드라마로 하는 영어교육에 대한 연구 : 평가와 적용
A Study of Drama as ESL Methodology: Reassessment and Application*¹⁾

김진나 이보경(한국카톨릭대학교)
Jinna Kim and Bokyung Lee

The Catholic University of Korea

I. Introduction

Wessels가 쓴 [Drama]란 제목의 책 서문은 중국의 옛 속담을 인용하면서 시작된다.
The introduction to Wessels' book entitled Drama begins by quoting an old Chinese proverb:

I hear and I forget,

I listen and I remember,

I do and I understand. (7)

In these few lines lies a succinct truth: that action, the act of doing, is the key to genuine understanding. And indeed, drama is action. It is this direct, hands-on experience which imbues rich meaning to learning. In the study of literature, real insight into a work is achieved when a student learns to empathize with different temporal, cultural and personal backgrounds, thereby truly assimilating and interpreting, rather than merely coming into superficial contact with the text. Regrettably and too often, however, "Students are rarely allowed to view a text as anything but an abstract, flat piece of printed matter, isolated from and irrelevant to their lives. Thus they never really enter into the text or believe in the character's lives and motivations" (Wessels 93). Indeed, the duty of the teacher of literature is in most part accomplished when he can aid the student to accept imaginatively that the characters in a work are real, live people, and the situations and issues arising in a literary work are pertinent to the student's own life. Acting is one means of facilitating this learning task, for through acting, the student is required to feel and think and do as his given role dictates: he must become the character in that set situation. Thus drama, the art of acting, is an efficient, effective means to helping students achieve a deeper level of insight and truly assimilate works of literature.

The same has been seen to hold true by methods such as the Total Physical Response Method¹⁾ for the field of language learning: the act of doing apparently facilitates language learning by reinforcing meaningful input through physical action. When the two disciplines of literature and language learning are considered separately, few will dispute that action and acting are effective means of promoting learning. But when asked to consider the two related, yet distinctive, fields of literature and language learning collectively as a means to heightening learning efficiency, the question arises as to the justification for the merging of these two fields.

The first reason for this merger lies in the fact that the study of a language as a means of communication implicitly calls for an understanding of the culture of the target language. This is to say that unless one is studying a language for purely linguistic motives rather than for communication purposes, such proposed by the Grammar-Translation Approach,²⁾ one is required to comprehend the cultural background to a language in order to arrive at a complete understanding of the nuances, vocabulary, and idioms used in that language. This need to understand a culture explains the use of literature in language learning because literature is perhaps the most viable means to assimilating a culture: “No area of the school curriculum is more closely linked to culture than literature. Novels, stories, and poems reflect and illuminate social settings, people, values, and traditions of a cultural milieu” (Chamot 288).

The second reason for using literature as a means to language learning is that it is an abundant store of linguistic forms and usages: “Teachers [at the upper-intermediate and advanced levels] . . . realize the importance of teaching their students the subtleties of English idiom and register, and literature is a rich source of these features” (Wessels 93). Through the study of literature, students are exposed to many levels and diverse forms of language interpreted through a myriad of literary voices, and can explore how the language has changed or developed over the centuries.

Even though the fact that the study of literature is a valuable benefit to the process of language learning can be so justified, the issue is raised as to how drama, among the literary genres, can be specifically stipulated as the most suitable vehicle to adopt into the language learning procedure. Since it has been noted that “In the teaching situation it is the methods used, more than any other factor, that determine the results achieved” (Prator 17), this paper aims to show that among the diverse methodologies used in the EFL classroom, drama provides unique benefits which justify its place as part of the language learning curriculum. Theoretically, drama adapts and encompasses the basic premises of diverse major language learning approaches. Practically, it answers the linguistic, academic, and psychological needs of both the EFL student and teacher. The next portion of this paper will then first, reilluminate how drama can function as a theoretically eclectic and practically adaptable means to effective language acquisition, and secondly, offer a suggestion for the practical implementation of drama into the EFL classroom, with a focus on the Korean context. In short, this paper will investigate how drama is an ideal solution to the needs of both the EFL student and teacher.

