Understanding Drama-Based Education.

Author: Wagner, Betty Jane
Published: Westport, Connecticut & London, 2002
Source: Gerd Bräuer (Ed.): Body and Language. Intercultural Learning Through Drama.
Publisher: Ablex Publishing

Abstract

Since communities are largely defined by the language they share, language aquisition is not the least a way to expand ones community. Language embodies a culture, an ethos, and a worldview. It immerses us in a profoundly social milieu. Therefore, the author claims, improvisational drama activities are such powerful tools in the foreign-language classroom. They put the participants under constant pressure to respond, to actively produce language and this is the most effective way of learning a language.

Wagner, Betty Jane

Betty Jane Wagner is a professor in the College of Education at Roosevelt University and director of the Chicago Area Writing Project. She is an internationally recognized authority in the educational uses of drama in the classroom and in composition instruction.

Publications: "Building Moral Communities through Educational Drama" (1999), "Educational Drama and Language Arts: What Research Shows" (1998), "Situations; A Case book of Virtual Realities for English Teacher" (1995)