MOTIVATIONAL EFFECTS ON DRAMA ACTIVITIES
Introduction
The objective of teaching English in classrooms is to enable students to conveniently express themselves in the language. The quest for all students to speak English fluently is necessary due to the international usage of the language. The traditional method of teaching English have been proven not to be without some inadequacies. Drama has increasingly become a suitable tool used to bridge the gap in the traditional method of teaching English in classroom. It has also been able to break the monotony involved in the conventional classroom English teaching process. Students usually find drama particularly interesting and it motivates them into becoming more involved in the whole learning process. In drama, the characters, plots, diction and style of plays are all analyzed which greatly involve student in the learning process more than the conventional method. Apart from the fact that drama creates a more interesting syllabus for students, it also provides an avenue for students to speak publicly, since they tend to face audience in the process of acting, thereby improving their confidence. Yet again, drama helps improve the diction and pronunciation of students since the audience must find the characters audible, thus rehearsals on clear pronunciation will be focused on by student, which invariably improves their linguistic skill. It involves reading and creative writing and thus helps students develop creativity in the use of English.
In pedagogy, researches have shown that it is almost impossible that students understand virtually all what they are taught through explanation alone, hence the introduction of practical classes (Blatchford, 1986). Hence, English learning also needs a practical study, of which drama purposefully serve. Finally, drama as a tool of teaching English in classroom enables students to practically put English into life-like use, which invariably helps them in their practical interaction with English speakers.
In the process of learning English, it is not uncommon for non-English speakers to lack confidence in speaking English in public. Students of average intelligence tend to gradually pick individual words which they join together rather absurdly. They may succeed to form sentences with the words they picked, but in most cases they only succeed in forming disjointed sentences. Researches have proven that the conventional method of teaching English in classroom is overly responsible for this development, as students concentrate in English writing and leaves them wanting in spoken English.
True communication is the use of ideas, emotions, feelings, appropriateness and adaptability. The conventional English class hardly gives the learners an opportunity to use language in this manner and develop fluency in it. Thus, the main purpose of the language teaching course, i.e., developing skills in communication, is unfortunately, neglected (Vani Chauhan, 2005).
This academic discourse will basically focus on the motivational effects on drama activities in English class and the strategies teachers employ in implementing drama into classroom learning. The aim of the paper is to establish the fact that when properly harnessed, drama serves as a vital tool in teaching English in classrooms. The paper revolves around the increasing use of drama in classroom, for it has proven that it serves as an important English teaching method to students. However, since drama is a relatively new tool used in classroom teaching, it is quite important to analyze the implementation process to be employed if the aim of using drama is to be achieved. Hence, the paper will focus on the strategies recommended for teachers in using drama in classroom teaching.
The strategies will lead us to the research question What are the motivational effects on the drama activities in English lessons and teachers strategies The paper will give a comprehensive answer to the above question, analyzing each strategy of drama implementation.
Yet again, the conventional method ensures that students invest several years of their lives to learning English in class before they can achieve a reasonable level of fluency in the language. Students are therefore likely to find their English classes as boring and tiring. They are inclined to perceive their teachers as subjecting them to monotonous lessons over the years without a palpable achievement.
In the present Hong Kong, the reviewed medium of instruction (MOI) arrangements which commenced in September 2001 has spread over virtually all school and all grades. Schools now choose to use English as the MOI based on the following instructions
Should the school decide to devise its MOI strategy on the basis of by class arrangement, the school will have to take into account whether they could satisfy the student ability criterion, i.e., the average proportion of S1 intake of a school admitted to a class belonging to the top 40 group in the previous two years under a six-year review cycle that reaches 85 of the size of a class (i.e., 29 out of 34, the latter being the allocation class size in 2010), and will be given full discretion to determine the MOI arrangements in the class concerned. The school could choose the most appropriate MOI arrangements in the form of by class, by group, by subject and by session arrangements, or a combination of the above forms, having regard to its own circumstances, including those of the needs of students, the capability and readiness of their teachers as well as school-based support measures, and in consultation with its stakeholders. In so doing, there will be a spectrum of MOI arrangements across schools, ranging from the total CMI at one end, the CMI or the EMI in different subjects, and the EMI in full immersion at the other end.
Even the CMI schools can extend the use of the MOI to two more subjects other than the English language based on the instructions below
For other students who will mainly learn content subjects in their mother tongue, English learning environment will be enhanced by increasing the percentage of the total lesson time (excluding the lesson time for the English Language subject) allowed for extended learning activities (ELA) in English from the original 15, 20 and 25 for S1, S2 and S3, respectively as recommended in the Report to a uniform proportion of 25 for each of these three levels. In order to provide students with more motivation to learn English in content subjects and to facilitate them to progress to senior secondary levels at which the EMI teaching may be adopted to a comparatively greater extent, schools will be allowed to transform the above mentioned 25 ELA time into the adoption of the EMI in individual subjects (up to a maximum of two subjects).
It is a well-known fact that the EMI schools (also EMI classessubjects from now on) are a major attraction to parents. To open more EMI classessubjects, schools must make themselves appealing to students of good quality. As a result, schools will try any affordable means to boost their students English standards. This obviously makes it a most pressing issue for all secondary schools in Hong Kong to seek effective means to promote their students English proficiency. Is drama a good choice then
The use of dramatic elements and skills in teaching and learning has for years been advocated by the Curriculum Development Council (CDC, currently the Curriculum Development InstituteCDI) and the Education Department (ED, currently the Education BureauEDB). Eight years ago, the CDI and the EDB laid the foundation of using drama in education in general. In the Basic Curriculum Guide Building on Strengths (Primary 1 to Secondary 3) (2002), drama is recommended for students whole-person development Organising cultural aesthetic activities in lunch time
(such as concerts, painting classes, drama etc.) in lunch time and,
before after school for whole-person development (p.13).