II. Drama as an optimum means to language acquisition

Much as the history of such diverse and disparate fields as art, politics, literature and science have witnessed, an overview of the history of language learning theory also evidences exorbitant swings from one extreme to another, with the popular trend in vogue generally being a radical reaction against the rationale of the antecedent approach: “Unlike the prophets of the Bible . . . these prophets of the language teaching profession have developed no coherent body of doctrine; indeed, their dominant ideas are to some extent mutually exclusive” (Prator 12). This diversity of and disparity among language learning theories has led to only one judicious conclusion - that various methods which borrow from an assortment of theories should be adopted to create a well-balanced approach to language learning:

Unbiased observation suggests there is not yet a single, comprehensive formula or a known body of principles which, if followed, can satisfy all tastes and assure uniform success for all teachers and learners. More attractive to most members of the language teaching profession has been the soft-spoken, pragmatic eclectic who advises that teaching is an art, not a science; one must just take the best of all approaches, the techniques and ideas and strategies found to be most congenial, and blend them into a workable formula that suits the realities of the particular teaching situation. (Blair 23)

Each language learning pedagogy professes its own grounds for justification; the issue, however, is that not every approach has been proven consistently and equally successful in every learning situation. This inconsistency of success stems from the fact that each learner, each teacher, and each learning context is necessarily unique, and thereby, the human dynamics that affect a learning situation are likewise unpredictable. What has made it possible for theories which were recently widely popular to be so easily confuted and/or simply dismissed, either through the passage of time or as a result of subsequent research, is that in language learning, the human element - in all its unpredictability and inconsistency - is so pivotal and pervasive on both sides of the learning table. Unlike in scientific experimentation, where most variables can be controlled, each experiment and situation in language learning is necessarily novel and unique as a result of the interpersonal synergy created by inconstant and erratic human variables.

A curriculum which allows for free adaptation of diverse language learning approaches, or any part thereof, is perhaps the only conclusion that can be made at this point addressing the issue of how to teach students to learn a new language most efficiently. And indeed, drama is a theoretically integrated method which incorporates components of diverse language learning approaches. In addition, there are four other significant reasons which support the specific use of drama in language learning: drama 1) presents the most faithful reflection of culture; 2) it allows for exposure to genuine, true-to-life language through assimilation of the text; 3) it offers opportunity for the study of separate language components; and 4) it promotes the natural acquisition of genuine language skills during the course of rehearsing and staging a dramatic work.

Firstly, then, if literature is seen as an ideal, but generic, means to understanding a culture, then drama, specifically, is the most effective among the literary genres in offering a realistic and faithful portrayal of that culture, since as Stephen Greenblatt has asserted, “Drama and fiction tend to be popular accounts of cultural and social problems, so they are the most interesting subjects for cultural analysis; and certain sorts of work - such as those explicitly designed to praise or blame in an overtly social context - yield the best results to such analysis. A cultural approach to literature assumes beforehand that a work exists most interestingly as a part of a social context” (Holman 123). Together with the audio-visual aids of setting, costume, lighting and sound effects, drama vividly presents this social context, both tangibly and imaginatively.

Secondly, study of the dramatic text, when selected from a contemporary canon, is the most effective means among the four genres of literature by which to assimilate modern, communicative language, since “In a good play the dialogue will be accurate and natural. It will be the way people talk. We don't talk in pattern practices and drills. We talk in ideas. We talk with emotion. We talk with feeling - and we must learn to add this to the words if we are going to have true communication” (Via 159). Any respectable modern dramatic text will reflect realistic verbal discourse, as opposed to the often stilted and artificial language presented in coursebook texts. A more encompassing view of communication involves not only linguistics, but places importance on non-verbal meanings (present in gestures and expressions), as well as on the element of human dynamics. Drama, through its presentation of human relationships, verbal dialogue, physical movements, and facial expressions, can be seen as the most complete, conglomerate means to language acquisition:

Genuine communication, first of all, involves speaking to another person, but not in the tidy A/B/A/B sequence that we see in typical coursebook dialogues . . . Secondly, our emotions are involved . . . Relationships will in turn be affected by the status of each individual speaking . . . and finally, there is ‘body language’ - facial expressions, gestures, the position of our limbs, and non-verbal sounds, which can be as eloquent as words. (Wessels 11)

Since the text takes the form of the written word, from a theoretical standpoint, study and comprehension of a dramatic work necessarily includes reading comprehension in the initial stage of the drama project, thereby enlisting the Reading Approach as well as the Grammar-Translation Approach. Later on, as the drama project gets further under way, it involves other diverse theories of learning and language learning: Skinner’s behaviorism and its correlated Audio-lingual Approach³⁾ become predominant, with habit-forming conditioning taking place as a result of repeated rehearsals and practices. Mistakes during rehearsals are constantly and strictly regimented, typical of the Audio-lingual Approach. In addition, the related Situational Approach⁴⁾ is also applicable, since certain dialogues from specific, life-like situations are practiced and put to rote memory.

