How to TIE-DIE old learning practices: The process

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‘TIE-DIEing old learning practices’ - Implementing Applied Drama in Secondary Education to enhance motivation and practice the English language

Chapter 1: Motivating Greek EFL adolescent students to learn

Introduction

Seeking motivational potentials and limitations, the first Chapter of this dissertation will attempt to present the Greek Educational context in general and the teaching of English as a Foreign Language in particular; moreover, theories on motivation, namely its types, the factors affecting it and its connection to FLL will be described and the concept of motivation through PBL practices and the Arts will be discussed.

1.1 The Educational context in Greek Secondary Education

The idea of the student being the center of educational approaches (Bounta, 2013;  Brown, 2003) has enabled the formation of syllabi which run within communicative contexts, facilitate the growth of everyday practical skills and seek learner autonomy, knowledge advancement and broadening of the pupils’ learning horizons through research beyond class premises and innovative, experiential, student-friendly tools and real-life processes which provide an incessant challenge to participating learners to grasp knowledge (Kalantzis & Cope, 2005; Stenhouse, 1975). Indeed, recent curricula concerning all subjects of Greek Secondary Education, favor a communicative approach towards learning (Anastasiadou, 2015; Brown, 2006), emphasizing the benefits of interactional ‘use’ over structural ‘usage’ of language (Howatt & Widdowson, 2004; Widdowson, 1978, p.3). Hence, what is of crucial importance, is the acquisition of not merely a school subject, but of metacognitive mechanisms and strategies, concerning ‘learning-how-to-learn,’ which trigger critical thinking and long-term storing of the acquired information (Williams, 1991, p.226).

This, similarly, ought to be the case with FL teaching. In accordance with the IFLC (IFLC, OGG/FEK 2871, 2016), English language learning in Greek public schools ought to promote students’ oracy and literacy in a sociocultural context through innovative learning strategies aspiring to enhance communication and provide intercultural opportunities. Additionally, according to the Common European Framework (CEFR) (Council of Europe, 2018), which IFLC adopts, Secondary Education students ought to be taught techniques of overcoming learning obstacles while studying a foreign language, and of developing skills which may lead to the production of adequate discourse. Furthermore, the concept of cross-curricularity ought to be predominant in the process of teaching/learning a foreign language, along with the notion of ‘experiential learning’ through which, according to Williams (1991, p.226), learners advance their knowledge according to stimuli in certain milieus. Likewise, creative writing as well as resourceful expression of inner self are encouraged in the process of learning in EFL contexts, and mediation, that is the pragmatic use of both mother and target languages to elicit information, is intended especially currently, as efforts are made to connect tuition in public schools with the national language certificate ‘KPg/ΚΠγ’ (IFLC, 2016). However, all the above practices could be deterred, owing to limited teaching time in school, since the curriculum concerning EFL learning involves two teaching periods per week for the three classes of the Greek Gymnasium (Junior Highschool). This also applies to all classes of Lyceum (Senior Highschool), where, nevertheless, students have a choice among English, German and French (ibid).

Another obstacle to overcome is the inconsistency in the level of the students. Most of them take English lessons as ‘extra support classes’ (Dendrinos, Zouganelli & Karavas, 2013, p.111) and are occasionally unwilling to attend lessons in public schools (Angouri, Mattheoudakis & Zigrika, 2010), whereas others are ignorant of the English language and, thus, reluctant to participate in the English class. This is deteriorated by rare exposure to oral practice in class, as some teachers resort to constant use of L1 instead of L2, thinking that L1 use enables students to grasp difficult meanings and remain interested and motivated (Viafara, 2011), as well as by derogatory comments made by peers, mainly concerning pronunciation of the EFL speakers (Skutnabb-Kangas, 1994), when English is actually spoken in class.

Surpassing the aforementioned barriers in Greek EFL learning contexts is a challenge in the educational substratum and questions arise as to if motivation may eventually be stimulated for EFL learning to take place despite the impediments. The ensuing section of this chapter will attempt to investigate this after scrutinizing the types and factors of motivation.

1.2 Emotions and Learning Motivation

Motivation is the drive to participate in, persist in and achieve a task or activity (Sewell, Watkins, & Griffin, 2018) and is, thus, a crucial psychological notion, since the theories around it endeavor to clarify why human beings contemplate and act the way they do (Dornyei, 2009). More specifically, concerning FLL, motivation seems to be a determining factor for either successful or non-successful learning outcomes (Dornyei, 2009). As such, students who learn a foreign language are influenced by three factors which are triggered by emotions they experience during the process:

·         by their willingness and engagement during the learning process,

·         by their social environment which coerces them or not to be involved in the L2 learning process and

·         by how positive this whole process may be (ibid).

Advocating this perception, Deci and Ryan (2000) in their ‘Self-Determination’ approach, mention three motivational types which influence individual attitudes towards specific activities, namely intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and amotivation; all these types are thought to affect students and shape attitudes towards learning (ibid).

Intrinsic motivation and stimulation to learn, rather than being forced by external forces, is a factor leading to successful acquisition (Dornyei, 1998), since the whole learning experience is, then, dependent on the elation and exhilarating emotion of ‘gaining competence’ (Wu, 2003, p.502). Murray (2011), following the Montessorian approach of learning, suggests that students’ intrinsic motivation is dependent on four elements: autonomy, interest, competence and relatedness. Autonomous students are usually passionate and internally stimulated to set objectives, and gradually aim for their fulfilment, taking into consideration the effort and potential learning outcome ratio. Feeling interested in a lesson or task and the sense of being socially related to a certain group might, similarly, render students more cognitively and conceptually involved, thus seeking achievement and having the urge to accomplish a well-worth cause. Equally, when learners regard themselves as competent of accomplishing a task, they are willing to meet challenges and endeavor to succeed both in and after school (ibid). Intrinsic motivation is further stressed in Maslow’s (1962) theory of ‘self-actualization’, where emphasis is put on the inner desire each person has for self-fulfillment, owing to which, learning turns into a constant process of ‘becoming’ (Maslow et al., 1987) instead of statically being.

Additionally, recent studies have accentuated the need for the presence of strong, positive emotional schemes in order for students to be intrinsically motivated and, consequently, involved in the learning process as they may allow for goal setting and future strategic plans, and consequently higher order cognition which follows the very emotional experience (MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012). Generally, emotions, either negative or positive, are a crucial parameter in the process of learning (ibid) and may influence the way students ‘imagine’ their future possible selves to be (Dornyei, 2009); this is why there is need for replication of real-life situations and experience of real feelings in the learning process, as emotions may last for a short period of time, but yet be ‘feeling-arousal-purposive-expressive phenomena’ which enable people to adapt to their after-effects and grow through them (Reeve, 2005, p.294). Hence, emotions are utterly associated with intrinsic motivation to learn (Piazzoli, 2018), since they play a decisive role in ‘how, what, when and why people think, remember and learn’ (Immordino-Yang, 2016, p.17, as cited in Piazzoli, 2018).

Alongside their inner drives, in the process of learning students might additionally be extrinsically instigated by their social environment (Ryan & Deci, 2000), which in EFL, English being a ‘lingua franca’,  may even be a global community of English speakers (Kormos & Csizer, 2008); aspiring to become members of this universal community and feel included, students may exhibit willingness to learn English and, thus, gain a positive disposition towards L2 (Clement et al., 1994). Learners’ peers may additionally influence them in the learning process (Dornyei, 2009) either competitively or because they are willing to collaborate in teams or projects with them. Educators may similarly externally influence learners, as proper learning is to a certain extent dependent on them and they may, at times, even be the only motivational factor/source for their students (Byron, 1986; Pae, 2008). Needless to say, it is imperative for educators to be adequately skillful and have a genuine relationship with their students (Brewer & Burgess, 2005); moreover, they often even need to act as bridges which unite the two cultures involved (Dornyei, 1994), and make a constant effort to seek intriguing methods of teaching, along with enjoyable emotion-triggering activities, in order to produce a successful learning outcome (Alqahtani, 2015).

However, even though teachers are anticipated to fruitfully promote learning and proffer beneficial guidance to students (Shadlyn, 2004), they may, on occasion, find it hard to instigate them during the EFL learning process, as pupils may exhibit amotivation, which involves lack or low motivational levels to achieve a task (O’Connor & Vallerand, 1990). It may, thus, prove challenging to convince students to learn English, as they may not like it (Ramage, 1990) and even have negative dispositions towards practicing it, owing to strong anxiety and lack of confidence (MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012) as well as insecurity while expressing themselves, which serve as ‘psychological barriers for communication’ (Littlewood, 1984, p.58). Moreover, amotivation could be triggered because pupils may consider L2 not to be pertinent to their everyday lives and, therefore abstain from using it (Viafara, 2011). Finally, standard classroom practices, such as persistent testing or studying simply to enhance accuracy of the taught foreign language (Brown, 2007), frequently avert pleasure and motivation and, consequently, cause unwillingness to participate and learn.

Notwithstanding, a learning process is called for which will instigate students to participate and provide positive outcomes, something the proposed approach of this dissertation aspires to achieve. The benefits of such a process will now be demonstrated.

1.3 Emotions and the Arts in the learning process

Effectively motivating students is, thus, a requisite for many educators and certainly a desideratum for the author of this dissertation who, in the process of the current action research, has made an effort to surpass impediments mentioned in Sections 1.1 and 1.2 and motivate students through good practices which are congruent to IFLC. Goals to be fulfilled in this procedure involve students’ gaining self-esteem and personal development via involvement in challenging experiences (Maslow, 1962); such an experience could be a PBL creative process that intends to promote multimodality, which involves using several modes to create a project (Murray, 2013), and collaboration, as exemplified in this dissertation and thoroughly described in Chapter 4.

Overall, art-based projects promote gaining of knowledge and attainment of values through both collaborative and personal work (Somekh, 2006), given that all members of a group, the teacher included, interact and offer opinions and perspectives to reach a certain goal. The students are, hence, challenged and enticed to make choices, and are, consequently, content, motivated and willing to learn and participate (Shadlyn, 2004). Learner autonomy is, thus, enhanced since no evident pressure, especially on behalf of the educator, is put to achieving the set goals (Dornyei, 1994) and students may plan their course of action using mental potentials and imagination (Rokhayani, 2012). Therefore, lack of boredom is usually achieved and creativity is enhanced (ibid). Furthermore, students are involved in the process of ‘learning how to learn’ (Bounta, 2013) through experiential techniques which promote HOT skills (Thomas & Thorne, 2009), that is learning competences which go beyond the mere understanding of imposed erudition and proceed to reconstructing and reproducing knowledge.

Going one step further, projects which involve acting or participating in a play may additionally motivate students, as they depict characteristics of a different social status, era and living condition, and are obliged to transform themselves, express their intrinsic thoughts and confess their inner emotional feelings (Agiannidis, 2007). Advocating use of Drama in PBL practices, Crutchfield (2015, as cited in Piazzoli, 2018, p.28) promotes the notion of ‘performative’ language which involves theatrical ‘embodied action’ through which feelings are dealt with, leading to in-depth realization of self and inner potentials, along with elation from participation. If this rapture is further enhanced by intriguing and fun activities while learning a new language, students may find themselves emotionally involved, thus, absorbing knowledge more rapidly, attaining autonomy (Byron, 1986) and even setting further future learning goals (Ramage, 1990). The degree to which such a practice may meet its expectations will be discussed in the following chapters.

Conclusion

Chapter 1 dealt with the Greek EFL educational context and presented motivational types and factors; emotions influencing the learning process were also mentioned and a suggestion was additionally made on the use of PBL practices to enhance students’ motivation.