It is as well recommended as a means to promote students reading habit
To develop their intrinsic motivation, students need ample
opportunities to share and exchange the feelings and ideas they
have gained through the reading process in verbal, artistic,
written or dramatic mode (Booklet 3, p.7).
Drama is also a creative medium for students to reflect their growth in thinking and understanding their reading materials
Starting from mainly relaying the content (e.g. re-telling stories,
drawing pictures), students may gradually progress to explaining
concepts and procedures (e.g. doing a demonstration, giving a summary),
evaluating the text (e.g. book reviews, commentaries) and creating
ideas (e.g. musical play, drama) (Booklet 3, p.10).
Five years later, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA), the CDI, and the EDB turned drama into a core element in education. In the English Language Curriculum and Assessment Guide (Secondary 4 - 6) (2007), drama is a strongly recommended component of the subject target and in students learning experience. This subject target is supported by three interrelated strands which define the general purposes of learning English, namely, interpersonal strand (for interpersonal communication), knowledge strand (for developing and applying knowledge), and experience strand (for responding and giving expression to real and imaginative experience). In realizing the experience strand, students have to able to respond to characters, events, issues and themes in imaginative and other narrative texts through oral, written and performative means such as participating in dramatic presentations and reflecting on the way in which authors use language to create effects (p.12). In addition, students need to able to give expressions to imaginative ideas through oral, written and performative means such as role-plays, dramatic presentations or improvisation, and creating short dramatic episodes (p.12). Furthermore, students should be able to give expression to their experience through activities such as providing oral and written description of feelings and events, dramatic presentations or monologues, incorporating where appropriate reflections on their significance (p.12-13).
In the same document, it is clearly stated that language acquisition should not be confined to the classroom and ECA should be deployed to maximize pleasurable and meaningful learning utilize resources to enhance the language environment, so as to provide learners with enjoyable experiences in the use of the language through various types of extra-curricular activities (e.g., language games, drama, choral speaking and short radio plays) explore opportunities for experiential learning in the community (e.g., arranging for learners to attend English talks and go to English plays, inviting English-speaking guests to exchange ideas and share experiences) to widen learners exposure to the authentic use of the language.(p.57)
In September 2010, the New Senior Secondary Curriculum was implemented in the current Secondary 4. With eight years behind, by now drama should be reasonably widely used among all secondary schools in Hong Kong to enhance English language education. However, it does not seem to be the case in actuality.
To a certain extent, participation in the Hong Kong School Drama Festival 2009-2010 can reflect that. In total, there are 582 schools that joined the festival, which include entries of drama in English, Cantonese, and Putonghua. Of these, only 84 of them entered the English drama competition, which accounts for only 14.4 of all participating schools. What hinders the development of English drama activities in local secondary schools Before this question is addressed, the more immediate one that needs to be answered is Is there any documentary evidence showing that drama is an effective tool that enhances English learning
Literature Review
Diverse scholars have written extensively on several effective teaching methods. Yet many works abound on the methods of teaching languages to students. Playwrights, poets, and non-fiction writers alike have suggested drama as a vital tool in teaching English to students. To use Gavin Boltons words, drama has been discovered to be a crucial instrument to the development of language, because it simulates reality and develops self expression (Dougill J. 1987). Yet again, in an article produced by Ma On Shan Ling Lang on primary school teachers, at the inception of drama into classroom teaching, over 55 of students confirmed that they were able to develop the power of expressing their thoughts and feelings better in English than before they were involved in drama.
Writers like Schneider, J. J. and Jackson, S. A., in their work titled Process Drama A Special Space and Place for Writing, have also spoken extensively on the role drama plays in the teaching of English to students. They claim that English drama overly arouses the interest of students to the language. The keen interest bestowed on the subject and the practical nature of drama both ensure that the student improves in language acquisition skill. Not many scholars have disagreed with this claim. In fact, in the recent past, virtually all have accepted that drama has been able to enhance the English learning process.
Therefore, our present world is experiencing a shift in pedagogy, an inclination towards the use of drama in classroom as an effective English teaching tool. Although many teachers may be reluctant to accept this blatant truth, however, the fact remains that many scholars are increasingly inclined towards the introduction of drama to English teaching in classrooms. Such scholars claim that drama helps students experience a practical usage of English as students are presented with real life situation in expressing themselves. The importance of experience in learning has generated one of the many significant theories of learning, which is Kolbs learning model. This particular theory has received an awesome review from many scholars who have expressed diverse perspectives to the theory. Such writers include Carl Rogers, Carl Jung, William James, Paulo Freire, Jean Piaget, and John Dewey to mention a few.
David Kolbs Experiential Learning Model
There are several learning theories postulated by many scholars. Experiential learning theory is one of such theories. This particular theory has received many reviews from many scholars all across the globe since 1971 when Kolb made his first claim of the learning method. The theory simply states that knowledge can easily be transferred to students using the basic learning process which are experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and acting. The theory revolves around the famous saying of a famous philosopher which says thus Teach me and I may forget, tell me I may not remember, but show me and I will never forget.
The theory does not support the traditional educational method of learning in which pre-existing set of knowledge or ideas are transmitted to students. According to Kolb, experiential learning theory describes learning as the the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience (Kolb, 1984). According to the theory, there are two basic dialectical means of acquiring experience and also two means of processing experience. The first duo is concrete experience and abstract conceptualization, while the second duo is reflective observation and active experimentation. Concrete experiences come through the sensory cortex, reflective observation involves the integrative cortex at the back, creating new abstract concepts occurs in the frontal integrative cortex, and active testing involves the motor brain. In other words, the learning cycle arises from the structure of the brain (Zull 2002 1819).
