in the text not only explicitly but also with the help of linguistic time markers such as archaisms specific to the historical period mentioned in the text or with the help of the props: costumes, settings , masks, games of lights or time markings . The order of the events may or may not be chronological. Here the techniques of the flash-backs or of the flash-aheads. can be used.

The fictional time period of the events /the concrete time period of the events

Time in drama can be seen from a variety of perspectives . One can, for example, look at time as part of the play: How are references to time made in the characters’ speech, the setting, stage directions, etc.? What is the overall time span of the story? On the other hand, time is also a crucial factor in the performance of a play: How long does the performance actually take? The audience perception of time can also vary. Another question that one can ask in this context is: which general concepts of time are expressed in and by a play?

One of the first distinctions one can make is between succession and simultaneity. Events and actions can take place in one or two ways: either one after another (successively) or all at the same time (simultaneously). When these events are performed on stage, their presentation in scenes will inevitably be successive while they may well be simultaneous according to the internal time frame of the play. Let us consider

, for example, the plot of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Given the fact that the events happening in the play are supposed to take only three hours, one must presume that the various subplots presenting the different groups of people dispersed over the island must take place roughly at the same time: e.g., Caliban’s encounter with Trinculo and Stephano in Act II, scene 1 and continued in III, 2 is likely to take place at the same time as Miranda’s and Ferdinand’s conversation in III, 1, etc. A sense of simultaneity is created here exactly because different plot-lines alternate without being presented separately in strings of immediately successive scenes. On the other hand, if no other indication of divergent time frames is given in the text, viewers normally automatically assume that the events and actions presented in subsequent scenes are also successive in their temporal order.

There are a number of possibilities to create a temporal frame in drama. References to time can be made in the characters’ conversations; the exact time of a scene can be provided in the stage directions; or certain stage props like clocks and calendars or auditory devices such as church bells ringing in the background can give the audience a clue about what time it is. At the beginning of Hamlet, for example, when the guards see the ghost of Hamlet’s father, the time is given in the guard’s account of the same apparition during the previous night:

Last night of all,

When yond same star that’s westward from the pole,

Had made his course t’illume that part of heaven

Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,

The bell then beating one –

(Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, 1: 38-42)

While in this case, the exact time is expressed verbally by one of the characters, the crowing of a cock offstage indicates the approaching daylight later in that scene and causes the apparition of disappearance.. In scene 4 of the same act, Hamlet himself is on guard in order to meet the ghost, and the scene begins with the following short exchange between Hamlet and Horatio:

HAM. The air bites shrewdly, it is very cold.
HOR. It is a nipping and an eager air.
HAM. What hour now?
HOR. I think it lacks of twelve.
(Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, 4: 1-4)

This short dialogue not only conveys to the audience the time of night but it also uses word painting to describe the weather conditions and the overall atmosphere (“air bites”, “very cold”, “nipping”). Word painting means that actors describe the scenery vividly and thus create or “paint” a picture in the viewers’ minds.

The third possibility of presenting time in the stage directions is used in John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger, for example. The author’s introductory commentary in each of the three acts in the secondary text gives very short instructions concerning the time of the subsequent scenes: “Early evening. April” (I, 1), “Two weeks later. Evening” (II,1), “The following evening” (II, 2), “Several months later. A Sunday evening” (III, 1), “It is a few minutes later” (III, 2). While a reading audience is thus fully informed about the timing of the scenes, theatre goers have to infer it from the context created through the characters’ interactions. The temporal gap between acts two and three, for example, has to be inferred from the fact that things have changed in Jimmy’s and Alison’s flat after Alison left, most noticeably that Helena has taken up Alison’s place and is now the woman in the house.

Another important distinction needs to be made when analysing time in drama, namely between fictive story time or played time and real playing time (see also story time and discourse time for narrative). While the performance time or the time of the story in Osborne’s Look Back in Anger  encompasses several months, the play’s actual  playing time  is approximately two hours. The playing time of a piece of drama of course always depends on the speed which actors perform individual scenes with and can thus vary significantly from one performance to another. The fact that the story time elapses from one scene to the next and from act to act is indicated by the fall of the curtain in Osborne’s play. Thus, quick curtains pauses are used between scenes, while longer curtain pauses occur between acts. Significantly, the length of curtain time is correlated with the length of time that has been left out in the story: A quick curtain pause suggests a short time span while normal breaks cover longer time spans of the played time. As with narrative, one can look at the duration of presented events in drama .

Another aspect to look at when analysing time in drama, as well as narrative, is the concept of order (see also order in prose). How are the events ordered temporally? Does the temporal sequence of scenes correspond with the temporal order of events and actions in the presented story?

Another facet of time worth analysing is the concept of frequency, i.e., how often an event is presented. Although the categories are not directly applicable to drama, one can nevertheless identify similar structures. Threre are three possible types of reference to an event: an event takes place once and is referred to once, an event takes place once but is referred to or presented repeatedly, the same event takes place several times but is referred to only once

Space in the dramatic text

Space is an important element in drama since the stage itself also represents a space where action is presented. One must of course not forget that types of stage have changed in the history of the theatre and that this has also influenced the way plays were performed (see Types of Stage). The analysis of places and settings in plays can help one get a better opinion about characters and their behaviour but also about the overall atmosphere.

Plays can differ significantly in how space is presented and how much information about space is offered. While in George Bernard Shaw's plays the secondary text provides detailed spatio-temporal descriptions, one finds hardly anything in the way of secondary text in Shakespeare . The stage set quite literally “sets the scene” for a play and that it already conveys a certain tone, e.g., one of desolation, poverty or mystery and secrecy. The fact that the description of the stage sets in the secondary text are sometimes very detailed and sometimes hardly worth mentioning is another crucial starting point for further analysis since that can tell us something about more general functions of settings.

Plot and conflict in the dramatic text

A play, like a short story, contains a plot, or a series of events, involving a conflict. The conflict may be introduced early in the play, perhaps in the opening scene. Tension builds the climax and by the end of the play the conflict is resolved. The resolution of the conflict reveals the play's theme.

For this reason, dramatic texts even look differently compared to poetic or narrative texts. One distinguishes between the primary text, i.e., the main body of the play spoken by the characters, and the secondary text, i.e., all the text “surrounding” or accompanying the main text: title, dramatis personae, scene descriptions, stage directions for acting and speaking, etc.

Depending on whether one reads a play or watches it on stage, one has different kinds of access to dramatic texts. As a reader, one receives first-hand written information (if it is mentioned in the secondary text) on what the characters look like, how they act and react in certain situations, how they speak, what sort of setting forms the background to a scene, etc. However, one also has to make a cognitive effort to imagine all these features and interpret them for oneself. Stage performances, on the other hand, are more or less ready-made products of all these details.

In other words: at the theatre one is presented with a version of the play which has already been interpreted by the director, actors, costume designers, make-up artists and all the other members of theatre staff, who bring the play to life. The difference, then, lies in divergent forms of perception. While we can actually see and hear actors play certain characters on stage, we first decipher a text about them when reading a play script and then “see” them in our mind’s eye and ”hear” their imaginary voices. Seen fom another perspective stage performances offer a multi-sensory access to plays and they can make use of multimedia elements such as music, sound effects, lighting, stage props, etc., while reading is limited to the visual perception and thus draws upon one primary medium: the play as text. This needs to be kept in mind in discussions of dramatic texts, and the following introduction to the analysis of drama is largely based on the idea that plays are first and foremost written for the stage.

Since in drama there is usually no narrator who tells us what is going on in the story-world (except for narrator figures in the epic theatre and other mediators), the audience has to get information directly from what can be seen and heard on stage. As far as the communication model for literary texts is concerned it can be adapted for communication in drama as follows:

In comparison with narrative texts, the narrator’s plan is left out, except for plays which deliberately employ narrative elements. Information can be conveyed both linguistically in the characters’ speech,for example, or non-linguistically as in stage props, costumes, the stage set, etc. Questions that arise in this context are: ho

w much information is given, how is it conveyed and whose perspective is adopted?

As with the study of narrative texts, one can distinguish between story and plot in drama.  Story addresses an assumed chronological sequence of events, while  the plot refers to the way events are logically connected (see also plot in prose narrative). Furthermore, plots can have various plot-lines, i.e., different elaborations of parts of the story which are combined to form the entire plot.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, for example, is about the feud between two families, the love between the two families’ children and their tragic death. This is roughly the story of the play, which is related in the prologue. The plot, by contrast, encompasses the linked sequence of scenes presented on stage to tell the story: Thus, we are presented with a fighting scene between members of the two families whereby the underlying conflict is shown. This is followed by Romeo’s expression of his love-sickness and Benvolio’s idea to distract his friend by taking him to a party in the house of the Capulets. Subsequently, the audience is introduced to the Capulets, more specifically to Juliet and her mother, who wants to marry her daughter to a nobleman, etc. All these scenes, although they seem to be unrelated at first glance, can be identified in retrospect as the foundation for the emerging conflict. The story is developed in a minutely choreographed plot, where the individual scenes combine and are logically built up towards the crisis. Thus “the plot” refers to the actual logical arrangement of events and actions used to explain “ why” something happened, while “ the story “ simply designates the gist of “what “ happened in a chronological order.

One might consider the distinction between story and plot futile at times because for most people’s intuition a chronologically ordered presentation of events also implies a causal link among the presented events . Chronology would thus coincide with (logical) linearity. Whichever way one wants to look at it, plots can always be either linear or non-linear. Non-linear plots are more likely to confuse the audience and they appear more frequently in modern and contemporary drama, which often questions ideas of logic and causality. Peter Shaffer's play Equus, for example, tells the story of Alan's psychiatric therapy. It starts at the end of the story and then presents events in reverse order (analytic form). Although the audience is in a way invited to draw connections among events in order to explain Alan’s behaviour, the very process of establishing causality is questioned by the rather loosely plotted structure of scenes.

Older plays traditionally aimed at conveying a sense of cohesiveness and unity, and one of the classical poetic “laws” to achieve this goal was the idea of the three unities: unity of plot, unity of place, and unity of time. Although only the unity of plot is explicitly addressed in Aristotle’s Poetics , the other two unities are also often attributed to him while, in reality, these concepts were postulated a lot later by the Italian scholar Castelvetro in his commentary on Aristotle . The unities mean that a play should have only one single plot line, which ought to take place in a single location and within one day . The idea behind this is to make a plot more plausible, more true-to-life, and thus to follow Aristotle’s concept of mimesis, i.e., the attempt to imitate or reflect life as authentically as possible. If the audience watches a play whose plot hardly has a longer time span than the actual viewing of the play, and if the focus is on one problem only that is presented within one place, then it is presumably easier for the viewers to succumb to the illusion of the play as “reality” or at least something that could occur “like this “ in real life.

Many authors, however, disrespected the unities or adhered to only some of them. Shakespeare’s The Tempest, for example, ostensibly follows the rule of the unity of time (although it is entirely incredible that all the actions presented there could possibly take place within three hours as is stated in the text), and it adheres to some extent to the unity of place since everything takes place on Prospero’s island (yet even there the characters are dispersed all over the island to different places so that no real unity is achieved). As far as the unity of plot is concerned, however, it becomes clear that there are a number of minor plot lines which combine to form the story of what happened to the King of Naples and his men after they were shipwrecked on the island. While the overarching plot that holds everything together is Prospero’s “ revenge” on his brother, undertaken with the help of the spirit, Ariel, other subplots emerge. Thus, there is the love story between Ferdinand and Miranda, Antonio’s and Sebastian’s plan to kill the king, and Caliban’s plan to become the master of the island. The sequence of scenes among the various subplots and places on the island contributes to a sense to a fast movement and speedy action which, in turn, makes the play more interesting to watch.

A model frequently used to describe the overall structure of plays is the so-called Freytag’s Pyramid. In his book Die Technik des Dramas (Technique of the Drama) (1863), the German journalist and writer, Gustav Freytag, described the classical five-act structure of plays in the shape of a pyramid, and he attributed a particular function to each of the five acts. (For a schematised version of Freytag’s Pyramid see picture )

A different pattern of jointing the conflict is designed by Ubersfeld Anne from the perspective of the close relationship between action and actors, quoting in this regard, Grotowski's reflections, which she adheres to : May there be theater without actors? I do not know any example. I could give as an example the puppet show. However, even there will be an actor behind the scenes, even if in another form

The author develops and illustrates three types of conflicts through three actantial triangles admitting, however, that these models do not cover all the specific conflict of a dramatic work.

1. the active triangle – represents the direct conflict between the characters (subject – object) in relation to the opposition (which triggers the conflict situation).

2. the psychological triangle – corresponding to the inner conflict. In this case the character's behavior is determined by a moral value, ideological or psychological. It is the model of Racine's tragedy Phèdre, in which the conflict is shaped by the heroine’s oscillation between two contradictory states: hearing the voice of passion and the imperative duty of compliance.

3.the ideological triangle – highlights the recipient of the action hero, corresponding to the denoument. For example, the end of the conflict between Hamlet and Claudius is due to Fortinbrans that will restore the royalty values​​.

The dramatic character

The character is central to the drama, because, as shown by Maria Voda Căpușan theater is characterized by anthropocentrism, organizing its substance only by human presence.

The dramatic character can be discussed only by relating it to the two forms of its existence, the result of of the symbiosis between an imaginary life – pre-existing of performing the text – and the actor who is giving up just some of his attributes as a real individual. His existence is consumed and is resumed always within the few hours of words and gestures that he's just beyond imagination . The dramatic character has a fictional life from the universe that the text represents and a real existence by assuming the identity of a real person. Through the show, the character with no ontological consistency becomes a being that is part of the reality but without being real.

Between the epic and dramatic character there are common points defined by their role in the fictional world of the text: beings who commit or support action, any action, including speech acts. The difference between the two characters are of the discourse type , as their characterization is performed differently in the texts which they belong to. The epic character has consistency with the help of the narrator’s speech, plus other methods of characterization, such as actions, language, behavior or his relations with other characters, the opinions of other characters and, more rarely, self-characterization the . The narrator’s absence in the dramatic text imposes limiting methods for characterizing the utterances and behavior of the character, because the theatrical way of the text existence requires the character to reveal his personality by means of what and how he acts , does or says.

Since drama presents us directly with scenes which are based on people’s actions and interactions, characters play a dominant role in this genre and therefore deserve close attention. The characters in plays can generally be divided into major characters and minor characters, depending on how important they are for the plot. A good indicator as to whether a character is major or minor is the amount of time and speech as well as presence on stage he or she is allocated.

Major characters are frequently, but not exclusively, multi-dimensional and dynamic (round character) while minor characters often remain  mono-dimensional and static (flat character). Characters in plays can often be classified by way of contrast or correspondences.

Characters can also be classified according to their membership in certain groups of characters both across the entire play as well as in individual scenes. In other words, questions like “ Who belongs to whom?” and “Which characters are friends or foes?” are also essential in drama analysis. If one considers the overall structure of the play and the groups of the characters, one deals with the constellation of the dramatic personnel. Constellations can be based on sympathies and antipathies among characters, on how they act and react to one another, etc. Usually, one can make the distinction between heroes and their enemies or protagonists and antagonists, and one can find characters who collaborate and support one another, while others fight or plot against each other. Obviously, character constellation is a dynamic concept since sympathies/antipathies can change and groups of people can also change. On stage, groups can be presented symbolically by certain distinctive stage props or costumes and also through their gestures and relative spatial position to one another. In Romeo and Juliet , for example the opposing members of the Houses of Capulet and Montague can be identified by the fact that they appear in differently coloured spotlights (green and red), and by their final positioning in the play which already marks their newly aroused antagonism: they have picked up their swords and face one another, ready for a new fight.

In contrast to character constellation, the term configuration denotes the sequential presentation of different characters together on stage. Configurations are important to the extent that they show up groups and developments among groups of characters, which, in turn, is essential for the development of the plot. Configurations thus change whenever characters exit or enter the stage. In creating the character, the playwright must not lose sight of the fact that his character is an unfinished creation that will achieve consistency only in the incarnation in the actor.