The ensuing Chapter will thoroughly explain the rationale of such a project, namely one which involves Applied Drama practices, and will inspect the extent to which these practices may stimulate learners to be actively involved in the learning procedure.   

Chapter 2: TIE-DIEing FLL classes: old practices practiced afresh

Introduction

Chapter 2 seeks to investigate whether Applied Drama practices may foster motivation in an educational environment concerning FLL and abet enhancement of students’ linguistic skills. In this context, there will be a distinction in between DIE and TIE practices, advantages and drawbacks will be mentioned and ‘TIE-DIE’, a combinatorial teaching scheme will be suggested. Finally, conducted research on the field will be presented.

2.1 Drama in EFL learning in a Greek Secondary Education Context

2.1.1 Incorporating Applied Drama in EFL learning

Theater is more than an art. It is a ‘ritual’ among all participants, performers and audience, who act (Roberts-Smith, 2012, p.77) and are enticed to transmit intrinsic thoughts and emotions (Agiannidis, 2007). As such, theater has been a favorable educational tool since ancient times (Gillespie, 1990) as both Education and Drama involve acting and transmitting a certain message (Valverde, 2003); in this context Bolton (1993, p.39 as cited in Valverde, 2003) asserts that ‘drama has a lot to do with pedagogy.’ Its use in education, known as ‘Applied Drama’ was established among academics and practitioners of the Art of Drama to describe practices beyond theater premises, ‘intended to benefit individuals, communities and societies’ (Nicholson, 2005, p.2). Albeit for several judgmental statements contradicting its academic value (Nicholson, 2009), the majority of theater practitioners agree that Applied Drama provides a dynamic field for exploration and acquisition (ibid) with two of its practices, namely Drama in Education (DIE) and Theater in Education (TIE) gaining ground concerning language learning.

DIE originated in the 20th-century England. Previously encountered as ‘creative dramatics’  (Ward, 1930, as cited in Idogho, 2013), it emphasizes ‘self-expression, training in spoken English and literature appreciation’ (Idogho, 2013, p.240) through enactment and expression of imagination as well as stimulation of the ‘inventive skills’ of the pupils and, thus, motivation towards learning (Oliva, 2014, p.1759). It additionally involves the use of drama as part of the curriculum or in order to teach ‘other subject areas’ (McCaslin, 1996, p.12, as cited in Mages, 2016) and accentuates the participant-focused process (Cooper, 2010), that is the ongoing procedure of such a practice (Andersen, 2001), rather than its product. It aims to motivate all stakeholders, as it inhibits stern old practices where the instructor is the center of the teaching/learning experience and where ‘the potential for learning is diminished’ (Kao & O’Neill, 1998, p.3). Maley and Duff (2005, as cited in Piazzoli, 2018) advocate that drama in education equally facilitates intellectual and physical growth, owing to its performative attributes, through which there is no mere memorization of notions but rather critical analysis and solicitous reproduction of words. In these terms, process drama exceeds short-range, teacher-based, in-class drills; in fact, it grows through the creativity and participation of all the stakeholders, who in turn grow through it socially, intellectually and linguistically (Mages, 2016). 

TIE similarly initiated in 1960s Britain as an outcome of the need for the functional use of the arts in the educational substratum (Jackson, 1993) and its combination with social parameters, as old-fashioned rote learning techniques began being questioned and ‘child psychology became central to theater education’ (Wooster, 2016, p.15). TIE involves ‘a coordinated and carefully structured pattern of activities’ (Jackson, 1993, p.4) or else theatrical shows, which are usually performed by professional actors/teachers typically specialized in young audiences, are designed to be attended by one or two classes in a school environment (Valverde, 2003; Wooster, 2016), and are meant to acquire an educational, rather than a solely entertaining role through interactive drills (Mages, 2016). It mainly deals with important issues students may encounter, which are interwoven with the curricular needs of a specific academic context (Jackson, 1993) and, therefore, aspires to provide attending pupils with a gamut of cross-curricular learning opportunities, by stimulating critical participation and thinking on their behalf (Wooster, 2016) through both the performance and the interactional activities which ensue (Mages, 2016).

Both practices are thought to provoke emotions (Hitt & Kraybill, 2014) and promote motivation; thus, their combination into an original single practice as will be presented in Chapter 3, namely ‘TIE-DIE’ will presumably instigate participants to be further involved in the learning process.

An impediment, however, would be that strict teaching curricula globally dictate excluding such motivational processes (McManimon, 2016), since especially in a Secondary School context, ‘nonessential’ lessons, such as Art, are marginalized, whereas ‘important’ lessons tend to be ‘taught as rote,’ decontextualized and detached from jubilant activities and thus, perceived as ‘joyless and unrelated’ to students’ lives (ibid, p.2). Greek School curriculum is likewise limited concerning the educational use of theatrical practices in learning in general; this also applies to Foreign Languages, as, according to the manual of IEP (2011) for Drama practices in schools of Primary and Secondary Education, no mandatory syllabus is set and application of such a program depends on the subjective view of the educator. To encounter this paucity of motivation, especially as far as language acquisition is concerned, IFLC (2016) suggests that language ought to be used through a variety of sociocultural activities, Drama being one of them; students, hence, become autonomous (Byron, 1986), responsible, supportive to the whole team (British Council, 2008) and able to give meaning to the language, since they actively explore it, are involved in multimodal, experiential and cultural activities and critically analyze and implement acquired knowledge to achieve permanent linguistic benefits (Dornyei, 1997) as presented below.

2.1.2 Linguistic advantages of Drama Practices

Learning is crucial in adolescence, as the critical thinking mechanisms which teenagers develop, aid analysis and linguistic expression of their emotions and needs (Arapoglou, 2011). Educational drama, through use of techniques that actors utilize to prime for a performance (Valverde, 2003), is capable of propounding legitimate means of learning by uniting oral and written speech (Goodwin, 2006) and by providing adolescents with the chance to reflect on their actions after they have primarily resorted to critical thinking and ample decision-making concerning their own alternative learning path (Crowe, 2006). Thus, both students’ literacy and oracy are practiced (Moore & Caldwell, 1993; Wessels, 1991) via interactive, meaningful and utterly contextualized situations. Concerning literacy, the dramatic texts provided, being effective teaching tools, are able to promote all language skills in appropriate contexts and involve students in the learning process (Bruner, 1987; Flint, 2016; Kormos & Denes, 2004). Moreover, the notions of collaboration and concerted effort, which are required to produce any kind of art, are correspondingly essential in educational process drama so as for the stakeholders to ‘manipulate and transform’ the provided materials (O’Neill, 1995, p.1) and reach a point where they end up ‘being in an experience’ instead of simply representing it (ibid: p.118) (see Appendix Q for the role of the stakeholders). Cooperation, in these terms, appears to be an influential parameter in permanent learning (Dornyei, 1997), as acquired knowledge through collaboration appears to linger more and pupils have the potential to advance their linguistic level in their own environment (Muzdalifah, 2017; Vygotsky, 1978); additionally, what is learnt and accomplished within a group can also be achieved and accomplished individually in the future (O’Neill, 1995). Advocating enhancement of literacy, Almond (2013, p.10) further suggests that educators should incorporate drama practices in their teaching methods and even endeavor to stage a play with their students, as drama is ‘a whole-person approach to language teaching’ through which learning becomes an unforgettable, profound and life-resembling process, promoting acquisition and practice of all skills and subskills of L2.

Regarding oracy, in Drama practices verbal communication both in L1 and L2 is instinctive, emotional, latently practiced (Almond, 2013), and, yet, conspicuous to its learners (Ellis, 1997) who are required to learn from a specific script, preferably authentic rather than ELT material for more natural delivery of language (Almond, 2013). Thus, they are essentially requested to turn a written piece into speech, that is to thoroughly understand the meaning of the spoken lines so that they may ‘be’ a particular character instead of simply act, learning in the process how to respond impulsively and spontaneously as is the case with real-life oral speech (Cullen & Kuo, 2007). As such, authentic production of language is achieved (Freire, 2005), involving HOT skills (Thomas & Thorne, 2009) which are generated by not merely copying, but rather refabricating depicted knowledge (Crowe, 2006; Freire, 2005; Paraskevopoulos, 2004). Moreover, while rehearsing, pupils may similarly regulate conversational exchange tactics between L1 and L2, also known as ‘code-switching’, which facilitate learners’ sociolinguistic advancement (Tarone, 1981).

It needs saying that school process drama ought to function as a ‘performative’ pedagogical approach, not necessarily concluding to a theatrical performance (Piazzoli, 2018). Nevertheless, on stage the provided script, being only a simple draft and blueprint prior to the performance, becomes alive through enactment on stage on behalf of the actors (Atkin, 1997). Consequently, acting pupils practice speaking of the foreign language and undergo a series of tasks which epitomize their ‘sociolinguistic concerns’ (Timmis, 2005, p.119).

Apart from these linguistic benefits, Applied Drama practices also promote motivation to participate in the learning process through attributes which are influenced by emotions, as will be exhibited below and amply justified through investigation of the current study in Chapters 4 and 5.

2.1.3 Benefits of Drama practices

Drama may be a motivational tool for students in the academic process as they:

·      transcend regular, outdated, even superficial learning paths (Valverde, 2003),

·      are critically involved in analyzing and comprehending situations via actually doing things and participating in projects (ibid), and

·      communicate through gestures and posture, which they are reluctant to use as interactional features in standard teaching/learning situations (Moore & Caldwell, 1993).

Several characteristics are influenced in the process as Drama stimulates students’ emotional intelligence, that is the ability to identify and assess their own and their peers’ emotions (Hubbartt, 2009). Adolescents are facilitated to self-reflect, get to know themselves (Grammatas & Tzamargias, 2002) and gain not only the L2 know-how but also self-confidence, which is considered to be the most decisive factor concerning students’ motivation to elaborate on FLL schemes (Clement & Kruidenier, 1985). Indeed, learning through drama relies on a powerful social and active ‘learning by doing’ environment (Gillespie, 1990; Valverde, 2003) and ‘draws on emotional intelligence’, thus enhancing confidence in the students of all learning styles (Ashton-Hay, 2005, p.4). Advocating this, the DICE Consortium (Cooper, 2010) claims that Drama may motivate participating students, as they concentrate on recognizing and organizing learning opportunities, and, thus, gain deep self-awareness and comprehension of the world.

Additionally, Drama offers cross-curricular and intercultural opportunities for students to expand their knowledge horizons (Byram & Fleming, 1998) as, through the plot of a story (Zipes, 2004) or intriguing activities, and via an emotionally ‘positive and fulfilling’ path, they may approach serious matters, explore self, cultivate their intellect (Swartz, 2004, p.81, as cited in Crowe, 2006), interpret and arrogate the world and comprehend difficult notions (Kouretzis, 2008). Moreover, through texts which convey intercultural notions, learners ‘being in-between cultures’ have the chance to thoroughly explore their inner ‘self’ and the ‘other’ (Piazzoli, 2019, p.59), who is determined by the customs and habits of a different culture.

Resourcefulness is another offspring of theater practices; students who participate in drama projects usually feel creative, and thus enjoy going to school, have high appreciation of school activities (Cziboly, 2010), feel interested, content and proud and acquire a need for exploration, sharing of their feelings and experiences and integrating these feelings into future circumstances (Fredrickson, 2001).