Students Level of Motivation
Experiential learning is a method of constructing knowledge that involves a creative tension among the four learning mode that is responsive to contextual demands. This process is portrayed as an idealized learning cycle or spiral where the learner touches all the basesexperiencing, reflecting, thinking (Academy of Management Learning Education, 2005). According to the above statement, the learning process involves experiencing, reflecting, thinking and acting. To use this theory to review students motivation, one would notice that in traditional English classrooms, students are not active in the process of English learning. They lack motivation in English classes, most especially in spoken or oral English. The reason is connected with the fact that students are bored of this traditional method and despise merely reading of English texts. Usually, these students are active and motivated in their daily lives but lack the same motivation in English classes. Hence, to motivate students, drama, which involves a practical process posited by experiential theory, should be encouraged. Students motivation is quite important to the learning process because it colors and shapes students involvement in learning and it stimulates feelings that students associate with these experiences (Winne, 1985).
Motivation is an internal state that initiates and maintains goal-directed behavior. It is an inducement to action (Mayer, 2003). Thus, when students are motivated to learn, they try harder to understand the material and thereby learn more deeply, resulting in better ability to transfer what they have learned to new situations (Mayer, 2003). Keeping student motivated is quite important in the learning process for many researches have proven that there is a necessary connection between motivational strength of student and their English skill. The students low motivation for English has been overly responsible for the poor English ability of students in Hong Kong. Hence, to resolve this dilemma, drama activities have proved to be of great help. Drama practically engages the students, bringing out the creative side of them and arousing their interest in English, which end up improving their English.
The experiential theory can be used to review students motivation. In experiential learning, the process involves experiencing, reflecting, thinking and acting. In traditional English class, nowadays, most college students are active in real life but passive in English learning. This phenomenon is obvious with the researchers students. Most of them have low motivation in English study especially in the class of oral English. They are tired of the traditional methods of teaching English and not interested in reading or just reciting English texts.
Teachers Strategies
Drama has suitably resolved the impractical nature of traditional English teaching. However, if drama must to fulfill that purpose there are some strategies that must be used in implementing it in the classroom. Teachers also have some major roles to play. As a new beginner, drama could be tasking and equally demanding for both the teachers and the students. The challenges include, among others, adequate time and venue for rehearsal, materials and plays to be used for rehearsals, lack of adequate fund to finance the project. Other challenges are that students may feel awkward in participating in drama and volunteers may be difficult to get. Teachers too may be ill-equipped to teach English using drama as a tool for they may not have any experience in this aspect. Teachers also could experience awkwardness at the initial stage of introducing drama to students. Yet again, teachers may face the disapproval of their colleagues, hence leading to lack of enthusiasm in the teaching process.
Teachers who are not inclined to acting and have virtually no experience in it equally face a great challenge in using drama as an English teaching tool. These apparently arduous challenges are however not insurmountable. Teachers may see drama as a radical innovation that will not only change the school curriculum but also bring about a major change in their relationship with their students. These questions may succeed to obscure the importance of drama as an English teaching tool. The answers to these questions are not far fetched teachers who have absolutely no experience in drama must simply attend workshops or seminar that will equip them to teach drama in classrooms. There are several teacher trainings across the globe. Workshops that help English teachers to further develop their skills are organized by different concerned bodies across the globe and should not be hard to find.
With regard to the lack of fund for the production of plays at school, the curriculum need not incorporate fully produced plays in its timetable. Students can be restricted to acting and miming of plays in classroom and outside classroom at their convenient time. Classroom acting can be a class of two hours where volunteers are asked to act one by one. In cases where there are no volunteers, a student can be called randomly until everybody is eventually involved. Each student is allowed to act between 10 and 15 minutes as the case may be.
Teachers Role
First, as it has been suggested earlier, the English teacher must prepare themselves for the task of teaching drama in classroom if they are not yet equipped with the knowledge. Acquiring such knowledge should not be difficult since teachers are usually continually trained and re-trained in imparting knowledge to their students. Teachers however face the abovementioned challenges which they must not allow to prevent them from the using drama in classrooms.
The role of teachers in the use of drama in classroom teaching is diverse. First, teachers must serve as the coordinators of school dramas. At the inception of drama into classroom teaching, teachers must be quite flexible since they must divorce their minds from the conventional method of English teaching and look towards the new role of the drama teacher. Again, teachers must be creative and imaginative. The plays to be enacted for drama in class will be decided by teachers such plays must however be both interesting and grammatically rich for drama to fulfill its role as a tool in teaching English. Teachers must ensure that rehearsals are equally interesting and educative. The teacher does not only ensure that students pronunciations are overly improved, they also must embark on character interpretation and analysis in order to achieve the aim of teaching drama in classroom.
Teachers must also give students ample independence in writing their own plays or consider their opinion in the choice of play to be enacted. Teachers should also give students the opportunity to choose their most convenient time for rehearsals outside the classroom. Finally, teachers must volunteer their time to rehearse or inspect or supervise students drama rehearsal and acting. Teachers must give out drama assignments to students such as asking them to write plays, criticize a character, evaluate a plot, and other similarly helpful assignments.
One-off Stand-Alone Drama Acts
At the inception of drama into the classroom, the necessary equipment for stage performance might not be readily available. This should however not be a problem as teachers could encourage students to perform within the classroom. This will prepare students for a future public production of stage plays. In the classroom, students should be given the task of performing solely for each other. Students are assigned with the task of reading some scripts. Each student comes to the front of the classroom and performs alone, without other characters, for some few minutes. After each performance, a discussion about the characters and plot takes place. The performance continues until the end of the class. This technique is particularly good for students who are new to drama acting. Again, it will both engage student creatively and also permit them to learn through experiencing practical use of English, which will overly improve syntax and pronunciation. one-off and stand- alone exercises are quite good for new initiates in the field.(Vani Chauhan, 2005).
