Developing Primary EFL Students’ Multiliteracies Competence Through Drama Teaching: A Case Study in China

Yuanyuan Chen

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13

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Developing Primary EFL Students’ Multiliteracies Competence Through Drama Teaching: A Case Study in China

Yuanyuan Chen

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 8, Issue 2)

Received: 27 February 2020 Accepted: 10 March 2020 Published: 31 March 2020

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Abstract

Multiliteracies competence has emerged as an important research field, yet it remains a great challenge for primary EFL teachers in China to develop students’ multiliteracies competence. With the implementation of educational reform in K12 education in China, the importance of cultivating multiliteracies competence for primary school students has become increasingly prominent. Meanwhile, in the current K12 education curriculum in China, the practice of offering English drama courses caters to the needs of enhancing students’ multiliteracies competence. This qualitative study aims to exlore: (1) how are dramas taught in primary EFL classes in China? (2) how is students’ multiliteracies competence developed through learning drama? The participant of this longitudinal narrative inquiry is an EFL teacher at a primary school in Southern China. Data include two-semester-long observation of the English drama classes in the school, weekly meetings on drama teaching, workshops with foreign drama experts and interview narratives, as well as documents such as the participants’ lesson plans, journals and students’ feedback. Findings show that EFL drama teaching in the primary school adopts multiliteracies pedagogy, drawing on a range of media and aiming to develop students’ all-around skills. Findings also reveal that students’ language competence and multiliteracies competence are indeed greatly enhanced through drama teaching and learning. Implications for further teacher development are discussed, including offering English drama education in pre-service programs, enhancing acting skills mentoring in internship and in-service training, and observing and reflecting on one’s own and their peers’ drama teaching practices and raising their multiliteracies awareness and intercultural awareness.

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 8, Issue 2) This article belongs to the Special Issue Humanity and Science: China’s Intercultural Communication with the Outside World in the New Era
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13
Page(s)	46-51
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Multiliteracies Competence, Multimodality, Drama Teaching, Primary EFL Student

References

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Yuanyuan Chen. (2020). Developing Primary EFL Students’ Multiliteracies Competence Through Drama Teaching: A Case Study in China. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 8(2), 46-51. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13

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Yuanyuan Chen. Developing Primary EFL Students’ Multiliteracies Competence Through Drama Teaching: A Case Study in China. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2020, 8(2), 46-51. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13

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Yuanyuan Chen. Developing Primary EFL Students’ Multiliteracies Competence Through Drama Teaching: A Case Study in China. Int J Lit Arts. 2020;8(2):46-51. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13,
  author = {Yuanyuan Chen},
  title = {Developing Primary EFL Students’ Multiliteracies Competence Through Drama Teaching: A Case Study in China},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {8},
  number = {2},
  pages = {46-51},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20200802.13},
  abstract = {Multiliteracies competence has emerged as an important research field, yet it remains a great challenge for primary EFL teachers in China to develop students’ multiliteracies competence. With the implementation of educational reform in K12 education in China, the importance of cultivating multiliteracies competence for primary school students has become increasingly prominent. Meanwhile, in the current K12 education curriculum in China, the practice of offering English drama courses caters to the needs of enhancing students’ multiliteracies competence. This qualitative study aims to exlore: (1) how are dramas taught in primary EFL classes in China? (2) how is students’ multiliteracies competence developed through learning drama? The participant of this longitudinal narrative inquiry is an EFL teacher at a primary school in Southern China. Data include two-semester-long observation of the English drama classes in the school, weekly meetings on drama teaching, workshops with foreign drama experts and interview narratives, as well as documents such as the participants’ lesson plans, journals and students’ feedback. Findings show that EFL drama teaching in the primary school adopts multiliteracies pedagogy, drawing on a range of media and aiming to develop students’ all-around skills. Findings also reveal that students’ language competence and multiliteracies competence are indeed greatly enhanced through drama teaching and learning. Implications for further teacher development are discussed, including offering English drama education in pre-service programs, enhancing acting skills mentoring in internship and in-service training, and observing and reflecting on one’s own and their peers’ drama teaching practices and raising their multiliteracies awareness and intercultural awareness.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Developing Primary EFL Students’ Multiliteracies Competence Through Drama Teaching: A Case Study in China
AU  - Yuanyuan Chen
Y1  - 2020/03/31
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 46
EP  - 51
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13
AB  - Multiliteracies competence has emerged as an important research field, yet it remains a great challenge for primary EFL teachers in China to develop students’ multiliteracies competence. With the implementation of educational reform in K12 education in China, the importance of cultivating multiliteracies competence for primary school students has become increasingly prominent. Meanwhile, in the current K12 education curriculum in China, the practice of offering English drama courses caters to the needs of enhancing students’ multiliteracies competence. This qualitative study aims to exlore: (1) how are dramas taught in primary EFL classes in China? (2) how is students’ multiliteracies competence developed through learning drama? The participant of this longitudinal narrative inquiry is an EFL teacher at a primary school in Southern China. Data include two-semester-long observation of the English drama classes in the school, weekly meetings on drama teaching, workshops with foreign drama experts and interview narratives, as well as documents such as the participants’ lesson plans, journals and students’ feedback. Findings show that EFL drama teaching in the primary school adopts multiliteracies pedagogy, drawing on a range of media and aiming to develop students’ all-around skills. Findings also reveal that students’ language competence and multiliteracies competence are indeed greatly enhanced through drama teaching and learning. Implications for further teacher development are discussed, including offering English drama education in pre-service programs, enhancing acting skills mentoring in internship and in-service training, and observing and reflecting on one’s own and their peers’ drama teaching practices and raising their multiliteracies awareness and intercultural awareness.
VL  - 8
IS  - 2
ER  -