The tragic farce of the twentieth century will bring a radical ontological status of the dramatic character. In the classical theatre, the character is defined by a complex social and human context, and it can be reduced to an archetypal scheme, or to the embodiment of human types, of some characters (Don Juan, Tartuffe, Harpagon). In the theatre of the absurd, the character progresses towards the detachment from any socio-human reference, becoming a non-hero which contradicts the traditional character . The lack of individuality, anonymity, the flattening of the non –hero are suggested by renouncing to his nomination, which turns him into a series phenomenon, an interchangeably character.

Analyzing the metamorphoses of the character in the theatre of the absurd, Dumitru Tucan highlights the empty geometric shapes of the character’s existence : As Pavis says (1998: 243), characterizing the open poetic forms, the character suffers the most ill-treatment in this dramatic construction type . Not longer being reduced to a conscience or a finite set of features, the character becomes a theatrical tool ("dramaturgical tool") or, we might say, an indeterminate picture.

CHAPTER II

THE DRAMATIC TEXT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE THEATRE THEORY

From text to performance

The basis of this subchapter lies in the misconception that clothing the actor is the sole responsibility of the costume designer. There are two components associated in the performing arts especially in the theatrical circle; the text and performance. In the text, the playwright puts his ideas together in the literal form and combines, among other things, dramatic elements, logically applied to provide a more analytical coordination and also enable the text become intellectually appealing. Though, the aim of interpreting the text to create a character in a performance is the director’s , the actor/performer, and the designers (costume, make-up, set and light) . Using some theories, analysis and interpretations this subchapter shows how the costumier who, though directly associated with the clothes of performers, achieves this in conjunction with other personnel, especially the light and set designer. Ultimately the study contributes to our understanding of the critical examination for the aesthetic and intellectual intent of a text and the needed collaboration of theatre personnel in creating a believable character. It also makes a contribution to the on-going debates on why some characters are often (mis)represented in some stage/video/film productions.

The rationale aim of the the dramatic opera is its representation on stage with the help of the actors and the theatre means .The purpose of this project is to be found in the organization of such discursive text, consisting of two parallel discourses that present and function themselves in a complementary way.

The presence of the stage directions definitely made by the director, signals the unfinished, incomplete, open character of the dramatic text that will fulfil its mission by translating the language code into the spectacular code . With this change in its form of existence, the dramatic work aims the communication code in a polyphony information that is in a multitude of language codes belonging to different semiotic systems: the scenery, the costumes , the masks, dancing , music, lights. In these circumstances, the text will reveal itself by a plural, spectacular reading, which will require the decoding, integration and correlation of a variety of symbols and signs. The meaning is revealed by the simultaneous interrogation of different languages​​,that are also converged in building the meaning.

Between text and performance, between what is and what becomes a dramatic work can not be established a relationship of identity, of a semantically equivalency because the show accesses only some one of the semantic features of the text. If we accept Umberto Eco’s theory concerning the open work aimed to endless interpretations then the show is just one of them. We can admit that the dramatic work acquires meaning only through its performing on stage in which the director becomes both performer and co-author of the text.

The performance on stage means the conversion of a literary text on stage with the help of theatrical means . Thus, the performance is nothing but a lecture of a playwright . His creation involves converting the director’s instructions in artistic codes such as: sets, costumes, movement, game scene, lights, music, dance, mimicry. In other words the speech acts are put into practice, being focused on something.

In the dialogue of the characters, the concretization involves changing the visual communication channel into an audio one by the part utterance of the actor whose personal stamp consists of vocal intonation, accent, a certain type of phrasing, a certain tone. The dialogue performance is to create the illusion of reality, even if the true transmitter of the speech is not the actor who does nothing but simulates real communication. The conversation on stage reveals more than anything, the paradox of theater: real speakers produce speech acts belonging to fiction speakers. . Scenic dialogue differs from everyday conversations through its characters as an artificial product but also through motivation and functionality. Motivating the dialogue means to chain some important lines with a certain purpose to build the meaning. The function of the stage dialogue is to generate fiction .

The definition of performance requires a brief etymological analysis of words from its semantics. Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of fine art  that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of design and stagecraft are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek  θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe"). In time its meaning was changed now being called performance. The word performance or show used to mean : hall, performance or a thing to watch . The performance is the mirror of our world that we live in.

In a broad sense, the term performance is the overall sense of behaviours or objects to be watched provoking the reaction of the audience /public. Theatrical  performances can take place daily or at some other regular interval. Performances can take place at designated performance spaces (such as a theatre or concert hall), or in a non-conventional space, such as a subway station, on the street, or in somebody's home.

Conducting theatre performance implies a specialized area, which is divided into two distinctly, but closely related to each other: the stage and the audience. The scene is a podium with a particular geometric configuration (circle, square, rectangle), behind which the scenes, a space where the audience does not have access. The interactive theatre is a trick for bringing especially young audiences in theatres by removing ideas on the status of theater art accessible only to a trained, refined,public . Lately we have witnessed the changing of the destination of the performances from the spectacular theatre halls to squares, bars, shopping malls, metro stations even from the same desire for the revival of the interest in theatre, and the renewal of obsolete forms.

2.Semiotics of the performance

Semiotics is an important place to begin an introduction to theory and theatre for a number of reasons. At least two are especially noteworthy. First, the study of signs and meaning, especially with its emphasis on the linguistic or language-like character of all signification,has been as important as any movement in the twentieth-century cultural theory, informing developments in perhaps all subsequent areas of theoretical endeavour. Second, because of its emphasis on language overall, and on the significance over more visceral activities, semiotics as much as any theoretical movement .This is problematic question brought to theatre and the understanding of theatre. Do light, sound and movement always have meaning? Isn’t there a corporeality in theatre which is over and above the presentation of meaning?

Semiotics, or semiology, is the study of signs: words, images, behaviour, human and animal arrangements of many kinds, in which a meaning is relayed by a corresponding outward manifestation. The falling leaves in autumn, for instance, are a sign of the coming of winter. I have made a scheme in order to highlight the importance of the semiotics in theatre performance after Doina Comlosan’s model regarding the spectacular signs depending on the actor and on the audience’s perception of the show :

Drama is a display of emotions, a representation of relationships and the portrayal of the different phases of human life. It sketches different personalities and represents a wide variety of emotions through the different characters it portrays. Which of its components are identified as the elements of drama? Let us see.
Aristotle, a philosopher who wrote on a variety of subjects like poetry, theatre, music, rhetoric and handled subjects like biology, physics, logic and politics, writes that there are six elements of drama, namely the plot, theme, character, dialog, music and the visual element. Let us look at each of them.

2.1 Theme

The theme of a drama refers to the central idea of the play. It can either be clearly stated through dialog or action or can be inferred after watching the entire performance.

2.2. Plot

The order of events occurring in a play is referred to as the plot of the drama. It is the basic storyline that is narrated through a play. The entertainment one derives from a play depends largely on the sequence of events that occur in the story. The logical connection between the events and the characters, which enact the story form an integral part of the plot of drama.

2.3. Characters

The characters that form a part of the story are interwoven with the plot of the drama. Each character in a play has a personality of its own and has a distinct set of principles and beliefs. Actors who play various roles in a drama have the very important responsibility of bringing the characters to life.

2.4. Dialogue

The story of any play is taken forward by means of the dialog. The story is narrated to the audiences through the dialog written by the playwright. The success of a drama depends hugely on the contents of the dialog and the quality of dialog delivery by the actors of the play.

2.5. Music

This element of drama comprises the melody in the use of sounds and rhythm in dialogs as well as melodious compositions, which form a part of many plays. The background score, the songs and the sound effects that are used in a play make up the musical element of drama. Music composers and lyricists sit together to create music that can go well with the theme of the play. If the scenes of a play are accompanied by well-suited pieces of music, they become more effective on the audiences. Hence, music forms a very important element of drama. apart from music what matters is the paralanguage that is of the intonation , tone of the voice , volume, or accent

2.6. Visual Element

While the dialog and music constitute the audible aspect of drama, the visual element deals with the scenes, costumes, masks, sets and special effects used in it. The visual element of drama, also known as the spectacle, renders a visual appeal to it. The costumes worn by the artists must suit the characters they are playing. Besides, it is important for the scenes to be dramatic enough to hold the audiences to their seats. The special effects used in a play add to the visual appeal. Thus, the spectacle forms an essential component of drama.

3. The Actor – the central part in the theatrical communication

Apart from these elements as given by Aristotle, the structure of the story, a clever use of symbolism , contrast and stagecraft form, some of the other important elements of drama but most of all is the acting . Acting means the use of face, body, and voice to portray character.

The structure of the story comprises the way in which the story is put forth to the audience. The way in which the characters play their roles and the framework of the story constitute the drama structure. Direction is an essential constituent of a play. A well-directed story can help in fetching greater mass appeal. Stagecraft plays a vital role in increasing the visual appeal of a drama. The use and organization of different stage properties and the stage setup constitute the stagecraft, which is an essential component of a play. The use of symbols implies the use of indirect suggestions in a drama. Logically used symbols help in making a scene more effective. The use of contrast is about using stillness followed by activity or silence followed by noise. It can also mean the use of contrasting colours to add to the visual appeal. It can mean the clever use of contrasting scenes following each other that enhance the dramatic element of a play. An enthusiastic audience is perhaps one of the very essential elements of drama. A play needs a live and lively audience who can constructively criticize performances and generously appreciate quality work.

The actor occupies a central location in the theatrical show, since he is the one that gives life to the fictional character of the verse drama, borrowing his own body, his voice, gestures and movements. The paradox of the actor is given by his ambiguous status of real speaker of some acts of language, which don't belong to him, the symbiosis between a real being and an imaginary one. There are some spectacular signs which depend on the actor’s presence on the stage, organized by him and integrating them into the meaning system of the show:, the gestures, the voice, the intonation, the emphasis, the motion, dancing.

The actor’s status has been different in time wigwagging between the condition of marginal and the professional one. His work was appreciated sometimes as a frivolous work and sometimes as a great performance ranked as art. The origins of acting should be searched in sacred rituals or when behind masks the man was acting a sacred totemic animal or when he had become the personification of a deity. Once with the Ancient period when the history of the theatre knew the Greek miracle, this profession started to come into the social background .The existence of the actor was at the confluence between two conditions : progress and decadence which could be seen at the court and also on the streets for the amusement of the masses.

Middle Ages refused its corporality which couldn’t be shown, transforming it in a symbol of miracles and mysteries inspired from biblical scenes. Medieval theatrical forms were training actors with different social status from clergymen, magistrates and seniors (in mysteries, miracles and liturgical dramas) to bums whose street performances through their secular nature were harshly doomed.

Towards the end of the Middle Ages troupes of strolling actors, histrions, minstrels, jugglers and also the first women on the stage performing women characters appeared . Italian Renaissance through commedia dell’arte brought the actor a central place in the dramatic art. It was the moment of an unique appearance of real actors corporations whom were required special interpretive skills but also vivid, musical and propellant ones. The actors were making the costumes by themselves, the scenery , the make-up and sometimes the texts which usually were lampooning some characters of the era. This type of theatre spread from Italy to entire Europe developing special forms in Spain and England. In the Iberian peninsula the serious theatre of famous writers as Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderon coexisted with street theatre the last one giving birth to the adventurous picaro.

Later in the Elizabethan theatre, Shakespeare required the actor ‘ moderation and balance in acting:

Following Diderot, who demanded the actor to release any sesitivity in acting the role, Gordon Craig considered that the actor should find a new manner of playing so that through symbolic gestures to represent the character not to personify it. In the act of performing the actor should hide himself leaving the place of a lifeless character to a kind of a super pawn. Radical changes were proposed by Bertold Brecht, the creator of a new discoursive modality of theatre through the epic theatre formula.

In the opinion of the dramatist, the new acting technique should keep the audience’s distance from the fictious world and not the identification with it. The epic theatre formula through the changing of the discoursive modality makes from the viewer an observer, stirring up the judgement and intellectual activity. By his performance, the actor should discern that the delusional effect of reality from the traditional theatre and direct to the audience. On the stage the metamorphosis shouldn’t be complete according to the demonstration a director is doing who actually doesn’t make the metamorphose completely because he knows that the role is not his.

To manage this form that of the performed character, the actor should use some techniques such as the exchange of the performance on the third person, the projection of the events in the past and speaking aloud along the rehearsals at the director’s indications. The actor’s body is the asset which gives the show its unique reality and meanwhile underlines the paradox of the dramatic art , consisting of the strange coexistence of nature present in the human body and in art .

CHAPTER III

THE METHODOLOGY OF DRAMA

1.Drama education in English Language Teaching

1.1 What is Drama in English Language Teaching ( ELT) ?

Most ELT teachers nowadays advocate some elements of a “Communicative Approach” and therefore recognise and appreciate the value of Drama in ELT. Drama can be defined as an activity involving people in a social context and there is no doubt that effective communication in social situations involves other forms of communication that go beyond language competence and includes the use of gesture, body posture, intonation and other prosodic features.

However, the inclusion of drama based activities is not so evident in current ELT course books, resource books, supplementary materials and teacher training courses. Teachers clearly need practical step by step guidance on how to incorporate drama more comprehensively and cohesively into their teaching.

1. 2.The use of drama in English language teaching

Drama as a teaching method is little known in Romania . The English textbooks used by the Romanian teachers do not contain lessons based on dramatic texts , that is to say on plays to be performed . But , fortunately due to the use of the communicative approach for teaching English the texts of the lessons to be taught are based on real –life situations. In fact , most of the lessons are based on dialogues that can be performed and that can give the students the chance to acquire all the four communicative competences / skills , both receptive and productive. The dialogues are a good starting point for teachers to teach their students vocabulary and grammar items . But, unfortunately dramas are not present in the Romanian curriculum of the English language although there are many advantages when teaching and learning English through it.

Therefore, in my opinion, drama should be an integral part of the curriculum of English as a foreign language .Drama is a creative and holistic form of learning. The interdependence of cognitive and emotional contents help to further a number of educational purposes. The potential for linking drama with the rest of the curriculum is considerable.

Drama helps students to acquire a wide range of skills which are important both in private and in professional life .Drama is important for the aesthetic education of children and young people. I would like to enumerate some of the teaching aims and objectives of drama that the English teachers should take into account:

To promote the use of drama as a teaching method in foreign language teaching;

To integrate drama into the foreign language lesson;

To promote the use of drama as a teaching method in cross-curricular projects;

To enable teachers to plan, analyze and evaluate a drama lesson;

To improve communicative competence through drama;

To integrate drama into the teaching of cultural studies, literature, etc.;

To promote the use of drama to serve superior educational purposes: communication skills, personality training, social learning, reflective skills, observation skills, aesthetic understanding, creativity, tolerance and acceptance, self confidence.

There are a number of ways in which drama can be defined. It could be seen as a blanket term covering “a wide range of oral activities that have an element of creativity present”. Susan Holden takes drama to mean any kind of activity where learners are asked to portray themselves or to portray someone else in an imaginary situation: In other words, drama is concerned with the world of “ let’s pretend; it asks the learner to project himself imaginatively into another situation , outside the classroom , or onto the skin and persona of another person” .

The students may do this on their own or with one or more fellow students; they may act either in a controlled way in accordance with organizational and linguistic guidelines established by the teacher, or they may be left fairly free to work matters out. In both cases the students interact with other people and react to what they do and say, making use of their own personal store of language in order to communicate in a meaningful manner.

Alan Maley and Alan Duff make the point that dramatic activities are not the performance of plays before passive audiences; the value of these activities lies “not in what they lead up to but in what they are, in what they bring out right now” This comment can be interpreted as meaning that students do their ‘acting’ for language and imaginative activity, and not for exhibition. Nevertheless, teachers should not deny their students the opportunity to act out their scenes to the rest of the class if they wish so, for if rehearsed drama activities are left unperformed, there may be a sense of incompleteness in the class.

In more specific, concrete terms, drama includes mime, role-playing, extended role-playing (or improvisation), simulation, interaction activities such as various forms of dialogues, and dramatized story-telling. So drama can take several forms in the language classroom, but above all it should be a communicative activity where the student makes the choices.

