Transcript Teaching English Through Drama for EFL Adult Learners

Teaching English Through Drama
for EFL Adult Learners
研究生:張瓊惠
報告人:陳姵豫
Introduction
 The primary goal of this study is to examine the effects of
teaching English through drama on EFL adult learners.
 How drama method affects EFL adult learners’ motivation,
self-confidence, English proficiency, stereotypes, peerinteraction, and teacher student-interaction in terms of
learning English was investigated.
Introduction
 The subjects were 76 third-grade students from continuing
education program of Chia-yi Senior High School in Chia-yi.
 The researcher administrated the pretest of English
learning survey before the teaching experiment. Then, the
teaching experiment of drama method was carried for ten
weeks. Therefore, the researcher administrated the posttest of English learning survey to see if any significant
difference existed.
Introduction
 The basic idea of it is that communicative ability
is the goal of foreign language learning.
 One of the implications is that a communicative
approach opens up a wider perspective on
language. Particularly, it makes us consider
language not only in terms of its structures
(grammar and vocabulary), but also in terms of
the communicative functions that it performs.
Introduction
 Another one of the implications is that a communicative
approach opens up a wider perspective on language learning.
They must also develop strategies for relating these structures to
their communicative functions in real situations and real time
(Brown, 2001).
 Drama activities can provide a framework in which students
have a real need to communicate. Second, drama activities
provide a bridge between classroom and the real world. Third,
they allow for creativity and involve the ‘whole person’.
Introduction
 Many of the EFL students in Taiwan are lack in confidence in their
oral ability since most of them seem to be reluctant to open their
mouths for English because of their fear in losing face when making
errors in grammar and pronunciation. Drama activities seem to be
one of the best methods to change the situation.
 How come a useful method appropriate only when adopted in
certain group age of learners instead of all?
 The researcher would like to attempt an experiment in the effects
of teaching English through drama activities on adult EFL learners.
Purposes of the Study
1. First, it aims to know adult learners’
characteristics on English learning.
2. Second, it attempts to find out how teaching
English through drama influence EFL adult
learners in the aspects of motivation, selfevaluation, and participation.
3. Third, it is to investigate the comments of EFL
adult learners towards drama activities.
4. Fourth, it intends to explore the subjects’
difficulties about English learning.
Research Questions
1. How does teaching through drama affect EFL adult learners’
learning motivation, self-evaluation, and participation in the
aspects of learning English?
2. What are the responses of EFL adult learners towards learning
English through drama?
3. What are the difficulties of EFL adult learners in terms of learning
English through drama?
Teaching English through Drama
 Teaching English through drama refers to the situation that
teachers teach English through drama activities in English
as a foreign language (EFL) classroom (Su, 1992).
 In this study, play reading, play-acting, and stage
performance are principal activities in the classroom,
which are named play-acting activities.
Limitations of the Study
1. the target population to be generalized should
include all adult learners in continuing education
in Taiwan since this study aims to explore the
effects of English teaching through drama
activities on adult learners in Taiwan. However,
due to economic and regional considerations, the
subjects in the study are restricted to the
students in the continuing education program of
a senior high school in Chia-yi.
Limitations of the Study
2. two self-reported questionnaires are used
to collect the data in this study. The
subjects may not completely answer the
questions according to their authentic
situation.
3. more studies can be further explored in
this field.
LITERATURE REVIEW
 language teachers should create an environment where
acquisition can take place if they regard the development
of communicative competence as their objective in the
classroom (Krashen 1981; Krashen and Terrell, 1983; Su,
1992).
 Kashen’s “Affective Filter Hypothesis” indicates that low
anxiety, high motivation, and more self-esteem and selfconfidence help promote second language acquisition
(Kashen, 1981; Krashen and Terrell, 1983; Su, 1992).
LITERATURE REVIEW
 In fact, not only does the drama itself provide “real” situations
and require accurate responses, as Via (1975: 167-169)
mentioned, but the necessity for close cooperation among
actors and stage personnel further enforces a dependence on
the foreign language for successful communication.
 This feeling of confidence eventually extends to improvisational
situations where the students is actually expressing more of his
own personality than he would ever dare do in an ordinary
conversational situation (Via, 1975: 167-169).
LITERATURE REVIEW
 As Bolton (1984) stated, the New Education
movement that started in the 1870s first
introduced dramatic activity into classrooms.
 Via indicates that we could have been
seeing a number of papers and workshops
on drama at most language conferences and
finding an increasing number of books
dealing with drama and drama activities for
language learning since the middle of 1980s.
LITERATURE REVIEW
 Hwung (1993), students will be better motivated if the
chosen theme in a play reflects their experiences and
current need.
 Sharim-Paz (1976) brings up, the student-teachers gain
much encouragement from the dialogues and
improvisations they do in the class, and people have seen
how powerfully their interest and enjoyment motivate
them to develop their language skills.
METHODOLOGY
Subjects
 The subjects of this study consisted of
76 third-grade students in Continuing
Education program of Chia-yi Senior
High School (CYSH), including 37
female students and 39 male
students.
 The average of their ages was 28.4.
