‘But why do I have to take this class?’ The mandatory drama-ESL class and multiliteracies pedagogy

Abstract

This article seeks to understand the role of drama pedagogy in second/additional language learning with data drawn from a school-based ethnographic study of English language learners taking a drama-English as a Second Language (ESL) course. Being aware that all drama teaching does not automatically lead into improvement in language learning, it carefully explores the experiences of a group of English language learners taking a mandatory drama-ESL class after having passed a proficiency exam. Drawing from her data and from theoretical work in drama education, second language education and postcolonial discourse, the author proceeds to examine two aspects of multiliteracies pedagogy: situated practice and multimodality. One key finding is that, despite initial resistance from the majority of the English language learners about taking this mandatory class, the drama pedagogy used in this classroom drew on students’ personal and cultural experiences in the creation of identity texts and thereby provided room for a situated practice as well as multimodal representations of meaning. This process of creating performance-based identity texts, the author argues, cognitively engaged students, provided room for identity investment and, therefore, despite initial challenges, helped many students with their linguistic and social performances.

Keywords:

• multiliteracies
• multimodality
• identity texts
• identity investment
• English Language Learners
• linguistically and culturally diverse students
• ethnography
• multimodal research methods

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the teacher and the students who welcomed me into their drama-ESL classroom. Special thanks to Professor Kathleen Gallagher for her invaluable suggestions and to the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes

1. I use the term ESL throughout this paper because the official name of the course is drama-ESL. However, I am aware that the term ESL is seen as problematic because for some students English is not their second, but may be their third or fourth language and that is why the term English as an Additional Language (EAL) is preferred by some educators.