The use of dramatization as a communicative strategy in the English class as a foreign language

Abstract

The present study set out to observe the effect produced by the workshop proposal based on dramatization in the English class with students of 1^st year of the Escuela Provincial de Educación Secundaria N° 68 , situated in the Lujan district of the city of Formosa, Argentina. This work made use of cooperative learning, centered on the student, as an effective approach to develop activities about dramatization through children's literature. In this case and as part of this action-research, drama techniques were used in order to lead the students to practise and enhance their oral linguistic expression. The main instruments used to collect data in this study were: 1)-initial questionnaire; 2)-final questionnaire; 3)-videotapings and, 4)-interviews. The data were analysed and interpreted qualitative and quantitatively. From the analysis, it was possible to demonstrate that the students' enhancement in the oral expression in the English class was partly due to the use of dramatization as an applied technique during the development of the research and partly due to the implementation of cooperative learning as an appropriate approach for this group of students in a foreign language teaching. This allowed the students participating of this research to value the importance of working and cooperating with and for others. The relevance of the findings points toward the need to use effective methods to help students enhance their academic performance. Finally, suggestions for a new future research project are recommended.