Reliance on one another and reciprocal encouragement, since the participating students share a common goal (Almond, 2013), may similarly be a motivational factor to participate in the learning process. Correspondingly, the need for and feeling of ‘belonging’ is met, as the multimodality and interaction provided by drama techniques serve the very cause of communication of emotion both to performers and spectators (Lorette & Dewaele, 2018, p.7). Indeed, Piazzoli (2018, p.66) emphasizes the necessity of ‘groupness in a group’ through which all stakeholders are bonded ‘as a social collective’. Consequently, students become more sociable, learn how to externalize inner thoughts and eventually grow emotionally (Grammatas & Tzamargias, 2002).

Other important motivational factors, namely the desire to thrive and be accepted by a group, the aspiration to satisfy and please students’ environment, as well as the urge to play a role (Jenkins et al., 2003) are also met in Drama and generate self-actualization (Maslow, 1962), long-term emotions of exhilaration and, thus, abilities to surpass anxiety, which is usually caused by ‘negative emotional arousal’ (MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012, pp.197-198).

The possible disadvantages met will be discussed below.

2.1.4 Challenges and disadvantages of Drama practices

Literature on L2 Applied Drama is abundant in beneficial attributes of the process, as, pedagogically speaking, it enhances students’ proficiency (Kholmakova, 2017). However, albeit not thoroughly registered, several disadvantages are also encountered which require mentioning, especially concerning learning through Drama in classroom contexts, rather than as extracurricular activities. First, students may be primarily reluctant to participate in drama activities because they are self-conscious of their potentials and afraid of being exposed to an audience, be it their peers or others (Swift, 2018). Inexperience on the subject and deficient memorizing skills likewise hinder the process (Su, 2014). Moreover, potential lack of organization may provoke unacceptable noise levels in school premises (Swift, 2018). This result might similarly ensue owing to either elation on behalf of the participating students or lack of interest of unwilling pupils. Aral (2015) additionally considers paucity of organizational time to be an issue as well as lack of immediate correction of pupils’ mistakes in order for them not to be discouraged. Inadequate rehearsal time is one more disadvantage as well as unpunctuality on behalf of students owing to their busy schedule (Su, 2014). Finally, Kholmakova (2017) claims that mixed ability group structure appears to hinder Drama practices mainly in class situations.

The first section of Chapter 2 presented the theoretical underpinnings of Drama in Education. Following, research on its practical application will be explained.

2.2 Contribution of other studies in application of Drama projects in the Greek EFL context

As exhibited above, literature on theoretical grounds of Applied Drama processes is profuse; research on its practical implementation, however, appears to be scarce worldwide, and, when conducted, it usually involves Primary School students. Moreover, most studies appear to focus on in-class implementation of drama activities (for further studies see Appendix R). To find research results on drama in the Greek context, the researcher inspected dissertations from HOU concerning theater-related language learning, where the emotional involvement of all participants was emphasized and the benefits of Drama practices were accentuated by all the researchers.

Studies on Greek Primary Education regularly involve use of drama activities in class. Tzitzi (2004) emphasizes enhancement of oracy through EFL drama activities for 5th Grade students. Kladaki (2006) elaborates on how drama games influence Primary students’ growth in Greek language contexts. Tsoulou (2006) similarly examines theater implementation in a French learning context, whereas Yfanti (2010) explains its use in a German class as a pedagogic rather than entertaining means. Kavvada (2011) presents results of her study on drama and games in EFL, either combined or utilized separately, to enhance speaking and to additionally aid teachers and students to overcome fears of using such practices. Chiotou (2014) uses theater-based pedagogic activities to young students of English and investigates their attitudes towards school bullying events after a TIE performance (Forum Theater) by three educators of her school. Finally, Stamatatou (2018) scrutinizes English vocabulary learning through in-class drama activities.

Research conducted in Secondary Education similarly presents several interesting outcomes. Gioldasi (2002) puts emphasis on understanding of foreign civilizations through drama activities in all FLL classes. Zisis (2006) examines adolescents’ opinions on how Drama practices influence their personalities; his findings spring from students who participated in drama clubs, as is the case with the work presented by Tzoulafi (2017) whose questionnaires explore pupils’ emotional influence, as is the case with the current study, and consequent positive attitudes towards theater. In Gymnasium EFL learning in particular, the work of Myriallaki (2006) examines promotion of oracy of students through Drama drills in class, whereas Chandrou’s (2008) findings exhibit First Grade students’ enhancement of literacy, based on dramatic activities from the book ‘Alice in Wonderland’ recorded in portfolios. In EFL Lyceum contexts, Peristeri (2010) reconnoiters enhancement of Writing skills of Third Grade students through Drama Writing processes. Moreover, two dissertations focus on the linguistic benefits of Theater workshops as extracurricular activities and study motivation via experiential learning. Both studies involve upstaging of translated Ancient Greek comedies, namely Aristophanes’ ‘Lysistrata’ (Bantemi, 2004) and ‘Birds’ (Arapoglou, 2011) and recommend that further studies ought to be made to investigate learning-provoking emotions instilled in the process of a Drama project. As will thoroughly be exhibited in the next chapter, the aforementioned studies have influenced the researcher’s course of action on examining EFL-related emotions provoked by Applied Drama.  

Conclusion

Chapter 2 delineated the theory behind Applied Drama; thus, motivation and language practice through the process were discussed on a theoretical ground and benefits ensuing from emotions were mentioned. Moreover, the innovative notion of TIE-DIEing was introduced. Finally, contribution of other studies on this research field were referred.

Chapter 3 will now endeavor to present the research methodology which was applied in the TIE-DIE project, so as to practically demonstrate whether the theoretical background has legitimate applications.

Chapter 3: Research in action: The TIE-DIE Project

Introduction

Chapter 3 of this dissertation will display the methodology of the conducted research based on the theoretical framework discussed in Chapters 1 and 2. In this context the applied TIE-DIE project will be presented, the purpose of the research will be mentioned, the research questions will be posed and the research methodology and tools will be discussed.

3.1 Defining TIE-DIE Project Parameters

3.1.1 The TIE-DIE project

As aforementioned in the Introduction, the current research was based on a Drama-based project which initiated because the educator aimed at investigating triggered emotions, through which Secondary Education students may be motivated to learn English and potentially practice the English language. In this effort, a TIE-DIE project was conducted; the DIE process involved the preparation and prospective performance of the musical ‘Annie’ in the English language whereas in the TIE section an attempt was made on behalf of the students to acquire the role of a ‘teacher’ and impart mastered knowledge to their peers.

The genre of ‘musical’ was chosen as it provides FLL students with a rich and repetitious word-environment, requires excessive practice, energizes mental functions through building of mnemonic strategies (Crowe, 2006) and improves students’ self-learning processes and autonomy (Cubukcu, 2014), enabling knowledge reminiscence at a later stage (Ansdell, 2015). Furthermore, the multicultural context of the current project allows for self-reliance owing to immediate interaction in both L1 and L2 (Pae, 2008), and enables a ‘sense of self and community’ and building of students’ ‘cultural identity’ (Stefanakis, 1999, p.56). The script of the musical which was the basis of the research (Appendix L) had quite demanding lexis and was abundant in idiomatic expressions. It was taken from the 1982 movie ‘Annie’ and was slightly adapted for a school environment by the educator. Moreover, the text was prone to alterations by the participating students as part of their linguistic practice and an effort to make the text ‘their own’ after having read it in a critical ‘perfomative’ way (Essif, 2006, p.25).

The DIE process, namely rehearsals, dramatic activities, and social media discussions of the team, was meticulously monitored to define motivational stance; furthermore, linguistic training was aimed at through study and analysis of the script and distribution of ‘homework’ on the plot, culture and era of the play (Appendix L). Similarly, valuable research findings were extracted from the five performances as Sloyer (2003, p.106; also, Romero, 2013) supports that with additional performances students gain confidence through ‘subtle meanings in the literature they had not recognized before’.

The final section of the TIE-DIE project involved a last performance and an alternative TIE lesson where the participating students became ‘teachers’ for a day to impart their acquired knowledge to peers from another school. The TIE lesson and interactive games (Appendix K) stimulated pupils to ‘learn by teaching’ based on Krashen and Terrel’s (1983, p.48) suggestion that language learning ought to be a ‘communicative’ process. Turner and Paris (1995) assume that for learners to be motivated, they need to be provided with a profound objective towards understanding how valuable constructing and acquiring knowledge really is; Kong (2009) similarly asserts that students should attempt to communicate the value of being literate to their peers through challenging and curiosity-provoking activities which will, in turn, enable them as well to be motivated towards learning.

The whole lesson was integrated in the ‘Theme Week’ whose subject was congruent to the ethical notions dealt with in the musical ‘Annie’. The audience participated in the ‘teaching/learning’ process after the performance, where the actors alternatively taught and assessed using the English language. The whole process was recorded and questionnaires ensued (Appendices E and P) with the aim of scrutinizing whether through this alternative lesson, high-school students may be emotionally involved and motivated, understand an English text and potentially acquire some knowledge.

3.1.2 The participants of the research

The participating Greek, Secondary Education students, who were constantly recorded by the researcher, after withdrawal of a pupil in the middle of the project, were sixteen and belonged to the First (19%) and Third Grade (12%) of Gymnasium, and the First (38%) and Second Grade (31%) of Lyceum. A Primary school Third-Grade student, albeit not recorded, also participated. Their level of English of the sixteen subjects ranged from A1 to C2 (Council of Europe, 2018) according to prior school grades and EFL diplomas. All of them seemed motivated at first to participate in an English-speaking project, although their attitude towards the English language ranged, as not all of them were positively predisposed.

Along with the students, three educators were also involved as non-participatory observers of the aforementioned subjects as will be exhibited in 3.3.2.2; one of them was an English educator and the other two were of other disciplines. Moreover, the researcher was present in the whole process and operated as a facilitator, educator, interviewer and participatory observer (see 3.3.2.1). Finally, to achieve further validity and reliability of results, the educator similarly aimed at investigating opinions of the audience of the project (see Appendices L, M, N, O, P) who similarly witnessed several phases of the process where the subjects were involved, namely the rehearsals, the performances and the TIE lesson.

The characteristics of the research will now be described and the research questions posed.

3.2 Setting the characteristics of the research

3.2.1 Purpose, research questions and type of research

The current research has a threefold purpose. It primarily aspires to investigate the emotions instigated during the TIE-DIE project, along with students’ motivational stance towards English in the Greek EFL context; moreover, it anticipates to delineate which attributes of the English language, if any, may be practiced in the Applied Drama process. Τhe following research queries were posed to abet thorough inspection of the aforementioned purpose.

1.       What kind of emotions does the Applied Drama project instill in the students?

2.       To what extent does the Applied Drama project influence EFL students’ motivation to be involved in learning English as a foreign language in the Greek educational context?

3.       Which benefits, if any, will students realize throughout the Drama project?

On endeavoring to extract results on the posed questions, the researcher utilized a combination of ‘action research’ which is ‘a systematic study that combines action and reflection with the intention of improving practice’ with the research type of ‘case study’ which entails inspecting ‘activities that are of special interest’ (Hancock & Algozzine, 2006, p.16), seeking to explore an ‘intrinsic’ scenario (ibid: p.34-35), namely paucity of L2 use in the Greek Secondary Education context and overall lack of students to speak English owing to lack of confidence. The current study involves observation of sixteen students in a TIE-DIE project, aiming to investigate their emotions and willingness to learn through an alternative educational means, and providing a thorough insight of its strengths and weaknesses via meticulous recording of the whole process (Ferrance, 2000).  Among the three types of ‘case study’, namely ‘descriptive’, ‘interpretive’ and ‘explanatory’ (Manion & Morrison, 2007, p.314), the researcher utilized the ‘descriptive’ one which involves giving ‘narrative accounts’ and is the method mostly used in educational research as it delineates current circumstances and association of particular events in them (ibid).