Thirdly, if a drama text allows for exposure to a language in its totality as it is used in real life, it also provides opportunity for the individual study of separate components of a language. Grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and intonation are some of the possible target areas of language learning through drama. Through reading comprehension, students are naturally exposed to syntactical forms and thereby assimilate grammatical structures and rules governing the target language, a rule-based learning strategy endorsed by the Cognitive Approach.⁵⁾ Students not only come into contact with new words and usages, they are given the opportunity to witness that certain words can have multi-dimensional levels of meaning. Concerning the components of pronunciation and intonation, Stephen Smith has asserted that “The fact is that vocal flexibility is the result of experience, lots of practice, and attention to many small, but important, factors that many people are not aware of or do not care about. Posture is one. Breathing is another . . . If our breathing is more under control, then so are our voices” (Wessels 62). The relatively mechanical breathing, elocution, and delivery exercises that precede virtually any dramatic rehearsal or performance function to focus on those important factors mentioned above, such as posture and breathing, thereby promoting vocal flexibility. A natural result of increased vocal flexibility will be improved articulation and pronunciation. With repeated experimentation and practice in presenting their lines, student actors will be able to discover that certain accents and emphases create different meanings and moods. The outcome of this process, which reflects the precepts of The Silent Way method,⁶⁾ will be the acquisition of a natural rhythm and intonation of the target language.

Fourthly, while the text of the drama itself offers the above advantages to a more structured, formal language learning centered around the work, the situation surrounding the actual production of the drama allows for a more natural acquisition of communicative, rather than text-oriented, language. If, as in the Via Method,⁷⁾ the target language is used as the primary means of communication while planning, rehearsing and producing a drama, then it is this direct, experiential practice in the target language that promotes the natural acquisition of that language.⁸⁾ The language learner will assimilate, at most times unintentionally and through trial-and-error, the means by which to communicate while solving the task at hand, namely the drama production, thus reflecting the precepts of the Task-Solving Approach.⁹⁾ Simultaneously, this situation advocates both the natural acquisition procedure in language learning as asserted by the Comprehension-Based Approach.¹⁰⁾ Taking the student's relatively limited verbal fluency into account, the majority of the verbal input at the beginning of the learning procedure will come inevitably from the instructor, who in the target language will explain and interpret the work and offer directions and guidance in the initial stages of the drama production. This focus on the aural skills of the student indicates the adoption of the Comprehension-Based Approach, while the constant and significant input of the instructor reflects Krashen's theory of natural language acquisition:

Krashen saw language acquisition as being very bound up with the nature of the language input which the students receive. Input is a term used to mean the language that the students hear or read . . . the input should be at a slightly higher level than the students are capable of using, but at a level that they are capable of understanding. Krashen called the use of such language to students “rough tuning.” (Harmer 33)

The logic belying Krashen’s concept of rough tuning was that if the language learner were constantly exposed to a level of language above his level of production, then the learner would receive “roughly-tuned” input, which would first be assimilated “in the rough” and subsequently “finely tuned” and improved upon to produce accurate verbal communication. With the repetition of this process, the language learner would eventually acquire an accurate fluency in the target language. This repeated procedure of rough and fine tuning is in actuality what happens during the drama project, as students are constantly required to listen to and comprehend the instructions and explanations of the director-instructor and subsequently to communicate with their fellow peers. Through ongoing practice and continued reinforcement, what begins as faltering and faulty attempts at verbal communication will result, asserts Krashen, in increasingly accurate and fluent genuine communication.

Whereas mistakes stemming from the erroneous delivery of rote-memorized lines are duly corrected in the drama project, imperfect delivery of genuine communication during the production process is considered inevitable, and is therefore condoned. Thus, the Affective-Humanistic Approach¹¹⁾ is strongly functional during the actual production stages of a drama project, as asserted in a study by Susan L. Stern, which positively concluded that drama functions to reinforce certain psychological factors in the participant which facilitate communication: heightened self-esteem, motivation, and spontaneity, increased capacity for empathy, and lowered sensitivity to rejection.

Several reasons support this assertion that the emotional well-being of both the student and the instructor is maintained and heightened during the drama project. Above all, the drama project offers the members of the learning community a chance to work together, reflective of the Counseling-Learning Community Language Learning method¹²⁾: they all share the single purpose of successfully staging a dramatic work, thereby enlisting a sense of belonging and unity among all the individuals involved. Next, the adoption of a dramatic character allows anonymity or immunity on the part of the student, who can literally “become” another person, thus relieving him of the psychological fear of failure. Any student, regardless of talent, personality type or level of language skills, can achieve success through repeated practice:

Students benefit psychologically from their involvement in a drama project. Rehearsing and performing a play in a target language improves the students’ sense of confidence and self-esteem as learners, and this in its turn should increase their motivation with respect to acquiring the target language. (Wessels 13)

Lastly, on the part of the teacher, the drama project allows for a breakaway from a strictly traditional learning situation, wherein the instructor is primarily responsible for providing all the resources and stimuli for the learning; by placing the focus on the student, the instructor is relieved of the pressure of traditional lecture-style classes.

