scholarly journals Beyond Drama: Postdramatic theater in upper level, performance-oriented foreign language, literature and culture courses

Author(s):  
Morgan Koerner

This article makes the case for expanding drama pedagogy in foreign language education to include strategies from postdramatic theater, which abandons traditional notions of plot, character, and dialogue and prioritizes theatrical performances over dramatic texts. The article presents findings from an action research project conducted with undergraduate students of German at the College of Charleston, South Carolina in the spring semester of 2013. It describes and discusses the efficacy of specific postdramatic theater strategies and assignments that encouraged Bachelor’s students of German to think beyond dramatic convention by detaching body from character, separating voice and movement from text, and exploring a heterogeneity of theatrical codes via hands-on writing and directing exercises. Based on extensive documentation of the course and the learners’ experiences, the article concludes by discussing postdramatic theater’s capacity to promote foreign language learning, critical thinking, and unfamiliar modes of perception and signification.

2021 ◽  
Vol X (2) ◽  
pp. 71-83
Author(s):  
Nataliia Safonova ◽  
◽  
Alla Anisimova

The article deals with the issues where linguistic consciousness as a sociolinguistic phenomenon is successfully revealed in FLT, namely, in problematic questions of language learning. It covers the description of linguistic consciousness and some aspects of its influence on the process of development of students’ communicative competence. It is emphasized that the philosophy of lifelong learning has become a widespread phenomenon in modern society. Learning a foreign language can be considered an important means of forming linguistic consciousness and the ability to conduct intercultural dialogues. The correlation of two languages and cultures (Ukrainian and foreign ones) helps to outline their national specific features, which contribute to a deeper understanding of both the foreign and the native language and culture. Any education system is open and fairly stable. As for the methods and learning tools, they can vary depending on the applicable learning concept. The article gives a detailed description of the development of linguistic consciousness of Ukrainian students from different social groups while learning English. So linguistic consciousness is a reflection of the actual language sphere contributes to the development of both communicative and multilingual competences. The main aim of the use of modern educational technologies is to increase the level of the communicative competence and linguistic consciousness in students, their educational achievements, and to improve the quality of language education.


Author(s):  
Liudmila Vladimirovna Guseva ◽  
Evgenii Vladimirovich Plisov

The article defnes the role of digital means in foreign language learning, establishes the reasons for the effective use of digital means and digital technologies, identifes challenges in mastering a foreign language in an electronic environment, as well as the prospects for the digitalization of foreign language education. When studying the issues of emergency off-campus learning organization, the results of surveys of teachers and students conducted in April 2020 at Minin University were used. image/svg+xml


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Lys ◽  
Alison May ◽  
Jeanne Ravid

Abstract In order to enhance mobility, competitiveness, and opportunities for work, the European Union lists the ability to communicate in a foreign language and to understand another culture as an important objective in their language education policy. Knowledge of a foreign language is also an important objective for many American universities, which require students to study a foreign language as a prerequisite to graduate. Students with documented disabilities affecting the learning of a foreign language or students with poor foreign language learning skills, therefore, pose a significant challenge, since a foreign language requirement may prevent such students from graduating unless universities are willing to make special arrangements such as having students graduate without fulfilling the requirement or letting them take substitution classes. The question of what to do with such students is at the heart of this article. It describes how one mid-sized private university with a two-year language proficiency requirement has approached the problem to ensure that policies are implemented fairly. Rather than pulling students out of the foreign language classroom, the university succeeded in keeping students engaged with foreign language study through advising and mentoring across departments


Author(s):  
Barbara Schmenk

Book reviews reflect the views and opinions of the respective reviewers and do not necessarily represent the position of SCENARIO. Helga Tschurtschenthaler’s study is one of the most important scholarly contributions in recent years to the field of drama-based foreign language teaching. She conducted her research in an EFL class in an upper secondary school in multilingual South Tyrol and presents a plethora of data that demonstrates the impact of drama in foreign language education on students’ sense of self as emerging multilingual subjects (Kramsch 2009). What stands out about this study, besides its detailed presentation and analysis of student data, is the fact that Tschurtschenthaler succeeds in connecting recent theoretical contributions to the fields of language education and identity to more practical considerations. Overcoming the gap between theory and practice in this domain is one of her signal achievements. “You are not you when you speak Italian. It’s as if you become someone else when you change into Italian. You don’t only sound different, but you even behave differently. Then, you’re not the person I know.” (11) These are the opening lines of the book, leading the reader directly to its main subject. Tschurtschenthaler explains that it was a ...


