A literature genre that has features of the different forms of literature is drama, which also houses distinct features that make it different from them. Dramatic texts are written to be presented before an audience, and in a classroom setup, they are read out as a play. Drama, similar to other forms of literature, incorporates the different elements that makeup fiction. These elements include plot, characters, suspense, setting, theme, problem, and point of view. Literature pieces are essential in the classroom as they create visible positive results in language learning. The different pieces of literature are essential in a classroom setup as they ensure that a learner is exposed to different types of languages and experiences that improve their scope of knowledge. There are instances where students are resistant to acquiring new languages, and dramatic texts have been considered effective ways of assisting learners in understanding what is expected of them. The use of drama texts in a classroom grants a teacher the opportunity to design different activities for the learners, and the learners are exposed to various forms of achievement compared to various forms of literary genres.
Different learning activities arising from drama texts allow the teacher to navigate the lesson effectively. At the same time, the student is faced with numerous opportunities of improving their knowledge achievement. Drama texts offer the teacher an opportunity of being able to design multi-level activities that are efficient for all learners. The learners can attain different levels of achievement by identifying the story, plot, characters, and the author’s viewpoint, which contains the author’s opinion and attitude. Through dramatic texts, learners can understand the relationship that the piece of literature has to its historical, political, cultural, and social context (Angelianawati, 2019). Through the different literature pieces, a learner can produce a creative response that helps the teacher understand the level of comprehension of the text that the learners have, which can easily be portrayed through enacting the text. Drama texts are efficient for learners to understand the concept of literature, and this is because they provide a platform for an expanded critical analysis of the text to occur. Drama texts allow readers to understand the point of view of the different characters in the story, providing a window for understanding the different occurrences in the play.
One of the ways through which dramatic texts can be incorporated into a classroom includes engaging a learner in activities that prepare them to engage with the language that is present in the drama texts. Drama texts allow a teacher to indulge learners in activities such as guessing, interacting with pictures, and discussing, which gives the learners an opportunity to prepare for the drama text. The preparation that learners must undergo before interaction with a drama text is often simple as it constitutes limited stylistic analysis. Incorporating drama texts in a classroom ensures learners easily simulate oral communication (Angelianawati, 2019). The use of drama texts in a classroom is an in-depth way of incorporating drama activities in a classroom setup. When using a drama text in a classroom, a teacher needs to engage in a prereading session which ensures that the readers are well acquitted with the drama text. A listening stage of the drama text ensures that the readers are well accustomed to the concepts experienced when reading the text. As a way to engage the learners and utilize their previous knowledge, the teacher can have them access the book cover, the different memories of the learners, and prompt questions that measure the amount of knowledge the learners have.
Drama texts can increase the critical literacy of learners in the classroom. Critical literacy in learners is measurable through the ability of learners to be able to evaluate a text and be able to acknowledge the author’s biases, different author perspectives, and the author’s accuracy. For instance, the use of drama texts ensures that learners can draw connections between themselves and the text they are reading. The readers can draw comparisons between the texts themselves and the readers due to the tangible nature that drama texts bring, and this is because of their ability to undergo role play. Through critical literacy, learners in a classroom can understand the different social relationships in society. Learners utilize this newfound understanding to comprehend the different relations that occur in society. Critical literacy is different from other educational exercises that can occur in a classroom, and this is because it prepares a learner to embrace the different types of texts adequately. Characteristics that help define critical literacy include an analysis of texts in the search for fairness and a critical examination of texts in search of author biases. Critical literacy also gives learners an opportunity of being able to share their views, and this also gives them an opportunity of questioning their already existing views (Ewing, 2019). A critical literacy approach to texts ensures that learners understand that a dramatic text can have different interpretations, and this is visible from the different understandings they present.
Drama texts are essential in a classroom as they ensure that teachers can achieve different learning objectives. Drama texts provide an exciting way of tackling possible resistance by learners to learning a new language. The use of drama texts to help learners comprehend a new language can be effective as it ensures that the learners enjoy learning the new language, ensuring the learners have realistic targets which they can quickly achieve, and also by ensuring there is a link between the experience the learner has of life and the learning process (Abednia & Crookes, 2019). Creative tensions are situations that occur in a literary text, and they often require an immediate solution. Drama texts often expose learners to creative tensions, ensuring that their minds are filled with thoughts of possible solutions that they would provide for such a situation. Exposure to creative tensions is adequate for learners as it ensures that they acquire a platform where they can voice their thoughts, which results in language development. Drama texts in a classroom place more responsibility on the learner and not the teacher. When reading a drama text, the learner is tasked with interpreting the text and providing their own personalized view of the book.
