Shakespeare, rehearsal approaches, and dramatic inquiry: Literacy education for life

Drawing on data from a collaborative action research study of teaching Shakespeare’s King Lear conducted by a university professor and a classroom teacher in the teacher’s middle school classroom, this article analyses how rehearsal and inquiry approaches to drama pedagogy can be used to promote the type of authentic literacy learning long advocated by scholars. We argue for the use of two complementary dramatic dimensions of literacy teaching. An active, collaborative, ensemble‐based rehearsal approach, rooted in both dramatic play and dramatic performance, promotes engagement in, and meaning‐making about, the fictional world of a text. Equally, a dramatic inquiry‐based approach extends rehearsal approaches and creates a classroom community that supports the development of literacy social practices.