Keynote speakers

Mike Fleming (Durham University, UK)

Exploring the Concept of “Performative Teaching and Learning”

Mike Fleming is emeritus professor of education at Durham University, U.K. His research interests are in the area of the teaching of English and drama, aesthetics and arts education, and intercultural education. His many writings on drama and aesthetics have been extremely influential both nationally and internationally, in integrating competing traditions from drama pedagogy and theatre. He has also published on the relationship between drama and intercultural education. His most recent book, The Arts in Education,was published in 2012. He is currently working on a Language Education Policy for Europe at the Council of Europe. 

 

Peter Lutzker (Freie Hochschule, Stuttgart, Germany)

The Recovery of Experience in Education

Peter Lutzker is professor of Waldorf pedagogy at the Freie Hochschule Stuttgart, Germany. He studied music and English literature in the United States and in Germany. He has taught English at Waldorf Schools in Germany and has been active in training and educating foreign language teachers in Europe, Asia, and the United States. He has published numerous articles  and several books about language and foreign language teaching including The Art of Foreign Language Teaching: Improvisation and Drama in Teacher Development and Language Learning.

 

Michaela Sambanis (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany)

Drama Activities in the Foreign Language Classroom and in Teacher Training

Prof. Michaela Sambanis is Chair of English Didactics at the Institute of English Language and Literature at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. From 2008 to 2011 she chaired a large interdisciplinary research unit at the Transfer Center for Neuroscience and Learning at the University of Ulm. Her research interests include pedagogy, translation and application of findings from neuroscience, empirical research, literature, drama in language teaching and learning, as well as drama methods in teacher training. She published on collaborative forms of language teaching, and her latest book, Fremdsprachenunterricht und Neurowissenschaften, was published in 2013. (Photo: A. Middeldorf / Freie Universität Berlin)

 

Florian Vaßen (Leibniz-Universität Hannover, Germany)

Dreimal Theaterpädagogik in der Schule – Theater und theatrale Ausbildung im Kontext des Unterrichts, als Unterrichtsmethode und als künstlerisch-ästhetisches Fach

Florian Vaßen is emeritus professor for modern German literature at the Deutsches Seminar of the Leibnitz Universität Hannover, Germany. He chaired the Arbeitsstelle Theater/Theaterpädagogik and the degree programme Darstellendes Spiel until 2009. He is co-founder and co-editor of Korrespondenzen, the Journal for Theatre Pedagogy. His research interests are in the area of drama and theatre, theatrality, theatre pedagogy, writing and imagery, literature and experiment, theory of laughter, satire and caricature, as well as the authors Bertolt Brecht and Heiner Müller.  One of this latest publications is Korrespondenzen. Theater – Ästhetik – Pädagogik  (2010).

 

Performances

 

Peter Jankowsky: Life and/or Death - A Classic Case

Reading / Performance

 A return to the place of origin of what we all take for granted: our questioning minds. At the same time a study of some performative modi in addressing burning issues – and critical audiences.

artig: right here - right now!

Just imagine you can be whoever you want to be, you can live wherever you want to live and every single moment is the beginning of a great adventure! Welcome to the exciting world of improvisational theatre.

Improvisational theatre, also known as improv, is a form of theatre where all of what is performed is created at the moment. The dialogue, the action, the story and the characters are created collaboratively by the players or in interaction between audience and players. Magdalena Haftner, Lino Kleingarn and Anne-Marie Kuhfuß are „artig“, the Vienna based theatre group, who will show you what spontaneity really means!

More information: www.artiges.org and www.facebook.com/artig.impro

Programme

 

Please download the conference programme here: 

Performative and Teaching Learning 2014 Conference Programme 

A list of conference abstracts can be downloaded here:

Performative Teaching and Learning Conference Abstracts  

 

We wish to thank the following units at University College Cork for their generous support:

• College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences
• School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
• School of Music and Theatre
• Department of German
• Department of Drama and Theatre Studies

 

We are also very grateful for additional external funding received from: 

• Embassy of Austria, Dublin
• Goethe Institute, Dublin
• German Academic Exchange Service, London
• National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning
• Bord Fáilte [www.meetinireland.com]
  

 

 

List of Abstracts (A-J)

Joëlle Aden, Université du Maine, Le Mans, France

Creativity and Enaction: A Crossroads for Teachers and Artists.

How do aesthetics and performance contribute to second-language education? The neurosciences have shown that aesthetic responses emerge from universal embodied mechanisms, which rely on actions, emotions and the senses (Freedberg, Gallese 2007). Therefore, sensory perception should be seen as the basis for human language, a view strongly defended by Jacques Lecoq (1987), Peter Brook (1989) and many other theatre artists involved in education. Thus, aesthetics and performance are at the core of embodied language (Varela & al., 1992) and have a special place in language teaching (Aden 2013, 2014).

How can we develop links between the aesthetic dimension of theatrical language and the didactic and pedagogical aspects of second-language teaching and learning? In order to answer this question, I will study the way in which the representations and practices of artists and teachers are transformed when they work together on artistic school projects.

I will present the initial results of an ongoing research project in a plurilingual lower-secondary class in the Paris suburbs. This four-year longitudinal study (2011-2015) involves four English and German-speaking actresses, a professional photographer and a film editor, both of them French, and the class' German, English, French and plastic arts teachers. The creative and transformative processes are investigated through the analysis of audio and video recordings of the meetings in which artists and teachers negotiate and plan their action and through individual and collective interviews.

 

Keizo Asano, Nanzan Junior College, Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan

Performative EFL Teaching in Japan through Readers Theatre.

There is a compelling need in Japan for people that excel in communicative ability and interpersonal relationships. More and more schools, in concert with such demand, have started to adopt drama or theatrical approaches in education in the era of information and communications technology. The English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education in Japan should join the trend toward giving emphasis to performative teaching and learning through Readers Theatre (RT).

Although advocating dramatic approaches, the author finds it easier to implement performance-oriented techniques as RT. It is beneficial to teach EFL learners through RT how to read deeper meanings, and, also, how to orally communicate the messages in the texts to the audience. RT can give EFL learners preliminary experiences of theatre in a simple way. The readers may not need any props, lighting, costumes, music, and sound effects as Coger & White (1982) describe RT as “theatre of the imagination”. The presenter will describe the typical EFL class in Japan, will define RT, will demonstrate a sample lesson, and will answer questions.

Teachers, learners, and researchers in Japan tend to trust in quantitative results. As Antoine de Saint-Exupery writes in The Little Prince, "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye." EFL educators can facilitate a change in the EFL learners' hearts with RT.

 

Renata Behrendt, Universityof Łódź, Łódź, Poland

Erfahrungen, Reflexionen, Erkenntnisse. Angehende Lehrer evaluieren ihre Arbeit mit dramapädagogischen Techniken im interkulturellen Literaturunterricht.

Im Mittelpunkt der Präsentation stehen die ersten Erfahrungen, Reflexionen und Erkenntnisse angehender DaF-Lehrer, die mit dramapädagogischen Methoden an interkulturellen literarischen Texten gearbeitet haben. In dem an der FU Berlin durchgeführten Seminar ging es einerseits darum, dramapädagogische Arbeitstechniken zu vermitteln und Möglichkeiten für ihren Einsatz im fremd-prachlichen Literaturunterricht aufzuzeigen. Auf der anderen Seite lag das Ziel darin, zu überprüfen, inwieweit dramapädagogische Techniken dazu verhelfen können, die Reflexion über Fremdheit und Fremdsein in kulturellen Begegnungen anzuregen. Die Präsentation basiert auf Materialien und Daten, die während der Arbeit gesammelt und erhoben werden konnten. Konkret handelt es sich dabei um videographierte Unterrichtssequenzen, um videographierte Abschlussdiskussion, um Ergebnisse der Gruppenevaluation und um individuelle Reflexionen der Studierenden. In der Präsentation werden die Reflexionen und Erkenntnisse der künftigen Lehrer über die initiierten Lernprozesse und ihre Ergebnisse, über die (Un)Möglichkeiten des interkulturellen Lernens, über die Herausforderungen, welche Dramapädagogik und die Arbeit mit literarischen Texten an die Lehrenden stellen und über die eigene Arbeit als Lehrer und Spielleiter zusammengefasst dargestellt und kommentiert.  

 

Elisabeth Belgrano, Göteborgs Universitet, Göteborg, Sweden

Learning and Teaching Through Madness: Using the Metaphor of a 17^th Century Operatic Mad Scene for Supervision in Higher Performing Arts Education Based on Artistic Research.

Artistic Research has in recent years managed to establish itself as an academic research discipline of its own, but there is still a need for developing a closer link between Artistic Research and higher performing arts education. Based on this fact, the question I like to reflect upon in this performance presentation is, if words can explain the essence of a pure artistic and aesthetic experience, how can these words be organized and used in order to establish a new pedagogical framework in higher performing arts education?

The results of Artistic Research can be understood as formulations of metaphors presenting the artist’s subjective perception of aesthetic experiences. From recent results in the form of artistic dissertations one can observe how a sensuous language is developed through bodily practices and consciously controlled attention to the first person methods applied in the artistic research process. This language, based on “felt” knowledge, can be viewed as a language ‘in between’ the presentation of a pure artistic performance act, and the objective art-theories developed by external observers. In this paper my aim is to define a pedagogical framework organized through the metaphor of a 17^th century Venetian operatic mad scene by analyzing recent artistic dissertations linking these to my own personal experiences of doctoral studies in artistic research, as well as from supervising students in the music teacher program at the Academy of Music and Drama, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

 

Annamaria Bellezza, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

Teaching Language Through Theatre: A Humanistic-Performative Approach.

Theatre provides the ultimate interactive experience, and as such it represents a powerful, comprehensive approach to foreign language teaching, serving as a springboard into upper division literature classes. A dramatic text can be analyzed from a linguistic, cultural, literary, semiotic, philosophical, and theatrical point of view. I focus on the theatrical point of view, and on the fundamental connection between language and emotions.

A theatrical component in language departments enriches and reinvigorates curricula. The performative-humanistic approach that I propose in which students acquire several kinds of ‘significant learning’ (L. Dee Fink 2003) simultaneously constitutes one of the more holistic learning experiences we can provide.

In this lecture, I will share two projects that have proved to be very successful in my department (Italian Studies), and in twenty other language programs at Berkeley. First, I will walk you through five weeks in the lives of intermediate students of Italian in their efforts to analyze, interpret, and perform scenes from Carlo Goldoni’s La Locandiera (The Inn Keeper 1753). Then, I will talk about an interdisciplinary event I have organized and directed for the past three years, Words in Action – a Multilingual Student Performance, conceived as a way to bring together the language community through theatre, music, dance and poetry, and to offer students an alternative way to explore language.

Students’ final reflections on both experiences clearly demonstrate how the intended linguistic, cultural and performative goals were reached.

 

Simona Floare Bora, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom

Beyond the Mere Word: A Contemporary Approach to Drama for Enhancing L2 Oral Skills.

Despite having gained recognition as a valid approach for enhancing the language oral production of learners of a foreign language, teachers employ drama as an extracurricular activity or in the university context (Miccoli 2003, Ryan-Scheutz & Colangelo 2004, Fonio 2012 to name but a few). Very few attempted to set the stage within the high school compulsory curriculum (Moody 2002, Jarfàs 2008). Therefore, the need to extend drama to other settings and a more substantial inclusion of authentic contemporary plays in language teaching becomes imperative (Almond 2005, Carroli 2008, Belliveau 2013). Lack of quantitative data in terms of the gains made by students in their oral skills has been also highlighted in Marini-Maio (2012).

The current study explores the potential role of contemporary authentic plays both as texts (self-standing excerpts) and as performance in developing the Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency. Upper6^th form Italian students with an intermediate to advanced level of English took part in the study. An experimental research design was adopted, with the experimental group being exposed to both interventions conducted over a term each: texts followed by performance. Quantitative data has been collected through the implementation of an oral pre-test, a mid-test and a post-test with three tasks: OPI, Story re-telling from a written stimulus and Guided Role-Play. Statistical results using SPSS for the Complexity and Accuracy achieved will be discussed. Findings confirm and provide further evidence for the effectiveness of drama in developing the oral skills of L2 learners as questioned in Schewe (2013).

