The Impact of Drama in Learning and Teaching Language/Integrating Drama in Language Education

This paper aims to analyze the role of drama in context of learning a language, particularly in context of learning English through plays and dramatic movements such as Shakespeare’s plays, Theatre of the Absurd and Modern and Post-modern American Drama, and the practical use of these plays in learning process according to different age and language level groups. The style of dialogue in Shakespeare’s plays is analyzed and compared to the style in absurdist plays by authors such as Beckett and Ionesco. When talking about the works of Shakespeare, the process of adaptation and appropriation is mentioned as well as telling the famous tales and narratives through different media. Previous research will be taken in consideration, such as the pioneering work of drama educators who first introduced theatre as a learning tool in education or the Communicative Language Teaching approach focused on fluency and interaction in everyday situations. Specifics of drama in language learning in comparison to other literary genres such as poetry or prose will be briefly mentioned along with the history of Western drama. This paper discusses theatre and drama in the context of education with mention of similarities and differences to staged professional theatre plays. In few chapters, theatre is analyzed as a learning tool in various fields of study, but the main focus of the paper is language learning through drama with the purpose of improving students’ linguistic and cultural knowledge. The discussion can be of concern to all those wishing to improve their language skills, and to drama educators and other theatre and education practitioners.