Not only does the drama project offer emotional advantages to the individuals involved, several practical benefits can also be reaped. Most importantly, it generates the need to speak, thereby providing the necessary motivation for language learning. Students are encouraged to become active participants and to provide most of the language needed in the class:

The students are on stage, quite literally, and the teacher is in the background, where he should be, acting as coach, guide, encourager - anything but the center of attention. Thus the responsibility for communication rests completely with the student, a role that he begins to fill far faster than if he were a passive member of an audience. (Cammack 169)

The drama project thus allows, or rather requires, that language learners become active agents of their learning process, and it is indeed when learners can take active and voluntary responsibility for their learning that language acquisition can take place most effectively. As for the teacher, having an existing text and a stipulated task reduces the work load considerably. Not only does the text provide an established base from which to teach, it also offers numerous opportunities for expansion activities in all the four skills. For example, the text can be adapted into discussion sessions, creative writing, dramatic readings, and so forth:

Drama is a marvellously flexible technique that can fit into any area of the timetable. It requires no major adjustments on the part of the teacher. It does not even demand that teachers should change the materials they are presenting. But it will help to bring the materials to life, by infusing the lifeless print with the feelings, imaginations, and thoughts of the learners, who become active participants in the learning process. (Wessels 10)

The liberated atmosphere of the atypical class can function to diminish the stereotypical, and hence segregated, role of the teacher. It also solves the problem that many language teachers face in a class of students of differing levels of language skills and personality traits, because more prominent roles can be assigned to the more extroverted and confident.

Despite the above-listed merits of the use of drama in the language learning classroom, it still remains true that many teachers, especially the unassured and the conservative, are reluctant to adopt this innovative method. It may appear challenging to the inexperienced teacher, and not without reason: the teacher, while having transferred the responsibility of learning to the students, must nevertheless constantly supply stimuli to keep the class animated. But the resulting mutual rapport and interpersonal relationships created with the students and the constant intellectual challenge of keeping the class motivated are the ultimate, priceless benefits. Though it may appear frivolous to the more conventionally-minded, the drama project is in actuality a serious task, requiring much planning and significant effort. However, it also gives all the participants an opportunity to enjoy themselves while learning, to have fun while tackling a task. But perhaps the most persuasive justification for the use of drama in the language learning classroom is that it works: “A drama project can guarantee that within six weeks those involved will be able to use the words of the play not only during rehearsals, but spontaneously at other times as well” (Wessels 111).

III. A Suggestion for the Implementation of a Dramatic Text into the EFL Classroom: Focusing on the Korean Context

The above discussion has proven, hopefully beyond a doubt, that drama is an ideal means through which the English language can be taught. In summary and as reminder,

Virtually no language-learning text can meet the quality requirements of a good play for accuracy and naturalness of dialogue, cultural verity, sequential logic, and dramatic interest. The absence of orderly presentation of simple-to-complex structures would appear to be no major disadvantage - and even in the best of texts this is not always achieved. Limited vocabulary is a natural function of the play's length and (if the play has been appropriately selected) will tend to emphasize high-frequency items. (Cammack 168) 

While all kinds of drama can, theoretically, be applied generically to the EFL classroom, it is nevertheless strongly recommended to keep several selective factors in mind while designating a text, so as to ensure optimum results. The work should be written in contemporary English, so as to function as a true reflection of genuine, everyday speech. Hence, the store of vocabulary provided by that text should be diverse, plentiful, and realistic, avoiding the pedantic and the archaic. Slice-of-life phrases, including slang, are desirable. It should include a significant amount of conversation, for large quantities of movements and gestures on the stage diminish the importance of language as the primary objective of this particular language learning task. Dialogues which involve interpersonal exchange should make up the majority of the work; therefore, works with great quantities of monologues or soliloquies are to be avoided, since they do not involve the verbal interaction which realistically reflect genuine communication.

The plot must be simple for two reasons. First of all, we must keep in mind that the EFL learner is undergoing multiple tasks while involved in the drama project. He must listen to and speak in a non-native language while simultaneously “getting into” character and acting. He certainly does not need the added intellectual burden of having to wade through pages of profound text. The learner needs to be challenged, both intellectually and creatively, but his task must be set at a level which will not overwhelm him or dampen his motivation from the beginning. Secondly, the work must be relatively easy to produce. While the non-commerciality of a student production relieves the cast, crew, and instructor of the stress of financial demands and technical artistry, on the other hand, its very non-commerciality implies a low-budget production. Work on ornate setting details and extravagant costume production will take up time and money needlessly - time which can be more effectively spent on honing language skills. Accordingly, props, setting, and costumes must be kept to a minimum.

