Cultural learning through drama tasks: An action research approach

Abstract

Anja Jäger (2011): Kultur szenisch erfahren. Interkulturelles Lernen mit Jugendliteratur und szenischen Aufgaben im Fremdsprachenunterricht. Frankfurt/Main et al.: Peter Lang ISBN 978-3-631-61155-5 Teaching a language is a complex endeavor. Promoting cultural learning seems to be an even more sophisticated teaching challenge. The question of how to research multilayered processes of subtle cultural learning in a foreign language classroom setting has not yet been adequately answered – much rather (and despite DESI) it still remains an unexplored island in what appears to be a much more cultivated land, namely that of foreign language research. In her study “Kultur szenisch erfahren” Anja Jäger has opted for a research design which sets out to explore intercultural learning from the inside out as a teacher-researcher. The author is a middle school teacher herself who has had a number of years of teaching experience under her belt, before she embarked on an action research project. Anja Jäger, thus, knew the field under investigation very well when she started to illuminate the following questions: Which kind of drama tasks are especially suitable in order to develop intercultural communicative competences in English foreign language learners and under which teaching conditions do the tasks unfold their potential most ...