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Author Information

Yuanyuan Chen

Education Group, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

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Yuanyuan Chen. (2020). Developing Primary EFL Students’ Multiliteracies Competence Through Drama Teaching: A Case Study in China. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 8(2), 46-51. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13

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Yuanyuan Chen. Developing Primary EFL Students’ Multiliteracies Competence Through Drama Teaching: A Case Study in China. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2020, 8(2), 46-51. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13

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AMA Style

Yuanyuan Chen. Developing Primary EFL Students’ Multiliteracies Competence Through Drama Teaching: A Case Study in China. Int J Lit Arts. 2020;8(2):46-51. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13,
  author = {Yuanyuan Chen},
  title = {Developing Primary EFL Students’ Multiliteracies Competence Through Drama Teaching: A Case Study in China},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {8},
  number = {2},
  pages = {46-51},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20200802.13},
  abstract = {Multiliteracies competence has emerged as an important research field, yet it remains a great challenge for primary EFL teachers in China to develop students’ multiliteracies competence. With the implementation of educational reform in K12 education in China, the importance of cultivating multiliteracies competence for primary school students has become increasingly prominent. Meanwhile, in the current K12 education curriculum in China, the practice of offering English drama courses caters to the needs of enhancing students’ multiliteracies competence. This qualitative study aims to exlore: (1) how are dramas taught in primary EFL classes in China? (2) how is students’ multiliteracies competence developed through learning drama? The participant of this longitudinal narrative inquiry is an EFL teacher at a primary school in Southern China. Data include two-semester-long observation of the English drama classes in the school, weekly meetings on drama teaching, workshops with foreign drama experts and interview narratives, as well as documents such as the participants’ lesson plans, journals and students’ feedback. Findings show that EFL drama teaching in the primary school adopts multiliteracies pedagogy, drawing on a range of media and aiming to develop students’ all-around skills. Findings also reveal that students’ language competence and multiliteracies competence are indeed greatly enhanced through drama teaching and learning. Implications for further teacher development are discussed, including offering English drama education in pre-service programs, enhancing acting skills mentoring in internship and in-service training, and observing and reflecting on one’s own and their peers’ drama teaching practices and raising their multiliteracies awareness and intercultural awareness.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Developing Primary EFL Students’ Multiliteracies Competence Through Drama Teaching: A Case Study in China
AU  - Yuanyuan Chen
Y1  - 2020/03/31
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 46
EP  - 51
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.13
AB  - Multiliteracies competence has emerged as an important research field, yet it remains a great challenge for primary EFL teachers in China to develop students’ multiliteracies competence. With the implementation of educational reform in K12 education in China, the importance of cultivating multiliteracies competence for primary school students has become increasingly prominent. Meanwhile, in the current K12 education curriculum in China, the practice of offering English drama courses caters to the needs of enhancing students’ multiliteracies competence. This qualitative study aims to exlore: (1) how are dramas taught in primary EFL classes in China? (2) how is students’ multiliteracies competence developed through learning drama? The participant of this longitudinal narrative inquiry is an EFL teacher at a primary school in Southern China. Data include two-semester-long observation of the English drama classes in the school, weekly meetings on drama teaching, workshops with foreign drama experts and interview narratives, as well as documents such as the participants’ lesson plans, journals and students’ feedback. Findings show that EFL drama teaching in the primary school adopts multiliteracies pedagogy, drawing on a range of media and aiming to develop students’ all-around skills. Findings also reveal that students’ language competence and multiliteracies competence are indeed greatly enhanced through drama teaching and learning. Implications for further teacher development are discussed, including offering English drama education in pre-service programs, enhancing acting skills mentoring in internship and in-service training, and observing and reflecting on one’s own and their peers’ drama teaching practices and raising their multiliteracies awareness and intercultural awareness.
VL  - 8
IS  - 2
ER  -

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