Indeed, to find the appropriate research methodology, the researcher heeded Crotty (1998, p.14) who advocates that it is up to researchers to ‘forge a methodology’ suitable to their own needs and purposes after meticulously having sought the ‘presuppositions’ of several research methods and having weighed their drawbacks and benefits. Thus, methodological ‘triangulation’, which is a valid mixed method research (Campbell & Fiske, 1959) was used as both qualitative and quantitative research was conducted with the aim of examining views from several standpoints and, thus, offsetting the assets and limitations of either method (Cohen et al., 2018) (see Appendix S), as each may at times compliment the other (Neuman, 1997) in the extraction of outcomes. Quantitative research involves the explanation of phenomena by ‘collecting numerical data’ and statically analyzing them using ‘mathematically based methods (Muijs, 2004, pp.1-2). Qualitative research in educational contexts involves inspecting ‘to what extent or how well something is done’ (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2009, p.421) and how real experiences are realized in genuine situations (Markopoulou, 2014), thus offering a somewhat more universal impression of the researched items, in that both process and product may be examined; moreover, the gathered samples are ‘purposive’, that is they may ‘yield the best understanding of what they are studying’ (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2009, p.431). In this context, the quantitative research relied on registering numeric questionnaire results and the qualitative research was based on statistical description of these results and on the natural conditions and the analysis of interactional schemes (Nunan, 1992) encountered in the specific practice.

Finally, as ‘there is more to life than research’ and ethical dilemmas may arise (Dornyei, 2007, p.64), heed was paid on research ethics as, according to guidelines from Dornyei (2007), the researcher evaluated the process while respecting the participants’ anonymity and views, received approval by all contributing members and endeavored, in any degree possible, not to be biased despite having an intimate relationship with the students.

The contribution of this dissertation in the research field will now be delineated.

3.2.2 Significance of the current research

As mentioned in 2.2, previous studies mainly involve inspection of theoretical grounds, and limited research has been conducted on implementation of Drama practices in Secondary Education, usually based on in-class Drama activities. The researcher, primarily influenced by colleagues’ (Arapoglou, 2011; Bantemi, 2004) recommendations for further research on Drama-based experiential learning and realizations from her milieu that Greek EFL students are unmotivated to attend Language classes and unwilling to communicate orally in English (Magos & Politi, 2008), resorted to investigation of enhancement of students’ motivation to learn and practice English via an Applied Drama Project. The contributions and innovations of the current research are the following:

·         The study initiates an innovative TIE-DIEing scheme, that is a combination of DIE and TIE methods aspiring to promote and examine potential levels of holistic learning practice through Drama, along with enhancement of motivational parameters owing to positive emotions.

·         The results are extracted not on mere theoretical grounds but after implementation of an extracurricular project involving the experiential process towards upstaging a musical in English.

·         The process is based on an authentic English script, to promote natural linguistic delivery (Almond, 2013) and provide intercultural experiences to participating students.

·         Students’ age and level range, including almost all classes of Secondary Education, thus recording of several views on the subject is possible.

·         The TIE process was altered, as students turned into ‘teachers’ with the aim of using English in real-life contexts and imparting acquired knowledge to their peers.

·         The whole project and the final products have been recorded through questionnaires, interviews, social platform discussions and audiovisual means, with the purpose of exhibiting that Drama practices are beneficial and ought to be included in standard curricula.

It is the researcher’s appreciation that a similar study has not been conducted in the Greek EFL context. The tools which were used in this process will be presented in the succeeding section.

3.3 Defining the research tools

3.3.1 The questionnaires

Questionnaires are valuable research tools (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007), usually ‘straightforward’ to evaluate (ibid, p.317). They mainly include ‘factual’, ‘behavioral’ and ‘attitudinal’ queries (Dornyei, 2007, p.101) and trigger production of ‘authentic language data as a response to situational prompts’ (Dornyei, 2007, p.103). The Pre-DIE, the two Post-DIE and the Post-TIE questionnaires used in the current study were designed according to guidelines from Dornyei (2003), taking into consideration the research questions. The items utilized were mainly closed-ended ones with the aim of providing quantitative data in the research process and ensuring reliability by curtailing subjectivity on behalf of the researcher (Worley, 2015). There has been an effort to use ‘grammatically closed’ yet simultaneously ‘cognitively open’ items to satisfy learning potentials (ibid), as exhibited in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Worley's ‘Open/Closed questions’ scheme

Few items required ‘Yes/No’ answers, but most questionnaires utilized five-item Likert scale choices which measure the attitude of respondents towards a subject, using gradation in the responses, usually entailing a neutral ‘mid-point’ (Fowler, 2014).

Each item had an odd number of choices to which a certain value was attributed for easy statistic reference and comparability of results (Emvalotis, Katsis & Sideridis, 2006), as shown in Figure 2:

§  ‘Strongly disagree’ (value=0)

§  ‘Disagree’ (value=1),

§  ‘Neither Agree nor Disagree’ (value=2) referred to as ‘mid-point’ or ‘neutral value’

§  ‘Agree’ (value=3)

§  ‘Strongly agree’ (value=4)

Figure 2: Values of Likert scale options

According to Figure 2, all values beyond the neutral value ‘2’ exhibit a positive stance. A ‘forced choice’, that is omitting the mid-point (Muijs, 2004), was not aimed for; however, the neutral choice was mainly accounted as part of the pole which had more choices (Figure 3). The data, thus, form a continuous variable (ibid), through which comparisons may be made to find the ‘average value’ (=Mean).

Figure 3: Pole of Likert scale options

Moreover, some ‘writing’, ‘short-answer’ open-ended questions (Dornyei, 2007, p.107) were used, which promote cognitive and genuine enquiry of students’ views on learning opportunities (Worley, 2015). A disadvantage on these items, however, was that they could only be subjectively assessed through qualitative analysis (Dornyei, 2007, p.104), although an effort has been made for visual depiction of data.

Students were notified beforehand on distribution of the questionnaires (Dornyei, 2007); all questionnaires had a title and instructions (ibid) and were administered both in print and in a digital form via Google Forms (Agarwal, 2014) to ensure filling in from all the participants (Dornyei, 2003), as they belonged to two schools, were not all present in rehearsals and some had no access to internet services. The form of the questionnaires will now be delineated.

3.3.1.1 The pre- and post-DIE questionnaires

The Pre- (Appendix A) and Post-DIE (Appendix B) questionnaires had the same structure and similar questions, for the researcher to resort to experimental comparison of results (Stamatatou, 2018); they aimed at scrutinizing advantages and disadvantages mentioned in sections 2.1.2, 2.1.3 and 2.1.4, through seeking students’ emotions which define attitudes towards drama practices and the English language, along with their notions on what they may achieve through Drama. The questionnaires were divided in four sections:

·         Familiarity with the project topic

·         Motivation and expectations (also including worries)

·         Engagement to the team and the project

·         Attitudes towards English

In the first section concerning ‘familiarity’, the students had to answer ‘Yes/No’ closed-ended questions concerning their awareness and emotions towards Drama.

The section on ‘motivation’ ensued. In the Pre-Die questionnaire, a short open-ended answer was required at first on the reason students joined the Drama club, in order to investigate their own options unbiased from any given answers. Likert scale items were used for the rest of the section on both questionnaires, investigating expectations and worries regarding the project before the project (Appendix A), and whether these were met after the project (Appendix B).

‘Engagement’ of students was investigated next, namely whether they would, or eventually did, speak English in the process or study their lines. This section as well as the following one likewise had Likert scale items.

For the next section, students’ ‘attitudes’ towards the English language as well as their personal perception on their linguistic knowledge before and after the DIE process, owing to language practice, were inspected. One more post-DIE questionnaire was distributed at a later stage, with questions involving pupils’ attitudes (Appendix C), for comparisons to be made and valid results to be extracted. The answers of the students on all three questionnaires were compared and analyzed (Appendix D) according to guidelines by Muijs (2004), through IBM SPSS Statistics Data Editor, Version 25, Paired Samples t-Tests (with probability value p<0.05) as will be presented in Chapter 4, for both quantitative and qualitative results to be obtained. Moreover, ‘Excel’ graphs were created to exhibit the data, and analysis of the open-ended question was aided by CAQDAS, as was also the case with the post-TIE questionnaire which will be described below.

3.3.1.2 The post-TIE questionnaire

The post-TIE questionnaire (Appendix E) included both open-ended and closed-ended items springing from the research questions posed in this dissertation. Thus, the students had to write a short text and be critical of the TIE experience and its influence on their attitude towards learning English; potential alterations in a similar project in the future were also required. ‘Yes/No/Maybe’ questions investigated Drama potentials as an educational tool, and creativity and extroversion of students after the process. Finally, a checklist was posed to examine what students considered they had gained though the TIE process.

Personal choice attributed to participating students to answer the questionnaires or else ‘participant self-selection’ (Dornyei, 2007, pp.100-101), which is amply connected to adolescents’ reluctance to fill in questionnaires (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007) has partly influenced validity of the research, as four responses of this specific questionnaire were not provided. Thus, the researcher suggests reevaluation of similar contexts by other colleagues for proper overall outcomes to occur.

The next section involving observation schemes throughout the project, likewise partly utilizes questionnaires to record opinions and register acquired data.

3.3.2 Participatory and non-participant observations

The used ‘case study’ research type, despite also using quantitative methods, is mainly qualitative (Hancock & Algozzine, 2006), and as such, the qualitative tool of observation (Kawulich, 2005) was utilized in the process. Observation involves methodical recording of facts and involvement of all senses in the process (Kawulich, 2005); Cohen and Manion (1994) mention two types of observation, namely participatory and non-participant ones. Participant observers acquire an unobtrusive role as they are present in the procedure (Spradley, 1980, as cited in Baker, 2006), whereas non-participant observers are not constantly present on the scene and may occasionally monitor the process (ibid). Both types were used as shown below.

3.3.2.1 The educator’s observations

A teacher/researcher often resorts to observation which is a ‘naturalistic’ type of inquiry ‘conducted with groups that come together for the purposes of instruction’ (Xerri & Pioquinto, 2018, p.9). Thus, a semi-structured observation scheme (Bryant, 2015) was selected concerning the educator’s inspection, where an unrestricting observational template was followed (Dornyei, 2007, p.179), as she had to receive a twofold role, that of the facilitator and that of the researcher. Observation varied depending on the nature of each session. Thus, notes were taken during the audition, the first reading and the rehearsals. Moreover, data was registered after the performances and the interviews of the students. Furthermore, the TIE lesson was meticulously attended and its process recorded. Finally, all discussions in the Social Media platform, where the educator communicated with the students, were scrutinized to elicit information, and, after having taken the students’ parental permission, audio and videotaped fragments of several stages of the project, as suggested by Dornyei (2003), were analyzed to enhance validity of the whole research (Nunan & Bailey, 2009) and extract quantitative data, with the aim of reducing ‘the risk of the final project being technically incompetent’ (Xerri & Pioquinto, 2018, p.43).

