Using Drama to Improve Discourse in the Classroom

Getting students to use language that facilitates discussion is an essential element in a language learning classroom.This paper summarizes a poster presentation given at the 2015 Speech Drama and Debate conference in Okinawa, Japan.It highlights how student--developed dialogues and the resulting filmed dramatic performances in a series of classroom lessons can be utilized to have students recognize, practice, and reflect on their performance.This can help improve their use of key expressions in various situations.The focus was on the appropriate use of the target expressions and their functions.In addition to a step--by--step outline of the process that was used, an analysis of the lessons with regards to the success of the activities will be presented.