Drama as a Resource to Improve Oral Expression (Verbal and non-verbal) at Elementary School: A Study Through Different Disciplines and Teaching Suggestions

Eduardo Encabo, Juan José Varela, Amando López-Valero and Isabel Jerez, Spain

Eduardo Encabo, Juan José Varela, Amando López-Valero and Isabel Jerez, Spain are based at University of Murcia. Faculty of Education. Campus universitario Espinardo s/n 30100 Espinardo Murcia, Spain. E-mail: edencabo@um.es, tembrajuan@hotmail.com, amandolo@um.es, isajerez@um.es

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Abstract
Preface
Theoretical framework
Innovative content of this study
Explanation and analysis of the innovation process
Results
Concluding remarks
References

Abstract

In this study, we want to show how drama, far from being only a fun subject in school, helps the acquiring and development of all the necessary tools to improve oral expression in elementary school. To achieve this, we will frame this work within the teaching of Language and Literature because, as a resource, this active engagement with students will take elements from Literature –theatre as a genre- and, at the same time, from language to develop their linguistic skills (putting emphasis on speaking and listening). We want to do this in academic and social contexts, developing students` verbal and non verbal skills.

Preface

Being a part of society implies a relationship with the environment and to different people. This makes it possible that people can use their communication skills. Unfortunately, the mass media doesn’t help people to improve their knowledge and use of language. Television, radio and technology in general are not enough to develop language, because people need other people to communicate with. Besides family, friends and technology, students have a school which will educate them to learn how to be a part of a democratic environment in which they live, and develop tolerance and respect. Because of this, it is very important that schools promote speaking, listening and dialogue, because communication is very closely related to education. If human beings can communicate and share experiences in a better way, their lives will be more satisfactory.

Drama can be fundamental in establishing better communication, because it shows many aspects of life and includes also elements related to creativity and fantasy. Thus, at Elementary School, we can use drama, although until recent times it has not had got enough recognition, perhaps due to ignorance, losing in this way aspects as important as expression or sensitivity. At the same time, using drama, we can help people to develop oral skills; because it seems that in schools the emphasis has been on written production and, together with this, of course, putting emphasis on reading.
The aim of this work is the study of Oral Expression in Elementary School students –grade four- during the 2003/2004 academic year, and it uses the wide possibilities that the practice of drama offers us as a teaching resource. With the use of drama, we want to find a systematic approach to education which invites pupils to participate, to search, to use their creativity and aesthetic competence. In addition, we want them to learn to see and feel the experience of drama, and to invite them to communicate in a better way, improving their oral skills. This has not been developed in an adequate way, because teachers have focused their efforts on reading and writing. In this work, we want to motivate people/students to use listening and speaking in a better way, searching for an integral education.

Theoretical framework

An eclectic view will run throughout this work, being taken from different areas –sociology, philology, pedagogy or psychology- elements which activate children’s processes of obtaining a real improvement in their oral skills. In the same way, art –Literature and theatre are part of this- will contribute towards awakening senses implied in knowledge. Thus, we can understand the “living word” and surrender to thought; with this, we form our minds, fundamental in our lives. The word is like Prometheus´ fire and students will enjoy and learn with it, and it will become a key aspect in academic and social contexts.
Voice is logos and our research will fix the guidelines with which to change the class into a space in which voice would be used. Two groups of students aged nine years will be the main participants. They will have been divided into two classes. Both belong to the same level (grade four). One of them will be the experimental group and the other, the control group. The first will work through a methodology based on creative arts –theatre and active word-. The other group will carry out work based on traditional education. Thus, in the experimental group, knowledge will be built by children activating the skills that drama demands: voice, body, space, context, and physical action as well as mental, creative and artistic skills.

Teacher and classroom will develop the aspects of language that we need for communication: linguistics and semiotics. Context must be rich to be able to develop oral expression. We want to establish literary bases which help our teaching processes, and with this we can find theatre and of course, drama. It is important too to appreciate art in education: aesthetics and theatre as a consequence of iconic gestures, and verbal expression. Theatre will become a reference to the art of expression and human communication. In our work, we work with art, and this will be a way to develop aspects related to speaking and listening in school and in life. Because of this, we will include in this study aesthetics in Europe in the last two centuries. The theory of Multiple Intelligence formulated by Gardner will help us to fulfil our intention of forming significant learning. Thus, we can put in practice people skills and can do this interdisciplinary study.