Preparatory Games
Imitation and miming are both games that could be introduced to students in the classroom. To achieve the aim of these games, students should be divided into groups. Each group acts as a team each group discusses and selects one of its members to mime a famous book or movie (an example of famous books are the works of Shakespeare, while famous movies could be the Titanic). The book or movie should be selected by the teacher using discretion. The title of the bookmovie is not revealed to all the member of the team, only the student that is to mime is shown the title. As the student mimes, without speaking the words aloud, other members of the team attempt to guess the title of the bookmovie. The miming is timed and group members are to guess right before the lapse of the stipulated time if the group is to score points. The actor is permitted to specify the number of letters in the title. This game is designed to generate a keen interest in the student towards drama. It will also helps break the initial awkwardness of the introduction of drama. The game will also allow the teacher to measure the dramatic skills of the students. Finally, the game will assist students and teachers alike in getting prepared for major acts. This game is going to tell you a lot about your students. It will also loosen up the atmosphere of your class and prepare you and your students for doing drama (Vani Chauhan, 2005).
There are three major drama techniques that can be employed in the use of teaching drama to students which would further enhance their English learning process. These activities are stand-alone techniques which have been considered o be of great help to new students of drama. They include the following
Interview or Hot Seat
This is a preparatory drama activity which involves a volunteer who takes the seat - a hot seat - while the other members of the class ask questions about the adventures of the volunteer. It simply involves students who act as a character and is ... being questioned in a role about their motives, character and attitude to a situation or other people and so on. (Fleming, 1994). In this scenario, the whole class is involved in drama while the volunteer acts as a particular character in a play, other members of the class acts as press crew. The teacher serves as a guild to the whole process. In cases when students refuse to volunteer, the teacher can simply volunteer and sit on the hot seat. The whole class can then pretend to be the press crew and the whole class becomes a hall for an imaginary press conference. It must not be forgotten that the activity is meant for studying hence the teacher takes the responsibility in guiding the questioning, as students may not be predisposed to ask the relevant questions that could be used for study purposes.
The student volunteer is interviewed on the adventure of a character, which the volunteer represents. Other members of the class, who act as the press crew, do not only ask diverse questions from the volunteer but, like a true press crew, proceed to take notes and if need be, voice recordings of the volunteer, which they use to develop stories and reports for subsequent classes. For variation purposes, different students should be encouraged to volunteer as the character to be interviewed. At the end of the whole process, the whole students choose the best student who provided the best interview. The best interview should used for writing the report. Creativity could be added to the scenario by dividing the class into groups and each group proceeds to use popular names of media houses, which they display on their tables. Either the teacher or a student could serve as the moderator of the whole press conference. The moderator after introducing the character ensures that the process of the conference goes smoothly. The conference itself should not last more than 15 minutes at most and at the end of the conference, each media house (group of students) jointly works with its reporters to compose a write-up. The volunteer (character) should be allowed to join any group in order to benefit and contribute in the write-up process.
After preparing a report, each group should be made to read it out like reporters who deliver news. The teacher and students should thereafter engage in a general discussion and analysis of all the reports this is to sort out the good reports from the bad ones. Grades could be awarded to groups according to their performance. Finally, good reports could be kept as templates for other less performing members.
The aim of the activity is to assist students in interpreting and understanding roles and characters, to equip student with the ability to take down notes and finally to prepare students in report writing.
Telephone Conversations
This is yet another activity that prepares students for drama. As the name implies, it simply means students acting like they are in telephone conversations. The class is divided into two groups by the teacher. Each member of a group is paired with another member of the other group. Each pair is to sit back-to-back each other, such that members of each pair do not have visual contact with the opposite pair. This is to produce a telephone conversation setting. The two groups must have each member of the pair act a different character and engage in a conversation. The conversation is developed from a specified scene from a bookmovie and the conversation must revolve around a character or particular event in a bookmovie. Teachers could be creative about this by taking steps further in creating apparently conflicting situations and asking pairs to discuss the resolution of such conflict, using the character they represent. A record of each conversation should be kept in a note as these would be discussed in class for learning purposes.
The activity ensures that students learn to develop conversational skills in the context of specified scenarios. Invariably, each member must be able to meaningfully and logically maintain a conversation without deviating from the context irrespective of the response of the partner. In as much as partners are allowed to say whatever pleases them, they must consider the response of the other partner and must not deviate from the main conversation.
The aim of this activity is to teach students how to learn how to react and respond promptly to situations. It also trains students to maintain a meaningful telephone conversation and other conversations. Lastly, it teaches students how to interpret characters. This technique is highly recommended for English learners for it helps in enhancing the speaking-listening skills of the learners (Vani Chauhan, 2005).
Soliloquy or Thought Trailing
This is a similarly good drama activity for English learners. It is a drama technique that allows students to be in the shoes of some characters. To practice the act, the class should be heterogeneously divided into groups. As usual, each group works as a team. The teacher chooses a book, in which a character is selected. Each group will be assigned with the task of selecting a significant occasion in the life of the character, which could be a time of sadness, joy, failure or even success. Same occasions could be assigned to all groups in order to make it easier to compare performances. Each member of the group should express aloud the thought of the character at the specified moment. They act like the character experiencing the significant moment. Each member of the group does this and after all members have performed their individual acts, members deliberate on these acts and finally come up with one, which they must all agree to be the best. Each group selects a representative that will come forward to the front of the class to present the best monologue of his or her group. After the whole performance, the whole class decides the best performances. Students are also encouraged to keep a record of the activity in their notebooks as this could be used as a good diary-keeping.
The aim of the activity is to teach English learners how to interpret both literary works and their characters. It also teaches English learners how to express their most personal feelings and emotions in English. By being in the shoes of some characters, exploring the innermost thoughts of such characters and speaking such thoughts aloud, students develop the power of expression in respect to their own emotions. Finally, the activity directs students in the process of writing diaries.
