Texts, Inner Worlds, and Characters: Connecting Reading and Writing with the Use of Drama in Education

Abstract

Traditional reading pedagogies are largely text-based and author-based approaches emphasising the instrumentality of Chinese language teaching. In recent years, the teaching of reading has shifted from the traditional approaches to an interactive model. Combined with the Situational Model and the Reader-Response Theory, it has been favoured for the potential to strengthen the student-text connection while instilling humanity into Chinese language learning. It is for such reasons that many teachers choose to adopt the Drama in Education pedagogy in their classrooms. The speaker collaborated with local schools to examine the role of Drama in Education in enhancing the teaching and learning of reading. The findings revealed that this pedagogy easily engaged students in reading (Reader-Response Theory) and helped them enter the inner worlds of the characters (Situational Model), leading to deep reading comprehension and enhancement of moral awareness and affection. Furthermore, Drama in Education was also found to have enhanced the teaching of the reading-writing connection, evidenced by the enriched students’ oral reports and writings whereby abilities and attitudes needed to become independent learners were developed. In this talk, the speaker will introduce some simple and easy-to-follow drama activities for the Chinese language classroom.