The context of the work should desirably reflect a true-to-life situation, avoiding the abstract. This will prevent students from getting sidetracked into abstruse metaphysical issues and keep them focused on their language learning task. Through such a verisimilar portrait of the target culture, students will be given a tangible starting point for their linguistic and cultural assimilation, avoiding the highly conceptual. And while the work should desirably reveal cultural elements which lead to a deeper understanding of the target culture, both the plot and the theme must be culturally sensitive, so as not to offend the sensibilities of either the target language population or of the learning community. 

With a single, long-term drama project which will take up an entire school term, care must be taken to select a work which will enlist the participation of every individual in the class, whether they have acting roles or crew responsibilities. Keeping in mind that all communication during the production process will take place in English, this genuine verbal interplay will ensure non-acting students of the opportunity for English acquisition. More confident students can be assigned more prominent acting roles, while the more inhibited can be allowed to take on minor acting or staff roles. The best bet is to have the students choose for themselves which roles they want to play, relieving less extroverted students of the pressure of being assigned a “star” role. If several shorter drama projects are enlisted throughout the academic term, the preparation period for each work should be restricted, in order to fulfill production expectations. 

With these conditions in mind, we will now see how one text (among literally myriads of others) fulfills the requirements for practical implementation into the Korean EFL classroom. The qualifications for selection of The American Way, by Lavonne Mueller, are multifold: first produced in 1984, it is a contemporary work about a contemporary situation, and thus the language is accessible and realistic. The setting is the master bedroom of the White House, and the players are the presidential first couple and their faithful assistant, Davenport. The plot is simple: the First Lady wishes to hold a yard sale, a suggestion which is met with some understandable reservation on the part of the President. Despite his objections, the First Lady and Davenport literally proceed to strip the White House of its uninventoried stock, and the curtain falls on a self-complacent wife looking about a now bare room while her husband talks politics over the telephone.

Although the White House is somewhat imposing in concept, in this presentation, it is reduced to a familiar, domestic level by exposing the most intimate part of the building, the master bedroom, and by revealing its residents as two spouses with everyday wishes, concerns, and conflicts. It presents various aspects of the American lifestyle - the domestic, the cultural and the political. First of all, the President of the United States and his wife are, among other things, most fundamentally, a married couple. And it is this aspect that receives the limelight in this work. Their very “marriedness” will be both a source of familiarity as well as novelty for Korean students: while some situations reflect generic marital scenes, such as when the First Lady worries about the President’s intake of cholesterol, the highly feminist tone of the work may strike most Korean students as culturally unconventional. The First Lady’s totalitarian authority within the bedroom and the President’s unsuccessful attempts to assert some sort of authority as master of his castle are a comic representation of the domestic hierarchy of the West, something which is underscored by Davenport’s complete subordination and loyalty to the wife whenever the spouses come into conflict.

The story is literally a mine for linguistic and cultural excavation for Korean students: beginning from the unfamiliar concept of the yard sale, the situational context calls for an expansive list of inventory items to be put on sale. Each and every one of these items can be adapted and expanded upon to provide Korean students with vocabulary practice and cultural insight. At least six American Presidents are mentioned, and if this does not provide enough food for political and historical discussion, up-to-date political commentary is given by the President on coups, insurgents, guerrillas and imperialists. The dialogue is full of everyday colloquialisms and idioms, and the give-and-take of verbal interchange is comically realistic.

The work is also appropriate for classroom implementation because it is basically very simple to produce, despite its requirement of what has been described as a “plethora of props” (Bert 187). The writer herself has suggested using cardboard furniture and “imagined” stage props, letting the audience “hear” the items on the inventory, rather than actually seeing them one by one. In addition, the presentation is humorous, and neither cynical nor critical, thereby avoiding cultural offence. It avoids the overtly sexual or violent references made in many modern works, thereby bystepping any offence to sensitivities. As a special attraction to Korean students, there is brief mention of the Korean War and Korea. It is short enough to be unburdensome for the average student, with about 5 minutes performance time per character, and allows for three actors of the same importance, rather than having one star performer. In short, it is ideal to be implemented into a class curriculum which has set aside enough time for several shorter performances.

Having seen a specific example of how to select an appropriate work, we now turn to the actual implementation process of a dramatic work into the curriculum. First have the students read the work two times at home. This will take care of class time limitations and allow each individual student to progress at his own pace. Many Korean students have the study habit of underlining words and phrases and looking them up in the dictionary, which is laudable at certain phases of language learning, but in the first reading, students should be recommended to read straight through without a break, so as to maintain a flow of feeling and comprehension. After this uninterrupted first reading, they should go back and now read more carefully, looking up words and marking sections which require interpretation or explanation by the instructor. Immediately following their two initial readings, have them write down their first impressions, without concern for thematic or symbolic meanings; ask them to concentrate rather on the interplay between characters, as this interplay will generate the language.