The educator’s observations were written in a personal journal (Appendix H) using descriptive data (Ranzau, 2016) not only to abet the conducted research, but also to self-reflect and to remedy problematic areas concerning language and motivation, as follows:

·         Speaking (ample use of L2)

·         Listening (responding properly to L2 instructions and reaction to script)

·         Reading (proper reading of text)

·         Writing (use of L2 in social platforms)

·         Pronunciation (correct pronunciation of taught words and delivery of natural speech)

·         Grammar (proper use of taught structures)

·         Vocabulary (acquisition of new words)

·         HOT skills (critical thinking concerning decision making on delivery of speech)

·         Self-correcting (ability to remedy mistakes)

·         Attention (or lack of it during rehearsals)

·         Participation (presence of students in the rehearsals)

·         Anxiety to speak English, especially beyond stage

·         Reluctance to participate or do assigned ‘homework’

·         Motivation or amotivation of students to learn through the project

This kind of reflection-in-action is what O’Mara (2006) characterizes as an exceptionally valid qualitative research methodology. Notwithstanding, as unobtrusive a researcher may endeavor to be, personal involvement may lead to biased outcomes (Baker, 2006). To counteract this, observation may involve collection of a gamut of quantitative and qualitative data and, thus, promote ample comprehension of the researched items (Bernard, 1994). Such data was collected by non-participant observations.

3.3.2.2 Non-participant observations

To abet reliable extraction of outcomes in the research, ‘rating scales’ (Dornyei, 2003) were used by three non-participating observers, who eventually answered two Likert-scale questionnaires. The first questionnaire to observing colleagues (Appendix F) was distributed and answered during the second month of the project after attending two rehearsals and registering notes about students’ behaviors and attitudes during the sessions. It investigated:

·         Participation/Presence

·         Concentration

·         Effort

·         Elation

·         Cooperation

·         Anxiety

·         Cohesion of group

·         Use of the English language

·         Comprehension

Personal recommendations were required in the end. The answers were concentrated and averaged to extract a mean value of the findings. 

A second questionnaire was posed towards the end of the project to the same educators (Appendix G), this time investigating trouble-shooting issues, which were noticed by the researcher during the DIE process, namely:

·         Lack of comprehension (plot, instructions)

·         Pronunciation issues

·         Grammar and lexis mistakes

·         Poor performance of English text

·         Anxiety/reluctance

·         Excessive use of L1

Personal suggestions were welcome once again.

The last observational tool in the research was the ‘interview’ as shown next. 

3.3.3 The interviews

Interviews are commonly used ‘versatile’ qualitative research instruments (Dornyei, 2007, p.134), which, owing to their multipurpose ‘turn-taking conventions, expectations for participant roles, etiquettes and even linguistic phrases’, are usually considered ‘shared cultural knowledge’ (ibid). The type of interview chosen in this project by the researcher is the ‘semi-structured’ one (Bryman, 2001; Dornyei, 2007); in this condition, preset guided questions were posed to all the participating Secondary Education students, and there was ample freedom on their behalf to answer openly, devising, somehow the route of the questions to follow depending on the provided answers (Kitwood, 1977, as cited in Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007).

Dornyei (2007) states that analysis of interview information is mainly done verbally, as ‘most qualitative data is transformed into textual form’ and is, thus ‘language-based’, (ibid, p.243), ‘latent level analysis’ on behalf of the researcher, as it involves deeper ‘second-level’ understanding and interpretation (ibid, p.246). However, there has been an attempt, revising CAQDAS tools, to schematically extract results. Figure 4 exhibits the background information of the interviewees and codes of transcripts.

Figure 4: Background information of the interviewees and codes of transcripts

The interviews were conducted at the end of the DIE project aiming for validity through ‘in-depth responses’ of the pupils (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007, pp.134-135). However, the emotions ensuing the performances may have influenced students’ perceptions. Textual transformation of audio recordings with simultaneous translation when needed, allowed for meticulous understanding of recorded data (Dornyei, 2007). The original recordings are also provided (Appendix L), as ‘no matter how accurate and elaborate a transcript is, it will never capture the reality of the recorded situation’ (Dornyei, 2007, p.246).

The eight queries posed concentrated on interpreting the students’ emotions during the DIE project, from beginning to the first three performances, and on extracting whether they were motivated in the process and potentially practiced English; thus the questions involved:

·         Most positive thing in project

·         Most negative thing in project

·         Emotions in the process

·         Effect on attitude towards L2

·         Opinions on change of level of English

·         Influence of confidence while using English

·         Effect on English as a school subject

·         Probability of attending such a project again

The results of all the tools mentioned above will be thoroughly described in Chapter 4.

Conclusion

Chapter 3 has attempted to outline the reasoning behind the TIE-DIE project and define the research methodology utilized during its use. The following chapters will attempt to extract the results of the conducted research and explicate if the posed research questions are valid.

Chapter 4: Analysis and discussion of research data: Explaining the findings of the Drama Project

Introduction

In Chapter 4 the findings of the used research tools will be presented and described, namely the Pre and Post TIE-DIE questionnaires of the students, the participatory and non-participant observations and the pupils’ interviews. Charts and tables will abet analytical presentation and some comparisons via SPSS t-tests will be made to draw conclusions. (A gamut of charts and tables are also found in Appendices A-I).  

4.1 Analyzing research findings from questionnaires

4.1.1 Pre- and Post-DIE Questionnaires to participating students

As clarified in section 3.3.1.1, the Pre- (Appendix A) and Post-DIE (Appendices B and C) questionnaires aimed at exploring students’ familiarity with drama practices, attitudes towards the English language and notions on what they may achieve through Drama.

Figure 5: Pre-DIE Charts exhibiting Familiarity with Drama practices

The first section involved ‘Familiarity’ with drama practices. In the Pre-DIE questionnaire (Figure 5), 82% of the students admit having partaken in a play before, which explains feeling willing to participate in the project, whereas 88% enjoy seeing plays and have attended theatrical performances.

The post-Die questionnaire (Figure 6) similarly scrutinizes ‘Familiarity’. Concerning students’ stance towards theater after the process, the mean values are high (ranging from 3.31 to 3.44) and demonstrate the fact that Drama as a means of the PBL scheme is more appreciated after the TIE-DIE project; this increased interest, according to Murray (2011), exhibits intrinsic motivation to participate in the learning process. (For Mean Values check Figure 2 in Section 3.2.1).

Figure 6: Post-DIE Chart and Table exhibiting Familiarity with Drama practices

The pre-DIE section on ‘Motivation’ starts with open-ended questions for students to explain why they joined the Drama club. The answers were gathered and schematized (Figure 7) justifying Ryan and Deci’s (2000) ‘Self-Determination’ approach on intrinsic motivation through emotionally likeable activities. Thus, apart from their apparent love for theater (65%), the students also mentioned joining the project to socialize (9%), have fun (8%), learn things that other school subjects cannot teach and generally enhance English (9%).

Figure 7: Pre-DIE motivational parameters to join the Drama club

Following, potential gains are described (Figure 8; also see Table 1) demonstrating that the students’ greatest anticipations involve having fun (70.6%, Mean=3.71) and having a multicultural experience (Mean 3.35). Other expectations, such as acquiring lexis (82%) or communicative skills (88%), display motivation to participate, as they are rated above Mean Value 3, with the least expected items being practicing grammar (Mean=2.76) or making new friends (Mean=2.94).

Figure 8: Pre-DIE expectations

Whether or not their former anticipations were met is researched in the Post-DIE questionnaire (Figure 9). Although ‘Strongly Agree’ was chosen by a smaller percentage of students, their second least awaited expectation, making new friends, now has a high value (Mean=3.63), proving that social interaction took place. Moreover, the majority of students admit to having experienced emotions and had fun (Mean=3.56) which was a desideratum concerning their motivation to participate. They believe that they learnt about another culture through a multicultural experience (Mean=3.31) and that they practiced vocabulary, grammar and their communicative skills (Mean=2.75, 2.81 and 2.88 respectively) (also see Table 6).

Figure 9: Post-DIE met expectations

A Paired Samples t-Test (probability value p<0.05) (Figure 10; also see Table 11) comparing the results of the ‘Motivation’ section on the Pre and Post Questionnaires was conducted. The null hypothesis (H0) claims that students’ expectations were met (H0: mean values of questionnaire before DIE equal mean values of questionnaire after DIE). The alternative hypothesis (H1) supports that expectations were altered, either exhibiting higher or lower levels of value change, and that therefore their motivational stance had changed in the process, by either being enhanced or deteriorated. Most pairs exhibit similar values and do not, thus, contradict H0, substantiating that pupils’ motivation has not been diminished owing to unmet expectations. The only statistically significant finding (Figure 10) is found in paired sample 2 (Sig. p-value=0.02) concerning new friendships (t=-2.611, p<0.05), which demonstrates that students made more friendships than expected; hence their motivation to participate in the learning process was triggered even more, owing to the elation of being socially accepted and sharing a common goal, as advocated by Almond (2013).

Figure 10: Expectations: t-Test Comparison of Pre and Post-DIE Mean Values

Similarly, their motivation to participate in the project from the very beginning is obvious in the chart exhibiting their pre-DIE low level of worries (Figure 11; also Table 2), namely not fitting in especially with students from another school (Mean=0.29), not gaining interest in the project in the long term (Mean=0.65), not achieving their goal because of their own (Mean=1.35) or their peers’ (Mean=0.76) nonexistent acting/singing skills or low level of English (Mean=1.35 and 0.71 respectively), as well as lack of ample time for rehearsals (Mean=1.76); as evident all worries are  found under the average value (Mean=2), thus, students mainly disagree on all posed concerns. However, even slight worries that their English or acting skills may not suffice (Mean=1.35) align with Swift’s (2018) notion of presence of emotions of anxiety owing to exposure.    

Figure 11: Pre-DIE worries and concerns

In the Post-DIE results, pupils’ worries are observed below the neutral value 2 (Figure 12; also Table 7) with students mainly disagreeing on all items. Hence, anxieties such as not being part of the team (Mean=0.63) or having difficulty working with peers of another educational level (Mean=0.56) were in the ‘strongly disagree’ zone. Overall, students oppose to having been troubled in the process (Mean=1.13).

Figure 12: Post-DIE encountered worries and concerns

A t-Test comparison (Figure 13) of the pre and post-questionnaire worries, further exhibits the aforementioned results. H0 supports that the mean values of the questionnaires are equal and, therefore, lack of worries was justified. H1 on the other hand, advocates that level of worries was changed during the project and that former motivation may have diminished.

Figure 13: Worries - t-Test Comparison of Mean Values of pre and post-questionnaires

All Significant Probability values (Sig.) were above 0.05; thus, H0 prevails in that the students’ few prior worries were not amplified. The findings concerning absence of worries contradict Kholmakova’s (2017) realizations that a mixed ability group or a team ranging in ages and linguistic levels may deteriorate performance of Drama practices.

Proceeding, the questionnaire section investigating the students’ ‘Engagement’ to the project (Figure 14; also, Tables 3 and 8), which is paramount in the learning process (Dornyei, 2009), demonstrates the pupils’ motivation and imminent dedication to the whole scheme. In the pre-DIE queries, students appear willing to attend rehearsals regularly (Mean=3.41) and learn their lines fast (Mean=3.24); however, they are less committed to talking in English throughout the project (Mean=2.88).

Figure 14: Pre and Post-questionnaire engagement to the project

After the DIE project, students acknowledged learning the lines quite fast (Mean=2.88) and attending rehearsals regularly (Mean=3.25), thus exhibiting their commitment to the project. Nevertheless, they admitted their reluctance (Mean=1.81) to use English while asking for instructions during the rehearsals. Yet, as supported by Timmis (2005) who claims that acting advocates oracy practice of L2, English was used and practiced through rehearsals of the script.

Figure 15: Pre and Post-DIE attitudes towards English

Students’ ‘Attitudes’ towards and presumable potentials of the English language, according to their opinions, are investigated in the last section of the questionnaire. Figure 15 shows that most participating students like English (Mean=3.35) and consider themselves quite adept in L2 (Mean=2.88). After the project students appear to like English slightly more (Mean=2.5) and consider themselves equally good (Mean=3.00).   