Curriculum Development Institute and Curriculum Assessment Guide in Drama Learning Policy
Since drama is a new introduction into the educational system in Hong Kong, there is a need to incorporate its teachings into the present curriculum. As stated earlier, the educational curriculum of Hong Kong had suffered a set back since the introduction of universal basic education, which stretched the school expansion more than the quality approved of. Today, drama is gradually being incorporated into the curriculum by the education commission. This commission together with other bodies is responsible for developing adequate curriculum for learning.
Strategies of Curriculum Development
Scholars like Huberman and Havelock have written about curriculum development and have hence provided a foundation which others can develop. In their work, they discussed several strategies of curriculum development. This work revolves around the diverse relationships between curriculum planning bodies and end users of all the planned changes. Six major strategies for the development of curriculum have been proposed in their work. The six strategies are as follows
Problem solving strategy Self-help strategies and problem-solving strategies which are locally participative and responsive.
Power Coercive This refers to predominance of authority, power, administrative and legalistic procedures.
Theory-free There should be focus on transparency, flexibility and multiplicity of inputs.
Social Interaction Emphasis is on communication and diffusion of innovations through a variety of channels and interpersonal networks.
Research, Development and Diffusion Emphasis is on systematic research, empirical evidence, means-ends rationality and evaluation-controlled approaches.
Linkage Focus is on inside-outside cooperation and dialogue between policy makers and users (Morris, Asian Journal of Public Administration).
E.C. Short has also contributed to the subject of curriculum development, but unlike Huberman and Havelock, he has chosen to focus his theory on the sources and degree of change rather than mere relationship that lies between innovation users and policy makers. His work gives other scholars a foundation that channels the search towards three basic principles, which are the source of expertise which generates and supports the change, the degree of anticipated adaptation of an innovation and thirdly, the planned location of the change (Morris, Asian Journal of Public Administration).
However, researchers have not been contended with Shorts three strategies, they claim that the combination of all Shorts strategies do not satisfactorily meet the condition of understanding what curriculum development entails in Hong Kong because his strategies have refused to recognize the importance of the role of members of the educational organization as a potential source of expertise. Scholars have therefore adopted two new strategies in the curriculum development in Hong Kong. These new strategies include the following claims
1. Innovation should be created by diverse experts in specified disciplines and that scholars be responsible for drafting the curriculum. Changes in the curriculum should be applied to virtually all schools in Hong Kong. Furthermore, teachers are to apply the innovation into their teaching as prescribed by a central approved body.
The second strategy states that change in curriculum should be the result of combined effort of curriculum specialists, academic experts as well as teachers. Innovations are meant to be applied in a particular institution.
Finally, it claims that all users must have to adopt all new ideas given them to suit the purpose of their students.
Curriculum Development in Hong Kong
All the above discussed strategies have provided a root for defining the core attributes of curriculum development. Essentially, they can only be usefully administered to diverse stages of curriculum change process. Scholars have agreed on three major stages in the process of curriculum change
Stage 1 Variously labeled initiation, mobilization, adaption, planning or policy making This stage is the first stage in the whole process. It is the stage where the idea of a change is conceived. It also involves the planning for the proposed change and the mobilization of necessary elements for the change.
Stage 2 ImplementationInitial use This is the process where the conceived idea of the former stage is put into practice.
Stage 3 Incorporation or institutionalization This stage simply refers to the point where the proposed change succeeds to be adopted into the existing system. There are two sides to this stage either the change is incorporated into the current system or it is dropped and left to die a natural death.
It is quite important to able to distinguish these stages most especially the first two stages because one could confuse a single stage of the process to the complete curriculum development process. (Morris, Asian Journal of Public Administration)
Initiation or Policy Making
Discussion on curriculum development will be incomplete without mentioning the famous stage of the process. In Hong Kong, two organizations are solely responsible for defining and promoting the newly introduced educational plan. The two bodies are the Hong Kong Examination Authority (HKEA) and the Curriculum Development Committee (CDC).
The office of HKEA remains the agent responsible for initiating and controlling curriculum change. The body also produces CDC and HKEA syllabuses. These syllabuses are designed for secondary school and they contain vital information like subject content, aims and objectives of each subject, teaching methods and the procedure of assessment. All syllabuses are locally produced, with participation of groups. The structure of these syllabuses also connote that teachers opinion are instrumental to its production of syllabuses
Furthermore, members of the CDC and members of subject committees are usually representative of the communitys educationists who are basically heads of schools, practicing teachers from government or non-government schools, lecturers of university or college of education, officers of other Divisions of the Education Department and officers of the Advisory Inspectorate.
The regulatory board ensures that all instructions given to any school must conform to an approved syllabus by the director. Yet again, nobody must use any document for instruction in a class in any school unless particulars of the title, author and publisher of the document and such other particulars of the document as the Director may require have been furnished to the Director not less than fourteen days previously (Morris, Asian Journal of Public Administration).
The Implementation of Planned Change
After a curriculum change has been initiated, it automatically becomes paramount to adopt the practice of such idea. This stage is the actual change, the practical change, as against the on paper change. However, ironically, more attention is bestowed on the initiation stage of curriculum development. This development has left teachers and students to practice a mere imitation of the change in curriculum. This problem is not however peculiar to Hong Kong alone, for it is noticeable in nations across the globe. (Morris, Asian Journal of Public Administration).
The problem is however quite pronounced in Hong Kong. Hong Kong allocates relatively a low amount to practical curriculum changes as a result of overspending at the initial stage of the process. Countries like Malaysia and Sri Lanka are quite famous for the practice of allocating substantial resources to support the implementation of curricular developments.
Existing Problem Preventing Effective Implementation in Hong Kong
It has been established that there is an apparent laxity in the implementation of curriculum change, the paper hence proceeds to identify the causes of this problem.
