Teaching Language and Cross—Cultural Skills through Drama

霍鑫紅++張艷

【Abstracts】This article argues that drama is an under-exploited resource in the foreign language classroom for promoting intercultural competence and developing an awareness of the interpersonal dimension embedded in the language we use. Drama also offers ample opportunities to explore subtle difference of the foreign culture as well as conflict situations and emotions which are seldom encountered in textbook dialogues and material， thus opening up to the students a world which is often denied to them in the foreign language classrooms.

【Key words】language； cross-cultural skills； drama； intercultural competence

1. Introduction

What role that literary texts can play in the foreign language classroom？ How can learners linguistic awareness can be enhanced by the use of literary texts. Boria has the best answer that drama still offers the best literary source to present students with models of conversational interactions and discourse patterns. Dramatic dialogue can provide an excellent synthesis of some of the strategies that are used by speakers and listeners in conversations. Drama is largely absent in FL textbooks. Such neglect of drama is lamentable because it presents opportunities to explore with the students how identity and social relationships are negotiated， while encouraging self-reflection on their own cultural expectations. In a nutshell， drama can be approached ethnographically to develop students intercultural sensitivity and competence. Given the relative lack of focus on cross-cultural skills in mainstream textbooks and the present invisibility of drama， this article aims to stimulate and interest in the use of drama in the foreign language classroom by providing 1）a review of the ways in which drama has been introduced into the language classroom， 2） a discussion of the advantages of approaching drama through ethnography and 3）some suggestions for classroom activities which can contribute to the development of intercultural competence.

2. Drama in the Language Classroom

A brief review of the literature in FL teaching shows that drama has been introduced into the language classroom in at least six ways， which often share aims and methodologies.

2.1 It can be set up as a class project in which a play is produced in the target language， This is a major student/teacher project requiring commitment and participation.

2.2 Drama techniques can be adapted to foreign language learning to create short physical and linguistic activities which are beneficial to the atmosphere of the classroom， aim to make language come alive， and shift the focus from the language to the act of ‘doing something with the body. This approach is claimed to encourage the use of the foreign language in a more spontaneous and unpredictable manner than in the guided dialogues often used. It is said that the emphasis on ‘doing together helps to create a climate of trust and common endeavour.

2.3 Drama can be introduced as a valued artefact， a cultural token belonging to a particular genre produced in a particular historical time and place， This approach maintains a separation between language and content as it exploits drama not for its linguistic features but for its established cultural value. Drama is studied as part of the literary canon， an approach which characterizes the study of drama in Higher Education.

2.4 Drama can be introduced as ‘language in use： in this approach literature is not treated as an object belonging to a literary canon， but put alongside tokens of everyday language use such as a newspaper articles or interviews and used as a resource to generate language in the process of completing language based activities.

2.5 Modus operandi deed the adoption of a stylistic approach to enhance understanding and appreciation of literary texts. Linguist， then， directs his attention primarily to how a piece of literature exemplifies the language system， this approach argues that students doing stylistic analysis can develop a systematic awareness of the linguistic system， and therefore their responses to and interpretations of literary texts are less impressionistic and subjective， being based on a close analysis of the linguistic features which constitute the text. It has been suggested that this approach can also benefit Chinese speakers ‘to help them puzzle out meaning when they get stuck， although this position is debatable because 1） Chinese speakers often do not have sufficient competence in the language system， a precondition for doing an analysis which require an awareness of the possible alternatives in the system， and 2） the analytical framework may add a considerable cognitive burden， thus impeding rather than facilitation reading comprehension.

2.6 A sixth approach called ‘global simulation because it was based on the idea of creating elaborate communicative situations thematically coherent in terms of setting， characters， and events. Students work on an engaging and creative FL project requiring extensive information finding， task-solving， and simulations based on a wide range of experiences. Global simulation promotes language learning activities and tasks which follow a much more coherent thematic development than in the traditional role-plays or simulations found in textbooks， where they are normally limited to a particular setting and function. It also has a strong element of cultural exploration. However， it adopts a view of culture as factual knowledge and sees language as a tool to perform tasks rather than being itself a key site for the exploration of culture. An example taken from the global situation called ‘The Village illustrates the point： here students chose a site and a time period and each villager selects an identity starting with a name， age， and occupation. Clearly here ‘identity is taken unproblematically as a label we can attach to people separated from ways speakers construct it through the language they can speak， i.e. Language is seen as homogeneously shared by native speakers who have equal access to it. The approach to drama I propose differs substantially from those so far reviewed. It takes the notion of identity， and the link between identity and language use， more seriously， and it sees ‘culture more in terms of ‘practices than knowledge. It also draws upon a new understanding of the FL student as a ‘cultural mediator， an ‘intercultural speaker. But before we explore how drama can be approached ethnographically to promote intercultural competence， it is crucial to define which notion of culture is most relevant to the FL learner.

