1. Use of Plays in Language Teaching
Lecturer Betül ALTAŞ

2. 1. What is the meaning of drama. 2
1. What is the meaning of drama? 2. How does the use of drama contribute to English language teaching?

3. Drama Drama is a text, based on a story. It is also performed.
It is performed through:
words
actions of actors

4. Like short stories and novels, it includes terms such as :
Characters
Plot (can be linear or not)
Setting
Dialogue
Monologue

5. Soliloquy
* a speech that one gives to oneself * thinking out loud, as it were the audience better understands what is happening to the character internally.
The fourth wall
On-the stage
Off-stage

6. Cast
Lines
Script
Stage directions
Set
Costumes
Props (realistic items for theatrical use)

7. Drama versus Prose Drama is more versatile
Each performance is different every time
Each audience understands and interprets in a different way
Everything about drama changes in the moment it is performed.
Everything in drama is an open ended process.

8. History of Drama Ancient Greece (550 B.C.E-220 B.C.E)
Performing songs for an annual religious festival
Most of the performances were composed of tragedies
Tragedies depicted the suffering of an individual such as the king
E.g.: Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

9. The main focus of tragedies is noble people
Comedy was concerned with society and mocking at real world experiences
eg: Lysistrata by Aristophanes
A major distinctive element of early Greek drama is chorus
Ancient Greek drama is more like opera

10. Ancient Rome (240 B.C.E-54 C.E)
Based on the traditions of Ancient Greek Drama
On-stage, use of violence is seen as dramatic action in tragedy
However, most violence occurs in off-stage
Plautus, was one of the most famous Roman comedian, made a major development
He used characters like stock characters

11. Middle Ages (476 C.E C.E)
Next important step in English drama in 14th -15 th centuries
Drama based on religious subjects
Mystery plays dramatization of the mysteries of the religion based on stories such as :
the birth /death of Jesus
Adam and Eve
Noah

12. Miracle Plays stories of saints’ lives
People in medieval England were illiterate
The majority of peasants were not able to understand Latin in mass.

13. Both genres were associated with Catholic Church
After England’s separation from the pope in 1534, everything related to Catholic religion was viewed as suspicion
Morality plays:
not biblical
scenes of man’s weaknesses to temptation
characters in morality plays were either good or evil

14. The English Renaissance (late-15th C.E.- early 17th century C.E)
Topics move away from the morally didactic and closer to the secularly entertaining.
They are grouped under the category of interludes.
William Shakespeare
It breaks the classical rules of genre

15. Tragicomedy
Romances
Revenge Tragedy (violent and bloody)
Closet–drama

16. Interregnum/Commonwealth (1642 C.E.-1660 CE)
1642 was a time of political and social upheaval in England.
It was beginning of the English civil war.
Puritanism, a strict form of Protestantism, was on the rise.
Theater was seen as sinful
Suspension of all theatrical performances

17. Additional acts were passed under the reign of Oliver Cromwell
The country was referred to as a Commonwealth rather than monarchy
The period was later known as the Interregnum
The theaters were closed until 1660.
There was little development in English Theatre.

18. Restoration 18th Century
Lack of diversity in British theatre
Much of the drama of the Restoration period is not highly valued by modern critics
Plots of tragedies and the comedies involve much intrigue

19. Tragedies seem funny and comedies absurd
Sensationalism was more desirable than rhetorical talent
Women took stage for the first time in English theaters.
Restoration period saw the first professional female playwright, Aphra Behn

20. Modern and Contemporary Theater
Genre of naturalism
The inception is credited to Henrik Ibsen
The value of psychological is relatively new
Musical theater (this type of drama now on Brodway in New York)
Absurdist (conflicts between the world of the characters/ audience’s expectations)

21. Epic Drama (created by Bertolt Brecht, ) is a response to traditional genres as well as naturalism
It aims to force the spectator to question everything
Alienation is an essential technique.
Experimental theater

22. Teaching Drama
Drama is much easier to use than any other literary material
It requires active participation of learners
Drama is Communicative
Communication between characters is the basis of drama

23. Activities in drama can be an excellent fit
Visual
Verbal learners
Kinesthetic

24. Drama is not limited with words, it also includes:
facial expressions
gestures
voice intonation
pauses
manner

25. Problems to anticipate when using plays in the classroom
Cultural referential differences
a) pre-teaching the items -regarding the references to concepts- to students
Cultural Taboos
a) choosing materials that are suitable for students’ level and the cultural climate
b) providing background information

26. Reading something to be performed a) providing visual supplements such as a film version, recording live performance of the play b) getting students involved in performing

27. During reading
Write and perform an abridged version of one act
write and perform a new scene at the beginning and in the middle
Post Reading
Interviews its characters