Figure 16: Pre and Post-DIE notion of students’ potentials in the English language

Figure 16 (also see Appendix D) illustrates a comparison on students’ perspectives on their potential abilities in the English language before and after the project, justifying practice of language. The comparison exhibits not statistically significant differences in students’ linguistic levels. However, it is the researcher’s suggestion that linguistic enhancement may be scrutinized through similar future studies concerning Applied Drama practices during longer projects.

The query concerning teaching in English involved the educator’s innovative idea on having students impart their knowledge to their peers as part of the TIE lesson as analyzed below.

4.1.2 Post-TIE Questionnaire to participating students

The last performance was interwoven with an innovative Theater-in-Education lesson, where the participating students of the project had to become ‘real actors/teachers’ for a day. The ultimate goal was not for them to produce an excellent lesson, but to further ‘be in the experience’ (O’Neil, 1995) and practice, in a ‘learning-by-doing’ process (Valverde, 2003), what they had already exercised during the project; this would be achieved through talking to their peers in English in real-life circumstances (Mages, 2016) beyond their gained comfort of a staged play. A questionnaire (Appendix E) ensued which was useful in terms of validity to the researcher, as it signified the conclusion of the whole TIE-DIE project.

The first three items of the questionnaire were open-ended and springing from the research questions posed in this dissertation. First, the students had to register a few thoughts on the whole experience. Figure 17 is a visual depiction of what students claimed. 48% considered the alternative lesson interesting and creative, while 32% thought it was entertaining. Considering an educational activity appealing may promote learning autonomy and set future goals (Ramage, 1990). The experience was similarly considered ‘out of the ordinary’ and creative (10%), thus preventing boredom, as advocated by Rokhayani (2012). Finally, 5% claimed that it was a tiring process, yet an opportunity to ‘exercise English’ and see things ‘from the perspective of the teacher’.

Figure 17: Pupils’ impressions on TIE experience

The second open-ended item investigated change of attitude towards English in general or as a school subject (Figure 18). 28% of students mentioned no change, mostly justifying it because they were already positively disposed or because the project had nothing to do ‘with the way English is taught in school’. 36% uttered that their attitude had changed ‘in a good way’ since they ‘gained confidence’. Moreover, 29% stated that their attitude is more positive as they practiced pronunciation and lexis and learned ‘so much about the English language through a musical’. Finally, 7% claimed that they were primarily negatively disposed and now they are positive towards English.

Figure 18: Pupils’ attitude towards English

The third question (Figure 19) investigated possible change suggestions in the whole scheme, which were either non-existent (58%) or not of a linguistic nature, involving technical issues concerning the rehearsals and performance (42%); it may be assumed from the provided answers that the students were quite content during the process.

Figure 19: Potential changes in a future project

The three ensuing multiple-choice questions posed (Figure 20), further examined outcomes of the TIE-DIE project. 92% said that Drama may motivate students to learn English. Moreover, all questioned students agreed that they became more creative and 67% claimed that they are now more willing to communicate feelings, justifying Maslow’s (1962) claim that challenging experiences, such as the TIE-DIE project, promote self-esteem.

Figure 20: Outcome of the TIE-DIE project

Finally, a checklist provided more data on acquired gains (Figure 21). Being introduced to another culture was mostly stressed (37%), which incites knowledge acquisition (Byram & Fleming, 1998), with autonomy in using English ensuing (30%) and oral practice following; 19% consider having improved their accent and 15% claimed that they were previously shy and intimidated to use their accent but now they are more confident (15%) allying with Moore and Caldwell (1993) who support that Drama inhibits reluctance to interact, usually met in standard learning practices.

Figure 21: Gains through the project

Having presented the provided results from the posed questionnaires, data from the teacher’s personal logs and her colleagues’ observations will be discussed below.

4.2 Analyzing research findings from observations

4.2.1 Participant observations

The whole process was recorded by the educator to keep track of the participating students’ learning course along with anxieties and problems with the aim of helping them in the process, acquiring the role of facilitator and researcher as is the case with similar procedures (Jacobs, 2016). Therefore, a personal journal (Appendix H) was filled in with the aim of remedying problematic areas, expressing emotions during the process or after the performances, and self-reflecting according to the comments received. Reading comments at a later date significantly aided the educator/researcher who, in turn, used feedback to guide students; thus, the process turned out to be an alternative teaching/learning process, as is customarily the case with educational Drama (Chen et al., 2015, p.3).   

Notwithstanding, the database concerning personal observations regularly tends to be ‘messy’ and it is the investigator’s work to gather the observed records and ‘bring some insightful order’ (Dornyei, 2007, p.244). Consequently, the personal notes of the educator included the dates of each session, the activities dealt with, the potential benefits and drawbacks and ample comments. Conclusions were drawn, taking into consideration footages from rehearsals and video of the performances which are considered efficacious assessment tools (ibid) and aural interview data which usually abet investigation of L2 ability gain (Shohamy, 1995). A raw average estimation was, thus, made on students’ overall performance (Table 19) in several stages of the project. The stages were:

·         Auditions

·         First reading

·         First rehearsals

·         Last rehearsals

·         Performance

·         Interview

·         TIE lesson

·         Social Media discussions

The researcher registered emotions including pride, happiness and anxieties, acquaintance with an English-speaking culture and motivation to participate in the alternative learning process. Concerning practice of the English language, observations revealed that most students felt more confident while speaking, especially during the last rehearsals and the performances, justifying Almond (2013) who asserts that oracy is latently practiced through Drama. Moreover, ample use of L2 by all pupils was recorded, along with HOT skills generated by knowledge reproduction (Crowe, 2006), for appropriate interactions to occur during the TIE lesson (Appendix L).

Regarding literacy, the students had the opportunity to practice language through lexis encountered in the script. However, not ample use of new lexis was made during interactions beyond stage. Grammar was similarly not appropriately used in several stages, as the students insisted on using some grammatical forms wrongly, despite continuous correction on the teacher’s behalf, but there were instances when they self-corrected or corrected peers. Reading and Listening were continuously monitored. The researcher encouraged practice from the first readings/rehearsals as, this way, the pupils had the chance to participate in an English-speaking contextualized environment.      

A major disadvantage of this type of data recording was the immediate involvement of the educator who may not avoid being positively biased and, therefore, may influence validity of the results (Adams & Mabusela, 2014); however, as Huerta-Macias (1995, as cited in Ghanavati, 2015) supports, triangulation owing to a gamut of data sources, as utilized in this specific research, may promote valid and reliable results. The non-participant observers provided the research with such data.

4.2.2 Non-Participant observations

The first questionnaire to the observing teachers (Appendix F) was answered during the first weeks of the rehearsals and it involved students’ behaviors and attitudes during the sessions (Figure 22; also, Table 17). The educators claimed that the students were willingly participating (Mean=3.67), were making a great effort to do well on stage (Mean=3.33) and followed instructions (Mean=3.33), exhibiting motivation to participate. Opinions ranged regarding concentration on stage, constant use of English in the sessions and comprehending instructions in English (Mean=3.00; standard deviation 1.000), which could be interpreted as occasional lack of interest or paucity of linguistic skills. This explanation could also be attributed to lack of proper attendance (Mean=2.33) or readiness of student/actors to act when it was their turn to (Mean=2.00), which did not receive high scores. Sufficient use of the English language by the educator was agreed on (Mean=3.00) showing that students had opportunities to practice Listening skills. Scarce anxiety on stage (Mean=2.33) during rehearsals was mentioned and slight absence of group cohesion (Mean=2.67), which however did not hinder enjoyment of the process (Mean=3.00), that abets motivation for participation in the learning process according to Dornyei (2001). A personal note ensuing, certified the above findings and recommended students’ listening to the teachers so as to ‘correct language mistakes and their accent’.  

Figure 22: Conclusion of first observations from non-participant teachers/observers

A second questionnaire was posed a few months later to the same educators (Appendix G), this time investigating trouble-shooting issues (Figure 23; also, Table 18) noticed at the beginning of the project. Almost all items, namely not grasping the meaning of the play (Mean=0.67), having pronunciation problems (Mean=1.33), having issues comprehending instructions (Mean=1.00), lexis (Mean=1.00) or the plot (Mean=0.33), making grammar mistakes (Mean=1.33), acting poorly (Mean=0.00) or ineffectively language-wise (Mean=0.67) and appearing reluctant to participate (Mean=0.67), were answered negatively, meaning that as rehearsals had proceeded, a range of problematic issues had been resolved through practice. What was agreed on, however, was the fact that pupils did not ask for clarifications in English at all times (Mean=2.50); however, the educator did not make excessive use of L1 (Mean=1.00). This would justify the code-switching practice (Alasdair, 2012; Tarone, 1981) which was encouraged in the process, as students felt more confident knowing that they could resort to L1 whenever they though it appropriate.

Figure 23: Colleagues Second Observation - Troubleshooting issues during rehearsals

 Moreover, the team now lacked absence of cohesion (Mean=0.00) confirming Somekh’s (2006) statement that working towards a common goal promotes collaboration, knowledge and value fulfilment. On the recommendations section, an observer suggested further practice on pronunciation.

The last tool utilized, namely the interview will now be delineated. 

4.3 Analyzing research findings from semi-structured interviews

The interviews were conducted after the DIE performances in the premises of the two schools to sixteen students; in experimental procedures, investigating ‘at least fifteen participants’ is considered a valid measurement (Dornyei, 2007, pp.99-100). All students acquired parental permission and were asked to speak freely and impartially. As described in 3.3.3, the students and the transcripts were given codes and the semi-structured interview questions (Appendix I) were categorized and visualized for comprehensive presentation of the findings. Pupils were given the option to choose the language used, to inhibit focus on form rather than content; the Greek data provided was translated (Appendix J).

The first graph (Figure 24) depicts use of the English language during the interview sessions. 69% of students asked for the interview to be conducted in English, with scarce Greek exchanges intervening. 25% preferred being interrogated in English and provided answers in Greek and 6% chose use of L1. Interaction in L2 and/or code-switching by the majority of students, exhibits lack of anxiety (Cullen & Kuo, 2007).

Figure 24: Language used to conduct interview

The first item required ‘the most positive thing’ in the process, aiming at investigating what motivated students. Figure 25 shows that team spirit was the most crucial parameter (38%) aligning with O’Neil (1995) who claims that students benefit linguistically by sociable cooperation in Applied Drama. Moreover, Maslow’s (1962) self-esteem and self-actualization attributes are met as students (7%) mention pride after a good result to be positive. 17% claim that having fun was important, supporting Ramage (1990), whereas 10% consider teacher support to be decisive in the process, advocating Brewer and Burgess (2005) who favor genuine relationships with educators for linguistic enhancement. Furthermore, 7% consider practice of English the most important gain. The remaining 21% of the provided answers involve ‘feeling like an actor’ (2019S1), opening up their character (2019S4), having a good result after hard work (2019S6), seeing ‘other perspectives of people’ and receiving help for future situations (2019S12). S8 additionally mentioned that the whole experience was positive, affiliating Dornyei (2009), who claims that positive attitude towards learning practices leads to easy acquisition.

Figure 25: Gains in the DIE process

Concerning the second item, examining the ‘most negative thing’ (Figure 26), 50% of students found nothing negative whereas 31% considered the process weary, requiring time and personal effort. Finally, 13% admitted being anxious for the result and 6% displayed anxiety owing to use of the English language, anxiety appearing to be a learning barrier (Littlewood, 1984). S2 admitted that in a similar project she will endeavor to be more positive as her anxieties were not eventually met.