We will make a study of contemporary dramatists, to know what these thinkers said about theatre and education. Finally, we have included teaching suggestions related to drama and oral expression that would be useful to teachers, parents, or educators.

Teaching Language and Literature from a critical perspective
The critical paradigm of education provides us with the necessary framework to bring together two concepts: lifelong learning and communicative competence. Indeed, it obliges us to adopt a more democratic and pluralistic approach to educational action. UNESCO explicitly states that the right to education and lifelong learning is no longer something capricious, but is now more than ever a necessity. Immersed as we are in an eminently dynamic society, the specific learning of factual knowledge, although necessary, is not sufficient to combat the enormous economic interest which surrounds us. It is now vital that we broaden our horizons and include ourselves within the philosophy of lifelong learning, which is basic to the desired educational and social transformation. This implies that learning can no longer be an isolated occurrence which eventually leads to the forgetting of the knowledge. On the contrary, this position is not only interesting in itself, but also falls into line with those positions which advocate quality teaching and learning for all, adapted to the needs of the disadvantaged and concerned with overcoming failure in schools. This involves working in accordance with the Equity Schema which seeks greater social justice (Lynch, 1986).

As regards the Teaching of Language and Literature, we should be primarily concerned with functional learning. This means enabling students to adapt the four basic skills on making the transition from the world of school to the world of work (Johnson, 2003). Teamwork, in our opinion, will play a vital role in helping to create more equal social structures. In this sense, it is necessary to change the tradition of teaching or problem solving which has been defined as processes which are developed in the mind of each individual (Mercer 1995). Rather, we should aim to promote collective activities, since when individuals participate in group practices over long periods of time, their outlook is necessarily broadened, and individuals become members of communities in which ways of seeing, knowing and representing are common (Nieto, 2001). As we have stated before, teachers will be guides who help students to improve their knowledge and to re-construct reality in such a way that schools form a microcosm which can be extrapolated to the wider social community. It would seem clear that if our intention is to establish a suitable framework for the active and functional teaching we are defending, we must reflect upon the conditions which prove optimal for teaching Language and Literature. In this sense we are in agreement with the following statement:

“The acquisition of linguistic skills does not seem to guarantee the consequent acquisition of communicative abilities in a language. On the contrary, it would seem to be the case that an overemphasis on drills and exercises for the production and reception of sentences tends to inhibit the development of communicative abilities. (...) The abilities include the skills: one cannot acquire the former without acquiring the latter. The question is: how can the skills are taught, not as self-sufficient achievement but as an aspect of communicative competence?” (Widdowson 1978: 67)

Nowadays one of the principle problems we are confronted with is the fact that structuralism content fails to motivate pupils. For this reason language only becomes accessible when it is real and natural and is anchored in a point of reality and when it is socially useful. Teaching Language and Literature using a communicative model involves an important change of mentality with respect to educational structures, because it gives more importance to the development of linguistic skills rather than testing academic knowledge (Moran, 2001). We have to design teaching proposals which help us to do easier the things we have expressed until now. Because of this, later we will see different suggestions but all they are included in the workshop idea. From our point of view, the workshops have to be designed to focus on communicative action. If we get people to communicate, it will be easier to work the values of respect, solidarity and teamwork... Each workshop will be different, depending on the individual students and the context. One must adapt to the situation which an important concept is according the critical model. A closer understanding of the situation will enable teachers to design strategies that will give optimal results in the communicative transformation for the equality between cultures (Richards, 1998).

Objectives

The objectives we want to establish in designing this work are:

• to improve Oral Expression of Elementary School students using drama as a teaching and systematic resource,
• to correctly use the linguistic elements (phonetics, grammar, semantics, and lexical competence) and the semiotic elements (Positions in space, kinetics, non-linguistics).
• to increase the possibilities competence of expression (verbal and non verbal), creativity and critical thought, allowing students to adapt themselves to new situations and contexts and to increase the development of oral language through the use of drama.

With these objectives we will try to achieve the main idea of this study: using drama in class. We will improve education of students, and more concretely, aspects related to Oral Expression.

Innovative content of this study

We believe that if Elementary School Students work systematically –using drama in class- with Oral Expression, this situation improves communication related to different situations in life. Because of this the two implied components in Oral Expression: the verbal aspects and the non verbal elements will work actively.

