Drama as Dialogue: Reflective Practitioner Insights on Teaching English-Language Plays in Saudi Higher Education

This paper explores the pedagogical possibilities and challenges of teaching English-language drama in Saudi Arabian universities, where English functions as the medium of instruction in literature courses but is not students’ first language. While drama is often included in English literature curricula, it receives limited attention as a distinct mode of literary engagement with unique educational affordances. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from literature education and language pedagogy, as well as reflective practitioner insights drawn from the author’s classroom experience teaching plays such as Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Shaw’s Pygmalion, Arms and the Man, and Major Barbara, this paper argues that drama offers valuable opportunities for oracy development, interpretive reading, and dialogic learning—especially in multilingual contexts. The discussion highlights how the performative and collaborative nature of drama can support deeper student engagement with character, voice, and theme. At the same time, it considers the linguistic, cultural, and institutional constraints that shape drama instruction in Saudi higher education, including the sociolinguistic environment, assessment practices, and classroom norms. By reflecting on drama as both text and practice, the paper invites a reimagining of how literature is taught in English-medium classrooms, proposing drama as a dynamic space for critical inquiry, linguistic expression, and cultural dialogue. The Saudi context provides a lens through which broader questions about literary pedagogy, language policy, and multilingual education in the university setting can be reconsidered.