The Application of Drama in Primary School English Teaching文献综述

 2022-08-29 10:08

The Application of Drama in Primary School

English Teaching

Abstract

In recent years, there exist many controversies on English teaching. Lots of researchers have reflected the shortcomings in current primary and secondary school English teaching: the overemphasis on memorizing language symbols, linguistic rules, mechanical sentence drills, and the ignorance of the learnersrsquo; psychological characteristics and communication context in the process of internalizing knowledge. Itrsquo;s a crucial challenge and a major research topic for the primary and secondary English teachers to motivate studentsrsquo; interest in learning English, improve the effect of English teaching, and create a student-centered and well-interacted class atmosphere. In order to motivate primary school studentsrsquo; interest, some educators try to integrate drama into English teaching.

Keywords: drama, primary school, confidence, listening and speaking

1. Literature Review

1.1 The Notion of Drama

1.1.1 The Definition of Drama

Drama is an art form that explores human conflict and tension. It generally takes the form of a story presented to an audience through dialogue and action. The story is conveyed using the elements of the theater: acting, costumes, props, scenery, lighting, music, and sound. Drama has an emotional and intellectual impact on both the participants and audience members. It holds up a mirror for us to examine ourselves, deepening our understanding of human motivation and behavior. It broadens our perspective through stories that portray life from different points of view, culture, and time periods. Drama is made in groups, in another word, drama is a cooperative work. And applying drama in English class is a new mode of class teaching method, the distinct features are equal and open, which means both the teacher and students are equal in the class and they can communicate their ideas with others.

1.1.2 Major Forms of Applying Drama in English Class

As for applying drama in the class, we usually demand the teacher to guide the students to perform in various forms. We can apply to lots of drama strategies such as choral reading, role-play, improvisational performance, drama games, writing in role, story making, simulations etc. Students can create their abilities through their bodies, gestures, voices and attitudes.

According to Errington (1997), role-play is as designed learning activity targets to gain a particular educational aim which include role-taking, role-making and role-negotiation. Heathcote (1984) asserts that role-taking is very elastic when applied in language learning and teaching, and it is appropriate for all characteristics and teaching environments. Regarding to the above explanation, role-play activities require a setting in which learners and a purpose are depicted and they require participants to finish a task with spontaneous interaction (Sam, 1990). And according to Dougill (1987), simulation is an organized set of environments that reflect authentic life and learners act out within an organized framework. Jones (1980) states that the function of reality is a crucial notion in simulation. Simulations were originally used as a study technique in military and commercial training (Sam, 1990). In the ESL/EFL class, there is little difference between role-play and simulation because their characteristics and functions tend to overlap.

Choral reading means reading a target context according to different roles. Improvisational performance means without the previous preparation, the students should react to the stimulus and perform directly, the main purpose is to develop students spontaneity and the ability to instant performance. Drama games means that the teacher should take the studentsrsquo; needs, interests, age and other factor into consideration, and build a cooperative relationship based on the drama techniques. Radically, they all emphasis the process not the result. And considering the conditions of primary school students, we mainly talk about the listening and speaking ways of using drama.

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