In communicative language teaching drama methods play an important part because of their holistic approach, which is rooted in neuropsychology. The more the senses are involved the more effectively and actively you learn, and the improvements you make will be lasting. Whereas teachers have long been familiar with games and isolated drama activities for engaging students’ participation and promoting active learning in the classroom, the methods and conventions of process drama have largely been ignored in foreign language settings. In fact, there are lots of books on drama and TEFL but hardly any studies on the latter, i.e. “process drama” or “educational drama” and foreign language teaching. The few existing books are rather theoretical. In addition to these “informal” drama approaches, there is also the more formal and traditional method in which participants study a play and perform it. The difference between these two approaches is that, as Dorothy Heathcote, the great British educator, points out in the theatre everything is contrived so that the audience gets the kicks. In the classroom the participants get the kicks.

Although all the aforementioned drama activities provide a variety of contexts for authentic language encounters and improve speaking skills profoundly (apart from encouraging the learners’ creativity and stimulating their imagination), there is one considerable disadvantage of isolated games and drama activities: They are usually not embedded in wider contexts, they are short “extra activities”, which are easily discarded if there is not sufficient time, and they are usually “closed” and “controlled” language exercises. This would apply to scripted role plays (which are often stereotyped and artificial), to dramatized stories, language games and simulations, which are used to practise linguistic structures or vocabulary etc.

The more “open” and the less “controlled” communication is, the more fluent, natural and spontaneous and the more authentic it will be. This of course means that the traditional boring (teacher) questions and (pupil) answers are no longer the core of a lesson. Process drama is concerned with the development of a wider context for exploration – a dramatic world created by the teacher and students working together within the experience. Very often teachers actively take part in the drama. Through the convention of “teacher in role ” they can give a new direction to the development of the drama and can even adopt a lower status than the pupils.

The key characteristics of process drama include active identification with fictional roles and situations by the group, which will eventually lead to an improvement of communicative competence.

Moreover, the techniques and conventions of process drama (e.g. teacher in role, hot seating, angel and devil; thought alley, thought tracking, freeze frames, alter ego, forum theatre etc.) can fruitfully be applied in areas like cultural studies, literature or the usual range of topics from generation gap to bullying and gender issues.

1.3. Who needs drama?

We live in a global world where the knowledge of a foreign language, particularly English, is almost a must. English has become a natural part of our everyday lives, we can encounter it in media, advertising, shopping and it becomes absolutely inevitable when it comes to travelling and making oneself understood abroad. The knowledge of a foreign language gives young people considerable advantage when looking for a job or simply communicating with peers from abroad on the Internet. That is why students should not learn English just because it is a part of most curricula, but because they can see its significance in their future lives. And that is where English teachers should help them and encourage them.

As long as the teacher knows the class well and has a good relationship with it, all ages and levels of ability should be able to profit from involvement in drama provided they are well prepared and confident in their work. If the teachers know their classes well, they will be able to recognize any social or religious taboos the group may have and therefore be careful about asking all members of the class to do everything. An atmosphere must be established in which both teacher and class can feel secure in the knowledge and expectation that they will enjoy and benefit from drama actively. When should drama be used?

Even though the effectiveness of drama in teaching ESL may not be doubted, it is but natural for someone who has no experience in it to approach it with hesitancy. There are so many things that have to be taken into consideration before one leaps into putting up a play. A teacher may come across several constraints such as an already prescribed text to "cover" in a stipulated time period, lack of space, a paucity of monetary funds or disinterest and worse, skepticism of colleagues. At times we , the teachers, may not feel justified in putting up a full-fledged public performance specially if we yourself do not feel very comfortable with acting and have no experience in it.

Would we be needing some coaching ourselves? Would doing drama require a radical change in our relationship with the learners?  Would it  pose a number of organizational problems in an externally imposed strict timetable? These are just a few questions that could bother us. Do not let these questions prevent us from seeing the value of drama and exploiting it, specially in teaching ESL. To quote Gavin Bolton" drama is a unique tool, vital for language development" as it simulates reality and develops self expression. We need not to go into a full-fledged production and public performance. We could begin with incorporating one-off and stand-alone drama activities stretching as less as five minutes in your class where students perform for each other.

Drama activities or techniques are equally successful in making learners experience language in operation and provide motivation to use language embedded in a context and a situation. The simple "acting- out" requiring the learners to adopt a new position involves them creatively.

Drama activities could probably be used in any or all stages of the typical five-stage lesson to take the focus away from the teacher and put it on the students to give them the maximum amount of talking time. Drama could be particularly effective in stages two to five of a lesson, above all in the fifth stage.

In stage two—the Presentation Stage—a new item of language could be presented by means of a dramatized dialogue on video or audio cassette, as silent reading, or as reading while listening to the teacher or to an audio cassette. This can be done in a regular classroom setting before any sort of area for acting has been created.

In the third stage—the Practice Stage— the new vocabulary, structures, or lexis to be learnt can be practised by means of connecting exercises. The students match new vocabulary items on the left hand side of the page with their definitions on the right hand side. New structures or lexis could be practised through connecting or information-gap exercises, and True/False exercises could test listening comprehension. Pair and group role-play exercises using picture or written cues could then follow from this, and the aim is for the learners to infer a rule or pattern from these activities practised under controlled conditions.

In the fourth or Further Practice Stage, new situations and different cues are employed to put the recently learnt language items into a new context. Substitution tables asking students to complete gaps with appropriate content and language offer the possibility of making creative use of expressions the learners practised in stage three. In addition, dialogues could be role-played by groups consisting of different members. In the final fifth or Free Stage, the teacher usually tries to create conditions in which the new language items can be used freely by the students experimenting with the language they have learnt.

Students may organize and act out a scenario in groups centred around the new language. If the class had just been learning how to ask for information in stages one to four of the lesson, one possible way of practising this would be a role-play activity similar to the one suggested by John Dougill: the class is divided into two groups, A and B. Group A is sent outside the room, where its members are told by the teacher that they are all strangers in town wanting to find out where the bus station is, how long it takes to get there, and when the next bus to London is. Group B is then told that its members are in their home town waiting for a bus at a bus stop and that they are hard of hearing. Group B spreads itself out around the class imagining it is waiting for a bus. Before bringing in Group A, the teacher tells its members they are walking down a street when they see someone waiting at a bus stop to whom their questions should be directed. The two groups pair off and interact, and the teacher finally compares what happened in various pairs.

This activity, which should last about ten minutes, draws upon three of the elements of drama, namely “the presence of conflict, the imitation of reality, and the practice of improvisation”. Purpose and tension is also supplied by employing an objective the other participants do not know about, “a common technique in drama exercises (and plays)”

1.4. Why Use Drama?

Drama is an active approach to learning where participants identify with roles and situations to be able to engage with, explore and understand the world they live in. This goes beyond language, as social interaction involves communication on multiple levels that cross cultural and language boundaries. By being part of a drama ensemble and participating in a fictitious context, the class is experiencing a shared moment of intensity that involves emotions, facial expressions, gesture, movement and a heightened awareness of others, that would not necessarily be experienced outside the drama environment. Students are thus freed from the constraints of precision of language, that may be required in the conventional language classroom, and are equipped with many other tools with which to communicate meaning.

Humans are physical, mental and psychological beings. When encouraging our students to learn another language we need to recognise and satisfy their ‘whole person’ needs and abilities. In other words we need to address physical, mental and psychological as well as purely linguistic needs. Typically language learning is confined to the mental world of problem-solving, rule application and artificial contexts. Drama is a way of unlocking the “whole-person” and developing physical, creative, imaginative and emotional responses to learning contexts.

Essentially drama liberates the student from the confines of the conventional classroom environment and structure and gives the student the opportunity to draw on their own experiences and imagination, in creating the material on which part of the language class is based. These activities draw on the natural ability of every person to imitate, mimic and express him or herself physically. They are dramatic because they arouse interest by drawing on the unpredictable emotional power generated when emotional memory is triggered by a stimulus and when a person is brought together with others.

As an ensemble the class can learn and discover together, all the while feeling part of something larger than themselves and experiencing the support of the group. By being part of this safe environment students are able to take risks, build on the strengths of others and grow in confidence, making decisions and taking actions on behalf of the group. The drama context also allows participants to be distanced or liberated from themselves to speak and behave in role, allowing their character to voice truths and opinions that the individual may not express in daily life.

Drama takes as its starting point “ life” not language and by so reversing the learning process, that is, by beginning with meaning and then moving to language later we are able to draw on the full range of a learners’ multiple intelligences and exploit learning as a “ whole-person ” approach. The drama environment builds on the personalities, energy and ideas of the participants, so is alive and always changing and evolving. Because of this no two drama lessons are the same, and the level of the work is determined by the nature of the group. One drama idea or plan is therefore very versatile and can be used and adapted for multiple levels and ages.

Using drama and drama activities has clear advantages for language learning. It encourages students to speak , it gives them the chance to communicate, even with limited language, using non -verbal communication, such as body movements and facial expression. There are also a number of other factors which makes drama a very powerful tool in the language classroom. Desialova outlined some of the areas where drama is very useful to language learners and teachers, and they are listed below:

1. To give learners an experience (dry-run) of using the language for genuine communication and real life purposes; and by generating a need to speak. Drama is an ideal way to encourage learners to guess the meaning of unknown language in a context. Learners will need to use a mixture of language structures and functions ("chunks") if they want to communicate successfully.

2. To make language learning an active, motivating experience.

3. To help learners gain the confidence and self-esteem needed to use the language

spontaneously. 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.

4. To bring the real world into the classroom (problem solving, research, consulting dictionaries, real time and space, cross-curricular content). When using drama the aim can be more than linguistic, teachers can use topics from other subjects: the students can act out scenes from history, they can work on ideas and issues that run through the curriculum. Drama can also be used to introduce the culture of the new language, through stories and customs, and with a context for working on different kinds of behavior.

5. To emulate the way students naturally acquire language through play, make-believe and meaningful interaction.

6. To make what is learned memorable through direct experience and affect (emotions) for learners with different learning styles.

7. When students dramatize, they use all the channels (sight, hearing, and physical bodies)and each student will draw to the one that suits them best. This means they will all be actively involved in the activity and the language will "enter" through the channel most appropriate for them.

8. To stimulate learners' intellect and imagination

9. To develop students' ability to empathize with others and thus become better communicators.

10 . It helps learners acquire language by focusing on the message they are conveying, not the form of their utterance.

1.5. Advantages and disadvantages of using drama in the English language classroom

Advantages

Drama can foster language skills such as reading, writing, speaking and listening by creating a suitable context. Drama is a powerful language teaching tool that involves all of the students interactively all of the class period. Drama can also provide the means for connecting students’ emotions and cognition as it enables students to take risks with language and experience the connection between thought and action. Teaching English as a foreign language inevitably involves a balance between receptive and productive skills; here drama can effectively deal with this requirement.

Through drama, a class will address, practice and integrate reading, writing, speaking and listening. Drama also fosters and maintains students’ motivation, by providing an atmosphere which is full of fun and entertainment. In so doing, it engages feelings and attention and enriches the learners' experience of the language.

There are many reasons in favour of using drama activities and techniques in the language classroom. First of all it is entertaining and fun, and can provide motivation to learn. It can provide varied opportunities for different uses of language and because it engages feelings it can provide rich experience of language for the participants.

Maley listed some points supporting the use and the advantages of drama :

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; and 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.

3. It draws upon both cognitive and affective domains, thus restoring the importance of feeling as well as thinking.

4. By fully contextualizing the language, it brings the classroom interaction to life through an intensive focus on meaning.

5. The emphasis on whole-person learning and multi-sensory inputs helps learners to capitalize on their strength 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.

7. Motivation is likewise fostered and sustained through the variety and sense of expectancy 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 the imagination are given scope to develop. This, in turn, promotes risk-taking, which is an essential elements 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.

11. It is an enjoyable learning activity. Learning and teaching a foreign language can be "enjoyable, stimulating and meaningful when combined with drama activities" (www.melta.org.my). Using drama is enjoyable and fun; it creates an atmosphere conducive to learning and helps students to overcome the fear of making mistakes and the fear of using the foreign language in front of others.

12. It is low-resource. For most of the time, all you need is a “room full of human beings”. There are many benefits when drama is used in teaching a foreign language. It has the potential to function as a catalyser of a learning process. The following aspects give valuable insights showing the potential of the use of drama in learning a foreign language.

13. Meaningful situations – language should be "used in meaningful situations". Among essential prerequisites for the language to be introduced belong meaningful situations or contexts . The teacher's task is to secure, that the context is in a maximum possible way appealing to the students. An appropriate context provides an opportunity for students to practice a foreign language in the atmosphere of mutual cooperation; it stimulates them to release their creative potential and to apply their artistic talents inherent in each individual. Students are motivated, they experience a sense of achievement and this reinforces their learning.

14. Drama activities can be used as a means of reinforcement of language learnt. Using drama, the teacher has numerous opportunities for the foreign language to be practiced. The source of teacher's inspiration can come from all the different aspects that drama provides when it is performed on the stage by actors. The classroom can in a way become a stage providing a powerful means for the reinforcement of the use the language.

15. The problem of mixed ability is reduced when drama activities are used.

Classes where a foreign language is taught are not homogenous and the teacher has to

face situations where there are students of different levels. Drama performance in the

theatre gives different actors different roles and different space to perform them and

this principle can also be applied in the classroom arrangement. More advanced

students assume more advanced roles, using more complex language than

the less advanced students. They can also become a role model for the less advanced

students helping their progress. The main thing is that all students take an active part

in learning and all benefit from the same activity.

16. Language learning must appeal to the creative intuitive aspect of personality as well as the conscious and rational part. The use of drama stimulates students to take an active part in the learning process and have a deeper experience of learning . Students´ involvement is complex. In order to react to the challenges that students are presented with or that are created by themselves as the activity progresses, the students´ personality plays a vital role. It involves the active use of their intuition as well as logic, conscious and rational part of their personality.

Drama is an inevitably learner –centered activity 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.

The use of drama techniques and activities in the classroom provides exciting opportunities for foreign language learners to use the language in concrete "situations". Besides, some research studies , Maley and Duff suggest that drama activities can promote interesting ways of motivating language learners and teachers. With drama we can play, move, act and learn at the same time. Also the use of drama activities has clear advantages for language learning regarding motivation, the use of language in context, teaching and learning cross curricular content, etc

. There are several studies that support the benefits of drama in foreign language learning, such as Maley and Duff , Brumfit and Philips . Dramatic activities according to Brumfit "Are activities which give the students an opportunity to use his own personality in creating the material in which part of the language class is to be based".

Drama activities can provide students with an opportunity to use language to express various emotions, to solve problems, to make decisions, to socialize. Drama activities are also useful in the development of oral communication skills, and reading and writing as well. Drama activities help students to communicate in the foreign language including those with limited vocabulary. In other words, drama is concerned with the world of "let's pretend"; it asks the learner to project himself imaginatively into another situation, outside the classroom, or into the skin and persona of another person".

One of the main aims of using drama in a language course is to provide an active, stimulating, fun and creative environment in which to develop the student’s language learning potential. Students are encouraged to explore English through their imagination, experience and creativity and to express this through language, and other forms of communication, that may include: movement, action, dance, and role-play.

Collie focused on the positive contributions language learning through literature could make in that literary texts constituted valuable authentic material as it exposes the learner to different registers, types of language use. 
Writers such as Maley and Duff, and Wessels have pointed to the values and uses of drama: “Drama can help the teacher to achieve 'reality' in several ways. It can overcome the students' resistance to learning the new language: by making the learning of the new language an enjoyable experience,by setting realistic targets for the students to aim for,by creative 'slowing down' of real experience, by linking the language-learning experience with the student's own experience of life. And drama can create in students a need to learn the language:by the use of 'creative tension' (situations requiring urgent solutions); by putting more responsibility on the learner, as opposed to the teacher.”

Drama provides cultural and language enrichment by revealing insights into the target culture and presenting language contexts that make items memorable by placing them in a realistic social and physical context.

