School Drama: Using drama for oracy in an EAL/D classroom

ABSTRACT

This article examines the pedagogical potential of drama-rich processes to develop and improve oracy skills for students learning English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D). Research was conducted through a multi-level, qualitative case study of Sydney Theatre Company and University of Sydney’s School Drama ™ program. School Drama is a co-mentoring teacher professional learning program that promotes a dual focus of developing teachers’ capacity to use drama pedagogy with literature, and improving literacy outcomes and engagement for students. The research context was an intermediate Intensive English class at a western Sydney secondary school, involving students from refugee backgrounds. Data gathering included observations, focus groups, teacher interviews, and artefact analysis. While this instance of the program presented behavioural and structural limitations, benchmarking assessment depicted a marked to moderate improvement in oracy skills. Vocabulary, imagination and creativity and confidence emerged as the most salient ways oracy was developed and improved.

KEYWORDS:

• Drama pedagogy
• EAL/D
• oracy skills
• drama-rich processes

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Professor Robyn Ewing who supervised this research and contributed to discussions informing this paper.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, OM, upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Olivia McAtamney

Olivia McAtamney is an early-career Drama, English and EAL/D teacher at Cheltenham Girls’ High School in Cheltenham, NSW. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Education and Arts (Humanities and Social Sciences) at the University of Sydney. Her research interests include drama education, creative pedagogy, literature, and English literacy. This paper is based on research completed in fulfilment of her Honours candidature at the University of Sydney.