Theatre used in teaching foreign languages"Dramatisation" as a model and action

Abstract

Using theatre in foreign language teaching is one of the most studied and exploited strategies in the classroom. This has been clearly documented in the many studies that have been carried out, both advocating and criticising its practical use as a pedagogical tool. This article attempts to delve further into the various methods which apply the theatre genre to learning a foreign language and works from the basis of two perspectives: the theatre as “action” –the active role of the student as an actor- contrasted with the theatre as a “model” –the student plays a role as language receiver and spectator. The first part of this article focuses on various theatre practices in the classroom: representing a play and resorting to commonly used simulation games. Later, seeing theatre as a socio-cultural and linguistic model, this article analyses one of the primary teaching materials designed for teaching Spanish as a foreign language, namely, the series Hablamos Español