 

Phillip Botes, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Rome, Italy

Foreign Language Learning Through Music and Sounds.

This paper will demonstrate that music and language are two worlds with a strong connection. Psychological studies confirm that music is a very important part of the learning process. Music creates a positive climate in the class, reduces learners’ rejection, makes subjects more interesting, and supports the semantic (long-term) memory. Music is also important for language learning: the rhythm facilitates memorization of vocabulary, positively influences pronunciation and intonation, and reduces the complexity of linguistic structures. Language, as music, is composed of sounds that must frequently be trained, not only as an occasional entertaining activity, but every day in the normal lesson. The foreign language student needs to learn to detect and analyze linguistic sounds and to develop an auditory memory. However, language teachers do not necessarily pay attention to these skills. At the same time, students have to become aware of melody, rhythm and tones of the language to be able to play with them. After a short theoretical discussion, participants will engage in some practical activities that will show how sounds and music can be used in the teaching-learning process. Through music, foreign language learning will become a stimulating and creative experience, in a cooperative and communicative context.

 

Leticia García Brea, Universidad de León,León, Spain

WIR SPIELEN THEATER! Drama-Aktivitäten, um die Fertigkeit Sprechen im DaF/DaZ Unterricht zu verbessern (A1/A2).

Wenn SchauspielerInnen auf die Bühne treten, haben sie schon ihre Hemmungen abgebaut, sich vor dem Publikum offen zu zeigen. Wenn Sprachlernende sich mit MuttersprachlerInnen frei unterhalten, ist der Prozess vergleichbar. Die Drama-Aktivitäten der Schauspielausbildung können ebenfalls für das Erlernen einer Fremdsprache hilfreich sein. Das bedeutet sich zu öffnen, sich zu motivieren und sich zuzutrauen, neue Darstellungsmittel über die Wörter hinaus zu erfahren. Und ja, das kann man im Unterricht schaffen! Wir wollen unseren Lernenden zeigen, dass Deutsch zu sprechen nicht so schwierig ist und dass es sogar lustig sein kann! Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, müssen LehrerInnen in die Lage versetzt werden, kreativ und spontan vorzugehen. Außerdem müssen wir als Spielleiter-Innen den Lernenden Freiraum lassen, sich kreativ und spontan ausdrücken und ihre eigenen Ressourcen sowie ihr spezielles Wissen in den Unterricht einzubringen.

In diesem Workshop werden Drama-Aktivitäten präsentiert, die aus der Literatur des Theaters und der Theaterausbildung für den  DaF/DaZ Unterricht ausgewählt worden sind und auch aus der Erfahrung von “Toi, toi, toi (Theaterwerkstatt, zum Deutsch Lernen)” kommen, die im Sprachzentrum der Universität von León (Spanien) während des Semesters wöchentlich stattfindet. Alle diese Vorschläge sind eng mit spezifischen kommunikativen und grammatikalischen Themen des A1/A2 GER-Niveaus verbunden und bereits erfolgreich im Unterricht eingesetzt worden. Im ersten Teil des Workshops werden die obengennanten Drama-Aktivitäten ausprobiert, und danach werden sie kommentiert und es wird über ihre konkrete Anwendung gesprochen.

Ziel der Sitzung ist es, mit neuen Impulsen und Ideen zurück nach Hause zu fahren!

 

Renate Breitig, TUKI /TUSCH, Berlin Senate, Projektfonds Kulturelle Bildung Berlin, Germany

Theatre For and With the Very Young.

TUKI (= Theater und Kita) is a cooperation project between Theatre for Young Audiences and Kindergarten under the patronage of the Berlin Senate, Germany. This paper will describe TUKI, focussing on the particular cultural needs of 3 to 6 year-old children, and examine the following questions:

1. To what extent does playing and watching theatre help to develop their language and imagination?
2. Why is it necessary and how is it possible to establish partnerships over a period of three years?
3. What are the appropriate theatrical frames and conditions for this very young target group?
4. How to train and qualify the educators for drama in education within the TUKI programme.

The deep impact of professional theatre activities on very young children will be demonstrated.

 

Kerstin Bueschges, Stiftung Universität Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Germany

Performance Lectures as Hybrid Alternatives – An Example.

One of the most frequently used forms of ‘learning’ in Higher Education – at least in Germany – is that of a lecture, i.e. the speaker delivers a (more or less engaging) talk about a specific topic and the students (read listeners) are asked to follow, take notes and perhaps ask questions at the end. A lecture given in this traditional way seems to be based on an understanding of HE learning that focuses on information acquisition, rather than an aim to educate or guide students towards a critical and reflective perception and handling of materials under investigation. Yet, I would argue, learning, acquisition of knowledge and the development of one’s own arguments need to be perceived as constantly changing, developing aspects of one’s life. HE is arguably giving those participating in it a particular chance to encountering aspects of learning they might otherwise not be able to find or even test, such as critical discussions, critical reflections, the possibility of ‘failure’, taking risks, etc. And while all these elements are central to any kind of performance/theatre work, they should also be essential in the realm of (higher) education.

A performance lecture debatably opens those doors to differences in ‘learning’, as it ‘speaks’ to the whole student, i.e. not just her/his intellect, avoiding the Cartesian divide between body and mind. It employs strategies and aesthetic aspects usually found in and associated with performance practices. Here the constant flux between theory and practice, embodied material and theoretical concerns builds the key to a successful piece/paper.

 

Ana Calero Valera, Universitat de València, València, Spain

Lecture-Performance als Arbeitsform für StudentInnen.

Die Lecture-Performance hat vor allem im akademischen Bereich an Bedeutung gewonnen. In diesem Sinne bietet sie auch den Studierenden eine Gelegenheit das Erlernen literaturwissenschaft-lichen Arbeitens mit kreativem Ausdruck zu kombinieren und zu verstärken. Ausgehend vom Konzept der Lecture-Performance als hybride Form zwischen Forschung, darstellender Kunst und dem Gebrauch verschiedener technischer Mittel, wird es Studierenden als Arbeitsform angeboten. Verfolgt wird ein doppelter Zweck: einerseits, der Umgang mit Bibliografie und Materialien über ein literarisches Thema derer Wahl (im Rahmen des Faches: deutschsprachige Literatur des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts), und andererseits, die Auseinandersetzung mit der Form der Vorstellung. Es geht um eine Kombination von theaterpraktischer Arbeit mit Anwendung der (neuen) Technologien und der Vertiefung sowie der Erweiterung theoretischer-literarischer Kenntnisse. Diese Arbeitsform wird als work in progress verstanden, da nicht nur das Ergebnis von Gewicht ist, sondern auch die Diskussionen und Verhandlungen, die innerhalb einer Gruppe stattfinden, und die im Format eines Protokolls am Ende des Kurses abgegeben wird.

Ziel dieses Beitrags ist die Präsentation dieser Arbeitsweise mit StudentInnen, wobei der Einsatz von Körper und Bewegung nicht nur das Wahrnehmen von literarischen Texten ändern und das Bewusstsein von sich selbst und die Berücksichtigung des Anderen wecken kann, sondern auch Eigenschaften wie Kreativität, Vorstellungskraft, Spontaneität, sowie Verantwortung, Toleranz und Empathie, potenziert werden.

 

Josefa Contreras, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain

Szenische Annäherungen an Sprache und Kultur im DaF-Unterricht für Studierende des Faches Bauingenieurwesen.

Szenische Darstellungen sind Mittel um potentielle Erfahrungen zu wecken und zu fördern. Sie können in verschiedenen Disziplinen eingesetzt werden, folglich auch im DaF-Unterricht für Bauingenieure. Der spielerische Umgang mit Situationen, Texten, Requisiten, etc. ermutigt die Studierenden sich sprachlich zu äußern, grammatikalische Strukturen zu lernen und sich auch über Aspekte der eigenen Kultur und der Fremdkultur bewusst zu werden.

Die Studierenden sind Bauingenieure mit einem A2 Niveau. Sie haben bisher noch keine Deutsch-landerfahrung, möchten aber aber in Zukunft vielleicht in einem deutschsprachigen Land arbeiten. Das Bauingenieurstudium an der Universitat Politècnica de València (Spanien) bietet kein Literatur-fach an, insofern sind diese StudentInnen nicht gewohnt mit literarischen Texten in den Vorlesungen zu arbeiten, sondern erwarten einen „traditionellen“ Sprachunterricht, d.h. Sprachunterricht und keine Performance. In meinem pädagogischen Ansatz steht aber die Inszenierungsarbeit im Zentrum, bei der Sprach- Literatur- und Kulturvermittlung kombiniert wird und besonders auch interkulturelle Aspekte beleuchtet werden, z.B. anhand von Yildiz heißt Stern (Isolde Heyne, 1994). Es geht in diesem Buch um ein türkisches Mädchen, das in Deutschland aufgewachsen ist aber dann aufgrund ihrer Nationalität Probleme bekommt.

Ich möchte mit dieser Präsentation aufzeigen, wie spanische Studierende in unterrichtlichen Inszenierungen nicht nur aktiviert werden und grammatikalische Strukturen erkennen, sondern auch, wie sie dabei auch ihr Handeln analysieren und kritisch reflektieren. Besonders soll dargestellt werden, wie Studierende ihr Problembewusstsein in Bezug auf interkulturelle Begegnungssituationen im Inland (Spanien) als auch im Ausland (Deutschland) schärfen können.

 

Fiona Dalziel, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

“Never underestimate the leg of a table.” Using Social Networking to Enhance Student Involvement in Foreign-Language Theatre.

The aim of this paper is to report on how the use of an online collaborative space can foster engagement amongst participants in foreign-language theatre projects. The object of discussion is a long-standing workshop at the University of Padua, where theatre is used as part of an “action-oriented” approach to language learning (Council of Europe 2001), with the aim of encouraging autonomous learning (Holec 1981; Little 1991). The paper will present the results of a qualitative analysis of interaction within a Facebook Group on the part of student-actors. The Group was initially set up to provide a way to exchange practical information (dates, times etc.) and to share files (especially during the phase of text adaptation). As to be expected, given the participants’ familiarity with the popular networking site, it came to be widely used for social interaction among the group, consolidating the relationships established during rehearsal times. Yet the space also proved to have an educational function, with students reflecting critically on the drama activities they had been engaged in, making suggestions about the performance, and posting photos and videos so as to generate ideas and stimulate discussion. Thus it became an important tool for self-directed learning, which at the same time enabled tutors to glean insights into the intentionality of the learners (DeCoursey and Phillipson 2011), providing evidence for how each participant took on a precise role in accordance with the individual learning path that he/she was constructing during the process leading up to the final performance.

 

Rachel Darby, Hamilton High School, Bandon and University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

Using Drama as a Teaching Methodology in the Foreign Language Classroom in Second-Level Schools in Ireland.

Rachel Darby is a second-level French and German teacher in Cork. In 2010, she completed a Masters Degree at University College Cork. Her thesis was on using drama as a teaching methodology in the foreign language classroom at second-level in Ireland. Since then, she has used every opportunity to implement this methodology in her classroom. The effectiveness of using drama is to be seen in how the pupils progressively become more confident and comfortable with the language. It is an enriching learning experience for both teacher and pupil, and feed-back from pupils has been invariably positive.

In this workshop, Rachel will demonstrate, with video footage of a class and by holding a sample lesson, how to implement this methodology in the second-level foreign language classroom. She will also address the role of the second-level teacher, hopefully leading to a live discussion on the challenges that second-level language teacher’s face, and the solutions that can be found.

This workshop will be presented mainly through English.

 

Barbora Müller Dočkalová, Charles University, Praha, Czech Republic

Drama as a Keystone: Piloting a Drama-Based English Teaching Program for Year 1 and 2 of Primary School.

