How Musical Theatre Performance connects with learning a Foreign Language?
Foreign language theatre production effectively teaches and encourages the continued study of a foreign language and its culture due to its many advantages. Throughout the numerous phases of production—auditions, rehearsals, textual analysis and discussion, set and costume preparation, performances, and post performance reflections—students are engaged in various communicative tasks daily.
The Italian Theatre Workshop (ITW) was a preliminary investigation that sought to examine the diverse forms of communication and interaction that could occur among actors, stage managers, designers, and directors of a foreign-language theatrical troupe. It was intended to be an immersion experience with a limited number of participants during its first pilot year so that its qualitative and quantitative potential to assess students' proficiency in a postsecondary curriculum could be evaluated. The ITW was a constructive and diverse experience that enhanced the participants' linguistic development and cultural awareness.
To begin with, the sustained emphasis on a singular text enabled a comprehensive and nuanced examination of genuine literature. Additionally, the immersion experience enhanced students' proficiency in various skill domains, albeit in a broad sense. Furthermore, through the consistent implementation of gestures and idioms and the tangible manifestation of characters' ideologies and principles, viewers were granted an intimate understanding of particular cultural conventions. Furthermore, because students exhibited profound pride in the project and its ultimate public objective, they were extraordinarily motivated to communicate precisely and proficiently. In conclusion, the ITW fostered a genuine sense of camaraderie regarding language and culture acquisition, which resulted in tremendous gratification for every participant, the theatrical troupe, and the entire university department.
Drama in the Foreign Language Classroom
For decades, drama techniques have been an integral component of methods for teaching foreign languages. Whether it be the communicative methods of the twenty-first century or the direct methods of the early 20th century, mini-skits and "situations" have been indispensable in assisting students to interchange information, aggregate resources, and attain more excellent oral proficiency in the target language. Students, scholars, researchers, and instructors agree that drama techniques are advantageous because they enable students to express themselves more spontaneously and imaginatively. They introduce students to a greater degree of realism regarding the practical application of the target language in the classroom. Learners must engage in role-plays and dramatic situations to investigate the sociopragmatic implications of both verbal and nonverbal language. In doing so, they must implement strategic approaches that prevent communication breakdowns and the "collapse" of their skits.
Experts in foreign languages continue to investigate the advantages of theatre techniques. The individual's areas of interest encompass a broad spectrum, including the integration of brief drama-based exercises into introductory and intermediate-level courses to facilitate impromptu language usage, process drama, an instructional approach that periodically integrates a continuous role-play element into the class over a specified time, and the advantages of full-scale play production for fostering language community development and interdisciplinary learning. Certain academicians provide indispensable "how-to" information for their peers who aspire to achieve smaller-scale, in-class objectives in drama. In contrast, others focus exclusively on the goals of larger-scale, extracurricular theatrical productions.