Author(s):  
N. Zaichenko

The article deals with modern views on the concept of “nationally oriented foreign language teaching”, presented in the linguo-didactic discourse of domestic and foreign scholars of the last decades. The author reveals and characterizes its evolution as one of the basic concepts of Russian and Ukrainian language education as foreign languages. It is found that they relate to the subject matter, content, and operational components of this phenomenon. There are significant changes in the views of scholars on taking into account students’ native language in teaching these languages by speakers of languages with different systems. There is a growing interest in didactic and linguistic data processing of the analysis of Chinese and Russian (Ukrainian) languages and their practical implementation. In terms of content, priority is given to culturally oriented and ethno-psychological aspects of mastering foreign language in a monocultural and multicultural educational environment. The innovative approach to this issue is also manifested in the increasing attention of researchers to the peculiarities of cognitive, mental and educational activities of Chinese-speaking students, formed by the national linguistic and methodological tradition, which is radically different from the national communicative and active lingvodidactic paradigm and needs appropriate methodological correction. Prospects for further study of the issues raised in our investigation are related to the research of a number of “new” terms in the terminological field of the basic concept of “nationally oriented foreign language learning”, as well as from the normative and codification side.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 493-497
Author(s):  
Branko Medic

During the coronavirus pandemic research on video conferencing effects on young language learners is more than ever relevant. During the sharp transition, educators need to fully understand the benefits and possible pitfalls of video conferencing, but also overcome resistance to change through knowledge. As author Philip Pullman rightly points out, “You cannot change what you are, only what you do.” This article summarised key research and provided evidence for and against the use of video conferencing in foreign language education. Thus, it gives food for thought and reflection, as well as directions for possible interventions.  However, the research was limited in terms of time and available literature, and the topic certainly requires more attention. In future, it is recommended to further research the use of multimodal interactions (sound, audio, text) in video conferencing, as well as coping strategies for dealing with the lack of interaction in the video conferencing-enabled classroom.


Author(s):  
Милевица Десимир Бојовић

The study examines the undergraduate students’ perceived use of foreign language speaking strategies, their levels of foreign language anxiety, and the potential relationships between them. Two instruments were used in the study—Inventory of Speaking Strategies in a Foreign Language, based on the instrument Strategy Inventory in Foreign Language Learning, and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale. The results showed that students’ overall perceived use of speaking strategies in English as a foreign language for specific purposes was frequent. The findings also revealed that the students’ foreign language anxiety was at a medium level; individual performance anxieties remained at the same medium levels. A few differences were found between the low-anxious and high-anxious groups on the speaking strategy use: the former uses circumlocutions and synonyms when stuck with a word in English more frequently while the latter is paying attention more often when someone is speaking in English. The results also suggest that the medium-anxious group uses gestures when unable to think of a word during a conversation in English less frequently than the low-anxious group.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir H. Abdalla

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential benefits of using the intercultural approach to teaching English as a foreign language in the preparatory –year programme (male branch), Taif University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The intercultural approach is considered a viable means of foreign language education that seeks to address issues of culture in foreign language learning and teaching and how best to address them. Hence, this study intends to explore the attitudes of first year EFL Taif university students to the potential benefits of the intercultural approach to EFL. A sample of 200 EFL students participated in the study. Participants’ views on the topic of the study are collected via a questionnaire the researcher designed and administered to the participants. In addition, the views of 50 EFL instructors teaching in the preparatory programme were gathered by a questionnaire regarding the topic researched. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the collected data.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Schumacher

AbstractBy adopting “functional plurilingualism” – a recurring concept in its new curriculum, “Lehrplan 21” – Switzerland is pursuing new avenues in foreign language education. The term refers to a goal-oriented approach to foreign language learning and teaching in primary and secondary schools, and implies that barriers to communication can be overcome by exploiting the sum of the individual’s linguistic capacities. In future, language learners will be expected to build on the interrelatedness of languages instead of developing abilities in languages that they keep separate from one another. This view of foreign language education coincides with the recommendations of the Council of Europe’sHaving reached the highest level specified by the CEFR, some learners continue their studies, seeking to maintain or reinforce their competences or to address individual weaknesses. In this article, a group of C2+ learners of German as a foreign language reflect on their desire for linguistic perfection and the notion of “functional plurilingualism” against the background of their own biographies. These learners have a high awareness and knowledge of German (often their third language) and of the learning process, which allows them to make informative statements. The data was analysed qualitatively and subjective theories were reconstructed – an approach that took account both of the multiperspectivity of the topic and of the uniqueness of the individual cases.


Author(s):  
Thomas Raith

This chapter explores in how far Web 2.0, Weblogs in particular, has changed foreign language learning. It argues that Weblogs, along with Web 2.0, have created new genres for which users need new forms of literacy. A qualitative study on the relationship between the online audience of Web 2.0 and learners’ writing processes is presented and the findings are discussed. The study supports the assumption that learners are aware of the social interaction taking place through weblogs and that this awareness of audience influences the writing process. The author’s intention is to point out that Web 2.0 has created new communities of language practice and that foreign language learning is happening in these discourse communities through social interaction. The challenge in foreign language education is to integrate these communities of practice into the foreign language classroom.


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