By allowing reading and the adding of some characterisation to a drama / theatre text, learners became personally and fully involved in the learning process, in a context in which it is possible for learners to feel less self-conscious and more empowered to express themselves through the multiple voices of the differing characters. 
One of the drawbacks in the use of literary texts such as novels and poems is that many of them contain language forms that learners of a language find difficult to understand. This could be overcome by simplifying them, often leading to a loss of 'literariness' – leading to criticism that the texts became pale imitations of the original writing. The lack of suitable texts in the traditional body of literature, in my view opens the door for the inclusion of drama in language learning curricula as it tends to use much more naturalistic language than in poems and novels. Drama texts help to address the need for sufficient texts for worthwhile reading in which suitable materials can be accessed.

Using drama to teach English results in real communication involving ideas, emotions, feelings appropriateness and adaptability; in short an opportunity to use language in operation which is absent in a conventional language class. Such activities add to the teachers' repertoire of pedagogic strategies giving them a wider option of learner-centered activities to chose from for classroom teaching, thereby augmenting their efficiency in teaching English.

Many a times the teaching of English language falls short of fulfilling its goals. Even after years of English teaching, the learners do not gain the confidence of using the language in and outside the class. Their output in the language is limited to writing run-of-the-mill answers for literature chapters and producing grammatically accurate, but, isolated sentences. Real communication involves ideas, emotions, feelings, appropriateness and adaptability. The conventional English class hardly gives the learners an opportunity to use language in this manner and develop fluency in it. Thus, the main purpose of the language teaching course, i.e., developing skills in communication, is unfortunately, neglected.

An attractive alternative is teaching language through drama because it gives a context for listening and meaningful language production, forcing the learners to use their language resources and, thus,  enhancing their linguistic abilities. It provides situations for reading and writing. It is very useful in teaching literary texts as it helps in analyzing plot, character and style. It also involves learners more positively and actively in the text. As Wilga Rivers states, "the drama approach enables learners to use what they are learning with pragmatic intent, something that is most difficult to learn through explanation."

By using drama techniques to teach English, the monotony of a conventional English class can be broken and the syllabus can be transformed into one which prepares learners to face their immediate world better as competent users of the English language because they get an opportunity to use the language in operation. Using drama techniques also fulfills socio-affective requirements of the learners. Moreover, this learner centered approach makes the syllabus personally fulfilling.

Disadvantages

Taking into account the potential of using drama mentioned above it might seem surprising why teachers do not include more drama-oriented activities in English lessons. There are several factors that can prevent teachers from incorporating drama in their teaching.

First of all, the lack of experience plays an important role. Wesselssays:

“If drama can really enrich the language class in all these ways, why are so many teachers reluctant to use it? Many still think of drama as 'theatricals', because this is their only experience of it. Often the fault lies not with the individual teacher, but with the training that he or she has received; a training that presents education as the one-way transmission of knowledge from the teacher to the student, rather than the creation of a learning situation in which the student is also the teacher.”

Most teachers did not come across any kind of training in this field as drama is generally not a compulsory part of teacher-trainers syllabuses at universities and therefore many teachers have merely vague idea of drama techniques and how to exploit them.

It is true that at present time students at many universities have opportunity to sign up for optional courses focused on using drama, however, it is not uncommon that only the students with previous experience or interest in drama make use of this chance. Others might be discouraged by the idea of performing a play for the audience which in their opinion is the main part of drama lessons.

Next, teachers have limited resources available when they want to prepare drama-based lessons. As I have already mentioned, drama conventions are not widely used in teaching at schools and thus, in general, school libraries are not well-equipped as for the relevant literature is concerned . Moreover, not many books offer guidance on how to use drama in teaching foreign language. Another source that should be mentioned here is the Internet. We can assume that nowadays the vast majority of teachers have access to the Internet and use it on regular basis which can enable them to search wide range of resources for drama teachers.

However, the use of these materials can be limited simply because of the fact that the essential part of drama resources is primarily aimed at native speakers and thus can be too complicated to be used with learners of English, especially at lower levels. Even those materials that are focused on teaching English as a foreign language may be found inappropriate for the particular group. As a result many teachers consider the process of searching the Internet very time-consuming and they easily get discouraged.

To sum up, the lack of appropriate ready-to-use materials can be frustrating for teachers considering implementing process drama into their lessons. It is necessary either to adapt materials or create ones own and here we again encounter the obstacle of teachers little knowledge of drama techniques.

Another constraint can be students reluctance to participate in drama-oriented activities. This can be caused by their introversion or shyness, not all students are willing to act in front of their classmates. Others can consider drama-oriented activities mere play that is not justifiable in the process of learning English and that reduces time for more serious work.

Traditional versus modern

Jeremy Harmer espouses a well-known theory of the second language acquisition presented by a widely recognized American applied linguist Stephen Krashen. In 1980’s Krashen came up with a theory about “two independent systems of second language performance: ‘the acquired system’ and ‘the learned system’. The ‘acquired system’ or ‘acquisition’ is the product o f a subconscious process very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language (…) Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language, natural communication, in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding. (…) The ‘learned system’ or ‘learning’ is, on the contrary, the product of formal instruction and it comprises a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge ‘about’ the language .”

Taking into consideration the distinction between the subconscious and anxiety-free acquisition and conscious process where separate items from the language are studied and practised in turn, Krashen suggested that teachers should concentrate on acquisition rather than learning and that the role of the language teacher should be to provide the right kind of language exposure, namely comprehensible input (which is language that students understand more or less, even if it is a bit above their own level of production) .

However, second language learners have much less opportunities to be exposed to the language they want to learn than children who acquire their first language in a natural way. That is why Harmer suggests that “a rich classroom environment should not only expose students to language, but also give them opportunities to activate their language knowledge (…) and to study language and the way it works”. In other words, both acquisition and learning should be provided to language learners because they both play an important role in the process of the second language learning and teaching

Traditional methods of foreign language teaching, such as frontal teacher-centred instruction, are nowadays viewed as a relic. Today’s methodology admonishes to be engaging, to keep the students focused, but let them enjoy, and therefore like, their education at the same time. As Maley and Duff claim: “Much has changed in language teaching, but it is still true that the conviction that Vocabulary + Essential Structures = Language lies as the base of nearly every foreign language syllabus”.

Although drama is still seen as something rather alternative to the standard, it has been an essential part of foreign language teaching for centuries. Using drama in the language class provides students with the best opportunities for active and involved participation and as Hamilton and McLeod state: “The use of drama techniques fits naturally into the theoretical context of recent studies into the nature of language learning.”

Some language teachers feel rather unwilling to use drama in their classes. They either do not know how or they do not feel creative or experienced enough to try this teaching method. Butterfield, though, encourages such teachers to give it a try while presenting some of the undisputable benefits of drama. “Drama as a way of working is so unlike most other forms of learning that we must explore the nature of the concept itself. For a great many teachers, not to say students, it is an untried method of expression rarely used in education although extremely familiar through film, radio, television and theatre as it is through life itself. “

But those who have experienced good drama teaching can bear witness to its unique quality of integration, of holism, of communication and of a warm humanity which can elevate the learning of a language from a series of techniques to an understanding which embraces at once the language, its cultural setting and the emotions and values of the student.

Some teachers, on the other side, refuse to use drama because they are afraid of losing respect as educators and authorities. Since the use of drama involves the formation of relationships and breaking down of barriers between teacher and students, less confident teachers are understandably reluctant to use it . However, these teachers should realize that working on the creation of the positive and supporting atmosphere and environment of mutual trust is one of the factors contributing most to students’ motivation and safe learning.

Drama accomplishes many current trends of modern teaching. One of them is to take away attention from the teacher and give space to the learners instead who can direct their own learning and learn how to be autonomous. Phillips supports this idea while saying: “Dramatizing is learner-centred so th at teacher can use it to contrast with the more teacher-centred parts of the lesson” and thus make the lesson more active and diverse.

The relationship between drama and foreign language teaching naturally flourishes by virtue of all its benefits we can observe in foreign language instruction. Hamilton and McLeod describe this relationship as follows: “It is hard to imagine anything else that offers to language teachers such as wide variety of types of talks, for example monologues, paired speaking, role-plays, group discussions, reporting, talking in response to other stimuli, problem-solving, developing scenarios, acting out, etc. from explaining, complaining, praising, disagreeing to exhorting, apologising and requesting – there is no language function that drama is not capable of easily encompassing”.

And drama does not have to be used just in order to practise language functions, grammatical structures or particular vocabulary. It can be easily, and most of all effectively, exploited in cross-curricular teaching when studying and exploring topics related to the foreign culture or other school subjects. As Phillips suggests the teacher using drama “can use topics from other subjects: th e children can act out the scene from history, or the life cycle of a frog; or he or she can work on the ideas and issues that run through the curriculum, such as sexism, respect for the environment and road safety.”

As already mentioned before, drama used in education provides many beneficial factors, encouraging teachers to take advantage of its methods and techniques. In the next sub-chapter, I have enumerated just some of the many particularly interesting benefits of drama for foreign language teaching.

2 1. Students’ communication

Students communication is the teacher’s most important objective when teaching English . Why? Because our students must be taught how to use English accurately, fluently , coherently in real life situations . A good English speaker is always ready to negociate meaning in every day life. Drama as a method of teaching English can help students become good speakers of the English Language.

Using drama to teach English results in real communication, involving ideas, emotions, feelings, appropriateness and adaptability. Teaching English may not fulfil its goals. Even after years of English teaching, the students do not gain the confidence of using the language in and outside the class. The conventional English class hardly gives the students an opportunity to use language in this manner and develop fluency in it, and this is because students lack the adequate exposure to spoken English outside the class as well as the lack of exposure to native speakers who can communicate with the students on authentic matters. So an alternative to this is teaching English through drama because it gives a context for listening and meaningful language production, leading the students or forcing them to use their own language resources, and thus, enhancing their linguistic abilities.

Using drama in teaching English also provides situations for reading and writing. By using drama techniques to teach English, the monotony of a conventional English class can be broken and the syllabus can be transformed into one which prepares students to face their immediate world better as competent users of the English language because they get an opportunity to use the language in operation. Drama improves oral communication, as a form of communication methodology , drama provides the opportunity for the students to use language meaningfully and appropriately. Maley and Duff state that drama puts back some of the forgotten emotional content into language. Appropriacy and meaning are more important than form or structure of the language. Drama can help to restore the totality of the situation by reversing the learning process, beginning with meaning and moving towards language form. This makes language learning more meaningful and attempts to prepare the students for real-life situations. Earl Stevick states that language learning must appeal to the creative intuitive aspect of personality as well as the conscious and rational part.

Drama activities can be used to provide opportunities for the students to be involved actively. The activities involve the student's whole personality and not only his mental process. Effective learning can be achieved when the student involves himself in the tasks and is motivated to use the target language.

It is also stated that communicative activities should conform to some principles: students should know what they are doing and its purpose. In communication, it is necessary to work in the context as a unit. Communication cannot be divided into its various components. Drama can be considered a communicative activity since it fosters communication among learners and provides different opportunities to use the target language in "make believe" situations.

Vernon supports the view that this conversational use of language also promotes fluency. He states that while learning a play, students are encouraged to listen to, potentially read and then repeat their lines over a period of time. By repeating the words and phrases they become familiar with them and are able to say them with increasing fluency by encouraging self-expression, drama motivates students to use language confidently and creatively.

Speaking is the most common and important means of providing communication among human beings. The key to successful communication is speaking nicely, efficiently and articulately, as well as using effective voice projection, speaking is linked to success in life, as it occupies an important position both individually and socially

Several scientific investigation have demonstrated that creative, instructional and educational drama activities have positive contribution to the general education process and that these activities improve speaking skills. According to some studies dramatic and role –playing activities are valuable classroom techniques that encourage students to participate actively in the learning process. These dramatic activities can take different forms and that the teacher can provide students with a variety of learning experience by developing different methodologies according to the needs of his students. These role-playing activities enable the teacher to create supportive, enjoyable classroom environment in which students are encouraged and motivated to effectively learn the target language.

Drama has a significant function especially in specifically improving acquired/improved speaking skills among the basic language skills. Although drama has existed as a potential language teaching tool for hundreds of years, it has only been in the last thirty years or so that its applicability as a language learning technique to improve oral skills has come to the forefront. Regarding the point that drama has an important impact on language teaching, drama is a particularly effective tool for pronunciation teaching because various components of communicative competence (discourse, intonation, pragmatic awareness, non verbal communication) can be practiced in an integrated way.

There are some other elements involved in acquiring oral communication skills: adding efficiency to communication and drama activities facilitates the improvement of these elements. In this regard, speaking is not only about words, structure and pronunciation , but also feelings, motivations and meanings that are valuable benefits for bringing drama to the language learner. Drama techniques and activities to develop communication skills through fluency, pronunciation, cooperative learning, confidence building and intercultural awareness may be added also to the above mentioned elements.

One of the major characteristics of the social aspect of oral communication skills is the ability to deliver a speech comfortably and with self confidence. Drama appears to be the ideal method for students to develop self confidence. In this regard, students who are not naturally talkative often appear more willing to join in the discourse when they realize that they are not dominated by a teacher figure. Drama activities can be used to provide opportunities for the students to be involved actively, the activities involve the students, whole personality and not merely his mental process.

Drama activities provide students with a variety of contextualized and scaffold activities that gradually involve more participation and more oral language proficiency, they are also non- threatening and a lot of fun. Using drama and drama activities has clear advantages for language learning. It encourages students to speak, it gives them the chance to communicate, even with limited language, using non verbal communication, such as body movements and facial expressions.

Students' involvement in the negotiation and construction of meaning during participation in a drama allows them insights into the relationship between context and language, and lets them link the language they are learning to the world around them. Drama has been credited with the ability to empower students and allow them some ownership and control over their own learning.”Working in drama allows students to test out various situations, registers and vocabulary in a real way without having to suffer any real consequences” , states Neelands. Confidence levels increase when students have something to talk about and , most importantly, when they know how to express their ideas.

In this section I will clarify what drama can offer for teaching English. Nevertheless, I find it important to examine certain points of drama in English teaching that other subjects lack in. However, one needs to bear in mind that the following can be used in all language teaching and not merely with English even though in this study I refer to English.

Play is an essential part of drama and language is certainly related to play. Play is founded on language, which is the first and most important device humans create in order to express their thoughts. I turn to serious playfulness to expound on the situation. Serious playfulness always has a stake, either being symbolic, material or ideal. Thus, the stake can be a matter that should be learned during the drama exercise. Drama activities requires careful planning for a certain purpose. Thus, the purpose or the stake in language teaching could be used for communication, group activities, memory assistance, practising particular forms of speech or for practising reading with expression. The use of playfulness, which is related to language and has learning benefits, could therefore be a fundamental asset in teaching English.

Students learn to use regular speech through drama. Through drama the division between the organized language inside a classroom and the spontaneous language in the real world will narrow. This is achieved, due to drama engaging students in authentic real life situations. Furthermore, drama develops students' non-verbal and verbal communication skills. Moreover, Clipson-Boyles shares a similar view by stating that “drama puts language into context. Thus, when students are obliged to participate in meaningful activities and use English, they strive to use normal everyday speech. As a result, students speak in English in order to fulfill the assignments and inadvertently practise their language skills” .

The real life activities may be beneficial for learning as well as motivation. The spontaneous speech required by the activities necessitates students to use their imagination. In contrast to producing verbatim sentences, the activities call for students to state and articulate their own ideas.

Thus, when students can use their imagination, their spontaneity to react in English could increase. Consequently, when the speech is spontaneous and therefore improvised, the learners' speech may become more fluent and confident. As a result, students' confidence could strengthen when they are more willing to use their language skills. Furthermore, when the situations are practised in a safe environment inside a classroom, students are probably more willing to use their language. When students use their language skills and see that they can manage, their self-esteem may rise as well. In addition, through these real life activities, students learn of life.

While the purpose of these real life situations is commonly fluent communication, other tasks provide practise for other skills. For instance, Clipson-Boyles points out pair activities where students can drill forms of speech in particular. For example, how to make a telephone inquiry or how to order food in a restaurant can be these tasks. The afore mentioned are required in language teaching, since the students need to manage in all fields of language use. Thus, merely teaching communication is insufficient if the students are unable to speak due to a lack of vocabulary. Consequently, drama can assist in language learning's various fields when teachers use their imagination to create such activities.

