Teaching Principles of Education and Discourse Analysis of Teaching Drama

1. "YOU HAVE TO LIVE IN ORDER TO
ACT AND WHAT YOU PUT INTO
YOUR PERFORMANCE IS WHAT
YOU'VE LEARNED FROM LIFE."
- PEGGY ASHCROFT

2. TEACHERS ANY INSIGHTS ABOUT THE
SITUATIONS BELOW?
A history teacher greets the class dressed as William Churchill and begins to lead them
through a guided improvisation in which they discuss battle tactics for World War II.
A home economics teacher begins a unit on cooking by having students pretend to be
chefs on a television show.
A mathematics teacher begins a unit on binomial probability by having students create
short scenes and give the probability of the outcome.
An elementary school teacher begins the days lesson by leading the class through an
improvisation activity involving the characters from The Sky is Falling.

3. ALL OF THESE TEACHERS HAVE DONE SOMETHING IN
COMMON: THEY'VE FOUND BASIC WAYS OF TEACHING
THAT INTEGRATE DRAMA INTO THEIR LESSON PLANS.

4. HOW CAN WE AS EDUCATORS CAN BEST
ADDRESS DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES AND
MODALITIES WITHIN OUR CLASSROOMS, AND
HOW DOES DRAMA AFFECT THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE STUDENT?

5. THEATRE
DRAMA
Stage Classroom, Playing Area, Space
Scenery Environment, Setting
Actors Students, Participants, Players, Teacher-in-Role
Director Teacher, Leader, Facilitator, Artist-Teacher
Play Script Scenario, Story, Material, Idea
Rehearse Practice, Work On, Experiment With, Explore
Perform Share, Show, Play Out, Dramatize, Improvise
Audience Observers, Peers
Critique Assess, Discuss, Reflect
PRODUCT PROCESS

6. PRINCIPLES IN
TEACHING
DRAMA

7. 1. STUDENTS SHOULD KNOW (AND
REHEARSE) PROCEDURES FOR WORK.

8. 2. BEGIN A SESSION WITH THREE RULES: SCHOOL
RULES AND POLICIES ARE STILL IN EFFECT, BE
RESPECTFUL, AND FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.

9. 3.WHAT EVER IS SAID IN A
SCENE, GOES.

10. 4. IT IS OFTEN NECESSARY TO FRONT
LOAD STUDENTS BEFORE BEGINNING A
PROJECT.

11. 5. FIND A WAY TO SEGUE FROM THE NORMAL
CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT TO THE DRAMA TIME.

12. 6.WARM UPS ARE A VALUABLE TOOL FOR
FOCUSING A CLASS, QUICKLYASSESSING SKILLS,
AND PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE DAY'S
ACTIVITIES.

13. 7.FIND OUT WHEN YOUR STUDENTS ARE
THE MOST ATTENTIVE TO DRAMA
ACTIVITIES.

14. 8.STUDENTS CAN WORK FROM THEIR
DESKS, OR YOU MAY FIND IT USEFUL TO
PUSH THE DESKS OUT OF THE WAY.

15. THE FOLLOWING ARE THE
BASIC STEPS YOU SHOULD
USE IN WRITING YOUR
LESSON PLAN:

16. 1. DECIDE ON THE OBJECTIVE OF
THE LESSON. WHAT ARE THE
ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL GOALS
FOR THE CLASS? WHAT DO YOU
WANT THEM TO LEARN?

17. 2. PICK A GENERAL
FORMAT FOR THE
LESSON. WILL YOU USE A
STORY, AN
IMPROVISATIONAL
SCENE, SMALL GROUP
WORK? HOW WILL
STUDENTS WORK IN THE
SESSION?

18. 3. HOW MUCH TIME DO
YOU HAVE, AND WHAT
DOES YOUR WORK
SPACE LOOK LIKE?

19. 4. BEGIN TO STRUCTURE THE
SESSION ON ACTIVITIES THAT
YOU ARE COMFORTABLE
LEADING. ALLOW TIME TO STOP
ACTIVITIES IF THEY GET OUT OF
CONTROL, AND EXTRA
ACTIVITIES IN CASE YOU COME
UP SHORT OR END UP SKIPPING
PART OF WHAT YOU HAVE
PLANNED.

20. 5. WRITE THIS ALL DOWN,
LIKE YOU WOULD ANY
LESSON PLAN. HOW
SPECIFIC YOU ARE,
DEPENDS ON YOU AS A
TEACHER.

21. 6. DECIDE HOW YOU WILL ASSESS
THE STUDENTS. FOR SOME SUBJECTS
A TRADITIONAL TEST AT THE END
MAY WORK JUST FINE, BUT FOR
OTHER DRAMAACTIVITIES YOU MAY
FIND YOURSELF NEEDED TO ASSESS
THE STUDENTS THROUGH
OBSERVATION, JOURNALING,
VIDEOTAPING, DISCUSSION TIME, OR
ANY OTHER FORMAT.

