Drama and critical intercultural language pedagogy

Authors

  • Jenna Nilson Arizona State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.15.2.3

Keywords:

Process Drama, English language learning, ethics, Youth Participatory Action Research, critical intercultural language pedagogy

Abstract

This article discusses findings from a research project with emergent bilingual youth in Phoenix, Arizona. This project focused on how critical intercultural language pedagogy impacts how and what methods of performative language teaching drama and language practitioners employ in the English as an Additional Language (EAL) class through engaging aspects of a Youth Participatory Action Research methodology (YPAR) and through taking a Mantle of the Expert approach in a process drama. The article uses Tania Cañas’s Manifesto “10 things you need to consider if you are an artist not of the refugee and asylum seeker community- looking to work with our community” to situate how this project sought to examine ethical process when working with language minoritized youth in the context of English language learning in the United States. Cañas (2015) argues that artists need to examine how their project methodologies promote equitable exchange, as well as how their participation frameworks situate power. In relation to the above points in Cañas’s Manifesto, the article discusses findings from the research project, and examines how effectively the project considered equitable exchange and power dynamics within the context of language learning. Findings relate how drama practitioners and language teachers must critically reflect on and focus their students’ choice and decision-making throughout the process, as well as seek to meaningfully incorporate students’ linguistic capacities in both English and their first languages.

Author Biography

Jenna Nilson, Arizona State University

Jenna Nilson holds a Masters in Fine Arts in Theatre for Youth and Communities from Arizona State University (ASU’2021). Her focus lies in developing performative and culturally sustaining pedagogies for teaching and learning second languages. She has worked as an Artist-in-Residence for Asphalt Arts, a community cultural development program run through the Institute for Design and the Arts at ASU and as a Teaching Artist with the Phoenix, Arizona school district leading drama-based workshops with English language learners. She is currently an English language teacher in Madrid, Spain.

References

Cammarota, J., & Fine, M. (2008). Revolutionizing education: Youth participatory action research in motion. Routledge. ProQuest.

Cañas, T. (2015, October 5). 10 things you need to consider if you are artist not of the refugee and asylum seeker community- looking to work with our community. Rise. https://www.riserefugee.org/10-things-you-need-to-consider-if-you-are-an-artist-not-of-the-refugee-and-asylum-seeker-community-looking-to-work-with-our-community/

Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. Language, power and pedagogy. Multilingual Matters. ProQuest.

Frimberger, K. (2017). The ethics of performative approaches in intercultural education. In J. Crutchfield & M. Schewe (Eds.), Going performative in intercultural education: International contexts, theoretical perspectives and models of practice languages (pp. 44-63). Multilingual Matters.

García, O., & Kleifgen, J.A. (2018). Educating emergent bilinguals: Policies, programs, and practices for english learners (2nd ed.). Teachers College Press.

Greatschools.org (n.d.). Alhambra elementary district. https://www.greatschools.org/arizona/phoenix/alhambra-elementary-district/

Heathcote, D., & Bolton, G. (1995). Drama for learning: Dorothy Heathcote’s mantle of the expert approach to education. Heinemann.

Mantle of the Expert (n.d.). How can MoE be used? https://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/what-is-moe/how-can-moe-be-used/

Kao, S., & O'Neill, C. (1998). Words into worlds: Learning a second language through process drama. Contemporary studies in second language learning. Ablex.

Liddicoat, A.J., & Scarino, A. (2013). Intercultural language teaching and learning. Wiley-Blackwell. ProQuest. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118482070

Mantle of the expert. (n.d.). The New Zealand curriculum online. https://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Archives/Media-gallery-archive/2011/Mantle-of-the-expert

Neelands, J., & Goode, T. (2000). Structuring drama work: A handbook of available forms in theatre and drama. Cambridge University Press.

Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (2014). What are we seeking to sustain through culturally sustaining pedagogy? A loving critique forward. Harvard educational review, 84(1), 85-101. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.84.1.982l873k2ht16m77

Phipps, A. (2013). Intercultural ethics: Questions of methods in language and intercultural communication. Language and intercultural communication, 13(1), 10-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2012.748787

Piazzoli, E. (2011). Process drama: The use of affective space to reduce language anxiety in the additional language learning classroom. Research in drama education, 16(4), 557-573. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2011.617104

Piazzoli, E. (2010). Process drama and intercultural language learning: An experience of contemporary italy. RiDE, 15(3), 385-402. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2010.495272

Rothwell, J. (2011). Bodies and language: Process drama and intercultural language learning in a beginner language classroom. RiDE, 16(4), 575-594. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/13569783.2011.617106

Saldaña, J. (2015). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (3rd ed.) Sage University Press.

Salopelto, H. (2008). Intercultural competence through drama: A teaching experiment. Department of Languages University of Jyväskylä.

Shin, S. J. (2018). Bilingualism in schools and society: Language, identity, and policy (2nd ed.). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Downloads

Published

2021-12-31

Issue

Section

Special Issue Articles