As Clipson-Boyles points out, “drama activities produce processes that are related to listening, speaking, writing and reading”. Although teaching English with drama mostly assists listening and speaking, drama activities can amend the situation of reading and writing as well. For instance, if an activity requires students to speak of their feelings, it can be followed by a writing assignment in which those feelings can be weighed up in more detail. Consequently, the more students write and speak, the more they can learn to find meanings in a written text. Thus, drama has the possibility to enhance students' reading skills as well.

Although Owens and Barber point out that “drama is not the one and only proper way to learn, it is nevertheless one of those methods that keep the lessons interesting” . They draw attention to the fact that most teaching requires students to remain quietly seated. They continue that drama stories can utilize different learning styles, functions and forms of group work. Thus, using drama in English teaching entails all the variation required in a language classroom, from which students and teachers alike benefit.

2.2 Students ‘ motivation and success

Good motivation is one of the factors necessary for efficient learning. Jeremy Harmer defines motivation as “some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something”. Drama gives students the chance to learn by doing “where students are involved in experimentation in order to arrive at knowledge” which is much more engaging than just learning by rote.

When concerning the student’s motivation, it is often referred to two types: extrinsic, which “may be influenced by a number of external factors such as attitude of society, family and peers to the subject in question (…), and intrinsic motivation that is generated by what happens inside the classroom; this could be teacher’s methods or activities that students take part in”. Harmer also proposes that if we “involve the students or excite their curiosity and provoke participation, we will help them to stay interested in the subject.”

The use of drama undoubtedly represents one of the methods of work used by teachers to provoke intrinsic motivation. Not only does it help to build a good teacher-student relationship, but it also actively engages all the students and all the time, so “in a sense, motivation is not needed when working through drama, because the enjoyment comes from imaginative personal involvement.” .As Maley and Duff further explain drama activities also help to get rid of the diffidence and boredom that come from being forced to stay passive most of the time .

Maley and Duff also mention another motivating factor of drama, which is its versatility and unpredictability. If drama is motivating – and we believe it is – the reason may be that it draws on the entire human resources of the class and that technique, in its own way, yields a different, unique, result every time it is practiced .

Drama takes advantage of the concept of learning by doing to the full extent. Not only is it motivating in terms of the reward of enjoyment when students are asked to get up and actively explore the world around them through their own experience, but the active participation also encourages the cognitive processes, such as memory development and better information retention.

Harmer points out that there are two main categories of motivation: extrinsic motivation, concerned with factors outside the classroom, and intrinsic motivation, concerned with what takes place inside the classroom.

Students have a reason as to why they want to learn a foreign language. Teachers should find out what this reason is and use it to their advantage. Knowing the reasons students have to study helps the teacher to prepare lessons that are meaningful and that meet the expectations of the students. The zeal of the students increases, if the lessons are organized in a way when the students feel they are achieving the goals, they had set for themselves.

There are many reasons why students want to acquire a foreign language. To list all of them is outside of the aim of this work, but it is useful to name a few. Among the main reasons is the desire to have a better job, a desire to travel and professional or self-development. All these provide a powerful drive for the students and opportunities for the teacher to make the learning process more effective and successful.

Harmer says that "what happens in the classroom will have an important effect on students who are already in some way extrinsically motivated"

Thus, the use of drama provides the teacher with an influential tool affecting the intrinsic motivation of the students. Even students, who are initially not highly motivated, become immersed in an activity, when drama techniques are applied or become positively influenced by those who take an active part in learning.

It is very important for students to experience success. While constant failure has a discouraging effect, experience of repeated success contributes to the confidence of the students and it reinforces their desire to learn. Some students take a considerably longer amount of time to trust the benefits of drama and for those students, constant encouragement and patience is even more crucial, because it gradually helps them to overcome the initial resistance they might have.

Meaning in context

Appropriate understanding of the context of the discourse is one of the most important elements for understanding the meaning. As Harmer claims “meaning of language depends on where it occurs within a larger stretch of discourse, and thus the relationship that the different language elements have with what comes before and after them. In other words, speakers and writers have to be able to operate with more than just words and grammar; they have to be able to string utterances together”.

Drama represents an ideal method of work if teachers want to put the meaning for students into a sizeable context. Unlike in guided practice, students are involved in real communication while they “activate language to communicate real meaning, rather than just practising language”and thus develop their communicative competence in a natural way, using body language, making pauses and interruptions, showing emotions, and creating relationships. Phillips encourages using drama in second language teaching because “it encourages children to speak and gives them the chance to communicate, even with limited language, using non-verbal communication, such as body movements and facial expressions.”

Moreover, making students focused on the process of the creation of the drama rather than the final language product provides them with natural and purposeful need for speaking, which describe Maley and Duff by stating that “the problem of not wanting to speak or, more often, not knowing what to say is practically resolved because the activity makes it necessary to talk”. According to these educators “drama techniques have the singular merit of directly engaging students’ feelings and, as a result, often making them aware of the need to be able to express them appropriately”.

2 .4 Learning styles and multiple intelligences

Jeremy Harmer stems from the theories of the Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Multiple Intelligences and warns that “ in anyone’s classroom we have a number of different individuals with different learning styles and preferences, which means that we have to offer a wide range of different activity types in our lessons in order to cater for individual differences and needs”. Such classroom forms a perfect environment for using drama work which includes all kinds of stimuli and can develop all types of human intelligences.

The theory of the Neuro-Linguistic Programming introduces to the educational theories different stimuli that students prefer while learning and that predetermine their learning style. According to this concept, the learners can be divided between visual learners, responding the best to the visual stimuli such as pictures, written texts and diagrams; auditory learners, benefiting most from the auditory input such as traditional lecturing or music; and kinaesthetic learners who are the most successful when they are aged with the learning activity. They acquire information fastest when participating in a science lab, drama presentation, skit, field trip, dance, or other active activity. Because of the high numbers of kinaesthetic learners, education is shifting toward a more hands-on approach; manipulatives and other ‘props’ should be incorporated into almost every school subject, from physical education to language arts.

Another concept of students’ individualities in learning that teachers should take into consideration is the theory of multiple intelligences, first introduced in 1980’s by an acknowledged American psychologist Howard Gardner. His theory claims that each individual disposes of different types of intelligences defined as “abilities to solve problems that are of consequence in a particular cultural setting or community. The problem-solving skill allows one to approach a situation in which a goal is to be obtained and to locate the appropriate route to that goal”. An individual can demonstrate an extraordinary facility in one of the seven described intelligences: musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal and intrapersonal; but each individual has usually developed several of them. An educator’s task is to create a variety of learning activities that would help particular students to develop their intelligences.

Considering the fact that drama includes all kinds of stimuli, visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic, and encourages students to develop all the intelligences through active exploration of reality and problem-solving, its use in education can be regarded as extremely beneficial.

2 .5. Students’ affective filter

Stephen Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition presents five hypothesis teachers should take into account when teaching a foreign language. The hypothesis that could encourage teachers most to use drama in their classes is the hypothesis of affective filter that embodies Krashen's view that a number of affective variables play a facilitative role in second language acquisition. These variables include: motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. Krashen claims that “learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety are better equipped for success in second language acquisition. Low motivation, low self-esteem, and debilitating anxiety can combine to ‘raise’ the affective filter and form a ‘mental block’ that prevents comprehensible input from being used for acquisition.”

Drama helps students to overcome resistance to the foreign language and the fear of making mistakes. It creates a natural need for speaking because it does not concentrate on language itself, but on creating drama. Focusing on the creative process more than on final linguistic output enables students to learn almost unconsciously. As Maley and Duff sustain “every student needs periods in which he or she has a chance to practice what he or she knows without restraint, without fear of being wrong. Students need the occasional chance to take risks in the language, to try out new ways of combining words, and of course, to find out where the gaps are in their knowledge.”

To provide learners with such opportunities for free practice, teachers using drama in their classes should create a safe and comfortable atmosphere where students would not be afraid of speaking in the target language. This kind of stress-free, fun teaching encourages pupils to participate without embarrassment and it helps them to overcome the psychological barrier from speaking in a foreign language.

Maley and Duff give a list of categories of language that learners use naturally and without further thinking during drama activities: “ Transactional language – the language needed for getting things done in a group situation. Discussion language – used to come to agreement about something, to describe, comment on, or recall the activity in questions. Performance language – it is the end product of some of the activities, but it is in many senses the least important precisely because it involves the most preparation. Clearly, almost any language function can come into play here, depending on the nature of the activity.”

Psychological benefits

Charlyn Wessels provides the best definition of what drama in education is and how it benefits students’ learning and personality development. “If a learner of English asked you ‘What is a blind person?’, you might simply reply, ‘A blind person cannot see’, and this would probably satisfy him intellectually. But if you replied, ‘Shut your eyes and try to find your pen on the desk in front of you’, you would be involving him in the actual experience of being blind, and would thus satisfy him not only intellectually, but emotionally as well, and possibly inspire in him feelings of empathy with all blind people. He would be more likely to remember the meaning of the word as a result of this moment of direct experience.”

As drama gives the direct experience of human reality, students are first getting to know themselves and then also the others. They naturally develop empathy, by creating and taking over different social roles and asking questions like ‘What is he or she thinking?’ ‘What does he or she feel?’ ‘How wou ld I feel being in their shoes?’, etc. Hamilton and McLeod describe drama as a process of social learning: “Involving relations with others, it promotes social and adaptive skills which in their turn feed into the process of learning a foreign language. (…) Learners are encouraged to explore themselves and their reactions in relation to the outside world in a way which can be both strengthening and enriching.”

Generally speaking, the most important aim of drama used in education is overall development of a personal and social aspect of learner’s personality. Drama stimulates creativity, imagination and also critical thinking as students are often asked to find solutions to diverse problems. It also improves students’ self-esteem and self-confidence as they are capable of performing in front of the audience, although the audience is only composed of their classmates. At best, using drama in education forms creative and socially susceptible individuals.

Drama and environment

Scrivener points out that drama "essentially involves using the imagination to make oneself into another character, or the classroom into a different place"

Environment in general plays a very important role in the learning process. It is one of the most important aspects that has a profound effect on the learning experience. The physical environment typical for teaching languages is a classroom. Classrooms have their limits and disadvantages and they carry rather negative associations for many people. Even though they are not the most natural places in which a foreign language to be used, they can become a place that greatly inhibits the learning process, with the help of imagination and creativity.

An ordinary classroom can change into a different place with relative ease. It provides general framework for the use of a foreign language with the option to use wide range of vocabulary and a number of situations. It can become like a stage in the theatre with all its dynamics and excitement.

Drama and the role of the teacher

One of the fundamental challenges lies in the very personality of a teacher. It is not possible to introduce drama or drama techniques to students, if the teacher is not confident, or convinced about the benefits it brings. Furthermore, the teacher's introduction of drama affects the success or the failure of the whole learning process. It could either slow it down or even have a negative effect of alienating students and damaging the relationship they have with the teacher.

In order to introduce drama into teaching properly and effectively, it should be done gradually and in a sensitive manner. Forcing students to do something that they are not used to is counter productive. My teaching experience shows that while some students welcome drama almost instantly, others are much more reserved and even show resistance to use it. The teacher's encouragement and explanation helps all the students to understand its purpose and to feel comfortable.

Wessels claims that "drama requires meticulous planning and structuring. " As it was already mentioned, drama needs to be introduced gradually; activities should start from the simpler to more sophisticated ones. Students who are not familiar with drama need this approach to build their confidence in order to overcome their shyness and fears and only than, they feel relaxed and encouraged to perform in front of others.

Teachers need to consider the possibility how to achieve the set objectives. There are many aspects to be considered. One of these aspects is the proper introduction of the activity at the beginning, clearly communicating to the students what is the goal they should strive for, introduction of the environment, background, roles, rules, potential difficulties, timing etc. Teachers need to decide on the way of evaluation, correction and giving feedback to students. It is important for teachers to realize, that it is students who are actively involved in learning and their role in drama activities is not a central one. Teaching is learner oriented.

2 .9.Conclusion

We have seen that drama can greatly enrich the learning and teaching process. It appeals to the creative side of the students. It inhibits improvisation with the language, and it stimulates imagination and involves the emotional aspects of a human nature.

It further stimulates and reinforces the use of a language because students act roles as if it was in the real life situation. They engage themselves in meaningful activities where they can physically move around the class, change their positions and work with different partners. The various complexities of tasks that are given to them require the students to use the foreign language in different stages in order to communicate, plan and perform the task. While doing it, they experience the use of a foreign language in a natural way and they develop their language skills. Teachers should bear in mind that drama is a tool that helps the students to become competent users of the foreign language.

Teaching language skills through drama

It is necessary to have a closer look at the term drama and its place in teaching a foreign language. Drama in this context does not mean a classical play or a theatre performance. While it does not exclude the elements of a play or a performance it also includes a number of other aspects. Wessels says that "drama in education uses the same tools employed by actors in the theatre. In particular, it uses improvisation and mime. But while in the theatre everything is contrived for the benefit of the audience, in classroom drama everything is contrived for the benefit of the learners"

Using improvisation and mime will provide the learners with a practice of a foreign language similar to the use in the real life. Speaking communication in the real life situations is characterised by limited time for preparation. When learners experience sufficient practice in the class they will feel more comfortable using the language in the real environment, their response will be spontaneous, they will have to adapt and react quickly and act the roles they were assigned. Mime and the body language will become an important tool stimulating and enriching the learning experience.

Drama, when brought into the learning process, has the means to enhance to a large extent the whole experience acquiring a foreign language. It helps learners in many areas. To name a few, it is the development of the awareness of the use of a language in different environment and situations, building self-confidence, creativity, spontaneity, improvisation and involving emotions of the participants. It encourages the natural use of a foreign language according to the particular situation.

Wessels claims that "drama is doing. Drama is being." and also that "students learn through direct experience" . Drama inhibits an active involvement of learners. Thus, the learners´ experience using a language in the classroom becomes similar to the real-life experience. The use of drama contributes to building a solid base that learners need to have in order to become competent and confident users of a foreign language. The learners´ understanding is enhanced, the knowledge deepened and skills necessary for successful reproduction of a language acquired. Drama is important in teaching language skills .

3.1. Language systems and language skills in the context of drama

According to Scrivener when considering language skills, it is important to make distinction between “ language systems´ and ´language skills”.

Language systems include the lexis (vocabulary), grammar (rules), function (situation) and phonology (sound, rhythm, intonation etc.)

Language skills include the four skills speaking, writing, reading, and listening.

Language systems Language skills

Lexis Speaking

productive

Grammar Writing

Function Reading

receptive

Phonology Listening

Because of its nature, drama can be used to develop both productive and receptive skills and it can also be successfully used in mastering the language systems. In respect to the language skills, its prime value naturally lies especially in learning speaking and listening. Many examples of activities for practicing these two skills have been mentioned already. As for the example of practicing the writing skills, we can look at the creative guided writing activity in which more advanced students produce a script that will serve to be a base for its later dramatization. An opportunity for the less advanced students can be in rewriting and acting out dialogues or situations.

Harmer says that "It is often true that one skill cannot be performed without the other. It is impossible to speak in a conversation without listening and people seldom write without reading". A competent user of a language has to master all the skills, therefore, it is important not to neglect any of them, but provide students with sufficient practice and focus on all the skills in a balanced way. The practical application can be demonstrated on a simple example of using one of the drama techniques, namely a role play during which students practice telephone conversations in a number of various roles. During these conversations the participants not only speak (i.e. hold the telephone conversation), but they are also asked to dictate or write down an important piece of information.

. The nature of communication

The following diagram is a diagram mentioned by Harmer describing the nature of communication.

wants to say something

SPEAKER/WRITER has a communicative purpose

selects from language store

wants to listen to something

LISTENER/READER interested in communicative purpose

processes a variety of language

Drama provides framework for the language to be used. It generally contributes to the nature of communication as a means of reinforcement and stimulation. Participants assuming various roles in various contexts are on the one hand strongly motivated to speak/write and the listener/reader on the other hand to listen.