This paper reports about a primary school in Prague where in the first two years children learn English through a drama-based method. The method uses a wide spectrum of drama techniques and procedures, and it works with original materials centered around stories and situations that allow for extensive use of dramatic playing and performance. The long term goal of the project is to find out what level of linguistic competence the children can achieve after two years of learning English when drama plays a key role in the learning process. The present article describes the currently running first phase of piloting the program, it summarizes the main questions and challenges encountered so far, and it provides the results of a small preliminary research that was conducted with the participating learners after the first seven months of the course.

 

Peadar Donohoe, Cyclone Rep, Cork, Ireland

Evolution of The Bullying Circle.

This presentation will chart the development of The Bullying Circle as an educational resource in the work of researcher, teacher and dramatist Peadar Donohoe. The Bullying Circle is a diagram that depicts the potential participant players in bullying incidents. It was created by Dr Dan Olweus, a world-renowned researcher, who for more than forty years has been involved in research and intervention work on bullying among school children and youth. Mr Donohoe first used Olweus’ Bullying Circle in his research in the development of The Bullying Prevention Pack (BPP). The BPP is a systematic bullying intervention that puts learners' first hand experiences and knowledge about bullying incidents at the forefront of activities. Role-pay and drama elements, along with information about bullying behaviour, typology, participant players and discussions are designed to actively engage learners in metacognition with the aim of creating awareness of what bullying is, fostering empathy, creating a sense of agency and empowerment. Learner feedback and research literature contributed to the evolution of this version of The Bullying Circle. This version has an emphasis on labelling behaviours/actions that contribute to bullying incidents as opposed to labelling participant players with potentially dehumanising and derogatory labels such as ‘victim’ or ‘bully’. The presentation will chart the doctoral level research being conducted by Peadar Donohoe in the School of Education in Trinity College Dublin which led to this evolution and development of the BPP instrument.

 

Nataliia Dzhyma, Kiev Taras Shevchenko National University, Kiev, Ukraine

Through Drama to Film in Teaching Diplomatic Empathy.

This contribution deals with the potential of the film art in teaching diplomatic empathy, a basic element in international relations and one of today’s significant challenges for excellence in diplomacy. As a screen form of dramatic art that adopted “a gigantic arsenal of theatre craft” (Eisenstein 1949), due to its own aesthetics, does not only permit blending and “identifying with otherness” through the emotional involvement of the spectator with the film characters, but orients the spectator to relate to them, thus offering a highly motivational source for dramatic activities in the classroom aimed at “entering the characters of the film and walking in their shoes psychologically, physically and vocally”.

The demonstration of this concept of teaching and learning with a special focus on teaching diplomatic empathy through video versions of public speeches will be based on video fragments of the lessons in the Institute of International Relations at Kiev National University.

 

Franziska Elis, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany

Dance and Sing along! A Workshop on the Potential of Music and Dance in Theatre Projects with Foreign Language Learners.

The potential of music and songs in foreign language learning has long been recognized. Songs are highly motivating, they connect the foreign language to a rhythm and a melody, and music evokes movements – even if it’s just the occasional nod of the head, a clap or the tapping of the foot. The language is encoded on an additional level.

In a theatre performance music can serve several functions: it creates an additional room for associations and interpretations, it creates a specific atmosphere, it can sequence a scene rhythmically or dynamically, it can comment on the text or replace it, it can accompany a character or lead into another country or time. The same holds true for dance or choreographed movements. When it comes to working with foreign language learners in a dramapedagogical context music and dance can also be used in the warm-up phase.

The aim of this workshop is to show that we do not have to be musicians or professional dancers in order to make use of music, songs and dance when working in a dramapedagogical setting with young learners, teenagers or even students at university. We will explore the potential of music and dance in the different phases of the dramapedagogical process, try out singing and dancing exercises in the warm-up phase and experience how a story can be told through music and dance. Moreover, we will reflect on your experience in the workshop as well as on the potential of those activities in everyday foreign language learning.

 

Sandrine Eschenauer, Goethe-Institut Paris, Université du Maine, Le Mans, France

Förderung der kreativen Prozesse des “Transsprechens” im Fremdsprachenunterrricht durch theatrale Performance. Beispiel einer hybriden Pädagogik von Künstlern und Lehrern im mehrsprachigen Schulkontext in Frankreich.

In der französischen Version des GER wird la performance als Leistung verstanden. Gesprochen wird vor allem von „Ergebnissen“ und „Kompetenzen“, die orientiert an „Normen“ erreicht werden sollen. Nicht berücksichtigt wird dabei ein Verständnis von Performance als Kunstform, die es zu entdecken gilt, um das Erlernen von Fremdsprachen zu erleichtern, sowie das Lernen mittels all der Sprachen und Ausdrucksrepertoires, über die die Schüler verfügen.

Vielmehr geht es bei der hier vorgestellten Studie AiLES um die Performance von „Akten“, die die „Verkörperung dynamischer, sich ständig verschiebender, allsinnlicher und sehr komplexer Erzeugungs- und Erfahrungsprozesse“ sind (Lange in Koch & Streisand 2003). Die Sprache selbst ist ebenso ein kreativer Prozess, der immer neu entsteht. Im Vortrag wird ein Beispiel dieser Verbindung zwischen kreativer und didaktischer Performance der Sprachen präsentiert. Die qualitative und longitudinale Studie ermöglicht mir zu beobachten, ob und wie das Schauspiel als körperliche, kulturelle und sprachliche Ausdrucksform den Sprachfluss vereinfacht und potenziert – und dabei sensorische, kinästhetische, emotionale und sprachliche Wahrnehmungs- und Ausdrucksformen anregt. Indem sie sich auf die gesamte Komplexität aller Sprachformen einlassen, können die Lernenden ihre Kreativität nutzen und entwickeln, um (sich) in der Interaktion zu verstehen und auszudrücken. Sie „transsprechen“ während des gemeinsamen Handelns (Aden 2012, 2013).

In dieser transdisziplinären Studie wird zum einen der kreative, ästhetische und sensorische Lehr- und Lernprozess im Bereich der „Sprachpädagogik“ evaluiert; zum anderen wird ein neuer enaktiver Ansatz (Aden 2013; Varela 1995) des Sprachenlehrens initiiert, der vom translanguaging (Garcia 2009; 2012) inspiriert ist. Videoaufnahmen werden im Vortrag dargestellt und analysiert.

 

Susanne Even, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

Drama and Authenticity. Deconstructing the Quest.

The claim of authenticity lends justification and authority to language pedagogues, study abroad programs, textbook authors and publishers. As foreign language instructors we have learned that authentic materials are preferable to anything else. Authentic is the “real stuff.” However, course books for beginners are full of “inauthentic” texts because the learners’ level is not yet “good enough” for the real stuff. This hidden evaluation of the authentic versus inauthentic dichotomy is often paralleled in the attitude towards native and non-native speakers.

However, the fact that “authentic learning materials” are at the learners’ disposal does not automatically mean that actual learning is taking place. Neither does native speakership make the better pedagogue. This talk suggests a different approach to teaching beyond the authenticity discourse and towards a performative pedagogy that uses drama techniques to orchestrate meaningful and lasting learning experiences.

 

Leah Ewing, Concordia Language Villages, Moorhead, Minnesote, USA

Kum Geselle min: Theater at an Immersion Language Camp.

This paper is based on my nine years of experience as a counselor at Concordia Language Villages’ Waldsee, a German language immersion camp for students ages 7-18, set in the north woods of Minnesota. Over its 54-year history, a number of alternative programs have been developed for more advanced learners, one of which is Märchenwald, a medieval-themed group. In addition to participating in medieval German cultural activities, villagers create a play based on a legend such as the Nibelungenlied or Kudrun, which they perform for their peers. This introduces the villagers to an important part of German literary history and creates an interplay between language and culture. While the counselors choose the legend, villagers are responsible for all aspects of production – choosing roles, adapting the story, writing or improvising lines, finding costumes, and making any necessary props or set pieces. With just one week of preparation time, they must develop a great deal of confidence in their own language abilities, because once on stage there is only one rule: no English. The villagers develop the ability to communicate effectively using their current language abilities and strategically acquire new words in order to create a successful performance. Using a combination of description, anecdote and example, I will explore the unique strengths and weaknesses of this program, and discuss how it could be adapted to other settings.

 

Gilmar Fernandes, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brasil

John Plews, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (in absentia)

The Virtues of Vokis, or Using Avatars to Perform German-Second-Language Selves.

This presentation discusses the use of avatars to encourage first- and second-year Canadian university students of German to become aware of, develop, and perform their second language selves. Curricula especially for beginner and intermediate postsecondary Modern Language classes are essentially dictated by language textbooks. While textbooks provide a ready-to-use and often comprehensive foundation for classroom teaching and learning, the pedagogy of even those textbook-driven courses espousing functional-notional or communicative approaches still tend to be structural-analytical (Byrnes 1998), drill-oriented and meaningless instead of purposeful, and creative (Andon 2013; Plews 2013). Indeed, our observations of some German textbooks currently in use in Canada have revealed that they are unengaging, even boring for students; they also make no or only scant use of digital technologies. Thus, our paper investigates classroom interventions using digital technologies that were designed to increase students’ authentic, meaningful, purposeful, and creative use of the language they are learning. Specifically, these interventions required students to use Voki avatars to make personal presentations in their second language to other students in other courses (or even countries) and to receive critical feedback from those other students. Initial results from questionnaires, classroom observations, and comparisons between drafts and final versions of assignments indicate that students notice formal aspects of language when engaged in such purposeful tasks, credit their learning to the performance requirement, and acknowledge how the avatars make explicit their second language selves. We conclude by arguing for the performative qualities of several digital technologies for enhancing second language teaching and learning.

 

Miguel Fernández, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, USA

Problem-Based Learning as a Pedagogical Approach to the Teaching of Theatre in the Language Classroom.

This presentation looks at Problem-Based Learning (PBL) as a pedagogical framework for a foreign language course whose central focus is a full-scale theatre production. PBL is a form of cooperative or active learning, whose essential component is that content is introduced in the context of complex real-world problems. Rather than focusing on information provided by a lecturer, PBL uses problem scenarios to encourage students to engage themselves in the learning process. In the language theatre class, the production of the play serves as the central problem that students must resolve through collaborative group work. PBL differs from other approaches in that students direct their own learning; they must organize their prior knowledge, question what is not understood, and design a plan to solve the problem and identify the resources needed. PBL impresses upon students the need for life-long learning, and works to develop and hone research, organizational, interpretive, intuitive and interpersonal skills. Students are motivated when encouraged to expand their creativity, imagination, inquisitiveness, and responsibility in the learning process. A PBL approach helps achieve the demonstrated benefits and values of full-scale theatre productions in the foreign languages such as: continuous engagement with authentic literary texts in the target language and direct cultural and intercultural learning (Ryan and Marini-Maio 2011); use of target language in creative, practical situations while teaching literature in an integrated manner (Bancheri 2009); and targeting our students’ emotional-affective as well as their physical and intellectual/analytical attention (Matthias 2011). Results from the experience of such a course in Spring 2014 will be shared.

 

Micha Fleiner, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

‘Aesthetics’ and ‘Performativity’: Theoretical Perspectives on Two Key Terms of a ‘Performative Foreign Languages Didactics’ (Schewe).

Against the backdrop of an increasing interest in a ‘Performative Foreign Languages Didactics’, different forms of and approaches to performative practices have been proposed, introduced and tested under real-life conditions in primary, secondary and higher education institutions. Certainly, by bringing the concept of the performative to the field of foreign and second language education, a strong orientation towards practical experiences is undeniably important. Nonetheless, a tighter focus on underlying theoretical principles on which performative teaching and learning is based can be helpful in order to methodologically deepen and didactically intensify practical activities in the foreign language classroom.

This paper will therefore offer theoretical perspectives on two influential key terms – ‘Aesthetics’ and ‘Performativity’ – inseparably associated with the growing concept of a ‘Performative Foreign Languages Didactics’. Questions about different definitional approaches and contexts will be discussed as well as the considerable potential of these terms for the teaching and learning of foreign languages, literatures and cultures.

 

Nathalie Fratini, Universität Wien, Austria; Université du Luxembourg, Luxembourg; Hochschule Mannheim, Germany

Performatives Lernen im Sprachunterricht für Gesundheitsberufe durch den Einsatz von Dramapädagogik.

