The UK’s European university
Humanising EAP
grammar teaching
through drama and song
Jonathan Fitchett and Rebecca Coleman
‘no one knows exactly why songs are powerful,
but everyone knows from a personal point they
are’: they are a non-threatening and satisfying art
form, with the ability to affect our emotions
(Griffee, 1992, p.4).
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Emotional memory journey
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motivate, drive and foster community
attract learners’ attention to grammar and lexis.
appeal to learners audibly, visually and
emotionally, stressing both its’ effective and
affective qualities.
‘emotional memory journeys’ (Coleman 2014,
p. 66), are created, allowing learners to richly
process form and meaning and store lyrical
content alongside positive episodic memories.
Humanising grammar
Thornbury (2006:26) points out grammar
presentations which are not retained by the
students will not be effective
Mumford (2008) suggests that there can be 2
ways to make grammar both memorable and
humanised:
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logically (creating affective contexts that can be
dramatised and/or reflect personal responses)
creatively (taking the grammar out of context to
play with it i.e. in puns, rhymes and songs)
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We propose doing this by combining an
awareness raising of form (through the creative
use of song) with the focus on meaning
(through drama)
The result is a “focus on meaningful form” (Liu,
2002)
The Emotional Memory Journey (Coleman
2014)
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What can constitute ‘drama’ in EAP grammar
teaching?
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Even (2011) states there is “a necessity for
postmethod approaches to grammar teaching
and learning”
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Bibliography
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Even, S. (2011) Drama grammar: towards a performative postmethod
pedagogy, The Language Learning Journal, 39 (3), 299-312.
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Kao, S. and O’Neill, C. (1998) Words into Worlds: Learning a second
Language through Process Drama. Stanford: Ablex Publishing.
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Liu, J. (2002) ‘Process Drama in Second and Foreign- Language
Classrooms’. In G. Bräuer (2002) Body and Language: Intercultural
Learning Through Drama, Westport: Greenwood.
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Coleman, R. (2014) Exploratory Practice: Researching the impact of
songs on EFL learners’ verbal memory. Journal of Second Language
Teaching and Research. 3 (1) pp.53-70
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Mumford, S. (2005) Making Grammar Memorable. Humanising
Language Teaching. Available at
http://www.hltmag.co.uk/dec08/mart03.htm#C7 [Accessed 11/4/2015.]
Stinson, M. and Winston, J. (2011) Drama education and second
language learning: a growing field of practice and research. Research
in Drama education: the Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance,
16 (4), 479-488.
Thornbury, S. (2006) How to Teach Grammar. Longman
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EUROPEAN
UNIVERSITY
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