 English is a required course and takes
four classes per week.
METHODOLOGY
Subjects
 The students’ English proficiency in this study was quite limited
for several main reasons:
1) most of them were academically low-achievers while in junior
high school,
2) some of them had quit school so long that they rarely
remembered what they’d learned in junior high,
3) most of them are working during the day; therefore, they have
difficulty in time-consuming subjects.
Methodology
Instruments
 Instruments in this study included
(1) English Learning Survey – the pretest and
(2) English Learning Survey – the post-test.
 Besides, the Chinese version of both surveys
was designed in order to be read easily and
to eliminate students’ misunderstanding of
the item statements.
English Learning Survey (ELS) -- Pretest
 Based on Lin’s (2001) Pre-Drama Survey, Chang and Su’s
(2000) questionnaire on the study of English oral
performance, Lu’s (1992) questionnaire on learning
motivation, Chang’s (2000) survey on adult learners, and
Yang’s (1995) survey on the students of continuing
education program, the ELS accommodated two sections
(Appendix C).
English Learning Survey (ELS) -- Pretest
English Learning Survey (ELS) -- Pretest
 Besides, the purpose of using section two of ELS in this
study was an attempt to obtain the subjects’ past English
learning experience on English learning. questions were
placed on this section of the questionnaire to poll students’
1>motivation of learning English, 2>self-evaluation on
English learning, and 3>participation in English learning.
English Learning Survey (ELS) -- Pretest
 Table 3.1 displayed the distribution of the issues in the
items.
English Learning Survey – Post-test (ELS--Post)
 The ELS--Post (Appendix F) included three sections. doublecheck the gender and age of all subjects. Section one aimed to
Section two are 25 five-point scale Comments were items which
are correspondence with section two in ELS—Pre. also invited at
section three of the questionnaire.
English Learning Survey – Post-test (ELS--Post)
Procedure
Data Analysis
 All the data collected in this study were analyzed in two types,
including the qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis
 Qualitative Analysis:
The data obtained from the open-ended questions in post-test of
ELS were transcribed and translated into English to find out the
answers to the research questions. From this qualitative analysis,
the researcher could have a better understanding to the impacts of
the English drama program on English learning for adult students in
continuing education program of senior high school.
Data Analysis
 Quantitative Analysis:
1. The first data was from part one of pretest, covering the
background information of the target subjects of this study. The
answers to the multiple-choice questions were calculated by
frequency, percentage, and then ranked.
2. part two of Pretest, including students’ past learning motivations,
self-evaluation, and participation toward English learning. The
students’ answers were calculated according to the five-point scale.
3. The third dada was from the answers to the 25 items in Post-test.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Motivation
 It is obvious that the subjects
consented that English speaking
and listening abilities are
important to a much larger extent
after learning English through
drama activities.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Motivation
 It is obvious that the subjects
consented that English speaking
and listening abilities are
important to a much larger extent
after learning English through
drama activities.
Self-evaluation
Self-evaluation
Participation
Participation
Comments
on Teaching
English
through
Drama
Activities
Comments
on Teaching
English
through
Drama
Activities
1.
The results in Table 4.26 showed that most subjects
enjoyed learning English through drama activities since
dramatic games and performances added fun and variety
to the routine curriculum. This mirrored what many
researchers (Via, 1976; Cole, 1998) proclaimed that
drama activities in English class could provide students
with a relaxing classroom atmosphere to facilitate
language learning.
2.
Teaching English through drama activities could bring joy
and add variety to the language class.
The Subjects’ Difficulties in English Learning
The Subjects’ Difficulties in English Learning
1.
Many of them, such as poor memorization, no good English foundation in the
past, and poor pronunciation, were related with age or maturational
constraints.
2.
Last but not least, minimal exposure to the target language was another
noticeable obstacle to the subjects. This was supported by some researches
that adult EFL learners in general are poor at spoken English, especially
regarding fluency and control of expressions (Shumin, 1997).
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICAIONS
Summary of the Study Major Findings
 The responses of EFL adult learners toward learning English
through drama were mainly positive in terms of adding fun to
English class, increasing friendships among peers, and developing
listening and speaking abilities in English. However, some stated
that drama activities were too time-consuming.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICAIONS
Summary of the Study Major Findings
 The difficulties of EFL adult learners in terms of learning English
included weak English foundation in the past, poor memorization,
poor pronunciation, and little exposure to English. These results
also support previous studies and theories that adult learners
indeed have certain constrains in language learning (Ponterotto,
1992; Shumin, 1997).
Suggestions for Further Research
 In order to have a better understanding of related topics, future
researchers may take the following suggestions into account.
 Future studies are suggested to adopt multiple methods, such as
interview, observation and record, survey or diary, to obtain more
detailed, abundant and explicit information.
Suggestions for Further Research
 Since the subjects have various backgrounds, it is also meaningful
and valuable o investigate the other dependent variables, such as
classroom atmosphere and students’ family support.
 The issue of drama teaching and EFL adult learners is complex, and
there is little research on this aspect in Taiwan. There is clearly a
need for much further research on drama teaching in EFL adults.