3. An Ethnographic Approach to Culture

An example of FL textbooks used in Higher Education reveals that the notion of culture still adopted is mainly ‘factual： bits and piece of knowledge presented often at the bottom of each unit in the form of eclectic ‘cultural notes about family， traditions， meals， etc. Robinson rightly comments that： “many texts include ‘cultural notes or discussions set apart from the language exercises. It is not unrelated topics about the target culture as in a mixture or smattering of experiences， without and intentional interrelationship among them.” The notion of culture adopted is prescriptive and static and it assumes that the learning of culture is something to tag on after grammatical structures and vocabulary have been covered. Jordan and Roberts observe that there has been a tendency in the field of foreign languages to think of ‘culture in a generalized way as of each nation had ‘a culture which was in some ways essential and fixed. A nations culture is ， therefore， seen in terms of general behavior or national stereotypes and personalities. An alternative view of ‘culture is a more cognitive one， usually related to literature or other forms of ‘high culture. A a consequence， cultural studies is often taught as a blend of literature and area studies or， in a rather special way， as part of functional language teaching. Such approaches to culture share the belief that understanding a foreign culture is mainly a cognitive process. In contrast to a notion of culture as a blend of factual and stable knowledge， with values and beliefs uniformly shared amongst speakers of the same language， from the ethnographers perspective culture is dynamic and contextually defined in terms of the social practices within a particular language community， and it is this conceptualisation which is more relevant to the FL student. Ethnography can be briefly defined as the study of a groups social and insiders perspective. It is both a method involving the detailed observation and description of particular forms of behavior and a written account based on social and cultural theories. So it combines both an experiential element in which theoretical concepts are used and then developed， in order to write ‘cultureEthnography is relevant to FL students because it sees culture as localized， heterogeneous and fragmented rather than national and monolithic， thus avoiding national stereotyping and developing an awareness and sensitivity to ones own and others ‘difference， whether that are encountered in the target language country or in the global village.

Conclusion

The use of drama in the classroom allows the exploration of complex and tangled feelings， which can be threatening but when removed to the fictional world of drama are distant enough to be dealt with. It allows the possibility of rehearsing the dialogues， of ‘wearing the characters shoes， and empathizing with them.

An ethnographic approach means that ， rather than presenting a model of how ‘the foreigner behaves in this situation ， students enter into a dialogic relationship with the play， which questions their beliefs and assumptions through the presentation of the characters interpretation of and reflections on the events. Group discussion and the use of informants are pivotal in avoiding the danger of dichotomising culture differences as ‘us and ‘them and in fostering a more flexible and diverse understanding of ‘culture. Dramatic dialogues are more ‘rounded and have more depth than the ‘thin ones in textbook dialogues， which are often only used as vehicles to introduce grammatical form， language learning opportunities by widening the range of emotions and experiences students are exposed to in the target language， bu presenting situations of social disharmony and tension which are normally absent in textbook dialogues usually characterized by conviviality and civility. Drama allows us to shift the focus from the transactional to the interactional dimension of language， a dimension which is often neglected even in advanced language classes， where the syllabus usually becomes increasingly complex in terms of topics， strucures， and vocabulary， but not more sophisticated in terms of the interactional competence it fosters in students. A shift to the interactional dimention would broaden the range of emotions and identities which students can express in the large language.

Drama offers the possibility of ‘slowing down situations of conflict and tension， of examining problematic both linguistically and emotionally. Dialogues can be put under the microscope to reveal their complexities and be re-played and manipulated by adopting， for instance， difference intonations to reflect the speakers different attitudes and emotions， or re-worded to reflect different emotions or intentions. By making use of drama students can explore the depth of human experience， constantly comparing and negotiating their own feelings and reactions with those of the characters in an attempt to reach a better understanding of themselves and of others. Thus， ‘learning a foreign language changes to ‘learning a foreign language in a way which focuses on the richness and complexities of human behavior or ， to put it another way， it makes language learning a path towards developing positive attitudes towards speakers of other languages.

References：

[1]Boria，M.（2003）‘Teaching language through literature.

[2]Byram，M.And Zarate，G.（1997）‘Defining and assessing intercultural competence：some principles and proposals for the European context，Language Teaching，29：14-18.

[3]Huo Xin-hong （2015）Effect on Collaborative assessment on Language Development and Learning.