Through drama, learners get an opportunity to attain language and cultural enrichment, which is achieved by the interpretation of the target culture. Drama texts often provide language contexts that make the story’s different concepts visible, achieved by having them in a realistic environment (Abednia & Crookes, 2019). The addition and reading of characterization in a drama allow the readers to be entirely involved in the reading process. When learners have involved in role-playing the dramatic texts, they can express themselves as empowered. The learners can express themselves through the voices of the different characters. When a teacher gives learners the responsibility of reading different parts of the drama, the learners can understand the point of view of the various characters. Learners interact with the texts at a personal level, allowing them to understand the different actions of the characters as described in the play. The learners can also provide their point of view, which ensures they can provide their reasoning for the drama they have already interacted with in the classroom.
One of the significant drawbacks that explains why a teacher may decide to utilize drama texts other than novels and poems is that they may utilize a language that learners may find hard to understand. The complex language used in poems and novels can be simplified to more straightforward language, but this often distorts the message that was to be communicated by the said literature genres. When novels and poems that utilize complex language are translated into more straightforward language, this becomes a challenge as it poses the risk that the texts take up a pale interpretation of the original literature pieces. Drama texts utilize traditional language compared to other forms of literature, allowing them to interact with the learners (Ewing, 2019). The presence of drama texts helps address the need for materials that can be utilized for worthwhile reading. The presence of drama texts in a classroom ensures that suitable materials are made available for learners to comprehend as they can access a wide variety of information.
An analytical approach to drama texts ensures that an analysis of language is achieved. Through an analytical approach, language is easily divided into lexical and phonological components, which ensure that a teacher can prioritize the kind of literary text that is to be studied in class. A teacher makes a selection of a dramatic text that has different lexical and phonological components that can be studied in class and goes ahead to present it to the learners. The learners are then presented with the drama text, which assists them in ensuring that the consciousness of the learner is improved and undergoes a tremendous change. Drama texts allow learners to indulge in an inductive method of learning where they get an opportunity to apply their own experiences, which gives them an opportunity to provide their comments and responses. The readers also get an opportunity to share expressions that illustrate the kind of reaction the drama text provides for them. The learners are also allowed to comment on the theme or topic that the book presents. By prioritizing the theme and topic visible in the drama texts, the teacher can ensure that the learners are actively involved in language learning.
Drama, compared to other forms of literature, serves as a critical literacy medium for learners who come from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds. Through drama texts, learners get an opportunity to understand the dominant social and linguistic practices that have been illustrated in the texts and compare them with their own lives. The different drama issues also allow students to showcase their different cultural and social issues, which give them an opportunity to engage with issues that relate to their immediate lives. For instance, a drama text can critically discuss the different issues that affect the leadership of a place or the different relationships among the characters. When the reader has already analyzed the different themes present in the text, they can compare them to the life situations they are currently experiencing. The drama texts also equip the learners with skills and vocabulary to effectively utilize as they develop their language skills (Leander & Burriss, 2020). Drama texts require learners to enact the different characters when reading, allowing them to improve their communication skills and competence. Unlike other literary texts, such as novels and poems, drama texts allow students to exercise their listening and communication skills.
Conclusively drama is a literary genre that contains characteristics from the various forms of literature, but it also has unique characteristics that set it apart. Dramatic texts are those that are intended to be performed in front of an audience, and in a classroom setting, they are read aloud as plays. The various components of fiction are included in drama, just like in other literary genres. When drama texts are used in the classroom, a teacher has more freedom to create unique activities for the students, who are exposed to a broader range of achievements than they would with other types of literature. The teacher can effectively navigate the class with the help of the various learning activities that result from theatre texts, and students have a wealth of opportunities to advance their knowledge. Engaging learners in exercises that prepare them to interact with the language included in the drama texts is one way that dramatic texts can be used in the classroom. Dramatic texts have the power to improve students’ critical literacy in the classroom. Dramatic texts are crucial in the classroom because they enable the teacher to accomplish various learning goals.
References
Abednia, A., & Crookes, G. V. (2019). Critical literacy as a pedagogical goal in English language teaching. Second handbook of English language teaching, pp. 255–275. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-030-02899-2_14
Angelianawati, L. (2019). Using Drama in EFL Classroom. Journal of English Teaching, 5(2), 125-134. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1266171
Ewing, R. (2019). Embedding arts-rich English and literacy pedagogies in the classroom. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, 27(1), 7–17. https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/aeipt.222610
Leander, K. M., & Burriss, S. K. (2020). Critical literacy for a posthuman world: When people read and become machines. British Journal of Educational Technology, 51(4), 1262–1276. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12924
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