The second stage will consist of a discussion based on the students’ first impressions which were written down in step one. This open discussion will include issues concerning the characters, the background, setting, and so forth, and will proceed under the guidance of the teacher, who can explain nuances, slang, cultural references, etc.

Thirdly, choose roles. Students may be apt to vie for the larger and more “attractive” roles, despite their aptitudes and/or qualifications. If in the case that more than one student compete for the same role, the teacher will have to intercede with a judicious judgement, assigning the role to the most qualified student. In the case of a class with a larger number of students, the teacher can opt for having several groups doing the same play at the same time, or having them each proceed at different stages with different plays (since they will need the teacher’s individual direction especially at the outset of the project).

Fourthly, have each character read his lines under the guidance of the instructor. According to the great prophet of teaching language through drama, Richard A. Via, it should be forbidden to memorize lines outside of class. When and if students do so, the results are dire: they in fact reinforce their ingrained accents and intonation that are then practically impossible to correct. Thus, go through several complete readings of the work with each student reading his lines for pronunciation and intonation practice. Do not correct each mispronunciation, but explain line by line when the student does not seem to get the “feeling” of the words, for it is through this feeling that he will arrive at the correct pronunciation and intonation. This may seem time-consuming at first, but will save many hours of pronunciation correction and frustration at the later stages of the project.

Fifthly, read through the work several times again, now according to Via's procedure,¹³⁾ which requires the student to look at the script and then repeat as much as possible from memory while all the other students maintain eye contact with the speaker. This process guarantees several results: semi-automatic memorization, improved listening skills, a heightened sense of dramatic timing, and improved concentration on the actual delivery. As the students begin to understand the meaning and emotion underlying the words, they can “get into character,” after which comes the natural assimilation of intonation and rhythm through meaning.

The sixth stage will consist of adding blocking and gestures to the dialogue. As students move around the stage and begin to act in the real sense of the word, they will also begin to assimilate non-verbal communication means, such as facial expressions and body movements, to reinforce their verbal meanings.

In the seventh step of the drama project, students undergo repeated rehearsals, practice and drilling. After each rehearsal, have a discussion from which each individual student can receive constructive feedback from the other students and the teacher. Shortly into rehearsals, have a session to discuss costumes, setting and props, and to assign responsibility for each of these details. As stipulated above, costumes should be kept to their simplest, and with the work being chosen from a contemporary time-frame, should be very easy to obtain.

The last step before the actual presentation of the work will be the dress rehearsal, a final checkpoint for everything from dramatic timing to stage props. Keep in mind that the final presentation is still only an amateur student production, thereby eliminating the need for artistic perfection. It is imperative to keep expectations realistic, giving praise where praise is due. The primary goal of the drama project is to attain some degree of linguistic improvement, not to reach a level of acting expertise. Even though each individual student will progress at his own individual pace, some slower than others, it must be remembered that according to Krashen’s theory of natural acquisition, the repeated practice in rough and fine tuning will reap eventual results.

IV. Conclusion

The answer to the question posed by linguistic sceptics, “Why drama?” can be reached from several different viewpoints: the theoretical, the practical, and the psychological. First of all,

It is only during the last few years that the realization has begun to emerge that past methodologies, in general, have been too narrowly based, that more than one cornerstone is necessary for the development of a type of teaching which will be both flexible enough to meet the manifold language needs of modern society and sufficiently scientific to avoid abrupt about-faces that have characterized language instruction. (Prator 13)

What this passage implies is that there is a need to adapt and combine theoretical approaches and methodologies as necessary in a given learning situation to achieve optimal results. In effect, flexibility and eclecticism are the keys to language learning. Drama encompasses the theoretical precepts of numerous and diverse language learning approaches, making it an ideal and versatile solution to the given task of the EFL classroom.

From a more practical viewpoint, using drama as a means to language acquisition has proven to be both effective and efficient. As curriculum material and text, it is hardly surpassed. While providing an established literary text for study, it also offers possibilities for numerous and diverse expansion activities for linguistic practice. It is a bountiful store of linguistic forms and structures which allows for the study of a language in its totality or as separate components. It exposes the student to a target language as it is used in real life, thus promoting his assimilation of authentic communication skills.

Drama is a serious way to learn a language, but this does not imply that the process can not enjoyable. In fact, it has been time-tested to be a productive as well as a simply fun means to language acquisition. Recalling the origin of the word “play” to mean a form of recreation and amusement, this “entertainment” factor may be the greatest benefit to student, teacher and audience alike that can be attained through the implementation of drama into the language learning curriculum. The drama project thus embodies the realization of Horace’s counsel that learning be both “utile et dulce.” From the psychological aspect, this learning through fun, or fun through learning, will provide the impetus for students to want to learn, to participate, and to reach goals. When the show is staged, it will be this actual production that will give the language learner the feeling of success and accomplishment needed to reinforce his confidence in his ability to learn - a confidence that will prove to be his most valuable and gratifying asset in the process of language acquisition.