Im Rahmen einer Umgestaltung des Schulwesens in Luxemburg wurden für die gesamte Berufs-bildung kompetenzorientierte Richtlinien erarbeitet, die dazu beitragen sollen, dass die Schüler nicht nur Wissen erwerben, sondern dieses auch situationsangepasst anwenden können. Der Wunsch nach dieser Umgestaltung kam vor allem von den Ausbildern im Arbeitsfeld sowie den Arbeitgebern, weil des Öfteren festgestellt worden war, dass Berufsanfänger nicht in der Lage waren, die ihnen aufgegeben Arbeitsaufträge angemessen auszuführen. Zusammen mit Experten der Universität St. Gallen in der Schweiz wurden für jede Berufsausbildung angepasste kompetenzorientierte Module ausgearbeitet. In diesem Sinne gibt es auch keine rein theoretischen Abschlussprüfungen mehr, sondern alle Schüler müssen einen ganzheitlichen Arbeitsauftrag planen, ausführen und reflektieren können, so dass hier Theorie und Praxis gemeinsam abgeprüft werden.

Diese Erneuerungen ebneten den Weg für die Integration neuer Lehr-/Lernmethoden im Unterricht, so dass zum ersten Mal in der Ausbildung der angehenden Lebenshelfer Raum blieb, mit Drama-pädagogik zu arbeiten. Im Rahmen des Sprachunterrichtes wurde regelmäßig auf Übungen und Spiele zurückgegriffen, die die Schüler anregen sollten, die Fachsprache situationsangepasst zu gebrauchen und auszutesten, wie mit welcher Zielgruppe am sinnvollsten kommuniziert werden kann. Im Unterricht entstand so eine Art geschützter Raum, wo Verhaltensweisen ausgetestet werden konnten, die im Anschluss daran in der praktischen Ausbildung zum Einsatz kamen. Gleichzeitig

erwies es sich als sehr wichtig, die Schüler auch auf den mündlichen Teil der Abschlussprüfung vorzubereiten, weil die meisten von ihnen bisher keine Erfahrung darin hatten, das eigene Tun mündlich zu reflektieren sowie ein Fachgespräch zu führen.

In meinem Vortrag möchte ich die verschiedenen Methoden vorstellen, die im Sprachunterricht zum Einsatz kamen und aufzeigen, warum dieser Ansatz sehr wichtig für die Entwicklung der mündlichen Sprachfertigkeiten von Schülern ist, die später im sozialen oder pflegerischen Bereich arbeiten werden.

 

Stefanie Giebert, Hochschule Reutlingen, Reutlingen, Germany

Shall I Approach Thee Through Improvised Play? Teaching Poetry Through Drama.

Can you access poetry through drama? Can (and dare) you approach Shakespeare's sonnets through drama? While Shakespeare might be the greatest writer in the English language, students, especially, but not only, in ELF-classrooms, often find his texts difficult and inaccessible. If, in addition, teachers treat those texts like museum pieces – to be admired from afar, and not to be touched – this may increase students' disinterest. So, make them tangible! But staging a Shakespeare play in class? While Shakespeare's plays are undeniably meant to be performed, not read, they are also long – usually too long to be staged in the classroom. Sonnets, however, are short. While their language is poetically condensed and may thus be even more cryptic to 21^st century readers, they have just the right length for an in-depth exploration and their topics are all but boring. Love, sex, jealousy, rivalry, anxiety, gender relations – are these not topics teenagers or young adults might relate to?

This workshop will take participants through a teaching sequence intended to make the sonnets accessible for students in grades 11 or 12. We will visualise and physicalise the sonnet form, put the author on trial for his breach of sonnet conventions, discover the “dramatis personae” and the “plot” of the sonnet sequence, and approach selected sonnets through creative writing and improvised performance, for example expanding them (from monologue to conversation) and transforming (into rap, soap opera, etc.) them, showing students that: Yes, you can touch those texts and maybe, in turn, they will touch you.

 

Hedwig Golpon, Universität Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Katja Klemt, Anthanor Akademie, Burghausen, Germany

Jana Nedorost, Universität Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

We Are Coming – The Gang.

Was für ein Spaß in einer Gang zu sein.

Ständig passieren aufregende Sachen und man muss zusammenhalten. Das ist auch gut so, denn hier findet man Leute, die einen verstehen. Hier kann man sagen, was man denkt. Hier ist man nicht immer für alles verantwortlich, denn hier heißt es: Einer für alle und alle gegen Einen. Chefsein, das ist etwas ganz Besonderes. Es ist aber auch super, wenn man dem Chef helfen kann.

Über derartige Mechanismen haben wir uns Gedanken gemacht und ausprobiert, wie es geschehen kann, dass jemand in eine Gruppe gesogen und durch die Dinge, die da passieren, schuldig wird.

Wir zeigen, wie Gruppe funktioniert – was die mitreißende Dynamik ausmacht. Sie sehen das Ergebnis unserer theaterpädagogischen Arbeit, die auf Beobachtung von Gruppen mit aus-grenzenden Verhaltensweisen beruht. In unserer Performance legen wir großen Wert auf das Erkennen und Begreifen, wie dieser Sog funktioniert und wie man anders hätte reagieren können.

Wir wagten den Versuch, literarische Quellen und unsere gegenwärtigen Betrachtungen zu verbinden und in ein dramatisches Werk zu gießen, mit dem wir in die Klassenzimmer gehen können.  Wir arbeiteten mit Anregungen aus Brechtwerken und entwickelten eigene Szenen, die die Thematik in ihrer Aktualität unterstützen und lenken.

 

Adrian Haack, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany

Selbstkompetenz und Dramapädagogik: Performative Arbeit an professionellen Identitäten werdender FremdsprachenlehrerInnen.

Die erste Phase der (Fremdsprachen-)LehrerInnenbildung stellt einen Bereich dar, in dem performative Ansätze bedeutsam zum Einsatz kommen können, z.B. als Mittel der Erzeugung von Praxisnähe (z.B. durch Simulation). Noch vielversprechender zeigt sich der Einsatz von Drama-pädagogik und ganzheitlicher, performativer Arbeit mit Studierenden als Anstoß und Mittel zur (u.a. berufsbiographischen) Selbstreflexion und Auseinandersetzung mit Vor- und Antibildern für den Lehrerberuf (u.a. Korthagens Gestalts) sowie Selbstbildern und Selbstentwürfen (possible selves) als werdende FremdsprachenlehrerInnen. Die Basis bildet dabei eine ganzheitliche Identitätskonzeption, die nicht nur für die Schule relevant ist, sondern im Sinne von Legutkes ERA (experience-reflect-apply)-Ansatz insbesondere auch für die LehrerInnenausbildung. Performative Zugänge, die ganzheitlich und vieldeutig sind und Prozess und Produkt berücksichtigen, stellen eine sehr geeignete Form zur Präsentation und Diskussion der ‚professionellen Identitäten’ dar, auf die Lehramts-studierende zusteuern: Verortet im Spannungsfeld zwischen moderner Ganzheit und poststruktureller Dynamik und Offenheit sind diese Konstrukte in sich widersprüchlich und sollen doch zugleich Halt geben im Prozess der ‚Lehrer-Werdung’. Der theatrale Schutzraum bietet Studierenden die Möglich-keit, (mögliche) eigene Identitäten und Potenziale zu erkunden sowie Schwächen zu untersuchen und durch dramapädagogische Arbeit personalen Kompetenzen für den Lehrberuf weiter auszubilden: Offenheit, Kreativität, Spontaneität, Auftritt, etc. – zusammenfassbar als die Förderung berufs-relevanter Selbstkompetenzen.

Einblicke in mein laufendes Dissertationsprojekt und die zugehörige Praxis sowie erste Ergebnisse der begleitenden Evaluationsforschung dienen zur Illustration und Untermauerung der These, dass performative und dramapädagogische Elemente in der Ausbildung werdender Fremdsprachen-lehrerInnen im Sinne einer ‚Professionalisierung als Persönlichkeitsentwicklung’ die ganze Person in den Mittelpunkt der LehrerInnenbildung stellen und die Ausbildung (berufs-)bedeutsamer Selbstkompetenzen unterstützen.

 

Niklas Hald, Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, Stockholm, Sweden

An Actor on Performing in the Classroom.

As an actor I believe the school’s classroom is both one of the most challenging and rewarding “stages” I can perform in. It is a room not built for theatricality, in an environment that is both noisy and restless, with lots of things going on outside the door and among the pupils in front of you. Young people who mostly have not chosen for themselves to be where they are. This audience is often described as difficult. Noisy, physically restless and, at least among the teenagers, with the tendency of showing off in front of their classmates. Even so, I have had some of my most inspiring and rewarding moments in my acting career while performing in classrooms. How is that possible? How can I combine my high artistic ambitions with these practical conditions that seem to be working against me?

This presentation will be about my path into the world of school theatre. About the possibilities and the pitfalls, and how critical reflection changed my approach as a professional actor. Currently I am also a PhD candidate, preparing a dissertation about us actors who perform for children.

 

Orla Hasson, Freelance Practitioner, London, United Kingdom

Mia Perry, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Every Student’s a Country: Teaching the Whole Child.

Drawing on the practical research of the new ecl foundation and our own experience as applied theatre practitioners, teachers, and theorists, this workshop explores how the use of creative and performative techniques can facilitatespaces of enquiry and discovery for the “whole” student/ participant. Considering “every student as a country” beckons us to acknowledge that each student embodies historical, cultural, social, and political dimensions; that each student embodies multiple positions within groups, communities,alliances, and tribes; that each student has the potential to inscribe new realities, to broach new parameters, and to build new bridges. From this standpoint, we have developed a framework of practice and a range of activities that incorporate the subtle rituals of arts practice that ensure that each student feels respected and recognised, by peers and educators. We build from the importance of storytelling, group and personalnarrative, and the relevance of place.

The workshop will begin with a short presentation on the work of ecl, and the theoretical perspectives that we bring to our practice. The majority of the workshop will consist of a series of activities, connected through narrative and place, that demonstrate both how to engage in the “student as country” and the impacts of doing so. The workshop will be open to participants of all experience levels.

 

Alexandra Hensel, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany

Die Verbindung von Theaterpädagogik und Dramapädagogik – der künstlerisch-ästhetische Aspekt im dramapädagogischen Fremdsprachenlernen.

Meine These: Die Verbindung der beiden Pädagogiken sehe ich darin, dass das wiederholende und variierende Arbeiten an verschiedenen Szenen sowohl die sprachliche (dramapädagogischer Schwerpunkt) als auch die künstlerische (theaterpädagogischer Schwerpunkt) Entwicklung unterstützt. Anhand einer theoretischen Einführung in meine Arbeit und anhand eines Filmausschnitts einer Abschluss-aufführung möchte ich versuchen, dies zu veranschaulichen.

Meine Methode: In meinem Kurs Deutsch lernen durch Theaterspiel erprobe ich seit fünf Jahren, wie dieses Zusammenspiel der Pädagogiken funktionieren kann. Schon während des Kurses wird in jeder Unterrichtseinheit durch das gegenseitige Zeigen und Verbessern von selbsterarbeiteten Kurzszenen zu Textvorlagen sowohl der künstlerisch-ästhetische Blick als auch die Sprache geübt. Durch die geplante Aufführung am Ende des Kurses – ich nenne sie Werkschau, da gezeigt wird, was “gewerkelt“ wurde und somit auch der Anspruch einer kompletten Aufführung gemildert wird – intensiviert sich in der Probenzeit die Entwicklung des künstlerisch-ästhetischen Blicks sowie der Sprache durch das detaillierte Erarbeiten und Wiederholen der Szenen.