First, resource centers, which were purposefully established to equip teachers with both facilities and resources to be used for particular subjects, are presently underutilized. These centers are presently only used as lecture rooms for teachers training. It is common to find virtually no staff at some of these centers, therefore giving teachers no access to such centers when they choose to use them.
The second cause of this problem is the in-service training which are supposed to train teachers at the introduction of new syllabus. These trainings only succeed to merely explain how or why the syllabus has changed. Such training at most succeed in giving details of the procedures of the change or absolute praise-singing of officially adopted teaching methods. They most often do not give the implementation a priority. It is usually the teachers associations that provide the necessary implementation details to teachers.
The third cause is the provision of classroom resources. This is yet another challenge facing implementation of curriculum change. The people recruited to produce resources are occasionally new graduates with virtually no teaching experience. Obviously, it should not be expected that such a policy will succeed in providing the relevant and tested resources which teachers need and want. The challenges are diverse as teachers continue to attempt to blend into the pragmatic difficulties of their work, battling with the task of implementing radical changes, often times both contradictory and vague. Many times they have had virtually no say in the formulation and they receive little or no support in the implementation. This often results into a change only in paper.
Scholars have continued to ask why implementation has continued to be neglected. Better still, why are resources allocated to the initiation stage of curriculum development at the expense of the implementation The reasons are as diverse and as complex as several of the government institutions problems.
Finally, scholars have developed alternative views for analyzing existing elements in the implementation of curriculum change. It is simply by separating those elements which have been recognized as the major characteristics of successful curriculum development exercises elsewhere. They are as follows
(1) determination of a need
(2) construction of theoretical foundations
(3) use of goals and objectives
(4) attention to developmental psychology and learning research
(5) use of group collaboration
(6) preparation of resources
(7) planning for early dissemination
(8) preparation of staff development training
(9) testing and revision
(10) continuous development (Morris, Asian Journal of Public Administration).
Summarily, experiential theory pinpoints human experience as the most effective method of human learning. The process of learning involves the adaptation of human experiences into abstract theories and concepts that remain and are interpreted as scientific knowledge. Experiential learning is therefore a developed learning theory which prescribes a defined qualitative and quantitative learning process through the use of human experience. It is a learning theory that has radically deviated from the traditional method of learning known over the years. Drama in this respect serves as the practical aspect of English. It provides students with the opportunity of acquiring practical experiences in English. Following the experiential theory, which claims that learning takes the process of adopting concrete human experiences into abstract concepts, drama therefore serves as the avenue in which students come in contact with practical English learning experience which they embed into their English teaching to enhance the learning process. The theory simply supports the incorporation of drama into teaching of English to students. Non-English speakers learning English usually find it awkward to speak English. They therefore do not use the language outside the classroom, thereby giving them less practical experience in English. Drama bridges this gap, creating a real-life scenario where students can learn easily from the practical experiences of the various activities that drama involves.
The introduction of drama in teaching English can therefore be said to be in accordance with the experiential theory. True to the claim of the theory that human experiences are the most vital element of the learning process, the inception of drama in classroom English learning has proved to greatly improve the students ability to grasp the language and they have increasingly succeeded in expressing themselves better using English. Researches have proven that drama enhances both the pronunciation of students and enhances the ability of students to construct meaningful lexically correct sentences. Yet again, teaching drama in classrooms has been able to bestow students with the power of expressing their feelings and thoughts better in English while students that are not taught drama continue to construct disjointed sentences in English.
SHAPE
Methodology
The paper has relied on a comprehensive method of research. Apart from the references from several primary sources, which are works of other scholars, the paper has also used secondary sources in its research. Furthermore, to ensure that the paper achieves its aim of analyzing students motivation, the paper has used questionnaires, interviews, action research and finally teachers reflection in the process of its research.
Research Project Drama Education in Hong Kong Schools Research and Evaluation of Outcomes
Principal School Leader Questionnaire
The Hong Kong Arts Development Council has commissioned the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) and the Hong Kong DramaTheatre and Education Forum (TEFO) to conduct the captioned 30-month research project. The aim of the project is to investigate the practice and outcomes of drama education in Hong Kong schools, so as to make relevant recommendations to education and professional organisations.
This questionnaire aims to ascertain how School Leaders view drama education so as to come up with recommendations for effective development and promotion of drama education in schools. This questionnaire can be filled out by the school principal, or other school leaders designated by the school principal. Information provided will be solely used for purpose of this research purpose and will be kept strictly confidential. Please put the completed questionnaire in the white envelope enclosed and return it, via the responsible colleague in your school before 20 Jan 2007. For enquiries, please contact Dr. HUI Ming Fai, the Principal Investigator (2948-7373), or Miss. Iris KAM, the Project Manager (2948-6666) at HKIEd.
You can also download this questionnaire at our project website (httpresearch.tefo.hk) and email the completed copy to Miss Iris KAM at LSKAMied.edu.hk. We would also appreciate your help in forwarding the web-link to other principals and teachers. Thank you.