As a reference, we will take the area concerning the Teaching of Language and Literature. This discipline helps us to fix the principal axis of our study: the work and development of language, because there can be no doubt that language plays a vital role in our lives. It would be inconceivable to imagine a society without this exclusively human characteristic, since losing the adjective "human" would convert us into animals or robots. If we reflect on this, from the moment we wake until we go to sleep, our life is language-related. Language, in its various forms (oral, written, extra-linguistic) facilitates our interaction with others. Communication is a gift which should be preserved and involves the use of abilities which are gradually acquired. Language is an abstract concept which serves as a basis for communicative actions. For this reason and from the perspective we take here, language is fundamental for education, since it is the key which opens the door to all knowledge; moreover its relationship with human thinking is too interconnected to be ignored.

At Nursery level, linguistic skills are developed, while at Elementary School, teachers use methods to teach how to read and how to write. Later, pupils develop their linguistic and literary skills, putting emphasis on grammar or vocabulary. At Secondary School, students can use their discourse in a better way, including aspects related to culture, linguistics and literature. We want to focus our work on the second stage: Elementary School. At this point, we must ask this question: is solely grammar enough to communicate well? This Question refers to whether teaching must only be focused on grammar.

In the eighties, in Spain, this area; the teaching of Language and Literature, became a specific discipline which had the objective of revising theoretical content, of selecting and organizing them, establishing objectives and the suitable methodology for the significant learning of language and Literature. At the same time, it had the related mission of revising the materials and the assessment referring to teaching. To acquire the linguistic skills it is not enough to know grammar but also to know and use more important elements from Language and Literature. One of these aspects is drama, proposed as a resource for teaching.

For a long time, teaching of language has focused on grammar. It is important to say that reading and writing have been the two skills which teachers have developed in classrooms, but people need to develop the two other skills: speaking and listening. Speaking will become the tool that shows us reality. Through it we can establish relationships, communicate, and to do it widely and well we need to know and use our discourse. But at the same time, when we form a message and use it, we must be aware of the importance of listening. For our personal development we need to express our thoughts and feelings, and to do this, we must communicate properly, using all four of our linguistics skills.

If we treat drama as a resource we will use oral expression in a dynamic way in different contexts and situations. At the same time we will develop listening because there are actors and an audience who have the mission of being critical listeners (Bailin, 1998). In our work, we will try to improve the discourse –individual and collective-, in this development we will carry out themes related to reading, listening and writing. Because of this, the design of this work is complete: it considers the development of all four basic linguistic skills and does it in an active and dynamic way.

To know and to use oral expression correctly we need to understand linguistics and semiotics. For the first point; linguistics, we will develop aspects related to phonetics, grammar, semantics and lexical competence; while, in semiotics we will work with kinetics, spatial positions and non-linguistics elements.

We can say that while we are learning to speak, we are learning to think. The use of language is related to people’s processes of education, and it is in school where we get the knowledge and skills necessary to use language correctly. Because of this, teachers have to care about students’ oral expression. This will be a tool to being a part of society and become the starting point of lifelong learning. Language, in its oral aspect, is an element which continues throughout the curriculum. All subjects depend on it and in school are so important because we can get information and knowledge mainly through the use of oral expression. Dialogue becomes an important aspect of teaching and must be used in the classroom. We want pupils to reach a communicative competence which helps them academically and, above all, in life.

Communicative spaces, contexts and situations are different in developing oral expression. Therefore, content must refer to real situations in which people –in this case, students- have to express themselves properly. Because of this, in early years pupils will establish the base of their future use of oral expression.

At this point, we have to state that the act of communication is more than only speech. Because of this, in oral expression, we combine linguistic and non linguistic aspects. Awareness of the body belongs to a non verbal universe and it is involved with oral communication. The use of the body helps words to obtain a complete meaning. Sometimes, the body denies what the words have expressed. This non verbal language has to be a part of education and included in our teaching designs. We have to include them as an important element, working in a systematic way to give them their real importance. In our study, we want to explore the teaching of non verbal aspects without forgetting linguistic elements. Drama needs to work with the body, working the words, the expression, and at the same time, working with different roles inside different situations and contexts (Slade, 1954). Thus, students will learn things related to real life or fiction. The idea is that to have a good discourse, people must combine both verbal and non-verbal elements.

Teaching suggestions must include elements which allow pupils to value and think about learning, because although the linguistic and semiotic dimensions are so important, students need to develop their critical thought to obtain an integral education. Besides this, students need to have an education in values, to finally incorporate these values and critical thoughts, and so therefore, in their language. We can say that creativity and critical procedure -operating together- motivates through an active teaching-learning process. Our study, in referring to oral expression, helps to develop divergent thought. This is a good way to give different solutions to one problem due to its flexibility and innovative character.