Mein Fazit: Immer wieder erlebe ich, dass die Kursteilnehmer am Ende mit einer hohen Motivation für die Fremdsprache, mit einer bewussteren Wahrnehmung von Sprache und ihren Gesten sowie mehr Selbstbewusstsein besonders im spontanen Gebrauch der Sprache aus dem Kurs gehen. Die Werkschau bietet den Teilnehmern hierbei die Möglichkeit, sich zum einen mit der Fremdsprache öffentlich darzustellen, ihre Angst also zu überwinden, und zum anderen spornt sie die Teilnehmer an, gut sein zu wollen. Insgesamt machen der Theaterkurs und die Werkschau die Teilnehmer für ihren Fremdsprachenalltag handlungsfähiger.

 

Adam D. Henze, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

Carmen Liliana Medina, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

Merging the Personal and Political in Poetry Slam Instruction: An Autoethnographic Testimony.

This autoethnographic account explores the personal/political experiences of one slam poet and critical literacy educator who has helped students see poetry as an agent of change. Looking across experiences such as those with: incarcerated students using verse to address systemic racial discrimination, undocumented students using poetry to challenge immigration laws, military prep school students question their family’s role in the Iraq war, and more, the presenters analyze the potential for these literacy events in relation to critical language engagement. Using performance pedagogies and activism frameworks such as Critical Performance Pedagogies and Theatre of the Oppressed (Boal, 1993) to interpret the pedagogical practices embedded in poetry slam, in combination with thick description and explosive spoken word poetry, this presentation would be beneficial to language educators hoping to promote civic engagement through exploratory writing and performance in the classroom.  

 

Japhet Johnstone, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA, Universität Münster and ZfL Berlin, Germany;

Eric Scheufler,Universität of Washington, Seattle, USA und Universität Paderborn, Germany

Performances of Queer Pedagogy.

The Performances of Queer Pedagogy Workshop aims at a critical examination of the intersections between queer theory, pedagogical practices, and questions of discrimination based on gender and sexuality. With performance as a leitmotif that unifies these three dimensions, the workshop offers a three-act framework that raises attention and perhaps more importantly questions about the possibilities of a queer pedagogy regarding the role of the teacher, the role of students, and course materials. These three focal points translate into the three acts of the workshop: 1) Negotiating Instructor Identities, 2) Framing Inclusive Classrooms, and 3) Queering Classroom Content.

The PQP Workshop provides a focused space for thinking about the following possible goals:

• honoring student identity positions (queer and otherwise) as shaping classroom space;
• fostering student curiosity, playfulness, surprise, and wonder (and unsettle student certainties);
• recognizing and exposing their own positionality (queer and otherwise) as shaping classroom space;
• making pedagogical methods transparent to students, especially as it works to structure behaviors and relationships;
• fostering learning as collaborative and knowledge as perspectival;
• questioning privileged identity positions, normative hierarchies, etc.;
• emphasizing connections between language courses and literary and cultural studies with regard to language’s power in facilitating inclusion, acceptance and visibility.

Workshop structure:

• Prologue: Queer Introductions: presentations + whole group activity
• Act I: Instructor Identities: individual reflection + whole group debrief  
• Act II: Framing Inclusive Classrooms: small group activity + whole group debrief
• Act III: Interactive Theatre: whole group role play + debrief, strategizing classroom conflict 

 

 

List of Abstracts (K-Z)

Jennifer Kitchen, University of Warwick, Warwick, United Kingdom

Linguistic Ethnography: A Methodological Approach for Exploring the Role of Playfulness in Ensemble Pedagogy.

This paper puts forward the argument that the role of playfulness is key to conceptualising the processes of ensemble pedagogy, and furthermore suggests linguistic ethnography as an ideal methodology for exploring this empirically. Beginning with an exploration of Neelands’ notion of ensemble pedagogy as a collaborative and socially engaged, performance-based approach to teaching, this paper will continue by presenting my current research on the role of playfulness in ensemble learning. In particular, this research focuses on socio-cultural conceptions of play which have thus far been understudied in educational contexts.

Many socio-cultural conceptions of play are theoretically, rather than empirically based. Drawing on the growing interest in play in language learning research, the paper will conclude with an argument for the use of linguistic ethnography, with elements of conversation analysis, as an appropriate methodology to operationalise socio-cultural conceptions of playfulness in exploring the notion of ensemble learning.

 

Morgan Koerner, College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, USA

Beyond Drama: Post-Dramatic Theater in Performance-Oriented Foreign Language Courses.

The generic category implied by the very name “drama pedagogy” restricts practitioners to a limited conception of theater and neglects the chance to introduce students to alternative ways of exploring and reflecting on foreign languages, literatures and cultures via performance. This paper makes the case for expanding the current methodological toolkit to include strategies from post-dramatic theater, which abandons traditional notions of plot, character, and dialogue and prioritizes theatrical performances over dramatic texts. The paper will present findings from an action research project conducted with undergraduate students of German at the College of Charleston, South Carolina in the spring semester of 2013. Entitled “Beyond Drama: German theater into the 20^th century,” the course explored avant-garde and post-dramatic theatre strategies with advanced second language learners of German (ranging from the B1 to C1 levels). The paper describes and discusses the efficacy of specific post-dramatic theater strategies and assignments that encouraged students to think beyond plot and character and engage actively as both actors, authors, and directors. Based on extensive documentation of the course and the learners’ experiences, the presentation addresses the following questions: To what extent can theater traditions that transcend character identification and coherent plots foster the linguistic development and student engagement and autonomy that drama pedagogy has achieved through more traditional approaches? And to what extent is post-dramatic theater better equipped to introduce students to unfamiliar ways of perception and meaning-making and to generate critical encounters with foreign language cultures, literature, and media?

 

Lotta König, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany

Gender at (Dis)Play! A Drama-Pedagogical Workshop on Gender Norms.

Social expectations and stereotypes connected to gender performance are highly relevant for children and adolescents because much appreciation but also deprecation is connected to an ‘adequate’ gender performance when growing up. That is why it would be good to critically reflect on gender issues in educational contexts; however, just as they are so relevant and personal, gender norms can be a sensitive topic – and many educators do not quite know how to address it. Drama-pedagogical methods can help to approach gender issues in an experience- and action-oriented way which is fun and motivating. Ranging from warm-up activities and exercises that focus on the expressivity of body language to improvisations and role plays, drama-pedagogical methods can be applied to raise awareness and to critically reflect dynamics of ‘doing gender’ – and also to play with the underlying norms. The exercises provide a safe environment in which different ways of performing can be experienced and tested without immediate consequences for the individual participants.

In our workshop we will start out with a brief input on the relevance of gender in educational contexts and the potential of drama-pedagogical methods to engage with this topic. The main part of the 90 min. will be spent trying out suitable activities: from a warm-up phase to working on gender images in a ‘sculpture exhibition’ and eventually developing small scenes which exemplify – and, potentially, subvert – gender norms. These activities will then be reflected on as to if/how they would use them in school or other educational contexts.

 

Stefan Kriechbaumer, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

Breaking the Monotony: Ways of Adding a “Performative Touch” to Textbook-Based Tasks in the EFL and GFL Classroom.

A phenomenon, at least in many Austrian schools at secondary level, is the ignorance (to a certain degree) by foreign language teachers of the national curriculum. Instead, the textbook chosen by teaching staff is treated as the curriculum (rather than as a resource). Despite calls for a performative turn, which have become more frequent in recent years, the majority of textbooks do not (yet) contain materials that seem to encourage the realization of a “performative classroom”. Therefore, many students never experience the mise-en-scène of situations of interaction in which they systematically act out and reflect upon their ‘performances’.

The inexistence of ready-to-use “performative materials” in textbooks is, however, no justifiable excuse for not using drama methods at all. Indeed, the use of a (traditional) textbook and the introduction of drama methods to the FL classroom are not mutually exclusive. Instead, reading, listening and visual materials in textbooks can serve as the basis for tasks that, on the one hand, challenge learners enough to make them reach their full potential and, on the other hand, break the monotony of the purely textbook-based classroom. In my paper I would like to give practical examples of how to design such tasks in the EFL and GFL classroom.  

 

Anne-Marie Kuhfuß, artig Theatre, Wien, Austria

Magdalena Haftner, artig Theatre, Wien

Lino Kleingarn, artig Theatre, Wien

spielendDeutsch – Improvisationstheater zur Förderung freien und authentischen Sprechens im Fremdsprachenunterricht.

Das von der Wiener Theatergruppe entwickelte Workshopformat spielendDeutsch hat seine Wurzeln im Improvisationstheater nach Keith Johnstone und ist speziell für den DaF/DaZ-Unterricht konzipiert. Bei der Theaterform des Improvisationstheaters gehen die Schauspielenden ohne Text und im vollen Vertrauen auf ihre Phantasie und ihre Spielpartnerinnen und -partner auf die Bühne. Im szenischen Spiel erzählen sie gemeinsam kleine oder große Geschichten. Diese Theaterform erweist sich als besonders geeignet für den DaF/DaZ-Unterricht. Sie ermutigt die SpielerInnen sich in frei gewählten Rollen im freien Sprechen auszuprobieren und ermöglicht dadurch eine weitestgehend "authentische" wie auch selbstbestimmte Kommunikation im Unterrichtszusammenhang. Dabei werden wesentliche Aspekte des Spracherwerbs mitberücksichtigt und die Lernenden profitieren von einer größtmöglichen Lernautonomie.

Im Workshop erhalten die Teilnehmenden einen ersten Einblick in die Arbeitsweise von artig sowie einige Aufgaben und Spiele, die im eigenen Unterricht angewandt werden können. Spielfreude und Neugier eine andere Art des (Sprach-)Unterrichts zu erleben sind dafür die beiden einzigen Voraussetzungen für die Teilnahme.

 

Nina Kulovics, Université de Haute- Alsace, Mulhouse, France

Kerstin Terler, Université Bordeaux Montaigne in Pessac/Bordeaux, France

„Herzstück“. Performatives Lehren und Lernen am Beispiel eines Gemeinschaftsprojekts im universitären DaF-Bereich oder frei nach Schiller: „Über die performative Erziehung des Menschen“.

In diesem Beitrag soll ein sechs Staaten umfassender Eurovision Video Contest einer Gruppe von ÖsterreichlektorInnen vorgestellt werden, deren StudentInnen das Theaterstück „Herzstück“ des deutschen Autors Heiner Müller szenisch dargestellt haben. Die in der Dramapädagogik zu verortende szenische Umsetzung wird anhand einiger kurzer Videosequenzen der Universitäten Bordeaux, Mulhouse und Lemberg illustriert. Ziel war es, den Studenten mittels theaterpädagogischer Annäherung (vgl. Maik Walters Theaterworkshop für OeAD-LektorInnen der Postgraduate-Ausbildung „Kompetenzfeld: Auslandslektorat“) die Scheu vor der in der Fremdsprache geschriebenen deutschsprachigen Literatur zu nehmen und performativ komplementär zu der im universitären Umfeld vorrangigen kognitiv-hermeneutisch interpretatorischen Begegnung mit Literatur zu wirken, womit der Forderung der letzten Jahre nach einer performativen Wende in der Fremdsprachen-didaktik entsprochen wurde (vgl. Hallet 2010 u. Schewe 2011). Darüber hinaus folgt diese Form des performativen Lehrens und Lernens auch der Forderung des GeRS nach handlungs- und aufgabenorientiertem Fremdsprachenlernen, in dem Sprachlernende als in sozialen Kontexten sprachlich Handelnde betrachtet werden (vgl. Glaboniat 2013). Hier kann ebenso eine interkulturell-methodische Brücke zur französischen „Simulation globale“, einer ebenfalls handlungsorientierten, performativen Unterrichtsform, geschlagen werden. Performative Prozesse integrieren als alternatives, interaktives und kooperatives Lernen Kunst und andere Wissens- und Lebensbereiche des Menschen, indem Poetisches durch körperliches Handeln erlebbar gemacht wird und somit kann eine neue Wahrnehmung der fremden Sprache sowohl für Akteure als auch Rezipienten gefördert werden. Interessant war überdies noch der länderübergreifende bzw. interkulturelle Aspekt, der, gepaart mit Kreativität und spielerischer Identifikation mit den Rollen, sowohl Lernende als auch Lehrende „mit Kopf, Herz, Hand und Fuß“ (Schewe 1993, 2006) zusätzlich motivierte, Literatur zu erleben, zu gestalten und (um)zuformen.