Section 1 Background information
Name of school
Years of establishment District Number of students
Number of lessons in each week cycle
Number of permanent teachers Number of non-permanent teachers
1.2 Type of school (please appropriate )
A. Primary (half-day) Primary (full-day) Secondary
B. Government Subsidized Grant Private DSS
C. Special
D. International
1.3 Major language of instruction (please appropriate )
Cantonese English Putonghua
Section 2 Drama Education in our school (please appropriate )
2006 07
2.1 We have the following drama education activities Yes No
A. School drama clubsociety
B. Participation in the Hong Kong School Drama Festival
C. Drama training class or artists-in-residence scheme
D. Touring performance of theatre companies
E. Drama within the formal school curriculum
i. as an independent subject
ii. as a unit in the arts education curriculum
iii. other format, please specify
F. Drama as a method to teach school subjects
G. Other drama activities, please specify
2.2 (following 2.1E) Our school has drama within the formal school curriculum (in any format), and the number of lessons per week cycle is
Grade (Pprimary, Ssecondary)P1 S1P2 S2P3 S3P4 S4P5 S5P6 S6S7No. of lessons in each week cycle
2.3 Number of drama teachers (permanent) (non-permanent)
2.4 Besides the teachers mentioned in 2.3, the number of teachers responsible for drama activities is
(permanent) (non-permanent, including hired from outside)
Section 3 Views of school leader on drama education (please appropriate )
4.2 I believe that drama should be used as a method in the teaching of school subjects
4.3 Our school will continue or will begin to have drama as a formal subject
4.4 Our school will continue or will begin to adopt drama as a method in the teaching
of school subjects
My views on the resources available for promoting and implementing drama education (please appropriate )
School resourcesAbundantAdequateInadequateVery InadequateNot applicableA.Environment and facilityB.Teachers supportC.Parents supportD.Students active participation E.Colleagues collaborationF.Drama professionals supportG.School-based curriculum designH.Class time and number of available periodsI.Readily-available drama courses teaching plans teaching materialsJ.Exchange platform among schoolsK.Teacher training provided by the governmentL.Curriculum guides and performance indicators set out by the government M.Exemplars on teaching and assessmentN.Others
4.6 To effectively promote and implement drama education, our school would expect the following resources and support
To be provided by the Education and Manpower Bureau
A. Teacher training
B. Teaching materials
C. Financial resources
D. Support of drama professionals
E. Venue
To be provided by tertiary education institutions
To be provided by arts organisations
To be provided by the community
Thank you for completing the questionnaire
Qualitative method interviews with high motivated and low motivated students in English learning using the drama elements
Two high motivated and two low motivated students were chosen and interviewed, making four students in all. Each interview did not last more than five minutes. The questions were solely key elements that probed the students minds on the treated topic in English and drama classes. The response of the two high motivated students is that they are overly interested in the drama procedures in the classroom and it has since given them the chance to speak and address the public in English which has inevitably improved their English. The two low motivated students are not particular about drama in English. They have relatively good grades I English even before the introduction of drama.
Questionnaire
84 students from different classes were asked to fill a questionnaire. 24 students out of the 84 participate in drama. All the 24 students affirmed that drama has improved their English and it was confirmed during the interview that they all truly have good proficiency of English. The questionnaire asks questions on which areas of teaching method tend to arouse the students motivation of speaking English. Again, students choose one of the activities from all the classroom drama activities which the teachers have introduced in the English class. The questionnaire is in two stages the first was applied before the introduction of drama in the classroom and the second was applied after the introduction of drama into the classroom English teaching. The students were divided into three groups, which are one group of excellent students, one group of average students, and one group of low mark students. The names of these students must be kept anonymous in order to ensure that each student expresses his or her true ideas and attitudes about English learning. 29 of the students participate in drama and all 29 were proficient In English
Pre Drama Questionnaire Result
84 students were given questionnaire, 10 was excellent students, 50 was average students and 40 was low mark students. 90 of the excellent students had good use of English, 40 of average student spoke English, while 10 of poor mark students spoke English. In total, less than 30 of the students spoke correct English and found English class interesting. The rest 70 find English class as monotonous and un-interesting.
Post Drama Questionnaire
29 participated in the drama group and all confirmed that it greatly improve their oral English and gave them the confidence to address public in English.
Worksheets and Materials in Carrying Out the Lesson
At this juncture, there is no gain saying that drama is a powerful language-learning tool. However, the fact that it has been used in the recent past as an effective means of improving English learners learning process requires that a comprehensive method of its application is defined. It can be implemented using the following teaching stages. These stages could be divided to days, weeks and months according to the timetable of various classes. The pace of assimilation of students will also serve as determinant of the time frame of each stage.
Stage 1 Introductory Stage English learners that are not familiar with drama will need to be introduced to it. Student are taught what drama is.
Stage 2 Gesture and Mining Stage Students are encouraged to mime, act and discuss the characters in plays. They are to discuss plots, characters and dictions of plays in classes. At this stage, students are given a comprehensive insight into what drama is all about. They engage in both individual and group acting.
Stage 3 Stage Entrance Students are already well versed in drama and should be encouraged to write their own plays, either in groups or as individuals. This game will help improve the writing skills of students.
Stage 4 Technical Stage Students are trained in the technical aspect of drama such as costuming, voice over, narration, reporting, tapping in, speaking diaries, imaging, etc. This prepares students for the ability to produce their own play.
Stage 5 Production Stage Students are prepared for production of plays. They are assigned into groups heterogeneously. They meet occasionally after class to rehearse their play independent of their teacher. Each group has the responsibility of writing and producing a stage play. Towards the end of the term, the various plays of all groups will be performed on stage. Teachers could invite parents to attend and watch their wards.
Stage 6 Reflection Stage All the performances of all groups are reviewed. The teacher and the entire class analyze and criticize the play of each group. They discuss all related issues of the play such as the plot, setting, interpretation of characters, the characters, costumes, etc. It ensures that students are corrected on all the errors committed in their plays. Students also give feedback to their teachers in respect of their challenges encountered before and during production of their plays.
Analysis of Data Collected
Students are divided into three groups according to their performance in the mid-term test in the classroom. These groups include five excellent students, five average students, and five poor mark students. The questionnaire is basically about the teaching methods that the students find arousing their motivation of the English language. The result of the questionnaire was calculated manually.
