Facilitating English Communication Skills and Interpersonal Competence through the Medium of Educational Drama

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Abstract

This article expands on previous studies relating to the pedagogical use of drama (educational drama) in the foreign language classroom. In the present article, in addition to the facilitation of English communication skills, particular reference is made to nurturing interpersonal competence. For the purpose of this case study, a one-act play (for four young females of university age) written by the author was used in one class session to explore the concept of friendship (the complexities of maintaining friendships between young, female students in their late teens and early twenties and managing conflict resolution) using both English (L2) and Japanese (L1). Through the implementation of educational drama as an active learning approach and key methodology (in keeping with the UNESCO directive for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development), this study suggests that there are real world (world building) benefits to teaching drama through English to Japanese female university students as a dynamic medium (engaging both verbal resources, and nonverbal communication resources such as emotions,tone of voice, movement and gesture) in order to encourage and motivate learners to cultivate linguistic, personal, and intercultural skills of benefit both within and beyond the classroom environment.

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