Multimodal language and learning: Drama as EAL/D pedagogy in the early primary classroom

Abstract

This paper is a qualitative exploration of the experiences of three English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) Year 1 students and their classroom teacher. The study interprets their engagement in socio-dramatic roleplay as a form of oral and written literacy instruction. Analysis centres around the body language and classroom conversations of participants, as well as the pedagogic strategies implemented. The methodologies used are hermeneutic phenomenology and narrative interpretation. Human personalities are impossible to represent using purely quantitative means. Stories, however, are able to vividly depict complex psychosocial environments. Classrooms are such an environment, as full of relationships and feelings as they are of concepts and curriculum. Hence, in presenting a case for drama as a highly engaging language enrichment pedagogy, this study has been inspired and informed by the work of Van Manen (2016a, 2016b) and Polkinghorne (1988), both significant contributors to the field of human experience. This investigation builds upon a growing body of research demonstrating that drama-rich strategies and techniques are a classroom innovation that can improve student engagement and learning outcomes. Drama encourages vocal expressiveness and creative language use. It also allows young students to use their innate physicality to create and access multimodal meaning. Multimodality is becoming increasingly valued in the fields of second language learning and social equity. Finding different ways of representing knowledge to help support increasingly diverse student populations is now an acknowledged best practice. Drama utilises body language as an alternative mode of communication, one that EAL/D students are able to adopt as easily as their mainstream language peers.