Control Group
The research was carried out among three small groups the excellent students, the average students and the poor mark students. The control group is not taught drama. They are taught English using the following methods traditional method, oral English tests method and other methods. The result of the questionnaire was calculated in percentages. Forty-six percent of excellent students chose the traditional method, 50 chose the oral English tests method and 4 chose other methods. In the average students group, 40 chose the traditional method, 40 also chose the oral English tests method and 20 chose other methods. In the low score students group, 36 chose the traditional method, 4 chose the oral English tests method, while other methods reached up to 60. It could be seen that both the excellent students and average students felt the traditional and oral English teaching methods were just fine. The two methods were not able to arouse their motivation of English. The low mark students felt that the oral test method was worse than the traditional methods, they felt drama could arouse their motivation for English.
Target Group
The research proceeded to apply the same set of questions to students from the target group. Again, students are divided into three groups. As is the previous case, the groups are the excellent students, the average students and the low-mark students. This is a group that is taught English using drama method. In this group, 39 of excellent students chose the traditional method, 60 chose the drama activities method and only 4 chose other methods. In the average students group, 18 chose the traditional method, 71 chose the drama activities, a much higher percentage than the traditional method, 11 chose other methods.
Finally, in the poor-grade student group, 11 chose the traditional method, 85 chose the drama activities and the percentage of other methods was just 4.
From the above result, the research shows that the excellent students did not show major changes in the methods of teaching that best arouse their motivation for English. However, in the average and poor-grade students, there are enormous changes in their motivations. These latter groups believe that there is a broad gap between the traditional method and the drama activities in respect of arousing their motivation for English.
These two groups are highly motivated by the drama method of teaching. The research has proven that the oral English tests method was equally boring to students as the traditional method. The percentage of students voting for the drama method however shows that the use of drama activity in classroom teaching is more effective in arousing students motivation in speaking English than both the traditional methods and oral English tests. Yet again, since the percentage of poor-grade students who chose drama activity were much higher than the excellent students, thus the research has proven that drama activity was more effective to the poor-grade students than to the excellent students in arousing their motivation in English speaking.
Results of the Interviews
The control group and the target group were interviewed and the result is as follows the wave of control group went smoothly but that of the target group went up. It can hence be concluded that these two groups of students had different expressions on the three same texts. The students of control group who were asked using oral English tests activities always thought the texts were merely fine, without much ability to arouse students motivation for English. The students of the target group, on the other hand, which were asked using drama activities felt the method was much interesting. Thus, from the above results, the research has proven that using drama is more effective in arousing the students motivation in speaking English than any other method.
Recommendations
The school has a role it must play in the motivation of students. Teachers, for example, must be adequately prepared to meet the need of the students. The following must be done by the school
Training Funding of Teachers Training Schools are saddled with the responsibility of equipping their teachers with all the necessary skills to enable them teach drama in classroom effectively. Schools are to prescribe, recommend and fund the necessary workshops for training teachers, which they should attend in order make them competent in the implementation of drama in the classroom. However, in government schools, the government is responsible for training the teachers, but the school head is positioned to recommend the teacher to be trained.
Provision of Equipment Schools are to provide the necessary equipment for drama. These equipment include stage, microphones, tapes recorders, lighting, and perhaps some major costumes for major characters. Schools are to provide these things according to their means.
Providing Opportunities for Public Performance Schools are to provide special days where students can perform publicly to a reasonable number of audience. Schools can invite parents and special guests to school premises on special days where students are to perform.
Creating Lesson PlansStrategies of Teaching Drama to Students Schools should be responsible for creating lesson plans in drama. Even in cases where the syllabus is designed by the education commission, schools together with their teachers determine the adequate method of implementing drama in classrooms and the strategies to be employed.
Can Drama Be Formally Incorporated into the School Curriculum
This question has been asked by many scholars in pedagogy. But in order to answer this question, one must first answer this question Does drama improve students English learning or not There is no objection that the answer to this question is positive. Pedagogy involves the study of teaching effectively. Since drama has been proven to be an effective teaching tool, then nothing should prevent it from being formally incorporated into the school curriculum. Obviously, it will only succeed in enhancing English learning and teaching method.
Quality Assurance and Teachers Assurance
The lesson plan will be designed to ensure the quality of the drama implementation. Teacher training and re-training by the government or the school in cases of private school will also enhance the quality. Again, availability of funds for acquiring equipment will go a long way in ensuring the quality of the drama in school.
Finally, professionals in the field of drama can be invited as consultants to ensure that teachers implement drama to student in a professional method and that students are as professional as possible in their plays.
Conclusion
With all the discussion of the paper, after using the research methods enumerated above, the research has proven beyond reasonable doubt that drama is a very effective tool in the motivation of student in speaking English. If drama is learned properly, drama remains the necessary method to bridge the flaw in the traditional method of English teaching. Drama has been able to achieve the following when applied in the classroom
1. Drama brings out the creativity of students Many students claimed that they were much creative in their plays. They accepted that they were able to express their feelings. Over 68 of students were high motivated students. All these 68 unanimously accepted that they enjoyed participating in drama for it did not only arouse their creative part, it has also motivated them into their writing creative ideas as scripts.
2. Drama techniques improve the English of students Over 78 of the students interviewed all affirmed that they have been able to express themselves better in English with the introduction of drama. They claimed that they can now respond to their feelings and experiences in English after the introduction of drama techniques in the classroom. Obviously, this is a practical confirmation that drama develops the English skills of motivated students.
3. Learner autonomy Students have developed their independent learning skills and problem- solving skills. They have also shown higher incentive and independence in learning English. Many students were highly interested in doing drama in English. There was a significant increase in the number of students who liked doing drama according to the pre-project and post-project questionnaire results.
4. Writing skills Over 70 of students perceived writing plays in English as quite useful in improving their English writing skills.
5. Speaking skills and confidence Virtually all students claimed that after speaking in front of an audience, they subsequently developed confidence to speak publicly. They claimed that they also noticed improvement on their pronunciation and tone.
Unequivocally, drama can be described as an overly effective method in teaching English to students in the classroom.
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