 

Susanne Leutenegger, Visual Artist and Feldenkrais Practitioner, Cork, Ireland

Towards Performing. Awareness Through Movement – The Feldenkrais Approach.

This Workshop is an introduction to the Feldenkrais Method and aimed at those who are curious to learn more about “How you move when you move”.

Lessons in the Feldenkrais Method offer a non-competitive, exploratory setting where you develop the ability to perceive and respond to subtle differences in breath, muscle tone and body alignment – essential to performing. You will find that as you grow in your ability to make fine distinctions and to make creative choices, and to transform your intentions into actions, your performances will be more spontaneous, more alive and more compelling. In a Feldenkrais class your breathing is improving, you will feel increased flexibility, greater stability and balance, better focus and attention and have more awareness of yourself in space.

 

Warren Mark Liew, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Perform (f)or Reform: Effective Teaching as a Performative Act.

This paper develops a conception of teaching as a performative act consisting of "pedagogical perlocutions" – speech acts whose desired effects on learners exceed authorial intention and scientific verification. It argues that the perlocutionary effects of teachers' performative endeavors are complex, contingent, and contested, radically undermining the attempts by educational researchers to establish a science of "effective teaching." The implications of this assault on "scientifically based research" on teacher effectiveness are then considered in the context of the Singapore Ministry of Education's Enhanced Performance Management System (EPMS), a performance appraisal system designed to enhance the standards and stakes of teacher professionalism in schools. Drawing on official documents, artifacts, and interviews with teachers, the analysis centers on how teaching standards are at once described, prescribed, and produced by the discursive instruments of the EPMS. Implicated in this process of "discursive performativity" (cf. Butler 1993) are the rhetorical maneuvers by which teachers may be seen to "fabricate" evidence of their effectiveness under the pressure to perform. Such performances of teacher professionalism, I argue, reveal the ethical aporias surrounding the profit motive of performance excellence in an age of neoliberal reforms in education.

 

Nicole Magdalena, The Dramarama, London, United Kingdom

Making Symbolic Connections and Understanding Without Words.

Nicole Magdalena is an acclaimed English actress of Polish descent who, with her company The Dramarama, has taught foreign languages through drama immersion techniques in France, Poland and Turkey. She has worked with students of all ages but, inspired in part by Dorothy Heathcote, focused on children at Key Stage 2 level (9-10 years old). She has consistently found that working with drama in immersion settings triggers students’ individual need for foreign language acquisition far beyond the stimulation provided by text books and educational CD’s. She developed methods of encouraging students to make personalized symbolic connections between their native language and foreign vocabulary, using personalized picture dictionaries to aid memorization. With the widespread decline in students taking foreign languages in the UK, Nicole calls for a revolution in the European languages curriculum across the UK.

Connected to her theoretical deliberations and practical experiences is her Reversing The Curse of The Tower of Babel research project. Conceived in 2007, it aims to explore the origins of language-making through observation of a multi-cultural group of participants who share no common language between them, attempting to accomplish a joint task. The results are to form an ethnographic and linguistic study which will also provide rich material for artistic film and theatre documentation.

 

Corina Martinas, Universität Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Germany

Global Simulation in L2 Teaching Projects. Methods and Benefits.

Teaching projects based on global simulation organise different methods within a realistic scenario: a specific space is created and the participants interact with each other following particular rules. In L2 classes the main structuring elements are the target language and culture. Therefore, students and teachers act as natural inhabitants of these designed areas during the whole simulation. The context may be in this case an English/French Village, with shops, bus stations, a post office and so on. The learners encounter communicative tasks which address specific speaking, listening, reading and writing skills as means of succeeding in being an active inhabitant of the proposed setting. As a lecturer for teaching methodology at the Universities of Göttingen and Hildesheim, I included the global simulation method into my syllabus and initiated an intense cooperation between the two universities and schools in Lower Saxony, Germany. As a result, several global simulation projects for pupils in Year 8 and 9 have been conducted in the last three years. This paper will show the major steps in creating a language village at school with a focus on designing appropriate and differentiated communicative tasks.

 

Jacinta McKeon, University College Cork, Ireland

Performative Teaching and Learning and Second Language Learning: Exploring the Interrelationships with a View to Developing More Powerful Practices.

This paper explores the encounter with the L2 as involving a performance, particularly in relation to interacting in the second language. Drawing on the sociocultural framework within second language learning literature (Lantolf and Thorne 2006) and on the literature on performative teaching and learning (Schewe 2007), it explores key concepts and pedagogical matters relating to both literatures. Key concepts include second language learner identity (Norton Pierce 1995), emotion, voice, code-switching between the L2 and the L1 (Swain and Lapkin 1998, 2000) social interaction (Swain 2005), and self (Dörnyei and Usioda 2009). Often second language learners are reluctant to speak the L2 and engage in interaction in the second language classroom. Teachers and researchers have attempted to explain such unwillingness from a cognitive perspective on learning with limited attention given to the social and cultural environment. With a more sociocultural turn in second language research now gaining greater currency and an increasing focus on the potential of a performative pedagogical stance on teaching and learning, an interrogation of shared concepts may uncover possible interrelationships resulting in a deeper understanding of the various challenges involved for the learner in interacting in the second language. In exploring such interrelationships the implications for pedagogical practices will be teased out.

 

Carmen Liliana Medina, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

Mia Perry, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

(In)scribing Bodies in Performative Teaching and Learning: Methodologies of Embodiment.

There is an ever increasing recognition of the significance of the body in social science research and there is an ever more sophisticated body of theory related to this. What is still largely unspoken and unwritten however is how we might grant the body its (well-theorised) status in the practice and representation of research. How can we make the body substantive in our research? How do we talk or write about the body? Positioned across the fields of cultural performance and arts education, one would assume that we would be paving the way in embodied research – the body being an integral part of the work we facilitate or analyse in classrooms and public spaces. On the contrary however, the majority of research in performing arts and education “translates” the body into words and discourses of the mind, leaning primarily on constructivist or phenomenological frameworks of theory.

 

Serafina Morrin, Katholische Hochschule für Sozialwesen Berlin, Germany

Drama in Education – German Language Acquisition Methods for Multilingual Children with a Focus on Intercultural Education.

This application-oriented workshop investigates linguistic acquisition by primary school children and the respective competences that can be fostered. Concrete educational drama methods for the development of communicative skills will be introduced and demonstrated in it. Further to the language learning component here, this knowledge is applicable as a vehicle for supporting mindfulness and gaining social competences.

With her longstanding experience in both drama and education, Serafina Morrin has had the opportunity to develop methods that assist educators in facilitating the connection between physical and linguistic actions. These methods are aimed, on the one hand, at multilingual school children with German as a second language, so as to address any educational disadvantages they may have in a German context. And on the other hand, they are intended for school children with German as a first language who need general support in their linguistic and physical communication skills.

Language plays an important role in the internalisation of values and norms. Through language, children learn to create their interrelated individual and cultural identity. This performative process can be experienced through actions, encounters and reflections that promote an intercultural linguistic awareness.

Deborah Newton, Leeds Metropolitan University, Arden School of Theatre, Manchester, United Kingdom

Shifting Perspectives and Collapsing Binaries: Critical Performative Pedagogy in the Performance Studies Classroom.

Much as performance comes into being by the bodily co-presence of performers and audience, so teaching comes into being by the bodily co-presence of teachers and learners, by their encounters and interactions. This paper traverses the process dimension of performative teaching and learning by exploring the productive intersections between critical performative pedagogy (CPP) and performance within the performance studies classroom. It does so by examining the power of performativity in the teaching-learning context where, it is claimed, its major characteristic lies in its ability to destabilise and even collapse the inhibitive binary oppositions evident in classrooms purveying a more traditional, conservative culture of the teaching-learning process.

In stepping back from the narrowly and haphazardly ‘staged spectacle of teaching as performance’, it traces out and refashions the dichotomous relationships found within the rich, multidisciplinary tapestry of performance. In so doing, it attempts to understand how performance can be employed pedagogically and reworks performativity in its goal-based attempt to help pave the way to a new performative teaching and learning culture in the performance studies (PS) classroom, confirming the impact that performance theory has had in this context.

As well as analysing performance as a pedagogical enterprise, the paper contends that we can no longer define performativity in the classroom as mimetic and suggests a shift in perspective of the performative in this context to a more poietic understanding. Such a shift in perspective opens up endless questions which traditional didactive teaching-learning processes not only repress but fail to interrogate.

 

Isobel Ní Riain, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

Drama in the Language Lab – Goffman to the Rescue.

I will detail my experience of applying drama to language lab classes. I teach the Irish language (An Ghaeilge) to second Arts/Law students in UCC. Part of the class is spent working with a computer software package that helps students with pronunciation. I have introduced scenarios and role-play in the other half of the class to try to contextualise the sounds learned in natural speech. The students enjoy the drama aspect of the class immensely and I have noticed improvements in their ability to pronounce the Irish language although this has been slow. I have introduced the idea of a ‘stáitse’ or stage which we have constructed mentally in the corner of the room. When students are on the stage they and only they have the right to speak. The rest of the class forms the audience. I employ Goffman’s theory in this paper to help clarify the relationship between the students on and off stage. I also look at the idea of a ‘safe space’ (Gayle et al 2013). My ultimate aim is to find ways in which to expand the drama in the language lab and to perhaps integrate the study of drama into the course of study in Modern Irish.

 

Wolfgang Nitsch, Centre for South-North Cooperation in Education (CSN), Carl von Ossietzy Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

Jörg Kowollik, Centre for South-North Cooperation in Education (CSN), Carl von Ossietzy Universität Oldenburg, Germany

Process-Drama as Medium for the Social and Linguistic Empowerment of Girl and Boys in a Multi-Cultural Urban Community.

Wolfgang Nitsch is Professor Emeritus at the Centre for South-North Cooperation in Education (CSN), Carl von Ossietzy Univesität Oldenburg. Jörg Kowollik is an associated lecturer at the Hochschule Darmstadt and the University of Oldenburg, and drama-educator in a community-based organization (Jugendkulturarbeit Oldenburg e.V.).They report on the history, theoretical concepts and pedagogical practice of a program based in several community centres for children and youth, in which girls and boys (age 12 to 20) work for at least one year in projects of 12-15 members. The project members explore issues and conflicts in their daily life and their aspirations for the future through the medium of process-drama or Szenisches Spiel, facilitated by a team of drama-educators. In the final phase, they stage three or four public performances of their theatre-play in schools and youth centres. The exercises, rehearsals and performances strengthen their self-esteem, self-reflection, social and language competences and support encounters and understanding between children from German families and immigration families in working-class districts. Student researchers have collected data on problems and achievements of the program. The current projects are part of a three-year program called MUT (Migration und Theater), supported financially by foundations, the local and regional government.

In a second part Jörg Kowollik comments on video-documented situations in these projects and demonstrates, with participants of the workshop, examples of process-drama exercises.

 

Birgit Oelschläger, Goethe-Institut, Germany

“Schulgeschichten” – ein eintägiger Schülertheaterworkshop mit Abschlusspräsentation auf A2-Niveau.

Dieser vom Goethe-Institut Dublin geförderte 90-minütige Workshop auf der Konferenz möchte einen Einblick in die Theaterarbeit mit Deutsch lernenden SchülerInnen auf A2-Niveau geben, die erstmalig Theater spielen. Das Konzept eines eintägigen „Schnupperworkshops“ für die Zielgruppe schafft zum einen Anwendungssituationen für die Fremdsprache, zum anderen sollen Szenen mit Bezug zum eigenen Schulalltag erarbeitet und abschließend zur Aufführung gebracht werden.

Der Konferenzbeitrag besteht aus einer kurzen Einführung sowie einem praktischen Teil mit Übungen und Szenenarbeit. Abschließend wird noch ein Dokumentationsvideo über die Arbeit an einer Partnerschule des Goethe-Instituts in Marokko gezeigt sowie ein Austausch darüber angeregt.