The communicative purpose can be expressed by drama in variety of situations i.e. announcements, apologies, requests, congratulating, reports, commands, promises, thanking, welcoming, congratulations and others.

Wessels points out that "Drama can generate a need to speak" . When students associate themselves with roles they have been assigned, pretend to be somebody else, the context and environment change, the use of imagination begins to play its role and this provides further stimuli for the participants to exchange the communicative purposes and actively engage themselves in communication.

3.3. Speaking

A competent speaker of a language needs to develop speaking skills in a great number of situations in order to send/receive a message and to be able to engage in meaningful communication. The presence of drama and its techniques is an ideal tool to stimulate and carry on different speaking activities with the focus on fluency, pronunciation, stress, intonation etc. It provides a field for sufficient practice in acquiring the language skill.

As students using drama become immersed in the activities, they no longer perceive the activity and the language they are learning as artificial, but they experience its use in a situation similar to the real life. Rather than learning the foreign language consciously, the language is unconsciously acquired. Furthermore, students who practice language in meaningful context and situations similar to the reality will more likely find it easier to use the language in real life situations.

Harmer points out that "in face to face interaction the speaker can use a whole range of facial expressions, gestures and general body language to help to convey the message" . These characteristics are essential and inseparable part of drama and they ought to be incorporated into the learning process. They provide the teacher with another dimension that further stimulates and reinforces the use of the foreign language, particularly in speaking activities. Students express emotions through facial expressions, total physical response is a result of given commands and recommendations, pantomime stimulates reactions and comments.

Drama comes in as a useful tool in teaching pronunciation, rhythm and intonation. Moreover, drama can include – among other things – chants, tongue twisters, poems and songs and the advantage lies in the fact, that it can easily be linked to body movements and to expression of emotions.

The following chart gives characteristics of a successful and problematic speaking activity:

These characteristics are important indicators to be observed in order to evaluate speaking drama activities. Teachers need to secure the presence of all the characteristics if the planned activity is to be successful and if it is to produce the desired effect. Whenever there is lack of any of them, amendments and corrections need to be made. Among the main problems that the teacher faces while using drama activity is to ensure the use of the target language. Often as a result of excitement and the involvement of emotions, there is a tendency among the students to switch to their mother tongue.

Writing

Ur mentions a scale classifying writing activities; they are correlating between two categories, namely ´writing as an end´ and ´writing as a means´:

Writing as an Writing as Writing as

end in itself means and end a means

Ur further explains that "writing as a means is used for noting down the new vocabulary; copying the grammar rules; writing out answers etc. Writing as an end is used for narrating a story, writing a letter. There can be a combination of both."

My own experience shows that the use of drama, as far as the development of a writing skill is concerned, falls mainly towards the category ´writing as a means´. There are number of writing activities that include the aspects of drama and that also serve to be a source for later dramatization. Among those are writing poetry, a story, a narrative, a play, a role play, a scene, a song, an advertisement, different kinds of letters and postcards etc. They essentially involve the use of imagination and creativity.

The advantage of the writing activities mentioned above lies in the fact that written activity in drama often becomes a part of a wider and more complex activity. This contributes to the motivation of students who often do not consider learning writing skill as a useful undertaking.

Through drama writing activities students gain deeper understanding of the need for learning writing as a skill and realize that there are occasions when writing is necessary and even inevitable. Examples of those activities range. They might consist of the simpler ones i.e. writing out various instructions: cooking, directing and navigating lost people to more complex ones: scripts for advertisements, plays or more complex dialogues. All these can be produced and dramatized by students.

Reading

In considering the use of drama to develop a reading skill, one has to realize that the quality of the reading texts and a preparation of a number of connecting activities are necessary in order to secure success in learning the reading skill. The teacher is provided with a large pool of literary texts that can be adopted for the teaching purposes. But there are other texts as well. The examples of those are newspapers, magazines, cartoons and advertisements, all of these can be used for dramatization. They provide the learners with a starting point for further activities and for the work with the text itself. The potential also lies in the character of the narrator. Students should be encouraged to read the script as if an actor would read it. This kind of a practice brings another dimension into reading .

Scrivener defines two basic approaches to a text:

1. Extensive reading (or fluent reading, or gist reading): reading in order to gain and

overall understanding of a longer piece of text.

2. Intensive reading (or accurate reading): typically used with short sections or

sentences when we need to understand or study information or language use in detail.

Students need to develop both approaches to a text. The first approach suggests reading with the aim to understand the main points of a text rather than the details of it, the second covers reading that elicits details. Drama activity can be planned in a way that it helps to develop both approaches.

It is very difficult for many learners of a foreign language to understand all the words while reading a longer text or a book, until they master the language to a certain level and even than, there will be writings that will prove to be very challenging. In order that students do not become frustrated and lose motivation, it is important to develop the extensive reading skill. Drama stimulates the development of the intensive reading skill eliciting a grammar structure, function, vocabulary use etc.

For drama to step into the reading process, Wessels mentions important principles that are to be included in activities using texts that are to be presented to the students. The texts need to have the potential of:

creating a need for action

infusing dramatic tension

stepping into role

seeing beyond the immediate

encouraging students to take decisions

These principles should be closely likened with drama. When included, students´ learning is stimulated. Drama becomes a framework within which the students acquire the reading skill. The development of the reading skill remains the main focus but, because the students learn within the motivating framework, they read with pleasure and are motivated by concentrating and retaining deeper focus on a number of aspects, for example the theme, the plot, characters and the setting etc. All these aspects play an important part in the later dramatization.

One very important aspect in reading is the power of prediction. This is a property that when given appropriate attention by the teacher becomes a powerful stimulant. Students are motivated by their own curiosity and surprised by the development of a story or a character in text they are reading. The use of drama is among other methods to be used in developing reading skills. Its function is complementary for there is a need to involve other methods as well.

Listening

Similar to teaching reading skills, teaching listening skills also need to cover two areas. According to Scrivener , these two areas are:

1. Extensive listening (listening for gist): listening to an entire piece, with a view to

gaining an overall impression or understanding of what it is about.

2. Intensive listening (listening for detail): the listening effort is concentrated on a small

portion of a tape or a CD (perhaps a sentence, or a short phrase) .

Students often find listening difficult. My experience shows that, especially at the beginning of their studies, they try to listen for details and lose the overall understanding. Another difficulty students face when trying to decode the meaning is the variety of national and regional registers and accents that English language has. The teacher's responsibility is to secure listening material, that is authentic and that as much as possible reflects the real life experience.

Drama encourages concentrated listening. Students have to listen very carefully when they act, so that they can react as the situation requires it. Drama provides context for listening. Listening exercises include listening to music, news, TV programmes, movies, telephone calls, small talks, directions, announcements and many more. All these can be easily linked with drama activities. Activities can either take place while or after listening to a text or listening can serve to be a source of follow-up drama activities.

The more often students are exposed to a variety of listening material in the lessons and practice listening in meaningful context, the better they are equipped to become competent and confident communicators in the real world.

Language systems – vocabulary

Wessels points out that one of the potential benefits of drama is "the fully contextualized acquisition of new vocabulary and structure" .The real world provides speakers with variety of contexts. Classroom setting is much more limited. But creativity and imagination helps to transform it into a different place. Harmer says that "If we are really to teach students what words mean and how they are used, we need to show them being used, together with other words, in context." .

With the use of drama, an ordinary classroom becomes an airport, a train station, a bus station, a restaurant, an office, a flat, a shop, a playground, a park, a garden etc. Each of these places provides context with the option of a wide range of vocabulary and a number of situations to practice the foreign language.

Language systems – grammar

Grammar rules become ´alive´ when drama techniques are applied. Example of it can be learning the word order activity, where students representing the words of a sentence are asked to physically move around to produce a sentence with the correct word order. Sentence elements can be further emphasised when receiving emotional touch i.e. being pronounced with anger, happiness, sadness, love etc.

Scrivener points out that for effective learning of grammar "learners need to be exposed to a lot of language, focus their attention on specific items, to understand what they mean, how they're formed and when and where they are used." . Drama activities provide opportunities to practice grammar in a motivating and meaningful environment. A situation when a child is spilling milk on the floor can become an opportunity to practice the present perfect tense by saying "Look what you have done" and other drama activities for example role plays, dialogues, imaginary situations or pantomime can serve to be an opportunity to elicit and practice grammar.

Methods and techniques of drama used in English language teaching

In general terms, a method represents the way how to achieve a certain goal and a technique is supposed to constitute the tool helping to accomplish this goal. However, the majority of the authors in the context of Drama Education does not differentiate too much between the terms of methods and techniques and, on the contrary, underline their mutual interference.

As already mentioned above, drama used as a method of instruction allows students to explore and effectively master the subject. It takes advantage of the basic theatre methods such as role play, improvisation and interpretation, but it also exploits traditional methods of other school disciplines such as interview, description or debate. However, these methods are applied in such a way that they become a part of the drama and they result in the accomplishment of the set pedagogical, but also dramatic goals.

Jim Scrivener mentions the most commonly used drama activities in English Languages Teaching classes, stating that “ by bringing the outside world into the classroom, we can provide a lot of useful practice and there may also be a freeing from the constraints of culture and expected behaviour, which can be personally and linguistically very liberating.” . Scrivener describes the most traditional drama activities as follows:

4.1 Role-play

Its aim is to get into role .This convention belongs to the basic ones, it is widely used because of its simplicity and familiarity both to teacher and students. It can be established quickly by mere allocating roles to learners or learners can choose roles themselves. More complex alternative is to distribute role cards with additional information on the character, their opinions, wishes or some hints how the character will behave in particular situation. No matter how simple this activity might seem, it can be very beneficial – it helps learners to understand different viewpoints and accustom their language and movement to different characters . The students act small scenes using their ideas or from ideas and information on role cards. Role plays enable students to step outside themselves, to accept and change into a different character. Students either improvise or create their own character or they are given role-cards. In either case, it has a stimulating effect and students feel freer to engage themselves in learning.

Role play in an English classroom is usually used in its basic form where students imagine themselves in some specific situation and act in this situation as if they were there. This is the easiest way how to bring everyday reality to the classroom and how students can, in a certain way, prepare for these potential situations linguistically.

However, role play can include even more complex levels where students either take on a social role of someone else and act a typical behaviour of this character or take on not only the social role but also the individual characteristics of the character he or she is impersonating. This type of role play already requires a setting of the rich situational context and emerging students into the fiction which they accept as real. It also demands a great amount of empathy and psychological maturity of the performers as it directly leads to the theatrical statement

Simulation

It is a large-scale role-play whose aim is to simulate real-life situations which require making decisions or solving problems . The group is presented with a situation that they have to solve, often within a time limit which puts tension on participants.

Through simulations learners can identify with the problem and examine various criteria before making a final decision. The group can be for example asked to design a new town facility within a given budget. It is usual in stimulations that learners are provided with some guidelines that have to be taken into account – a set budget, criteria of the competition or various rules.

The intention is to create a much more complete, complex ‘world’, say of a business company, television studio, etc. In the initial stages of their learning, students become acquainted with various roles starting from the simpler ones, usually those they are used to from everyday life i.e. a mother, a father, a shop assistant, a customer, a tourist etc., before they take up more complex ones i.e. a consultation, problem solving, plays etc.

4.3 Drama games

They are short games that usually involve move ment and imagination. Wessels points out that ´drama games´ should "involve action, exercise the imagination, involve both ´learning´ and ´acquisition´ and permit the expression of emotion." . All the elements mentioned help students to become actively engaged in learning and experience the dynamics of the learning experience. There are many forms of games with various functions i.e. ice-breakers, warm-ups, fillers, concentration games etc.

Guided improvisation

The teachers improvise a scene and the students join in one by one in character, until the whole scene (story) takes on a life on its own. This kind of practice requires the teacher to guide students through the initial stage of an activity. When students join in and become part of the evolving activity, they use their imagination and improvisation, than the teacher steps out and becomes more like an observer who helps if there is a need. This help might be in a form of suggestions or even joining back in the story if the progress of the students is slow or if they are finding the work too difficult. The following are examples of activities for guided improvisation: a scene of a crime; a company meeting; a summer camp at night etc.

4.4 Acting play scripts

They are short written sketches or scenes are acted by the students. It is important to remember that a script is not a drama so much as a ´proposal for drama´.

Script becomes a starting point that provides great space for each individual to utilize his or her talents and bring personal aspects into the learning experience. Students are presented with the script by the teacher or even prepare their own. All the stages of preparation, practice, performance or even the afterward analyses and evaluation can be very effective tools in learning and reinforcing the use of a foreign language.

Prepared improvised drama

Students in small group s invent and rehearse a short scene or story that they perform for the others. Students themselves work and perform a story, a situation or a number of situations. They can also work within given framework that is set by the teacher. It is students who are in charge of their work. The aspect of ownership provides further motivation in order to succeed in the activity. The whole class can be involved in a more complex drama, although for practical reasons and affectivity, it might be more beneficial to have the students work in smaller groups.

Interpretation of dialogues and texts

It is one of the essential methods of Drama Education where students explore the literary texts through their own acting and experience and convey its meanings and artistic contents by means of the different drama methods and techniques, such as improvisation, role play, still image, etc.

4.8. Improvisation

Next to the role play, improvisation is the basic method used in theatre. It gives the opportunity to experiment and explore the given problems and situations through unplanned spontaneous action to a certain stimulus. It underlines an immediate acting in order to search for the best solution of the problem, a thus it contributes to the personal and social development of the participants.

4.9. Narrative Mime

The teacher narrates the story and stu dents perform the actions simultaneously as they listen to the story. It is essential that the story contains a reasonable number of dramatic actions that can be performed by the medium of mime.

4.10 . Props, Costumes

It help students concretize the characters they are suppose to embody, their physical appearance, movements, gestures and other personal features. They develop students’ imagination and creativity when preparing the costumes and at the same time they afford a sort of protection because shier students feel safer when wearing a costume behind which they can ‘hide’.

4.11. Role on the Wall

Its aim is to get to know the character, to brainstorm ideas. Students work with a large sheet of paper where the outline of the character is drawn. Either in groups individually, they put down what they know about this character. They can write both facts (age, appearance, clothes) and inner feelings of the character. The result of their work is then put up on the wall.

4.12. Conscience Alley

Its aim is to analyse a situation that requires a decision. Students stand in two lines facing each other, the student in the role of a character walks slowly in the middle and everybody gives him/her advice. As an alternation the group standing on one side could be asked to give arguments for while the other one against. In the end he/she makes a decision.

4.13. Frozen Frames/ Still Images

Its aim is to illustrate a specific event, to explore the feeling of characters. Students are asked to freeze at a certain moment of performing or they gradually build a scene using their bodies. The advantage is that learners are able to express more than they would be able say in words. It can be also successfully used to control dramatic moments. It is also possible to divide students into 2 or more groups and then one group performs while the rest comment on what the still-image means.

4. 14. Thought-tracking

Its aim is to reflect and analyze the situation and role. The group focuses on the character who is „frozen‟ in a still-image or a frozen frame and comes with ideas what this character’s thoughts are. Person who wants to contribute a thought can tap the character’s shoulder. These thoughts can be contrasted with what he/she says publicly. This can help to understand inner feelings of the character.

4.15. Teacher in Role

Its aim is to develop or control the drama activity, to challenge learners‟ thinking”. The teacher involves in the drama, either as one of the participants or as a leader. Teacher can give evidence of stepping in or out the role by using a prop connected to the character (for example a hat) or signify that they are in a role only when sitting on a particular chair. This allows the teacher to comment on the situation from outside and actively influence it from inside at the same time. This convention can be used in connection with others, for example Hot-seating.

4. 16. Mantle of the Expert

Its aim is to move responsibility from the teacher to learners, to provoke involvement, to boost confidence. The learners are given roles of experts in a particular field connected with the situation – they can become social workers, architects, designers, archaeologists. The group is often supposed to fulfil a task with help of these experts. This activity can be adapted to a great variety of topics and provoke meaningful opportunities to speak.

