Dear SCENARIO Readers,
Our 14th issue opens with an excerpt from Hugh Leonard’s Home Before Night in our rubric Texts around Theatre. In this autobiographical text, the Irish author remembers moments from his youth that triggered his curiosity for theatre and set the course for his later career as a playwright/dramatist.
We are delighted to point out that this new issue features articles by authors from four continents, an indication for increasing world-wide interest in SCENARIO.
In their contribution Drama in L2-learning: A Research Synthesis, George Belliveau and Won Kim (University of British Columbia, Canada) review and appraise research into drama and second language learning. Their thorough inventory of the last two decades of English research literature shows the need for more longitudinal studies into tangible results of drama pedagogy for L2 learning.
The article Intercultural and lifelong learning based on educational drama by the Greek author team Alkistis Kondonyianni (University of Peloponnese), Antonis Lenakakis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and Nikos Tsiotsos (9th Primary Education School, Serres) goes beyond second/foreign language education and focuses on possible benefits of drama pedagogy in the fields of education and life-long learning, particularly in social work and the acquisition of professional competencies.
In his action research project Using Drama-in-Education to facilitate active participation and the enhancement of oral communication skills among first year pre-service teachers, Logamurthie Athiemoolam (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa) examines the effects of drama pedagogy on South African prospective teachers. These student teachers, who had initially been unfamiliar with the drama pedagogy approach, greatly improved in oral competency, critical thinking, creativity, and self-esteem.
The article The effects of integrated drama-based role play and student teams achievement division (STAD) on students’ speaking skills and affective involvement by Lawarn Sirisrimangkorn and Jitpanat Suwanthep (Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand) presents a study into the combination of drama pedagogy and cooperative language learning techniques at a university in the North of Thailand. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods attest to a clear improvement of oral communication skills, heightened motivation, and learners’ feelings of self-worth.
Sean Aita (Arts University, Bournemouth, UK) emphasizes in his contribution Shakespeare in Styria the enormous potential of Shakespeare for foreign language learning. He describes how he put Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night on stage with English as a Foreign Language Learners and highlights the concomitant learning processes of the participants.
In her article Mehrsprachigkeitstheater als nonverbale und mehrsprachige Kommunikation Ursula Bünger (Liceo Linguistico "Giovanni Verga", Modica, Ragusa, Sicily) describes and elucidates connections between educational multilingualism and theatre-based German as a Foreign Language lessons.
Furthermore, this issue contains several book reviews: Manfred Schewe und Micha Fleiner review Fremdsprachenunterricht und Neurowissenschaften (2013) by Michaela Sambanis. Micha Fleiner introduces SCENARIO-readers to two publications by Denise Elena: Dramapädagogik für Englisch in der Grundschule (2012) sowie Dramapädagogik für Englisch in der Sekundarstufe (2011). Maik Walter focuses on Doreen Bryant’s drama-based approach to teaching German as a Second Language by referring to her research publications Lokalisierungsausdrücke im Erst- und Zweitspracherwerb. Typologische, ontogenetische und kognitionspsychologische Überlegungen zur Sprachförderung in DaZ (2010) and DaZ und Theater: Der dramapädagogische Ansatz zur Förderung der Bildungssprache (2012).
This issue closes with Micha Fleiner and Stefan Kriechbaumer’s report about the First Symposium on Performative Teaching and Learning that took place at University College Cork on September 13-14, 2013.
We also would like to take the opportunity to announce the First International Conference on Performative Teaching, Learning and Research at University College Cork from May 29 to June 1, 2014. For detailed information please click here. We would be delighted to personally get to know many of our SCENARIO-readers at this venue.
We are also planning to set up a SCENARIO discussion list. If you would like to join the list you will find all relevant information here.
We hope that you, our readers, enjoy our new issue, and we wish you all the best for the coming year.
December 2013
Your editor team
Manfred Schewe und Susanne Even