Performative didactics: tapping into learners’ attitudes towards text- and performance-based approaches in foreign language learning

This article engages with learners’ attitudes towards authentic plays and dramatic approaches, implemented in English as foreign language classes (L2) within a compulsory curriculum. The mixed-method approach study, which employs a quasi-experimental design, was conducted longitudinally with final-year high-school Italian students whose English language level ranged from low-intermediate to upper-intermediate. The experimental group (n = 10) was exposed to two interventions conducted over a term each: a text-based approach (TBA) in the first term followed by a performance-based approach (PBA) in the second. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected by implementing a questionnaire and a follow-up interview. Learners’ attitudes in terms of interest, usefulness, enjoyment, difficulties encountered and preferences, levels of comfort and of language perceived towards the two approaches were examined in the questionnaire while the follow-up interview shed a deeper light on learners’ numerical choices as given in the questionnaire. The findings display diverse, but essentially highly favourable attitudes regarding the employment of a TBA and a PBA in the L2 classroom.