Oral communication implies two kinds of learning: instrumental and comprehensive-expressive. Instrumental learning develops phonetic elements such as pronunciation, the use of consonants and vowels; semantic structures and their logical use. In this instrumental learning of the language we can use semantics to discover how students comprehension works, related to oral and written messages or whether they have a real knowledge of the vocabulary that they daily use. We want to know also how students use synonymous and antonyms. In semiotics, the use of corporal gestures such as making faces, are examples which verify kinetics, knowing the positions of the body and space related to this context are good examples of related corporal aspects. We cannot forget elements related to the non-linguistic dimension such as rhythm, intonation or the tone of voice.

The knowledge and development of both, instrumental and comprehensive-expressive, learning, must be taught together, because one is not more important than the other. There is a feed-back process, and they form a person perfect discourse if they have been used in a good way. In this study, we want to establish this idea in elementary school and to achieve this we have used drama as a resource because with it we find the development of all expressive elements –linguistics and non-linguistics-. Its dynamic character can be included in teaching as a part of the critical model, in which it is important to value processes and not only immediate results. Education is a building process that is a result of interaction between people and in which theory and practice go together.

Explanation and analysis of the innovation process

The selected resource in our study to develop oral expression was drama. Theatre involves giving texts their own lives, allowing us to see an active discourse with the use of the body and voice. The meaning of the word “drama” is action and this is the starting point that we will use in promoting our proposal to motivate the improvement of the use of oral expression. Theatre restores the pedagogical value of language and its meaningful sense, because it gives language a performing character and allows all the elements implied in oral communication to be shown. With the use of drama, words are given life (Hornbrook, 1989). Besides this, it makes people think about things and situations and shows aspects of life, including social, political and moral-affective elements. Through our performances as actors we can reflect on these aspects, and not only can we reflect, but also an audience that is seeing our performance.

The dramatic activity that we proposed as a methodology to develop oral expression for children must not be confused with the spontaneous play of early years, or with professional theatre (Fleming, 1994; 1997). Each student works taking as a reference a common goal that is previously established concerning the curriculum objectives. At elementary School, we will use dramatic creation organizing the guidelines focusing on oral skills and starting from individual work to achieve collective engagement. We will motivate the students by putting them in subgroups, developing various roles such as author (reading and creating texts or improvisations), actor (linguistic and non-linguistic demonstrations), and spectator (critical observant whose main skill is listening). To develop these roles, we need the comprehension of four basic linguistic skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking.

The systematic working with drama includes the achievement of wide range objectives. These are:

• developing cooperative habits,
• improving language,
• elaborating communicative messages and verifying its reception,
• stimulating perception,
• developing creativity and searching for original solutions to concrete problems.
• analysis and synthesis processes.
• developing reading.

Through the use of drama, of dramatic expression, we are able to make the school and, of course, Language and Literature classes dynamic. At the same time, the pupils can develop different kinds of language (verbal, corporal, iconic, music) and constitute another way of teaching, which is more active, cooperative and with more input from students.

We have based our work on other artistic areas such as music, literature, dance or visual arts to achieve a whole communicative goal. The development of psychomotor aspects, expression and symbol, imagination and creativity; the awakening of aesthetic sense; sensibility; perception and knowledge of everything they have created, are integrating elements that must be established in an education field.

When they develop verbal and non verbal skills, students improve their codification abilities, their language, the knowledge of their body (dance is included in drama), their voices, rhythm (exercises with songs to improve phonetics or reading), their appreciation of aesthetics (creation of texts, verbal improvisations). They also improve their knowledge and comprehension of reality, which helps them to solve concrete problems in a clear way.

Critical education, active and creative, which uses artistic resources, must focus on four fundamental aspects of learning. The first one would be “Learn to know”. It means acquiring comprehension tools. “Learn to do”; this will affect the environment. “Learn to live together”, to participate and to cooperate in all human activities; and finally, “learn to be”, a fundamental process that includes elements from the three previous lessons/teachings and helps to bring us closer to the lifelong learning that we want.

To help sample students with a language problem we can use a fundamental method-art (specifically, education using songs and music). This kind of teaching helps students to understand the different subjects in a better way. Therefore, these questions arise: why do we not give drama the importance which it is worth? Why we do still consider this artistic field to be only a trivial discipline?
We are not going to answer these questions however we believe in this kind of teaching and that this artistic resource improves oral skills. We hope this study helps to demonstrate that art must be included in teaching (Tarlington and Verriour, 1991). Our aim of motivating imagination and creativity must give more value to culture, and to the knowledge which comes from the experiences of adults and children.

