活動手冊 - 開南大學

How to Apply Drama Activities to Boost
English Language Teaching and Learning
Mei-hui Hsu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages
Abstract
This paper aims to recommend that dramatic activities can be utilized in a
traditional English language classroom to promote EFL/ESL students’ learning
motivation and boost their learning results. In the beginning, it points out three major
predicaments of English teaching and learning in the current Taiwan educational system:
1) examination-dominated instruction, 2) a high affective filter, and 3) an artificial
learning environment.
To overcome the above mentioned three main obstacles of English learning, this
article recommend English Through Drama (ETD) activities be utilized to ease
EFL/ESL students’ learning anxiety and create a favorable learning environment for
them. Therefore, in the second part of the paper, it defines the meaning of ETD,
suggesting that ETD not only serve as a good learning strategy to integrate the English
four language skills in a traditional English classroom, but also benefit the EFL/ESL
instructors as well as EFL/ESL learners. To provide readers a clearer idea, the author
briefly points out the differences between the terms of drama, role-play, and
improvisation.
Then, it presents six major benefits of dramatic activities. Firstly, EDT could 1)
promote EFL/ESL learners’ oral skills, 2) motivate EFL/ESL learners’ motivation, 3)
provide a relaxing learning atmosphere, 4) offer a co-operative learning opportunity, 5)
provide a rich memorable physical context for learning, and 6) offer an atmosphere for
social learning. To justify the benefits of ETD, the author presents three studies
administered by Liu (2002), Miccoli (2003), and Hsu (2006) to introduce their
meaningful findings.
Considering the fact that some disorder existing in the current world, the author
further suggests that we could combine ETD with “Character Education” (CE) for a
traditional English instruction. As a result, the paper gives a brief definition of CE. Then,
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