Zielsetzungen

• Wie man schon auf niedrigem Sprachniveau Theater spielen kann;
• Wie man an Hand von Textvorgaben und der Entwicklung eigener Texte zum Thema „Konflikte an der Schule“ eine szenische Präsentation entwickeln kann;
• Was Schülerorientierung beim Theaterspielen beinhaltet;
• Wie man Prozess- und Produktorientierung bei nur einem Probentag mit Anfängern miteinander verbinden kann;
• Wie ein Theaterworkshop progressiv aufgebaut wird;
• Wie das Thema „Schulgeschichten“ für interkulturelle Unterschiede sensibilisiert.

 

Alison Pantesco, Keene State College, Keene, New Hampshire, USA

Bewegtes Lernen mit Musik / Active Learning with Music.

This workshop provides language educators with the performative tool of music with choreography. This approach strengthens the enthusiasm of the language learner while expanding vocabulary, and practicing correct pronunciation and grammar in context. German, the target language, becomes something „living“ for students, regardless of their musical or dance talents. Observably less stressed, students appear to internalize the language structures they are performing.

The presenter will guide attendees, through their participation, in learning how to implement this approach from the first day of teaching, and will be provided with specific choreography and music for a number of songs that may be used at multiple levels of instruction. Brief video(s) demonstrating upper level students engaged in this method will also illustrate applicability and success for these learners.

Music effectively frees the learner from the virtual life of high technology, minimizing stress, helping concentration, while stimulating both short and long-term memory. Physical movement also contributes to imprinting learning. Students using the performative approach described here, for example, may report to the instructor that language “feels” or “sounds” right, as opposed to rotely memorized. Language, so learned by performing, appears to stick, embed, - and it is fun.

Conducted in German and English

 

Jenny Passon, Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

Staging Shakespeare at Secondary Schools – Applying Theatre Education to Foster Communicative and Performative Competences.

Using theatre methods in the foreign language classroom has become increasingly popular in Europe. There is some empirical data about the outcome of Theatre Education for the so-called “advanced learners” such as grammar school pupils, university students and even for teachers. However, only little research has been done on how secondary school pupils can benefit from a theatre approach. Apart from this, a Shakespeare play is usually not what teachers of these pupils consider being an appropriate text book for their learners. In addition, there is the central problem that there are scarcely any empirically founded models of performative competence for most domains. The results of the presenter’s action research study based on a mixed method triangulation show the following:

• Theatre Education allows an alternative approach to foster communicative competences of secondary school pupils;
• Drawn on the proposed didactic guideline, the results show a discernible potential for performative competences in secondary schools;
• Due to the themes that are still not outdated for the pupils, staging Shakespeare has an impact on secondary pupils’ attitude towards learning English.

The paper gives an account of the various perspectives of teacher-researcher, internal and external teachers as well as the pupils themselves on how they perceive the process of staging Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” from the first theatre warm-up until opening night. The intended audience is teachers, researchers, teacher trainers and practitioners.

 

Serafina Pastore, Università degli Studi di Bari “A. Moro”, Bari, Italy

Monica Pentassuglia, Università degli Studi di Verona, Verona, Italy

Teaching as Dance.

To contextualise, identify, and describe the characteristics of the teacher’s professional practice is not easy. Recent researches on work and the influence of the concept of practice have contributed to the budding of studies aimed at explaining aspects of the work and at clarifying its features compared to the knowledge and know-how. Practical knowledge is embodied and embedded: it is a sensitive and tacit knowledge (Polany 1990), produced by the body (Fenwick 2003); but it is also mediated by the body as a knowledge resource, required to acquire a professional vision and guarantee effective job performance. Work is then read as an expressive activity more like a performance than a routine of actions (Bruni, Gherardi 2007). The performance, which ranks as a concept directly influenced by the competence refers to an ability to act (Dirksmeier, Helbrecht 2008), to make sense, to interpret situations to deal with.

In the Practice Theory perspective, and considering the work as a performance, article reports the results of a case-study with three primary school teachers and three middle school teachers. To such end different tools have been used: observation not participant with descriptions paper and pen, videotaping and Labanotation.

The present paper draws attention to a particular category of analysis, the dance that emphasizes the role of the body and of movement, and proposes a reading of the work as a practical and situated activity.

 

Erika Piazzoli, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

Researching Foreign Language Teachers’ Reflection-in-Action in the Drama Classroom.

How can we investigate the reflection-in-action of foreign language teachers, as they learn to integrate arts-based disciplines into their practice? This paper draws on a pilot study, forming the basis of a larger post-doctoral research, which explores the strategies used by bilingual FL teachers to apprehend the aesthetic mode of drama. Studies on bilingualism, cognition and emotions show that switching languages can access different cognitive and emotional processes. Indeed, for most bilinguals, the first language retains the strongest emotional resonance, while the acquired language is conducive to more detached, reflective writing. Similarly, teaching through arts-based pedagogies requires a dual operation: reflection-in-action, i.e., flexible decision-making, and reflection-on-action, reflecting on one’s teaching strategies in a detached attitude. In this research I attempted to capture this dual operation (reflection-in and on-action) in bilingual teachers, to gain an insight into research in teacher education. The project involved a group of FL teachers, native speakers of Italian, who volunteered to run an 8-hour process drama workshop, integrating drama, music, literature and visual arts, to teach Italian as a foreign language. In this paper, first I discuss the theoretical background of the study; second, I outline the research participants, research design, and data collection. I also illustrate the workshop, in terms of the roles played by teachers students, and the way drama was integrated with music, literature and visual arts for language learning. Finally, I present some preliminary findings. The paper ends with an open forum, welcoming feedback and discussion on the project.

 

Elena Pnevmonidou, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

The Course Performing German Drama at the University of Victoria: A Case Study for Bridging the Divide between Theatre History and Foreign Language Learning Through Performance.

This paper presents the model for experiential, autonomous and cooperative learning developed in the course GMST 488 Performing German Drama at the University of Victoria. The distinguishing feature of the course is the unusual relationship it establishes between drama pedagogy and foreign language teaching. Instead of applying drama pedagogy strictly as an aspect of foreign language learning, the course combines theatre history and performance in a bilingual environment that incorporates foreign language learning as one aspect of the broader pedagogical goal. The objective is for students to develop a dramaturgical concept for a German play through textual analysis and research of the culture, theatre and performance history and then to stage the play in German. The course is open to language learners of all levels and to theatre students who often speak little or no German, and while the theatre history unit is taught in English, as the course transitions through the workshop stage to the rehearsals, the learning environment becomes increasingly bilingual. The paper begins by presenting the teaching approach and examples of the students’ autonomous, cooperative and peer-teaching work. The discussion then turns to the changed role of the instructor in such a blended educational setting. The final section focuses on the process and production aspects. The paper summarizes the lessons learned from the 2011 and the 2012 theatrical productions and offers critical reflections and recommendations on striking a balance between production constraints and ambitions and the pedagogical intentions of performative teaching and learning.

 

Nikolai Preuschoff, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

“…we never know the truth by being told it. “ Performance as History – History as Performance.

This paper focuses on the performative in the context of history. It undertakes to ask two questions: First, what it means to understand history as theatre; and second, what it means to understand theatre as history. The Australian anthropologist and historian Greg Dening was engaged with the impact of the performative for an understanding as well as for the making and writing of history. In this regard, Dening’s work can be described as an attempt to understand history as theatre (see Mister Bligh’s Bad Language. Passion, Power and Theatre on the Bounty, 1992; Performances, 1996). Proceeding from questions raised in Dening’s writings, this paper explores recent forms of performing theatre as history – in other words: with the phenomenon of historical re-enactment (Agnew, Lamb 2009). In both cases, Dening’s recognition of historical moments as staged scenes and the (mis)understanding of staged performances as history in historical re-enanctment, the areas of history, performativity and teaching and learning overlap. It is thus that both viewpoints could shed light on the potential but also on the limits of performative teaching and learning.

 

Garret Scally, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

The Confident Voice. The Use of Voice Work for Additional Language Learning.

This paper describes a research project created to investigate the application of voice and breath work to Additional Language (AL) learning. It describes an ongoing English course in Basel, Switzerland, which is designed and facilitated with adults from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds as part of my post-graduate doctoral research. I discuss the activities used for this purpose reflecting on the possible effects on participants’ linguistic ability and awareness of their vocality as part of an ongoing research process. I draw on the work of the voice practitioner Kristin Linklater, along with that of Cicely Berry and Patsy Rodenburg to provide a practical and theoretical framework for the workshops. I propose that this approach, paying particular attention to voice work, provides pragmatic exercises to address tensions in vocal production in speakers of a foreign language. There is also an assertion that the emotional factors that affect vocal production in AL learning should be given greater consideration; theatre techniques that focus on vocal techniques give more control over different aspects of our engagement with others in differing environments, aiding our ability to communicate with more confidence, comfort and clarity.

 

Barbara Schmenk, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Theorizing Drama in the Language Classroom: Fostering Symbolic Competence.

The presentation introduces the notion of “symbolic competence” (Kramsch 2006) and discusses its potential relevance and meanings in multilingual learning environments. The author argues that drama pedagogy, when theorized in light of its educational contributions especially in multilingual contexts, can play a crucial part in fostering symbolic competence, due to its inherent potential to allow multilingual subjects to play with language(s), explore languages and cultures, and reflect on their languages and themselves (i.e., their selves) as multilinguals. Concomitantly, symbolic competence can be regarded as an overarching educational goal of drama pedagogy in the language classroom, as it includes but at the same time exceeds and links several educational goals that have previously been focused on in the drama classroom: intercultural learning and/or competence, empathy, personal autonomy, performative competence, etc.

 

Hanne Seitz, FH Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

Performative Research and Artistic Intervention.

The paper presents a cultural project that gave young adults the opportunity for a self-organized usage of vacant spaces in Berlin to discover their artistic creativity. Mentors from various art and cultural institutions – above all the International Youth, Art and Culture House Schlesische27 – supported their activities, but only gave technical or artistic advice when asked. The so-called “Young Tenants” organized club-like events, workshops, and cultural programmes, presented performances, handicraft-oriented workshops, and photo exhibitions on the “art of living.”

The accompanying action research project (carried out by the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam) explored self-determined and environmental approaches towards learning, thereby responding to current discussions about local educational landscapes. The researchers encountered the youngsters at eye level – as co-researchers finding solutions for their self-imposed goals. The research was practice-based and experience-based. On the one hand, itbrought cognitive understanding (mostly in retrospect) to practice and, on the other, was held together by practical ability and tacit knowledge and led by practice itself. Moreover, the research team was interested in the impact of artistic interventions – art-based impulses that interfere, that produce vague, ambiguous, contingent conditions and provoke what might be called reflection-aside-action.

 

Clara Steinkühler, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

Towards creative expression in the language classroom: Music as a cultural mediator and enhancer of motivation.

In this paper I will argue that foreign language teaching comes full circle when didactic material (in this case music) conveys culture and at the same time enhances motivation which is a prerequisite for successful learning. To this end I will look at music as an audio-based medium in the language classroom and also refer to its performative potential.

 

Anke Stöver-Blahak, Leibniz-Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany

Bärbel Jogschies, Theaterpädagogik, Staatsschauspiel Hannover, Germany

Performative Konzepte erfahren „Das Wirtshaus im Spessart.“ / Experiencing Performative Concepts. “The Tavern in the Spessart.”

Im Wintersemester 2013/14 leitete Anke Stöver-Blahak an der Leibniz Universität einen studienbegleitenden Sprachkurs „Präsentieren und Handeln mit Methoden des Theaters“ für Deutschlernende (B2). Am Kurs beteiligten sich zehn Studierende aus sechs Ländern (Italien, Polen, Korea, China, Iran, USA).

Die Kooperation mit Bärbel Jogschies vom Staatstheater bestand in der gemeinsamen Seminarkonzeption mit performativen Mitteln, einem Theaterworkshop, einem Besuch im Staatstheater hinter den Kulissen und zur Vorstellung „Das Wirtshaus im Spessart”. Zum Abschluss des Kurses präsentierten die Studierenden ihre eigene Inszenierung von Wilhelm Hauffs Kunstmärchen.