Results

This work intends to study oral expression in elementary school students, using drama as a teaching resource. Through drama, we try to invite participation and motivation to create, besides working with aesthetic values. To do this, we will focus on a fourth grade of primary school, and our sample will be twenty five students. The procedure will consist of applying a test/post-test design, using an experimental group –our group- and a control group (which has the same characteristics and level). At the beginning of the academic year a test was applied to both classes and was filmed. Then, the sample worked all year using drama while the other worked in a traditional way. At the end of the year, once again, the test was applied. After this, we analyzed the dates obtained using a test tool which served to extract the information from the videos (see the appendix), and the information was analyzed using the statistic program SPSS 11.0.

These are some significant results that we have obtained in our study:

ORAL MESSAGES COMPREHENSION

Experimental group

Control group

As we can see in this section which refers to the oral message comprehension, the experimental group has improved their capacities using drama as a methodology, because in September the combined score was 84%, between average and good; and then, in June, they have 92%, between good and very good. At the same time, the control group has maintained their percentages, not registering any variation from September 2003 to June 2004.

USE OF CORPORAL GESTURES

Experimental group

Group B

Related to the use of corporal gestures the experimental group improved their abilities, because in September they had a combined score of 88%, between unsuitable and average, while in June they obtained 56%, between suitable and perfect. The control group did not show any change and maintained their percentages.

INTONATION REFERRED TO THE CONTEXT

Experimental group

Control group

Here, in this section which refers to the intonation related to the context, we can see that in September the experimental group had a combined score of 72%, between unsuitable and average, while in June they obtained 84%, between average and suitable. The other group –control-, maintained their level but got worse because from average the category drops to unsuitable, in both combined scores in September and June for 90%.

To consolidate these results, we can see next the main aspects which refer to the experimental group and their improvement.

MAIN ASPECTS REFERRED TO THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP

As we can see improvement is evident and if they continue with their work it will be better, because knowing the possibilities of linguistics and body helps to develop oral expression.

Concluding remarks

In this section we are going to make a summary of some aspects we have seen within the text. First of all we must say that language and its use is the starting point of thought. We are attempting to improve oral expression, using drama to give students a better education. Because of this, we need a suitable framework to teach in a way which allows us to promote this communicative environment. When we have talked about the critical perspective on the text, we will discover this framework. We have taken a look at the possibilities of drama and we have seen how working all academic year with this methodology, the results have been very good. This implies that drama is not trivial or only an artistic demonstration but is also a useful resource.

We conclude this contribution with the principal ideas in this text:

• We have to search for a communicative environment to promote the development of oral expression.
• Critical teaching is a good way to get teachers and students to learn together in a meaningful way.
• Drama is the ideal resource to begin to develop oral expression, related to verbal as well as non verbal aspects.
• We have many strategies and suggestions towards making better societies, and drama is one of them. We want only to apply these suggestions to the classroom (Neelands, 1984).

References

Bailin, Sharon (1998). Critical thinking and drama education. Research in Drama Education, 3, (2), 145-155.

Fleming, Michael (1994). Starting Drama Teaching. London: David Fulton.

Fleming, Michael (1997). The art of drama teaching. New Zealand: Macmillan Publishers.

Hornbrook, David (1989). Education and dramatic art. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Johnson, Lauri (2003). Multicultural Policy as Social Activism: Redefining Who "Counts" in Multicultural Education. Race-Ethnicity and Education; v 6 n 2 p 107-21.

Lynch, James (1986). Multicultural education: principles and practice. London: Routledge.

Mercer, Neil (1995). The guided construction of knowledge: talk amongst teachers and learners. Clevedon: Multilingual matters.

Moran, Patrick (2001). Teaching culture. Perspectives in practice. Boston (Massachusetts): Heinle and Heinle.

Neelands, Jonathan (1984). Making Sense of Drama. London: Heinemann.

Nieto, Sonia (2001). Language, Culture and Teaching. Critical Perspectives for a New Century. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Richards, Jack (1998). Beyond training. Perspectives on Language Teacher Education. Cambridge: University Press.

Slade, Peter (1954). Child Drama. London: University of London Press.

Tarlington, Carole and VERRIOUR, Patrick (1991). In role: teaching and learning dramatically. London: Heinemann.

Widdowson, Henry (1978). Teaching language as communication. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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