Besides the various drama methods and techniques, it is very useful to have in

store an inventory of warm-ups or ice-breakers which help students to tune to the

learning activities, help them relax and thus concentrate better on more demanding

activities that will follow. They can also be included as a part of the drama as a lead-in activity, assuring that all participants enter the drama in the same energetic and emotional tuning. Some warm-ups have the only purpose which is to activate the group, overcome self-consciousness or develop group sensitivity and cooperation and therefore improve the relationships in the group and its interaction during learning activities. What have most warm-ups in common is that mostly all of them use some kind of physical movement and that is why they are motivational particularly for younger students who always welcome change from the constant sitting and in majority prefer kinaesthetic learning style.

The conclusion is that the secret is in teacher’s hands. He/she must be a good class manager. He must know the students’ level of knowledge, interests, personalities and all the glues that can help him/her choose the best activities in the class. Each lesson must be a challenge both for the teacher and the students. All that a teacher should do is to let the students the chance to use their imagination, talents, world, knowledge. The class must be a students –centered class in which the teacher plays the part of a guide, facilitator, prompter, tutor and of a model.

Drama can be incorporated and it can enhance the learning experience. Drama activities function as a stimulant and framework to support the practice and acquisition of the language skills in an enjoyable, effective and motivating way. It helps the students to become competent users of the foreign language.

CHAPTER IV

THE TEACHING EXPLOITATION OF THE SPECTACULAR DIMENSION OF THE DRAMATIC TEXT

1. Didactic experiments

The practical part of this thesis comprises a series of lesson plans that I created with my present and former students for a theatre club called English Theatre Club in the school where I teach . I have experienced this activity for two years .

These lesson plans incorporate drama techniques in the lessons with regarding to principles mentioned in chapter 3. Especially the necessity of gradual implementing of drama was taken into account. The course to be taught in the theatre club started with more conventional activities and drama techniques were added step by step.

The lesson plans were designed for one school year course that took place weekly .There were 2 lessons in each week. The course started in October and finished in May .

There were 15 participants aged 11-14, all of them students from the school female.. The level of their English according to CEFR was mostly B1+, some of them was aiming at B2 level in reading and listening.

The main objectives of the course were to develop speaking fluency, to improve communicative competence and to extend and reinforce vocabulary range. I also set myself several personal aims. Firstly, to try out various drama techniques, secondly, to find out whether my students can benefit from using drama in English lessons and last but not least, to explore students’ attitude to using such techniques.

As I have mentioned above, I tried to incorporate drama techniques gradually. When preparing the course syllabus, I decided not to devote all the course time to drama. I combined drama activities with more traditional ones, using various materials from textbooks, resource books and Internet articles. Special attention was also paid to setting good relationships through getting to know activities at the beginning of the course.

Bearing in mind that the group will be meeting every week in a period of one year, I was looking for a motif that would link individual lessons together. I opted for the topic of their interests such as Internet, games , popular stories , since they enabled wide variability.

Some activities were based exclusively on these themes. Having chosen these themes as a common thread running through all the lessons, I basically looked for suitable stories or worksheets and tried to apply drama techniques to them. The choice of drama techniques was inspired by Neelands and Goode and website dramasource.com which provides a brief outline of most common drama conventions.

Writing the drama lesson plans, it was attempted to provide a variety of activities covering practice of various language skills, vocabulary and topics. The lesson plans provided general information for the teacher (i.e. language focus, level, class management, aids, preparation, time-guide) as well as a detailed one for carrying out the lesson (i.e. procedures). The plans have been used in my lessons and they proved to be useful, enriching the learning-teaching experience. Inspiration for the lesson plans came from various sources such as course books of the Headway Series and Inside Out Series- course books on the elementary, pre-intermediate and intermediate levels , either as a result of my teaching experience, the study at university or ideas adapted for the teaching of the language from activities not originally connected to teaching.

The focus was directed to see how drama activities are used in them, what kind of drama techniques are presented and also to consider, how drama techniques could enrich some of the exercises in those course books. Drama techniques in the course books mentioned above fall mainly into the following categories:

Role plays – dialogues of various professions are presented (student, journalist, housewife, barman, doctor, receptionist etc.) and of various places (restaurant, shop, train station, airport, etc.) or dialogues of various kinds from various places concerning a number of issues (books, music, films, famous people, relationships, dating, radio interviews, job, shop, etc.).

Narrating a story – there are several stories and tales presented in the books either as pieces of literary works (David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol , The adventures of the flying shoes , Aesop’s Fable, The Man Who Planted Trees, etc.) or stories thematically oriented (Burglar’s Friend, Ghosts, School Days, etc.) or stories and tales to be used for narration (Billy Elliot, The Lost Continent, Alien, Justice, Usher’s Revenge, etc.)

Sketches – presented with the aim to be acted out either in pairs or groups of students (The Interview, Neighbours, Night Club, Pacific Heights script, etc.)

Other – remaining activities that appear in the books on much smaller scale than the two previous categories are songs, tongue twisters and poems or songs, children rhymes, working with emotions (faces, It drives me mad, etc.)

A very useful tool closely connected with drama is the supplementary material on the Internet and the stories written by my students that provided great resource for inspiration and for the use of the foreign language in a form of sketches and short stories. Some exercises in the course, although not explicitly linked with drama, provided framework for the use of drama. Topics in the course dealt mainly with travelling, everyday situations, family, history, etc. and all these could easily provide imaginary environment for the use of drama.

I have learnt that using these kind of activities were of a great help because the level of interaction reached is very valuable for future projects during the course such dramatic representations – plays .

Formative dimensions of the theatre club

As I mentioned earlier in the previous chapters the dramatic text status in the elementary school curriculum is almost and it should be extended in the context of an informal form , by organizing a school theatre club . One can make the option for theatre studies as an optional subject, although this choice has several disadvantages. First, current educational law does not allow an option subject only if the whole class, that is the majority of the students are involved. Under these conditions, teaching drama is difficult, because not all students have dramatic and acting skills. In this drawback is the difficulty of finding drama plays to engage all students, which sometimes creates tensions and discontent. Secondly, once registered, the optional attendance is compulsory and included in the student's schedule, unfortunately, almost always to the end of the day, when fatigue diminishes the interest and focus of the little actors.

Although I have experienced the optional version, I believe that the most effective framework for conducting such activities remains the theatre club , which brings together students whose abilities were tested through a preliminary selection organized by the school. The theatre club can function outside school and classroom and even in informal spaces (ceremonial hall, theatre, meetings with actors, etc..).

Organizing a theatre club is not an easy work for the teacher, because it requires other skills apart the teaching skills (acting, directing), but also because there is a very poor school theatre bibliography. Most of the volumes in the library are outdated and that is why I chose the dramatization of some famous stories such as Little Red Riding Hood, The Police , Achristams Carol or even stories writen by the students like The Adventures of the Flying Shoes .

The choice of the play is followed by a first reading of the text (performed usually by a professor) to achieve primary reception and comprehension of the text. The first reading is followed by a discussion which directs the students’ attention to the universe of the play, emphasizing the space-time coordinates, the action itself, the conflict, the characters and the relationships between them. A role reading of the text follows , which is a great opportunity to practice expressive reading by outlining the intonation, the tone of the voice, the pauses between lines, accents etc.. It is the stage in which students begin to understand first features of the characters that the students are supposed to identify with.

The next step is the division of roles, a stage that favours stage movement, facial expression, gestures; inputs and outputs of each actor in the scene. Then, the students go on from reading the text to switching gradually to memorizing the parts and store them. . Only after this moment the rehearsals begin properly, beginning with a minimal props that will diversify to show itself. Contrary to my expectations, the greatest difficulties encountered during the rehearsals did not consist in memorizing he parts, but effective use of the stage space, the interaction and synchronization with the others or their improvisation to overcome their own emotional blockage or of their colleagues. The students that did not get a part in the play are supposed to work on the decoration of the stage , to rent costumes, to prepare the stage before the show or to popularize the performance in school by making posters.

The formative dimension of the theatre club is very strong, having a lot of the benefits and advantages for the students :

• It develops creativity, because the student is forced to build a role, to imagine a scenery, costumes etc..

• It corrects and attenuates undesirable traits of the character and temperament, such as emotions, feelings of fright, lack of self-confidence.

• It develops thinking, imagination, emotions, motivational processes.

• Students spend their free time in a constructive and efficient way.

• Students discover their talents, skills, sides of their personality that they did not know.

• Drama techniques develop language , the control of the tone of the voice , the management of the non-verbal language , of the body language .

• The students’ work gets a huge feedback from others because their efforts are rewarded with appreciation and applause from the audience, which confirm their artistic skills.

I have learnt that using dramatic text or doing dramatic representations help a lot because the level of interaction reached is very valuable for future projects.

When I set about doing all these activities with the students and especially the plays I just wanted to see if they could work, now I know that they work and the idea for prospective plays is to choose plays where they can have fun and at the same time stretch their knowledge a bit more, it can be by using a play that has more vocabulary and we have to work on that or something a bit more complicated than what we have currently been doing as ways of consolidation or extra teaching.

It may also be convenient to use at the end of the year because children are tired and they see drama as a ludic activity and it is a great tool to consolidate what has been taught before and to use elements like body language and use of voices in order to stimulate imagination as well.

By using plays in my classes of the theatre club I have grown as a teacher because I can explore different venues that I had not thought of before, classes are more entertaining and I can notice the progress of some children who in a traditional class would not have thrived.

3. Assessment of drama as an approach of teaching English

Each teacher should take into account the importance of assessment and evaluation of drama as an approach of teaching English .Students learn in four different areas when they engage in classroom drama activity:

șș Improvisational skills used to seek meaning (the ability to suspend disbelief, concentration, use of imagination, group process skills, imaginative action)

șș Understanding of themes and topics (learning of concepts and information in other subjects through drama: includes adopting other points of view and problem-solving skills)

șș Theatre presentation skills (voice, interpretation of script, characterization, technical skills)

șș Appreciation of theatre (understanding of acting, play script, and the technical aspects of theatre from an audience point of view)

The improvisational skills are the most difficult to assess in relation to student progress. The more important areas of learning and growth (self-discipline, willingness to trust, initiation and extension of ideas, sensitivity to the contributions of others, risk-taking, skills of cooperation, and personal engagement, to name but a few) are more difficult to measure, because growth in these areas is not readily apparent to the outside observer. the most important learning that occurs in process drama happens when students construct meanings for themselves from dramatic experiences. Teachers look for evidence of credible understandings, intellectual effort, coherence, and significance .Evidence of this kind of learning is almost impossible to measure with any degree of objectivity.

Here , I have tried to graphically represent the progress of the subjects students that attended my optional course either in the 1st year , 2nd year or both years of the optional course.

First year of the optional course 2011-2012

Second year of the optional course 2012-2013

Another assessment/evaluation issue arises because drama is such an active and experiential approach to learning. When teachers are so deeply involved in participating in drama work with their students, they don’t often have the opportunity to observe the evidence of growth that is important. We need to explore more accessible approaches to assessing the impact of drama activity so that we can make informed decisions about the progress of our students..Because our context is drama in the English language classroom, we will focus specifically on language learning that may be enhanced by drama work.

The following list of questions would be used informally to help teachers reflect on students’ response to drama. Because drama is primarily a group activity that emphasizes cooperation rather than competition and individualistic achievement, I frame the questions to assist teachers in assessing the progress of the classroom group and I will try to represent the answers graphically.

Reading

Are students expressing an interest in reading books that may have themes or authors in common with books introduced or used as pre-texts for drama work?

Are reluctant readers more willing to read “in role” than they are when they are engaged in daily reading routines?

Do books used in drama come up more frequently in “favourite book” lists, book talks, or other places where children reflect on their choices in literature?

Do students express more interest in reading poetry or plays?

Reading skills :

Writing

Do students include more dialogue and action in their written work?

How does the writing-in-role work compare with out-of-role written work completed by the same student in terms of length and complexity?

Do students suggest that they would like to write plays or poetry in response to process or interpretive work with these genres?

Are students willing and motivated to keep drama journals or records of their work with drama?

Writing skills

Speaking

Do you notice new vocabulary (that was introduced in drama) being integrated into students’ conversation inside and outside the classroom?

Is students’ oral reading becoming more expressive outside the context of drama activity?

Are students moving more easily among formal and informal registers of oral language (e.g., sentence structure and complexity, use of vocabulary)?

Speaking skills

Listening

Are students listening more attentively to directions and instructions since participating in drama activities?

Are students able to retain and sequence ideas that they have heard more easily since working with process drama?

Listening skills

This list of questions is both informal and limited in scope, but it may provide teachers with one approach to assessing the impact of drama work in English language classroom.

In orrder to get a better feedback and evaluation of the optional course I asked my participant students to fulfill two questionnaires .

All the participants were asked to fill in the entry and exit questionnaire (Appendix 12 and 13) in order to verify to which extent they had gained some insight into the methods and techniques of drama that can be used in English language learning . The questionnaires consisted of close questions, where participants were supposed to tick off the items that held for their answer or opinion, open questions, where they were supposed to specify or amplify their answer/opinion, and semi-closed questions which were the combination of both types. The questionnaires were anonymous.

The entry questionnaire was distributed the first day of the wcourse and the participants filled it in even before the introductory part of the course . It consisted of 8 questions. The exit questionnaires were filled the last day of the course at the very end and they contained 12 questions. Both questionnaires were divided into introductory part containing identical questions, serving only for obtaining the basic information about the participants such as sex and level of their English ; and detecting part which provided data for the evaluation of the course . One of the detecting questions asked the same information both in the entry and exit questionnaires. This particular question observed changes in participants’ knowledge and familiarity with the drama methods and techniques, which the course pursued.

Data obtained by means of the questionnaires are quantitative and the information is interpreted as follows: the closed questions are presented in tables, the open questions are interpreted by presenting the most frequent or interesting statements and the semi-closed questions are recorded as a combination of both. Considering the fact that some participants could not attend the last day of the course , they sent me the filled questionnaire via email so that I could evaluate the information from all the attendants.

Entry questionnaire

The introductory part (identical for both the entry and exit questionnaire):

1) Sex:

male

female

Table 1: Sex of the participants.

2) Which module at the Theater Club have they completed?

first

second

both

Table 2: Course completed at the Theater Club

3) What was your motivation to come to this workshop?

I was interested in the topic

to learn something new

to learn more about drama

I want to use drama in my own English learning

to develop my communicative competence (in English, in general)

to develop my creativity and imagination

to meet new people

to have fun

other……………………………………………………………………………

Note: Participants had the possibility to tick off as many items as held for their answer.

Table 3: Participants’ motivation to come to the course

All the students came with intention to learn something. They either sought to learn something about using drama or to improve their communicative competence in English. Some did not have very clear idea about what they were going to learn, but all the attendants seemed very positively motivated in a pro-learning way.

4) What do you expect from this workshop?

Almost all the respondents stated that they wanted to learn some new techniques that they could use in their own learning and using of the English language . They expected to get to know some new, creative, useful and meaningful ideas about how to learn and use English.

5) Do you have any experience with drama/theatre?

yes

no

If yes, please specify what ……………………………

Table 4: Drama experience of the participants

.

Most of the participants did not have any previous experience with drama. Two respondents stated that they had taken a semester course of theatre which was not practical at all and they did not like it. One student attended three months of unspecified theatre classes and the four students performed in three short school plays.

6 ) Do you know about these most common methods and techniques of drama ?

yes

no

If yes, which one:

drama games

role play

dramatized reading

interpretation of dialogues and texts

miming activities

improvisation

interviews/interrogations

still images/tableaux

soundtracking

definition of space

making maps

props, costumes, masks

diaries, letters, messages

other…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Note: Participants had the possibility to tick off as many items as held for their answer.

Table 5: Participants’ usage of common drama methods and techniques in practice.

Table 6 : Usage of particular drama methods and techniques.

Most of the participants did not use any of the most common drama methods and techniques in their own learning or practice However, according to those respondents who sometimes used them, the most used are certainly the most common ones – role plays, interpretations of texts and improvisations.