22. 7. HAVE FUN! DRAMA IS NOT PLAY, BUT NOR
SHOULD IT BE DOGGED AND BORING. ENJOY
THE TIME WITH THE CLASS, AND KEEP THINGS
MOVING AT A PACE THAT WILL INTEREST THE
STUDENT. AVOID BECOMING BOGGED DOWN
IN THE LESSON. IF YOU COME ACROSS AN
ACTIVITY THAT THE STUDENTS JUST AREN'T
GETTING, FEEL FREE TO MOVE ON RATHER
THEN LET THAT BREAK THE FLOW OF YOUR
LESSON.

23. REFERENCES:
Brown, Victoria & Pleydell, Sarah. (1999) The Dramatic
Difference. Portsmouth:Heinemann
McDevitt, Teresa M. and Jeanne Ellis Ormrod. (2002) Child
development and Education. New Jersey: Pearson Education,
Inc.
Saldaña, Johnny. (1995) Drama of Color. Portsmouth:
Heinemann.
Recommended readings for both beginning and advanced teachers in the
field of drama:
Grady, Sharon. (2000) Drama and Diversity. Portsmouth:
Heinemann.Heinig, Ruth Beall
(1992) Improvisation with Favorite Tales. Portsmouth:
Heinemann.Neelands, Jonothan &
Goode, Tony. (2000) Structuring Drama Work. Cambridge: Press
Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.

24. DISCOURSE
The terms ‘discourse’ and ‘text’ are often interchangeable (see
Nunan, 1993; Stubbs, 1989). However, some linguists
emphasize ‘language in context’ to refer to discourse.
Discourse: - A continuous stretch of (esp spoken) language
larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit,
such as a sermon, argument, joke or narrative. (C 1992 2 )
(Crystal 1992: 25) - Stretches of language perceived to be
meaningful, unified, and purposive. (Cook 1989: 156) - The
interpretation of the communicative event in context (Nunan
The interpretation of the communicative event in context.
(Nunan, 1993: 6

25. TEXT:
• - A piece of naturally occurring spoken , written, or signed
discourse identified for purposes of analysis. It is often a
language unit with a definable communication function,
such ti t (C t l 1992 72) h as a conversation, a poster.
(Crystal, 1992: 72) - A stretch of language interpreted
formally, without context. (Cook, 1989: 158) - Any written
record of a communicative event. The event itself may
involve oral language (ex: a sermon, a casual conversation,
a shopping transaction) or written language (ex: a poem a
newspaper advs a wall poster a shopping (ex: a poem, a
newspaper advs, a wall poster, a shopping list, a novel)
(Nunan, 1993: 6

26. TEXT VS DISCOURSE
• Like Vincent d’Indy, a disciple of
Cesar Frank, Chausson shares with
them a dreamy, even idle poetry,
sumptuous but precise
orchestration, and an energy that is
intimate rather than powerful,
ascetic rather than importunate.
(Mordden 1980: 292)
• This morning Associate Professor Dean
Wolfe will talk about the science of
music at half-past eleven, and we’ll
hear some fascinating things such as
mucisians playing music backwards –
but most of it will be played forwards!
(Nunan, p. 10

27. • “Drama, by its very nature as a creative force,
demands a different sort of discourse from both
teacher and pupils in the classroom” (Carroll, 1988)

28. DISCOURSE IN TEACHING DRAMA
• In the 1970s and 1980s John Carroll published three papers concerned with analysing talk
in drama classrooms. It was Carroll's belief that “Drama, by its very nature as a creative
force, demands a different sort of discourse from both teacher and pupils in the classroom”
(Carroll, 1988). According to Carroll, the act of role-taking in the classroom is central to this.
Carroll used socio-linguistic analysis to discuss the particular way in which role-taking
affects classroom dynamics and the effect drama has on student learning.

29. DISCOURSE
ANALYSIS
a. The linguistic analysis of naturally occurring
connected spoken or written discourse connected
spoken or written discourse
b. Attempts to study the organization of lan g g ua ge
above the sentence or above the clause, and therefore
to study larger linguistic units, such as conversational
exchanges or written texts written texts
c. The study of language in use in social contexts, and
in particular with interaction or dialogue between
speakers
-Stubbs (1989: 1)

30. WHY
DISCOURSE
ANALYSIS?
Language, action, knowledge and situation are
inseparable
Austin (1955): language performs actions (ex: Austin
(1955): language performs actions (ex: apologizing,
threatening, naming, complaining, promising, etc)
We require knowledge of what speech act is being
performed in what speech event
Language is not to be taken literally; different actions
or social situations produce different language

31. REFERENCES:
• Discourse Analysis and the Analysis of Drama1 | Applied Linguistics | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
• Discourse in drama: Talk, role, and learning in drama education: NJ: Vol 37, No 1 (tandfonline.com)