Notes

14) In this method, students are not required to respond verbally, but are asked to carry out instructions given by the teacher with physical responses: “The mechanism is short and simple: (1)the directive, (2)the hearing and interpretation of the directive, (3)the overt action, and then immediately (4)the visible confirmation or disconfirmation of comprehension” (Blair, 26). Adaptations of this method are often used in language learning classrooms, including “Simon Says” and “Follow the Leader” techniques.

15) The roots for this approach go back to the Renaissance, when the study of Classical Latin aimed not at the practical, utilitarian objective to promote the ability to communicate in a target language, but at a scholarly, analytical understanding of language as written text.

16) The Audio-lingual Approach was heavily influenced by the psychological tenets of B. F. Skinner and his study of behaviorism, which asserted that “Language . . . is a form of behaviour in much the same way as the rat pressing the bar exhibits a form of behaviour. . . Our performance as language learners is largely the result of such positive (or negative) reinforcement” (Harmer 32). Taking its major premise from the three stages of stimulus, response and reinforcement of the behavioral learning procedure, the Audio-lingual Approach focused on constant drilling, followed by positive or negative reinforcement.

17) The Situational Approach became popular in Great Britain about the same time that the Audio-lingual Approach gained prominence in the United States. Despite the fact that its roots were also grounded in behaviorism since many of its dialogues were learned through the behavioral “conditioning” of choral repetition, the Situational Approach was differentiated from the Audio-lingual Approach by its focus on the repeated verbal practice of dialogues which would take place in specific situations taken from real life, such as at the hospital, the post office, etc..

18) The Cognitive Approach, a major theoretical innovation which still holds sway over throngs of disciples, began with the work of Noam Chomsky, who refuted Skinner's behavioral theories by arguing that language was not a form of behavior but an intricate rule-based system. In short, cognitivism is more interested in the cognizant mechanisms working within the learner's mind than in his outward responses to stimuli, and assumes that the learner is an active participant, rather than a passive recipient of input, in the learning process.

19) The Silent Way is a highly innovative methodology invented by Caleb Gattegno in which the instructor remains silent, giving encouragement and hints through the use of tools called Cuisinaire Rods, putting all the responsibility of language learning upon the student, who experiments with sounds and meaning, aided by the help of his fellow students: “the instructor will not deal with [students’] structural errors or their forgetting of a word by modelling the correct form . . . their instructor offers neither praise nor criticism and does not allow questions or even recourse to the native language. S/he corrects and guides by means of gestures and silent lip movements . . . Always the instructor respects the learners’ capacity to learn and to be patient in learning how to make meaning come from their own lips in acceptable form” (Blair 31).

20) Refer to Floyd M. Cammack’s “Language Learning via Via,” an insightful and informative article on the Via Method.

21) It is here that the work of Stephen Krashen and his differentiation between the concepts of “acquisition” and “learning” become significant: “More recent investigations of how people become language users have centred on the distinction between acquisition and learning . . . In particular, Stephen Krashen characterised the former as a subconscious process which results in the knowledge of a language whereas the latter results only in ‘knowing about’ the language. Acquiring a language is more successful and longer lasting than learning. The suggestion Krashen made is that second (or foreign) language learning needs to be more like a child's acquisition of its native language . . . Their gradual ability to use language is the result of many subconscious processes . . . They have not consciously set out to learn a language” (Harmer, 33).

22) The rationale for this approach is that “. . . if the ‘language teacher’s’ management activities are directed exclusively at involving the learners in solving communication problems in the target language, then language learning will take care of itself” (Allright 5). Its major premise is that the goal of language learning is to promote the ability to communicate in the target language, and integrates all four skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening from the beginning by assigning specific real-life tasks for the language learner to solve.

23) The Comprehension-Based Approach was a dramatic change from the preceding Audio-lingual or Situational Approaches in its postponement of oral skill-training. The premise upon which the Comprehension-Based Approach is founded is that the sending and receiving of a language are two wholly different concepts, with the sending, or encoding, of a language being the much more difficult of the two. Hence, by focusing on his receptive, or decoding, skills, a learner is allowed to master the more basic task of listening comprehension before progressing to more challenging levels (i. e., oral production). Thus, the learner can proceed at his own pace, rather than being forced to produce verbal output before he is fully prepared, both with regard to emotional state and skill competency.