Figure 26: Negative encounters in the DIE process

Emotions play a significant role on students’ attitudes towards a language and the learning process (MacIntyre & Gregersen; Mages, 2016). The third item scrutinized encountered feelings, and explored whether the process was worthwhile (Figure 27).  Pride was once more mentioned (32%), along with happiness to participate (53%). S8 admitted being anxious during the process, but became thrilled on stage and after the performances, defending Almond (2013), who emphasizes stage benefits on autonomy and confidence. Shyness was also exhibited (2019S4) at first but was surpassed in the process, as the English-speaking environment of the project enabled extroversion. All students agreed that it was a worthy process and S7 mentioned that she gained from teaching her young sister who also participated.

Figure 27: Emotions experienced in the DIE process

Attitude towards L2 was further examined with the next semi-structured item (Figure 28). At the end of the DIE project all students had a positive stance towards the English language. 25% claimed that their former positive stance remained similar and 50% stated that they were even more positive now than at the beginning. 13% said that they were quite reluctant at first, owing to insecurity to use the English language properly (2010S2, 20019S16). S12 considered English to be an ‘uphill’ before, and his attitude changed from negative to positive now, having witnessed English as ‘just another lesson through which you may advance yourself’. Finally, S13 admitted being very stressed at first but that she ‘loves English’ now.  This positive attitude promotes intellectual and overall academic progress (Fredrickson, 2004).

Figure 28: Attitude towards the English language after DIE project

Students’ personal opinion was subsequently asked on whether they have perceived any changes in their linguistic skills (Figure 29). The educator appreciates that this is a raw estimation of enhancement or deterioration of pupils’ level, however, it exhibits practice on their behalf, self-autonomy and self-realization as students were encouraged to self-reflect and find changes in linguistic areas (Adams & Mabusela, 2014).  

Greatest influence (21%) appears in Speaking and interactive Skills, as well as in practice of vocabulary, with students (2019S2, 201916) admitting that they were quite discouraged at first. 7% of students claimed that their pronunciation has also been improved (2019S1, 2019S11) and another 7% similarly noticed a positive change in Listening comprehension skills (2019S2, 2019S6). 11% noticed self-correction abilities (2019S3, 2019S4, 2019S1), being acquainted with another culture (2019S4, 2019S6, 2019S8) and overall observed progress of all skills (2019S5, 2019S9, 2019S14). A final 11% appears to have noticed no or little enhancement of their L2 level (2019S7, 2019S13, 2019S16). 

Figure 29: Students' opinion on skills and subskills influenced in the process

The same question also checked changes in students’ confidence (Figure 30). 29% of the participants claimed that their confidence increased significantly and 22% that assurance to use English was quite enhanced. S1 and S7 stated that their confidence level was elevated before the project and remained as such. S4, S6, S10 and S11 claimed that their self-assurance concerning Speaking increased, not in terms of not speaking before, but because they had not had the chance or were shy to exhibit their native-like accents to any English speaking environment, aligning with prior research from Myriallaki (2006) who claims that drama liberates and assists use of acquired knowledge. In this context, S5 even claimed that she ‘felt like a native’ in producing speech. Finally, the confidence of S8, S12 and S14 radically increased with a student claiming that now English seems ‘as any other subject; if you study, you may learn it’ (2019S12).

Figure 30: Students' confidence levels after DIE project

The next question attempted to investigate whether students were in favor of Applied Drama practices in education, not only as an extracurricular activity, but in class situations as well (Figure 31). Pupils unanimously agreed that such practices were beneficial. The provided reasons included original and real-life practice (2019S1, 2019S16), betterment of pronunciation (2019S3) and peer cooperation (2019S13). S14 claimed that such a process ‘teaches English’ and S12 that pupils learn through creation of a product. Exclusion of boredom in the learning process was once again accentuated (2019S9, 2019S11) and learning through approach of civilization (2019S8), as also supported by Kalantzis and Cope (2005; also, Williams, 1991). Moreover, Drama in school was claimed to attract students to ‘love English’ (2019S6, 2019S13) and considered an interesting and ‘fun way to learn’ (2019S2, 2019S4, 2019S7, 2019S9, 2019S15). However, as was also noted by students, TIE-DIE practices may involve only courageous and creative students (2019S5) as many pupils may appear to be reluctant to commit (2019S10), as also supported by Magos and Politi (2008). To surpass this difficulty, teacher’s contribution was stressed as an important parameter for such practices (2019S4) as supported by Jackson (1980).

 Figure 31: Reasons for applying Drama in EFL

Finally, on being asked whether they would participate in such a project in the future (Figure 32), 94% agreed and 6% would consider it provided they had teacher support (2019S9). A student also asserted that school Drama projects should never cease (2019S16). 

Figure 32: Willingness to participate in a similar project

All the aforementioned valuable research tools enabled extraction of findings which will be gathered in the ensuing chapter to validate the research questions.

Conclusion

Chapter 4 aimed at delineating the findings of the research, using information gathered from questionnaires, observations and interviews. Charts and tables enabled analytical presentation and comparisons exemplified pupils’ attitudes towards English and Drama practices.

In Chapter 5 the collected data will be utilized again to confirm or not the posed research questions. 

Chapter 5: Evaluating the Research findings

Introduction

The concluding chapter of this dissertation will endeavor to validate the three research questions posed in 3.2.1, after critical recollection of all the investigated data of the TIE-DIE project, and, thus, attempt to extract conclusions on the emotions which stimulated or not motivation and on the benefits the participants may have acquired. Moreover, implications for the project and suggestions for further research will be made.

5.1 Validating the first Research Question

The first research query (see 3.2.1) aimed at inspecting what kind of emotions the TIE-DIE project may have instilled in the students. According to the literature illustrated in Chapters 1 and 2, Drama stimulates students’ emotional intelligence (Hubbartt, 2009) (see 2.1.3) and very positive emotions intrinsically motivate students as they set goals after a strong emotional experience (MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012) (see 1.2). Such emotions have been experienced by students, who admitted in their questionnaire responses and interviews having felt pleasure and enjoyment (see 4.1.1, Fig.9; 4.2.2, Fig.22; 4.3, Fig.27). Hence, the emotion of elation owing to gaining competence throughout the process, as supported by Wu (2003) (see 1.2) led to pupils’ willingness to partake and learn (see 4.1.1, Fig.15). Indeed, students appeared inclined to participate in the project (see 4.1.1, Fig.6) as they felt gradually more involved and passionate, which, according to Murray (2011) (see 1.2), also leads to learner autonomy. Moreover, a few students admitted trying to become even better on account of the pride they felt after the performances (see 4.3, Fig.25; Fig.27) on stage, which is a place to express inner emotions (Agiannidis, 2007) (see 2.1.1) advocating Maslow (1987) who supports that inner desire for self-fulfillment abets becoming better (see 1.2).

Fredrickson (2001) supports that students who participate in drama projects usually feel creative, and thus acquire a need for exploration, for sharing their experiences and for integrating these feelings into future circumstances (see 2.1.3). Such creativity prohibits boredom (Rokhayani, 2012) (see 1.3), as was admittedly the case with the TIE lesson (see 4.1.2, Fig.17) where students were enticed to mimic fun characters in real-life situations to impart acquired knowledge; moreover, feeling creative promotes life-long learning, since emotions triggered in innovative real-life situations linger and have after-effects (Reeve, 2005) (see 1.2). Furthermore, feeling socially accepted gets students eager to achieve any task (Murray, 2011) (see 1.2) as inclusion in a team where learning takes place positively disposes learners towards L2 (Clement et al., 1994) (ibid). Thus, students claimed that making friends enabled them to proceed in the process and gain confidence during the project (see 4.3, Fig.25).

However, some negative emotions have also been registered in the process. As already mentioned, these were noticed at the beginning of the project by the researcher during her observations (see 4.2.1, Fig.22) and by her colleagues (see 4.2.2) and admitted by a few students during the interview (see 4.3, Fig.23). Since feeling dislike for L2 hinders learning (Ramage, 1990) (see 1.2) and anxiety, insecurity and lack of confidence are barriers for acquisition (MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012; Littlewood, 1984) (see 1.2), it was aimed through the project to avert these feelings and change them into positive ones. Indeed, at a later stage, the students who experienced such emotions, exhibited willingness to learn as their anxieties had been surpassed (see 4.3, Fig.30).

5.2 Validating the second Research Question

Emotions are utterly associated with intrinsic motivation to learn (Piazzoli, 2018) (see 1.2), thus, the second research query (see 3.2.1) aimed at inspecting whether during the TIE-DIE project students have been emotionally stimulated and motivated to participate and learn English in the process. Therefore, Ryan and Deci’s (2000) ‘Self-Determination’ approach (see 1.2) enabled gathering of information through the utilized tools, in an effort to examine the three types of motivation which influence educational psychology and shape learning attitudes (ibid).   

Intrinsic motivation which depends on autonomy, interest, competence and relatedness (Murray, 2011) (see 1.2), albeit proven to subsist from the beginning, since students voluntarily entered the project (see 4.1.1, Fig.7), remained strong; indeed, most students’ attitude towards the English language either remained the same or became more positive (see 4.3, Fig.28).  Moreover, few students who were primarily negatively predisposed, admitted to having developed affectionate emotions towards the English language which they now consider easy to acquire (see 4.1.2, Fig.18; 4.3, Fig.28) justifying Hitt and Kraybill (2014) who claim that DIE and TIE practices provoke positive emotions and promote motivation to learn (see 2.1.1). This was triggered by elation from participation (Piazzoli, 2018) and, thus, emotional involvement (Byron, 1986) (see 1.3) which students claimed to have experienced (see 4.1.1, Fig.10). Thus, learners set objectives and fulfilled them, as scrutinized in the questionnaires (see 4.1.1, Fig.9), met challenges and surpassed difficulties and worries (see 4.3, Fig.26), simultaneously trying to become better in an effort to come to a good result in the end (see 4.1, Fig.20; also 4.3, Fig.29). Finally, stimulation of the ‘inventive skills’ of the pupils and, thus, motivation towards learning (Oliva, 2014) (see 2.1.1) was achieved in the TIE lesson as admitted by the participating students in the Post-TIE questionnaire (see 4.1.2, Fig.17). This alternative learning process was celebrated by all students who did not wish for any changes in the project and exhibited motivation (see 4.1.2, Fig.19) aligning with Cziboly (2010) (see 2.1.3) who claims that participants of Drama projects have high appreciation of school activities and value education more.

Extrinsic motivation similarly influenced students to participate and learn in the process by feeling content and part of a team (see 4.3, Fig.25) through scaffolding (Vygotsky, 1978) (see 2.1.2) provided by teachers (see 4.2.1) and peers who socially bonded (see 4.3, Fig.25) and, despite level and age range, achieved cohesiveness (see 4.2.2, Fig.23), which provokes motivation and is customary within Drama practices (Piazzoli, 2018) (see 1.2). Furthermore, pupils showed their willingness to participate in similar future L2 projects (see 4.3, Fig.32) both in and out of class, as admittedly such common practices are emotionally and linguistically beneficial (see 4.1.1, Fig.7; also 4.3, Fig.31), aligning with Ryan and Deci (2000) (see 1.2) who favor likeable activities which promote motivation to learn. Indeed, sharing a common goal, as advocated by Almond (2013) (see 2.1.3), proved to be a motivational factor to participate in the learning process and students agreed to repeat the project, with a pupil admitting that she would participate provided there is ample guidance by her teachers (see 4.3, Fig.32), justifying Pae (2008) who claims that educators are a motivational factor since they make students feel confident (see 1.2).

