Abstracts Education

How does educational drama enhance children's language and literacy development?

by Margery L. Hertzberg

The articles in this portfolio provide a detailed account of how educational drama enhances language and literacy development, and in particular the reading of narrative texts, in a range of Australian Primary (K-6) classroom settings. The research for this portfolio was positioned within the interpretive research paradigm. A combination of both action research and case study methodology was used to investigate how the researcher's teaching practice influenced children's language and literacy development, and how the student's responses during drama sessions influenced the researcher's subsequent practice. The theoretical underpinning for these investigations was based on socio-psycholinguistic theory and critical reading theory. Both theories explain why literature as opposed to basal readers is a better resource for the development of critical reading practices and both maintain the need for teaching/learning activities that attend to the distinctive features of narrative texts. As a collection, these articles illustrate how drama strategies and/or forms such as still image, questioning in role, parallel improvisation, teacher in role, Reader's Theatre and play-building enable participants to interpret and reconstruct the meaning of a text. Furthermore, and through the process of metaxis, children reflect upon universal themes and issues through the enactment of their own stories within a fictional context. Educational drama is thus positioned as a pedagogically appropriate teaching/learning methodology for enhancing language and literacy development in primary classrooms. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)