24) In response to, or as a reaction against, the lack of concern seen in both cognitivism and behaviorism for the holistic, human side of language learning came the rise of the Affective-Humanistic Approach. Whereas cognitivism focused on the student’s learning mechanisms, and behaviorism was concerned primarily with overt responses to habitual conditioning, the Affective-Humanistic Theory viewed the individuals involved in the learning process (both student and teacher) as whole persons, rather than intelligence mechanisms, giving full consideration to the emotional side of language learning. The Affective-Humanistic Approach sees language learning as a means not only to acquiring a language, but as a means to self-realization and growth. What is essential in this approach is the affective well-being of the individual, since through a healthy and relaxed attitude, resistance levels to learning are lowered, thereby raising learning efficiency.

25) Counseling-Learning Community Language Learning is the brainchild of Father Charles A. Curran, who was convinced that learning efficiency was much diminished by methods which dealt with the intellect separately from the person as a whole, integrated being. Curran asserted that personalized care for the emotional well-being of the learner within the learning community (inclusive of instructor and peer students) lessened learning pathologies and was the key to a therapeutic and joyous experience of language learning (Blair, 43).

26) cf. endnote 7.

Works Cited

Allright, P. “Language Learning through Communication Practice.” ELT Documents 76/3 (1977b).

Bert, Norman A. One-Act Plays for Acting Students. Colorado Springs: Meriwether Publishing Ltd., 1987.

Blair, Robert W. “Innovative Approaches.” Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Ed. Marianne Celce-Murcia. Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers, 1991. 23-45.

Cammack, Floyd M. “Language Learning via Via.” The Art of TESOL: Selected Articles from the English Teaching Forum (Part 1). Ed. Anne Covell. Newton: Tower Press, 1975. 167-169.

Celce-Murcia, Marianne. “Language Teaching Approaches.” Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Ed. Marianne Celce-Murcia. Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers, 1991. 3-10.

Chamot, Anna Uhl and O’Malley, J. Michael. The CALLA Handbook: Implementing the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach. Reading, Massachussetts: Addison Wesley, 1994.

Greenblatt, Stephen. “Culture.” Critical Terms for Literary Study. Eds. Frank Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1990.

Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman, 1991.

Holman, C. Hugh and Harmon, William, eds. A Handbook to Literature. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992.

Pinker, Steven. Language Learnability and Language Development. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1984.

Prator, Clifford H. “Cornerstones of Method and Names for the Profession.” Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Ed. Marianne Celce-Murcia. Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers, 1991. 11-22.

Smith, Stephen. The Theatre Arts and the Teaching of Second Language. London: Addison-Wesley, 1984.

Stern, Susan. “Drama in Second Language Learning from a Psycholinguistic Perspective.” Language Learning 30/1.

Via, Richard A. “English through Drama.” The Art of TESOL: Selected Articles from the English Teaching Forum (Part 1). Ed. Anne Covell. Newton: Tower Press, 1975. 158-162.

Wessels, Charlyn. Drama. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.

연극을 통한 영어 교육: 평가와 활용안

국문요약 김진나,이보경

교육, 특히 언어 교육을 위한 다양한 방법론들에 대한 연구조사는 교육에는 왕도가 존재하지 않으며, 다양한 교육 이론을 통합하고 또한 개별 교육자/피교육자/교육 상황의 특수성을 고려한 유연하고도 창조적인 방법론이 최상의 선택이라는 점을 확인시켜 준다. 이러한 상황에서, 연극은 영어교육을 통합적이고도 효과적으로 실천할 수 있는 대체 방법론이 될 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 연극을 통한 영어 교육의 교육적 효과와 가능성을 학술적으로 입증하고, 교육 현장에서 활용 가능한 구체적인 방법론을 제시하고자 한다.

연극은 독해/문법 중심 학습론, 시청각 학습론, 신체 활용론, 인지론, 문제 해결식 방법론, 단계적 습득론, 그룹 학습론 등의 다양한 언어교육 방법론을 통합적으로 반영하는 영어교육 방법론이다. 동시에, 연극은 문화 대변적, 상황 제시적, 대화 중심적, 집단 참여 유도적이기 때문에, 살아있는 현대 실용 영어를 접하고, 학습, 습득할 수 있게 해주는, 교육자와 피교육자 모두에게 유용하고 효율적인 영어교육 방법론이다.

희곡 작품 선택에는 제한이 없겠으나, 영어교육이라는 특수 목적을 염두에 둔다면, 단순한 구성과 내용의, 등장 인물이 다수인, 대화체 위주의, 공연 용이한, 현대적인 작품이 적절한 선택일 수 있겠다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 조건에 부합하는 작품으로 The American Way를 예시하고, 영어교육의 장에서 작품을 활용하는, 읽기, 배역 정하기, 발음 연습, 표정 연기 및 동선 만들기 등의 구체적 방법을 단계별로 제시한다.