Exit questionnaire

1 ) Did this course fulfil your expectations?

yes, completely

yes, except for a few imperfections

partially

only little

not at all

Table 7 : Satisfaction with the fulfilment of participants’ expectations.

2 ) Do you think that this course was useful for you, that you gained some profit

from it?

yes

no

Please specify why: …………………………………………………………………….

Table 8: Participants’ view on the utility of the course .

All the participants stated they had really liked the course and that they would definitely find the way how to somehow use it in their own learning and practice . They all appreciated they had learnt some new ways oflearning English , especially in a dynamic and attractive way. One respondent wrote “It brought me different resources to work creatively, meaningfully and in a funny way in the target language “ . Another student said that she had learnt “how to experience English through drama”

3 ) Which methods and techniques of drama do you see as particularly valuable for learning English?

drama games

role play

dramatized reading

interpretation of dialogues and texts

miming activities

improvisation

interviews/interrogations

still images/tableaux

making maps

props, costumes, masks

diaries, letters, messages

soundtracking

definition of space

role on the wall

teacher in the role

mantle of the expert

a day in the life

hot-seating

voices in the head

alley of opinions

position on the scale

structured drama

other……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Note: Participants had the possibility to tick off as many items as held for their answer.

Table 9 : Participants’ view on the utility of particular methods and techniques.

The vast majority of participants stated they thought all the methods and techniques given were very useful for English language learning . However, we can observe a certain preference for the most commonly used conventions such as role play, interpretations of texts, dramatised reading or improvisations. The course attendants also highlighted the value of interviews and interrogations, particularly useful for learning foreign languages because they provide the natural need for asking and answering questions.

4 ) During your work / attendance on this course , what did you like most and why?

The answers to this question varied considerably. Almost each student liked something different. The majority of them liked most the role play because they were set into a realistic or context. The attendants liked the course because, it dealt with real and imaginary situations , it made them feel part of it, understand feelings of others and at the same time they had the opportunity to talk in English and create.

5 ) What did you like least and why?

Almost all participants responded that they liked the whole course very much so that they did not have an answer to this question. Two respondents wrote that acting out was difficult because they were shy and they had problems to be spontaneous. One of them, however, appreciated the fact that she had to overcome her shyness and that she gained more self-confidence. One student complained about working on the floor, although she understood why I had led the course this way.

6 ) What did you find the most difficult and why?

A few respondents stated they had problems with coming up with ideas quickly because they did not feel that creative and spontaneous. Some of them again mentioned miming and acting out because of the shyness with which they had to struggle. Two participants mentioned they had difficulties to get into agreement with other members of the team because they all had too many ideas and sometimes because of the level of English that was not corresponding to the anticipated knowledge. This problem clearly points to the significance of the ability to work in teams, which should be by means of drama supported in every class.

7) What would you like to change in this course ?

The large majority of the respondents answered that they would not change anything. They stated that this course provided them with a very nice way to practise English; one student said “Perfect, I learnt while I was having a great time”. One participant suggested using more music and interceded for not skipping the relaxation parts (which we were skipping only because of the lack of time).

8 ) How do you think you will use this experience in your own English usage and practice ?

All the participants responded they would use the experience somehow. Some would use the activities to practise speaking skills, to provide communicative activities and to establish good relationships in the classroom and nice working atmosphere. Three respondents also mentioned that they will be more creative and spontaneous in the future.

In both entry and exit questionnaire I included one identical question which is an important indicator of participants’ acquiring of some knowledge and familiarity with uncommon drama methods and techniques used in English language learning and use . It concerns the two following questions: .

9) Do you know these methods and techniques of drama (how they work, how they are used ?)

yes

no

If yes, which one:

soundtracking

definition of space

role on the wall

teacher in the role

still image

mantle of the expert

a day in the life

hot-seating

voices in the head

alley of opinions

position on the scale

structured drama

Note: Participants had the possibility to tick off as many items as held for their answer.

Table 10 : Participants’ knowledge of the drama methods and techniques.

The inquiry shows that before the course the large majority of the

participants were not familiar with most of the less commonly used methods and teccniques that can be exploited in the English language learning and use which

however, changed at the end of the course where all participants demonstrated considerable advancement in their knowledge of given dramatic conventions.

Table 11: Participants’ knowledge of particular drama methods and techniques.

The main objective of this course was to present the participants the methods and techniques of drama in the English language learning and use. . In this inquiry questions I concentrated on less commonly used conventions and from the answers we can see the significant change in respondents’ knowledge and familiarity of given conventions, their description, use and function in instruction. That is why I consider my principle goal of the course as accomplished.

CONCLUSION

The focus of my thesis has been to look at the use of drama in the learning-teaching experience and to show how drama can be used to develop both productive and receptive skills, as well as how it can contribute to the mastering of the language systems. Drama is generally connected with actors performing a play in front of the audience. In the context of the language learning drama is, however, focused on the students, providing them with deeper experience of the acquisition of the language. It gives an opportunity to use the foreign language in a natural and motivating way by helping students to develop their language skills in order to become competent users of the language.

Many aspects of the drama that one can see in the theatre are used for the benefit of learning the foreign language. Participants are engaged in meaningful conversations or activities, they are not static, but they are actively moving around the class. Their imagination and feelings are stimulated and the spontaneous use of language is encouraged. The outside world is brought into the classroom.

As far as the speaking skill is concerned, it can be relatively easily stimulated through the use of various activities based on drama techniques. The focal point can be diverse; it can either be targeted on fluency, pronunciation, stress or intonation. Drama provides framework for the practice and acquisition of the speaking language skill.

In respect to the learning of the writing skill, there are many opportunities that can arise from the use of drama. Among those, the most common and natural use belong to the writing of poetry, a story, a narrative, a play and of a role play. By their very nature, they can be easily used as a basis for further practice of the foreign language and for meaningful tasks that contribute to the development of the skills that students need.

Reading skills can be enhanced by texts directly linked to drama; these texts can also become a base for further dramatization. They provide a starting point for the practice of extensive or intensive reading. Similarly, listening needs to cover these two areas so that students will master them.

Changing a classroom into a different place provides an opportunity to practice a wide range of vocabulary in a variety of situations. Grammar can also be elicited and practiced through drama activities.

It is necessary to mention that the role of the teacher in introducing drama into the teaching is very important. Some students might find the use of drama challenging, especially when they are not used to such an approach. It is the teacher who should help them to overcome this stage. It can be done through meticulous preparation, proper introduction, encouragement and building the students’ confidence in the merits and the potential of the use of drama in developing their language skills.

As I have shown in all the four chapters of the work the dramatic text has a special status in dramatic literary territory, due to its two dimensional character . It belongs to both literature and theatre, is invested with all the attributes of both text literalness and an integral part of theatre performance. Dramatic literary existence must be explored by means of literary theory, but we must take into account the discursive and fictional dimensions of this kind of text. The dramatic text has a discoursive dimension which distinguishes it from other literary texts – epic and lyric .

The dual discoursive organization of the play is a direct consequence of the playwright's intention to guide the text for its reception, for its translation on the stage. In the play is not important only the linguistic code and message but also other signs belonging to different semiotic systems: mimicry, gesture, music, dance, setting costumes. All these things make the play and the performance spectacular.

Performing a play can be achieved in less formal context of school theatre clubs and gives the students and the teacher the chance to use the English language informally but efficiently.

In conclusion, the dramatic text has a great educational potential, for the English teacher who must be aware that the purpose of the study of the English language should not be only to inform children but also to form them that is why the dramatic text as a mirror of the world we live in , mediates the formation of a system of values, moral marks, urging the world's understanding and self knowledge.

Appendix 1

Syllabus for optional course – School Theater lo

Aurel Vlaicu Elementary School

School curriculum

School Theatre Club

The beautiful world of drama

CLASS: from 5th to 8th grade

Duration: 2 years

Proposal: prof. Andreea Cristina Stretcu

Duration: 2011-2012

2012/2013

ARGUMENT

Motto:

Theater and poetry are the ones that helped people to live and go on living .

(Vanessa Redgrave )

The study of theatre as an optional subject has a lot of advantages , because theatre aims the harmonious development of the whole personality, stimulating students' creativity and originality , their communicative competence , their correct interpersonal teamwork skills and not least, the learning through playing.

Including this activity in the school timetable is welcome and helps the students to get aware of their artistic potential, to discover and develop special skills, these things being more difficult to use in the context of the study of other school subjects..

The students will also have the opportunity to develop their cultural competence through reading activities of theatre plays belonging to valuable playwriters, and by watching theatre shows performed by professional actors. Such course enriches the students’ cognitive, cultural and emotional training and can create the premises for future theatrical art consumers.

The true importance of drama lies in the nature of the learning experience it affords the child. Through the imaginative engagement of the child’s intellectual, emotional and physical capacities he/she can be brought to new perceptions and new understanding. This is done through the experience of creating a drama text. It is in this act of creating the story that the educationally liberating power of the drama resides. The endless possibilities of fiction allow for the exploration of the unbounded range of human experience.

Furthermore, the improvisational nature of the exploration can give a spontaneous release to the child’s intuitions and a context that enables him/her to clarify and to express them. Through the enactment and the reflection on it—through adopting a character and empathising with it, and through interaction with other characters in the drama—the child finds a gateway to new experience, knowledge and understanding that no other learning experience provides.

GENERAL COMPETENCES

1. Development of oral communication skills

2. Development of cooperation capacity and team work

3. Development of self expression through artistic languages

4. Development of team spirit and competition

AIMS AND EXAMPLES OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES

1. Developing of oral communication competence

2. Developing of cooperation capacity and teamwork

3. Developing of self expression through artistic languages

5. Developing team spirit and competition

Bibliography :

John and Liz Soars , Headway Series, Oxford University Press , 2004

Sue Kay and Vaughan Jones, Inside out , Macmillan , 2006

Appendix 2

Some lessons plans of for some activities from the theatre club and lesson plans for some of the activities during the course :

Appendix 3

Activities for teaching grammar and literature using drama techniques and approach:

DRAMA IN TEACHING GRAMMAR

(1ST CONDITIONAL-THE FROG PRINCE)

When it comes to grammar, students usually frown and feel reluctant. They automatically assume it is going to be difficult to understand and boring to work with. I tried to persuade my lower intermediate students that that was not the case. I decided to teach the first conditional through drama and storytelling. So, my objectives were not only to practice first conditional and use if-sentences in context, but also to encourage socializing within the class and improve imagination and creativity.

The materials I brought to class were small posters, each with a single if-sentence written on it in large letters (“If I tell him the way to grandma’s house, he will eat her!”, “If I go to the ball, I will meet the handsome prince.”, “If you kiss me, I will give you the ball.”, “If we eat some of this gingerbread house, we won’t be hungry anymore.”), something to represent a magic wand and an imaginary frog!

During the warm-up I made use of the magic wand. Each object in the room could be turned into something magical using the wand. Each person used the wand to create something magical and mimed what it was to the other students.

Pre-drama phase involved “creating the frog”. I told them to imagine I had a very nice, friendly frog in my hand that even if it was imaginary, it behaved as if it had been real. I then invited them to describe it: what colour it was, how it felt, where it lived, what it did. After they “made friends” with the frog, I introduced the posters asking them to look at them and identify the story they came from.

The students practiced the structure while playing the game “jumping animals”. One student took the “frog” into his hands and sent it to another student saying: “If you kiss the frog, it will turn into…” (another animal); the latter caught the new animal and did the same: used the structure and changed the animal as he threw it to another student.

Further practice of first conditional was done in groups. Students were given some stories that they had to finish them using first conditional sentences with “if… will/won’t”.

Drama in teaching literature

(Romeo and Juliet)

One of the literary texts I taught by means of drama was “Romeo and Juliet”. I started from a literary text, but it basically was a drama lesson. The objectives I set up for the lesson were to make students show confidence in the understanding and speaking of Shakespearian language, to identify the dramatic possibilities of the text and show awareness both of the relationship of the play to their own experience and where attitudes and expectations expressed in the play are specific to Shakespeare’s time. The lesson was designed for upper intermediate students and planned for three periods. Materials prepared included music, paper, pencils, scissors, rubber bands, insult words sheets, copies of the Prologue and Act 1 Scene 5 (Romeo and Juliet’s sonnet).

During the warm-up phase I introduced students into the atmosphere by playing some music. In groups, they were asked to try to imagine a Verona street in the 16th century. What did the shops in the streets look like? What about the people? What were they wearing? What clothes were on fashion? Once they pictured that, I moved on to the pre-drama phase.

At this stage in the lesson I handed out copies of the Prologue and had the students read it silently. After that, we read the speech a line at a time and discussed and defined any words the students didn’t recognized. Next step was to read complete sentences and then paraphrase them into contemporary English. Finally, the task was to summarize the readings by identifying key ideas of the speech. I also asked them to look for the rhythm, rhyme, dominant images (number two), and synonyms (mutiny-rebellion).

The actual drama phase included activities in groups or with the entire class. One activity was choral reading of Prologue. Each group prepared their lines to read experimenting with rhythm, voice pitch, style, voice intensity and then presented them. For the next activity I made use of Shakespeare’s list of insults. The students found a good insult and shouted it at each other in a whole group work. The activity “meeting in the street” required two teams. Each team was supposed to invent their slogan to show how strong, violent, and scary they were, then meet each other in the street. Group One hissed while group Two shouted the slogan and group Two booed while group One shouted the slogan. At the signal of hand clapping, the students froze in action.

The reflection naturally followed. We discussed what happened, predicted what issues were going to be explored in the text, established the function of the prologue and elicited expectations it raised.

The “sonnet of love” activity was done in pairs. Pairs represented Romeo and Juliet at the ball. The students were asked to read sonnet “If I profane with my unworthiest hand” and follow the same procedure as with the prologue: divide de roles, add gestures, movement, search for intonation and emotion transfer behind the lines, deliver presentation and evaluate the work. They could also experiment with gender using masks since this had been used in Shakespeare’s time.

The final activity dealt with getting the story line. Students were asked to work in four groups with the following tasks: group A had to create short miming scenes that would follow the story of Romeo and Juliet: the fight in the street, Prince stopping it, the ball at the Capulets’, the balcony scene, all mimed with the narrator’s comments; group B had to create other short scenes: secret marriage in church, Mercutio and Benvolio’s party meet Tybald’s party, Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo comes and seeing it, kills Tybalt and the scene in which Romeo and Juliet have to say goodbye as Romeo is banished from Verona, and present them as if in a silent film production using written comments to show to the audience; group C was asked to create short scenes with dialogues presenting: the conflict between Juliet and her parents who decide she should marry Paris, Friar Lawrence gives Juliet the sleeping potion and Juliet is found “dead” and buried in the family tomb; and group D created short scenes in the form of still images, so that the audience guess what is happening in them: Romeo comes back to Verona to Juliet’s grave and drinks the poison, Juliet wakes up and seeing Romeo dead, she stabs herself with his knife and the Capulets and the Montagues end their “ancient strife” when seeing the disaster.

Calming down session consisted of reflection on all the activities done in terms of what they felt, what happened, what examples from other films, plays, books they made use of.

Appendix 4

Photos from the rehearsals or from the performances illustrating the little actors from the theatre club :

Rehearsals :

Appendix 5

The performance of the play written by one of the students from the theatre club called The Adventures of the Flying Shoes

and a sweet reward from the children’s parents :

Appendix 6

Performance of the play written by Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol

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DECLARAȚIE

Subsemnata Stretcu Andreea- Cristina, profesor de limba enggleză la Școala Gimnazială „Aurel Vlaicu”, Arad, candidat pentru susținerea probelor de obținere a gradului didactic I în învățământ, declar pe propria răspundere că:

lucrarea a fost elaborată personal și îmi aparține în întregime;

nu au fost folosite alte surse decât cele indicate în bibliografie;

nu au fost preluate texte, date sau elemente de grafică din alte lucrări sau din alte surse fără a fi citate și fără a fi precizată sursa preluării;

lucrarea nu a mai fost folosită în alte contexte de examen sau de concurs.

Arad, 25. 08. 2014 Stretcu Andreea Cristina