Educational Drama and Theatre Pedagogy: An Integral Part of Training English-as-a-Foreign-Language Teachers

This mixed-methods research documents the integration of educational drama and theatre into a teacher-preparation program for Austrian teachersin-training who plan to teach English-as-a-foreign-language to Austrian school children. Observations were conducted of the plays developed and performed in English by two cohorts of Austrian teachers-in-training who participated in the teacher-preparation program. Observations were also conducted of the second cohort's process developing a script based on an English young adult novel, as well as their process of producing and performing the play in English for middle-school and adult audiences. In addition, a survey of participants' perceptions of the program was conducted. This study investigates how the teachers-in-training responded to the process of creating and performing a play in English, and their perceptions of its benefits and challenges for themselves, as well as for their future students.