Scarce amotivation presented at first because some students find English impertinent to their lives (Viafara, 2011) (see 1.2) was surpassed as they related to the concept of the program which involved self-development through an English project (see 4.3, Fig.29), and they saw the experience as a means of creativity and production and a social parameter, used through a gamut of sociocultural activities, as suggested by IFLC (2016) (see 2.1.1). In this context, the language utilized as a threshold of a creative, fresh and instigating experience, was considered a useful tool rather than a means to an end, prompting students to sustain or develop a positive stance towards it (see 4.1, Fig.15; 4.3, Fig.28). It may, hence, be surmised that, despite several difficulties encountered, such as tiredness and random anxiety (see 4.3, Fig.26), the participating students did not lose interest, but were rather motivated to participate and practice English for the sake of producing an acceptable outcome.

5.3 Validating the third Research Question

The third research query (see 3.2.1) meant to explore which benefits, if any, students have enjoyed during the TIE-DIE project. As admitted by the participating students (see 4.1.1, Fig.9-10), several benefits have been gained which, according to Dornyei (1997) may even linger as is the case with experiential cultural activities (see 2.1.1) such as the current one. Figure 29 (see 4.3) demonstrates that several skills may have been influenced in the process, with Speaking mostly practiced, justifying the notion that DIE encourages training of spoken English and promotes literature appreciation (Idogho, 2013) (see 2.1.1) and that acting pupils practice speaking of L2 (Timmis, 2005) (see 2.1.2). Freire (2005) similarly claims that, through Drama practices, authentic production of language is achieved (see 2.1.2), and willingness to communicate in English promoted, as admitted by all students (see 4.1.2, Fig.20), who practiced in the process how to respond impulsively and spontaneously (see 4.1.2, Fig.21; 4.3, Fig.29) as is the case with real-life oral speech (Cullen & Kuo, 2007) (see 2.1.2).

Practice of language was also registered in the educator’s logs (see 4.2.1), justifying Goodwin (2006) (see 2.1.2) who claims that Applied Drama abets learning by uniting oral and written speech, as well as Kholmakova (2017) (see 2.1.4) who supports that it enhances overall proficiency. Indeed, students’ literacy and oracy were practiced via interactive, meaningful and utterly contextualized situations (see 2.1.2) as registered in the researcher’s journal (see 4.2.1) and acknowledged by non-participant observers (see 4.2.2).

Aligning with the above, Almond (2013) (see 2.1.2) supports that drama holistically approaches language teaching and renders its participants creative and autonomous, as was claimed by the students to be the outcome of the TIE-DIE project (see 4.1.2, Fig.21). The answers of the second questionnaire to the non-participant observers (see 4.2.2, Fig.23) likewise demonstrated overall betterment in students’ participation tactics, justifying Piazzoli (2018) (see 2.1.1) who claims that creative Drama projects in education facilitate intellectual and physical growth. Moreover, in the TIE process, knowledge reproduction (Crowe, 2006) (see 2.1.2) and creation of high-order thinking skills to promote acquired knowledge was registered by the researcher as pupils were required to make decisions (Shadlyn, 2004) (see 1.2), self-reflect (Grammatas & Tzamargias, 2002) (see 2.1.3) and exercise cognitive and meta-cognitive skills (see 4.2.1; 4.1.1, Fig.16); Similarly, answering the grammatically-closed/cognitively-open (Worley, 2015) (see 3.3.1) questionnaire items, (see Appendices A-C) also benefited students who were critically involved in the process.

Proceeding, overcoming anxieties and gaining confidence through a L2 know-how practice (Clement & Kruidenier, 1985) (see 2.1.3) was also admitted by students when asked on their confidence levels (see 4.3, Fig.30), where some replied that they were primarily shy to speak. Surpassing anxieties to interact in English was likewise evident as the language chosen by most of the interviewees was English (see 4.3, Fig.24) with few showing preference to code-switching, which according to Tarone, (1981) facilitates learners’ sociolinguistic advancement (see 2.1.2). Another benefit was acquaintance with an English-speaking culture (see 4.1.2, Fig.21), as drama provides intercultural opportunities for students to expand their knowledge horizons (Byram & Fleming, 1998) (see 2.1.3). Finally, students claimed that, through interaction with peers, they became more sociable (see 4.1.1, Fig.9), aligning with Grammatas and Tzamargias (2002) (see 2.1.3) who claim that, in such projects, pupils learn how to externalize inner thoughts and eventually grow emotionally.

After analyzing the posed research queries, the implications for the project will be mentioned.

5.4 Implications for the TIE-DIE Project

As mentioned in the Introduction, the concept of the TIE-DIE project initiated as an effort to involve usually shy or reluctant students in English-speaking contexts within school practices. The three-pronged implications springing from the research involve the theoretical underpinnings, the practical implementation of the project and the educational policies which may be influenced.

Concerning theory, the findings appear to concur with similar past studies which exalt drama in learning procedures; concomitantly, the study introduces the innovative term TIE-DIE which involves application of a mixture of Applied Drama processes in Secondary Education contexts, with the aim of stimulating emotions through which students are enticed to participate in the learning process. It is aspired through the current study that the implications concerning drama-based linguistic practice, especially in Speaking as registered in the findings, are proliferated to English educators through seminars, conferences and blog discussions. Moreover, having witnessed even weak students’ motivational enhancement and willingness to use English in order to reach optative results during the performances, it is suggested that more use of L2 be made in the English class on behalf of educators.  

Regarding practical implementation, the constructive findings of the current research which exhibited students’ surpassing of anxieties, inclination for the target language even by students who were negatively predisposed at the beginning, and motivational enhancement to learn owing to positive emotions, may significantly influence educational practices concerning future use of Applied Drama in school contexts. It is, thus, recommended to L2 educators to:

§  use more student-friendly educational tools and materials in the teaching process, with the aim of encouraging pupils to use L2 rather than L1.

§  apply drama projects in in-class teaching processes to intrigue students into latently practicing English through fun activities.

§  upstage more English-speaking plays with high-school students, in order to instill the benefits of the project to more students and to cross-examine the results of the current research, thus achieving validity.

§  involve more students in a consequent alternative TIE experience, which was proven to have benefitted both students/actors and students/audience.

As far as educational policy is concerned, it needs saying, that the whole project was an extracurricular activity and did not aim at defying standard EFL learning practices, but rather abet them. Nevertheless, as promoted by IFLC (2016), endeavors could be made for similar projects to be exercised both inside and outside class premises on a regular basis, since advancement of students’ confidence and fulfilment from results, along with self-reflection on behalf of the educator and the students, promote positive attitudes towards L2. Likewise, efforts could be made for more L2 plays to be upstaged, as, along with ample practice, students’ emotions of pride and elation gained by this rewarding endeavor are long-term and life-influencing (Almond, 2013).   

It is similarly suggested that alternative PBL practices be used in Secondary Education and experiential learning be promoted, as learners may this way advance their knowledge (Williams, 1991). To achieve qualitative application of such practices, however, special laboratories ought to be created and educators should be properly trained to avoid organizational difficulties and to be able to aid the students. It would also be beneficial for educators to be formally supported so as to overpass potential burnout and become more resilient, as the whole process is rather demanding. Moreover, the L2 teaching periods provided in public schools (IFLC, 2016) ought to increase and L2-based drama practices officially encouraged as extracurricular activities; also, the benefits of using EFL ought to be emphasized and students should be informed of the potentials of such a project and stimulated to participate. Finally, further research on the field ought to be conducted, as exhibited below, in order to determine motivational factors in the L2 learning process.

5.5 Limitations and recommendations for further research

Dornyei (Preface pp.7-8, in Mackay et al., 2018) mentions that ‘practitioner-led research’ promotes better educational practices. However, on endeavoring to contribute to the research sphere, the researcher encountered certain limitations in the process.

§  The research involved a certain theatrical team, thus participation of a small number of Secondary Education students. Therefore, albeit endeavoring to use multiple research tools to achieve validity, the results are not representative of a large group of people. Furthermore, the researcher’s personal involvement may not have contributed to solving validity issues.

§  The interviews were conducted a few days after the performances, so the students may have been psychologically influenced by the outcome of the product. To counteract this, the researcher posed two more questionnaires at a later date.

§  The researcher was also the English teacher of the five Gymnasium participants. To exclude filtered responses, students were told prior to the interviews that they ought to give truthful answers. 

§  The educator’s cooperating colleagues in the project were not English teachers, thus the parameters of the research which involved English teaching were solely the researcher’s responsibility. However, participant observation (Adler & Adler, 1987) concerning linguistic practice was also registered by an attending English educator who provided the researcher with insightful data.

§  The students were generally reluctant to answer the questionnaires, since they are considered an ‘intrusion into the life of the respondent’ (Cohen et al., 2007, p.317) and, to them, the process involved learning through theater and not recording their opinions. Thus, the researcher had to constantly remind them to complete questionnaires and, indeed, was unable to have four after-TIE questionnaires answered.

§  The project was an extracurricular activity and involved long hours of work in students’ free time not only for rehearsals but also to study the material provided. This led to several absences in the process and the withdrawal of a student. However, general commitment of most students exhibited their motivation to participate.

§  Finally, a great limitation is the inability for overall assessment of the final Drama product, as the lessons are ‘fluid’ and complicated, depending on multiple social exchanges (Byron, 1986, p.153). However, as accentuated by Eskelinen (2017) evaluation of learning via Drama ought to occur and be based on possible learning outcomes of students’ linguistic levels.     

In this context, it is recommended that further research should be made on the field, involving either dramatization and improvisation-based role-play games in the EFL learning process in-class or extracurricular English-speaking DIE projects, aiming or not to a final product. Furthermore, involvement of students in innovative practices, such as the alternative TIE one exercised in the current study is suggested, with the aim of involving students in real-life situations where they have the opportunity to impart their acquired knowledge.   

Conclusion

Chapter 5 evaluated the research findings through validation of the three research questions. Moreover, limitations were mentioned and implications and suggestions for application of similar projects were made, anticipating that novice practices as the one utilized may be used in Greek EFL contexts in the future. 

Conclusion

Some of the parameters which influence students’ motivation to learn have been presented and discussed in the current dissertation, which endeavored to analyze the findings of an action research / case study scheme, scrutinizing Applied Drama practices in a Greek EFL context. Thus, an innovative alternative teaching program under the name of TIE-DIE, was exercised which involved the upstaging of the musical ‘Annie’. Throughout the project, students’ attitudes concerning the English language as well as their emotions which influenced their motivational stance towards learning were recorded.

In this context, the involved EFL students were witnessed to have experienced emotions during the TIE-DIE process such as elation, pride, confidence, inclusion and self-assurance which led to surpassing of anxieties. Moreover, the project appeared to have influenced students’ stimulation for EFL language practice both during the procedure and after it, as it was admitted by all learners, especially the ones who were not primarily fond of the English language, that their motivation to learn and practice L2 mainly advanced, as they had gained a gamut of benefits during the TIE-DIE project; these benefits include practice of all language skills, particularly oracy, use of critical thinking mechanisms, acquaintance with a foreign culture,  social encounters with peers and cooperation towards a common goal, enhancement of self-reliance, specifically during the performances and the TIE lesson, and self-actualization.

Concluding, the researcher suggests future similar studies be conducted to further prove the motivational value of Applied Drama practices and eventually incorporate such alternative, experiential PBL practices in standard Secondary Education curricula.

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