Der Weg, den die Lernenden im Seminar beschritten, führte vom Erzählen von Märchen aus ihren Herkunftsländern als Träger kultureller Identität über die Analyse und Neukombination der Märchenmotive im kreativen Erzählen. Dadurch wurden universelle Wertsetzungen in Märchen als Form von Interkulturalität deutlich. Auch die dramaturgische Grundstruktur der Märchen als Gattung wurde herausgearbeitet. Die konkrete Beschäftigung mit den Kunstmärchen von Wilhelm Hauff erfolgte zunächst als Erschließung eines literarischen Textes, dann aber auch als als Wahrnehmung und Einordnung  eines historischen Dokuments der deutschen Romantik des beginnenden neunzehnten Jahrhunderts.

Der Besuch im Theater war für die Studierenden die erste Begegnung mit der deutschen Theaterkunst und ihrer Aufführungspraxis überhaupt. Die Inszenierung des Theaters interpretierte den Hauff-Text aus heutiger Sicht und als Kommentar zur Gegenwart. Aus der Aufführungsanalyse ergab sich der Entwurf der eigenen szenischen Interpretation des „Wirtshaus im Spessart“ durch die Studierenden. Die Textauswahl , sprachliche und szenische Gestaltung und Aufführung erfolgten als Gemeinschaftsarbeit mit hoher kreativer und emotionaler Beteiligung der einzelnen.

 

Carola Surkamp, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany

Non-Verbal Communication. Why We Need It and How We Can Train It in Foreign Language Teaching.

Even though non-verbal communication is an essential part of all communicative contexts, it still is a neglected issue in foreign language teaching. The aims of my talk are to outline the nature and functions of non-verbal communication, to show why integrating non-verbal phenomena into different areas of FLT can be highly valuable, and to discuss methods that help sensitise students for non-verbal aspects of communication.

No language learner can achieve proper communicative competence without having some knowledge of non-verbal phenomena, as they make communication authentic and serve numerous functions needed for communicative success. Teaching a combination of verbal and non-verbal aspects has positive effects on the students’ language learning process and willingness to communicate. Furthermore, it is important for language learners to become aware of the role non-verbal communication plays in intercultural situations. As signs are very often culturally coined, knowledge of their meaning is needed to prevent misunderstandings and communication breakdowns. Sensitivity for this correlation is an essential part of intercultural competence. Additionally, it will be discussed in how far the knowledge and awareness of the functions of non-verbal communication also helps to establish literary competence – after all, non-verbal phenomena contribute to a text’s meaning and effect on the reader, in both drama and prose.

The last part of my talk will then focus on how non-verbal aspects can actually be integrated into the teaching process. I will suggest an increasing use of drama activities to provide room to practice non-verbal reception and production.

 

Annegret Thiem, Universität Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany

Intercultural Competences and Performative Teaching in the Academic Education of Language Teachers.

Intercultural competences and the capacity to act in foreign language environments are the main competences to reach for learners in German school systems. Given a world of globalization and pluralization, the requirements of a heterodox society and school life led to a new paradigm in education: “acting” or “performing” were introduced as school subjects. The successful achievement of this aim however is up to the language teacher. Intercultural competence not only means the transmission of culture-specific characteristics, it also means to enter a complete new value system and therefore the confrontation with difference and alterity in daily (school) contexts. In performative teaching and learning alterity can be shown and experienced in different ways, and a kind of “third space” (Bhabha) can be created in which cultures and identities are mediated and located in different ways. Since academic education does not fulfill the demands of exercising intercultural competences more than in a theoretical way (if at all), this paper wants to discuss (in theoretical terms and drawing conclusions from own experiences) the gap which exists between the real necessities of performing interculturality in schools as a practical approach to foreign languages and cultures for pupils, and the training of language teachers and the development of intercultural competences in their own personality in academic education.

 

Henry Thorau, Universität Trier, Trier, Germany

Invisible Theatre as an Act of Performative Experience.

Keine Theaterform greift so direkt und unmittelbar ins tägliche Leben ein, fordert von den Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauern eine so spontane Rezeption und Reaktion wie das Unsichtbare Theater. Der Vortrag skizziert die Geschichte des Unsichtbaren Theaters als Teil von Augusto Boals Theater der Unterdrückten.

Der zweite Teil des Vortrags befasst sich mit der praktischen Anwendung des Unsichtbaren Theaters: Wie wird es gemacht, wie und wo ist es einsetzbar? Wie entsteht eine Szene Unsichtbaren Theaters?Hier werdenanhand von Beispielen die einzelnen Schritte der Entstehung und Erarbeitung einer Szene Unsichtbaren Theaters genau beschrieben.

 

Silja Weber, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

Measuring Time in Tír na nÓg. A Foray into the Relationship between Drama Pedagogy and Second Language Acquisition.

Kao and O’Neill (1998) were among the first – but certainly not last – researchers who not only articulated the great potential of drama pedagogy for foreign language instruction, but also began to model the integration of drama pedagogy, experimental research, and assessment. Since then, many voices have called for experimental studies on the effect of drama pedagogy: we may believe that it works, but how and why?

Some well-designed studies using action research and mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) designs have been implemented in the meantime. However, the connection between SLA research and the fluid, many-layered context of a drama-oriented classroom producing ‘messy data’ is still as elusive as the sense of time in Tír na nÓg.

In this paper, I will introduce two constructs from recent SLA research on affective factors: speaking anxiety and willingness to communicate (WTC). There is strong evidence that lower anxiety and higher WTC contribute to higher speaking rates and oral proficiency. I will report data from a mixed method pilot study investigating the effect of drama pedagogy techniques on students’ anxiety and WTC in two sections of intermediate German, one of which included drama activities. Finally, I will briefly review other constructs from applied linguistics that may have potential for studying drama pedagogy and assessing its outcomes in the foreign language classroom in the hope of further stimulating the conversation between theory and pedagogy.

 

Gweno Williams, York St John University and University of York, York, United Kingdom

DON’T READ THIS BOOK! Using Creative Performance Strategies to Model and Inspire Reading Passion in Teachers and Learners of English as a Second Language.

This 90-minute workshop introduces ways in which creative performance strategies can be used to inspire and stimulate passion for reading in teachers and learners. Whilst this pedagogic case-study is based on high-performing Norwegian speakers and learners of English as a second language, the principles will also apply to native speakers in a range of subjects and situations, including reluctant readers. Since reading is perceived and valued as an integral and essential language competence, stimulating independent reflective reading is an important global teaching and learning goal. Paradoxically, kinaesthetic interactive learning approaches appear particularly successful in stimulating learner desire to engage in sustained individual ‘quiet’ reading activities. Equally, dynamic performance and social communication learning activities can enrich and validate reading by enhancing language, intercultural understanding and memory.

 

Karel Zdarek, Univerzita Karlova, Praha, Czech Republic

Role-Playing Factory – How Can Technology Support the Use of Role-Playing in TEFL Classes?

This paper aims to present a software tool (web application) primarily intended for language teachers to help them create and organize role-plays. The idea for the app is based around a role-playing technique called “radio role-play” which uses the context of a fictional broadcast studio.

Besides its benefits in terms of development of communicative competence, high motivation and engagement levels, the research outcomes (Zdarek 2013) point to certain limitations mostly in the area of organization; mainly setting the task, its ending and the students’ time management within the role. The web application aims to serve as a tool that helps to run the activity and, perhaps, influence the quality of the students’ role-playing experience. Although the inspiration came from this particular type of role-play and was originally designed for radio role-play, the author imagines the use of the app possibly ranging from simple role-plays (scripted or unscripted), improvisation exercises, to more complex role-plays and simulations.

This paper presentation will 1) introduce the web application and its functionality, including a practical demonstration, and 2) will try to answer the question of how the use of the technology (tablets, smartphones) in role-playing might change the quality of the role-playing experience from the perspective of students, its processes and outcomes from the perspective of the teacher and also what might change in terms of students’ motivation and engagement. The research will be carried out as a care study in three groups of high-school students (aged 15-17) in Prague, Czech Republic

 

Alexandra Zimmermann, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

L’Art pour L’Artiste. Staging the Artist in University Foreign Language Drama Productions.s

Staging the artist and the creative process in university foreign language drama productions is of great epistemic value and has a bounty of pedagogical benefits for the teaching of foreign languages and cultures:

• Drama pedagogy is based on a holistic concept of pedagogy, which fosters artistic self-expression as a means to fulfill the highest level of human needs, the need for “self-actualization” (Abraham Maslow). Staging an artist’s artistic endeavours will therefore have an inspiring impact on the students’ own artistic efforts during the production process.
• The artist as a stage character becomes a catalyst for theatrical “An-schaulichkeit” (‘the possibility to look at something’) of a “leib-haftige” (“incarnated’) representation of the artist.
• Student performers are strongly inclined to show signs of identification with the artist they represent. In contrast to a modernistic theatre reception where reflection is induced by the alienation or destruction of identification, it can be argued that in foreign language drama productions, reflection and thought provoking processes are induced through identification.
• Staging the moment of creation gives student actors the opportunity to reflect the roots for the creative drive and the sources of artistic inspiration. The connection between love/eroticism and creation is of special interest.

Showing the artist as a performer, as a commentator or as the audience of his/her own art opens up the floor for a subtle and dramatically effective game on a meta-theatrical level.

Call for Papers

Call for Papers 

1^st International Conference:

Performative Teaching, Learning and Research

University College Cork, 29 May – 1 June 2014

Conference Languages: 1. English / 2. German (click above for German version of Call for Papers)

This conference aims to pave the way towards a new, performative teaching and learning culture. 

Building on a recent symposium at University College Cork which centred on performative practices across different disciplines, this conference will have a special focus on the areas of

LANGUAGE * LITERATURE * CULTURE

While these are key areas of Foreign and Second Language disciplines, they also figure prominently in other disciplines and fields of practice. We therefore also particularly welcome contributions from scholars, teachers as well as artists and practitioners in related arts-based disciplines and professional fields of practice, including Education, Drama and Theatre, Film/New Media, Music, Dance, Visual Art. The organisers are open to a variety of forms of engaging with the conference theme, including

25-minute papers,

90-minute workshops,

short films,

 performance pieces.

Contributors are asked to indicate if they wish to present in English or German. They expected to refer to, or demonstrate, specific performative approaches to one or more of the listed areas and, in doing so, offer perspectives on one or more of the following:

 

• Performative orientations/genres/practices within a specific discipline, art form or field of practice
• Culture-specific performative traditions and their application in arts-based disciplines
• Intercultural/post-colonial perspectives on performative teaching and learning
• Performative practices in bi-/multilingual educational settings
• Special features of selected performative approaches
• Theoretical perspectives on performative teaching and learning within the educational discourse
• Past, current and future research on aspects of performative teaching and learning / the use of performative methodologies/methods in research projects
• The role of and the challenges for the teacher/scholar/artist/practitioner
• The impact on students/audience/participants
• The process/product dimension of performative teaching and learning
• The interrelationship between art and education: What exactly and how can teachers and students learn from professionals in the fields of Drama and Theatre, Film/New Media, Music, Dance, Visual Art?
  
  

Proposals are invited in the form of an abstract or outline (in English or German) of approx. 300 words. Please send your proposal by January 30^th, 2014, via email to scenario@ucc.ie. The selection committee will inform selected contributors as soon as possible after this date.

 It is envisaged that selected papers will be published in either the journal SCENARIO (http://scenario.ucc.ie) or a special volume of the new SCENARIO book series.

The conference is organised by the Department of German, University College Cork, in close collaboration with UCC’s School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Performance Practices and Ionad Bairre, UCC’s Teaching and Learning Centre.

Organising Team:

Manfred Schewe/Micha Fleiner/Stefan Kriechbaumer/Niko Preuschoff (University College Cork); Susanne Even (Indiana University, Bloomington)

Travel Arrangements / Directions

 

** Please note: Some Airlines currently seem to offer special deals ** 

 

UCC is located in the western part of Cork city, 1 km from the city centre. The main parts of UCC’s campus are along Western Road and College Road. Please note that car parking facilities at UCC are limited.

Please click here for a UCC campus map (via google)

 

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