English Guidance: Drama as a response mode for
reading – using process drama
What is Process drama?
Process drama is an approach to develop understanding and exploration of written texts and
picture books and is a way of providing meaningful and engaging contexts for writing. One or
more drama strategies can be used to develop an understanding of, character, event or scenario.
‘…drama is not simply the enacting or presentation of the story, but the
investigation and interrogation of texts through dramatisation. Through drama and
role play, texts can be deconstructed, characters examined and relationships
explored, layers of text can be revealed and subtle agendas unveiled.
‘Literacy and Learning through Talk’ - Roy Garden, 2000
Drama and Reading
Many drama strategies can be used to demonstrate an understanding beyond the written word.
This is particularly helpful if a learner has difficulty expressing this in writing or is not motivated to
share their thinking on paper. The use of drama strategies within an English/Literacy session can
enable many learners to demonstrate an in depth understanding that can support opinions and
their ability to recall, infer or be evaluative. Boys in particular respond well to the opportunity to
demonstrate their understanding in this form.
‘Drama helps me think about my ideas before I write them down. When I am in role
as a character I can understand the story better. When we do drama I get the chance
to show what I think.’
Daniel, Year 5
Drama and Oracy
The use of drama strategies to explore texts, images or moving image can serve to ‘lift the text off
the page or screen and bring it to life. Learners can explore their thinking and develop their use of
verbal and non verbal language through group and paired interactions. Listening as a ‘spect-actor’
if more purposeful and can also impact on vocabulary development as language patterns are
modeled and shared by the teacher and peers. Some pupils appear to be less able orally because
they are unable to find what to say and this impacts on how they say it. Drama provides an
invaluable opportunity to rehearse the what so that the how can be the focal point for the learner.
Using drama in my classroom has impacted greatly on the confidence of all of my
pupils. They are now so keen to participate and this has impacted even on reluctant
speakers. I am able to more effectively assess their ability to speak and listen
through a meaningful context or scenario. Previously, Oracy work was
unplanned but we now plan for drama as a whole school because of the
Impact we have seen on standards.
Year 6 teacher
Drama and Writing
As with Oracy, the what to write can be a significant block for some pupils. This can even impact
on grammatical aspect of writing, spelling and handwriting as the writer focuses on thinking about
what they are writing rather than how they are writing it. Many drama strategies can act as a
scaffold for those pupils who simply do not have the ideas or life experiences to communicate on
paper. A class/ drama community can begin to shape and form narratives, explore possible plot
variations and try out ideas before they are made permanent in the written form.
The fear of the ‘blank page’ no longer is a problem! I prompt less and the written
work is owned entirely by the student. This has significantly reduced behavior
problems and flash points that happened in the past when a student felt out of
their comfort zone.
Year 8 teacher
Making Drama Work in the Classroom
Select one or two strategies to begin with and build up over time.
Develop a ‘drama contract’ to complement existing talk rules. This is essential to encourage
participation as expectations are clear.
Be prepared to be part of the drama and immerse yourself in role as a character.
Be prepared to intervene, in and out of role to support pupils’ ability to make links with existing
knowledge and incoming information. Nudge thinking, for example:
 ‘I wonder if…?’

‘Could it be that…?’
 ‘If…then…’
 ‘What if…’
Praise, reward, encourage, trust, celebrate, nod, smile…enjoy!
Drama Strategies
Conscience Alley
Also known as a ‘decision alley’ or a ‘thought tunnel’. Use
Advice to a Character
to explore responses and opinions at a key moment in the
plot where a decision has to be made. Every individual has
Advice
Consequences
the opportunity to influence the actions of the character as
they make their decision. Children form a tunnel i.e. two
straight lines, facing each other and voice their advice as
the teacher (or a pupil) walks down the centre of the
tunnel. Pupils should be given the opportunity to ‘pass’ if
need be or repeat what someone else has said (mirroring).
Encourage the recording of possibilities that reflect the
learners understanding of the key points and themes of the text.
Collective Role
The key roles in a piece of drama or role play can be played by more than one
person. This can greatly encourage those who are less
confident about being in the spotlight. They do not have to
speak simultaneously as they should take it in turn to
speak as the shared character. This also encourages
purposeful listening so that points are not repeated or
contradicted. Use of collective role during sot seating can also
enable it to flow far better as they are able to have thinking time
and bounce off each others’ responses.
Small Group Playmaking
Groups are asked to prepare a short scene or two that they
show back to each other. Opportunities include the prediction
of what they think might happen next, reflection on the most
interesting/unusual/significant event in the text so far, a
creative re- thinking of events and presentation of them so
that they have a different outcome etc. Emphasise small time
scales e.g. 20 seconds and clearly communicate the purpose
of the ‘scene’ e.g. to show what we think will happen to
character X next.
Speaking Object
Participants are invited to step into the centre of a circle and
‘become’ an object. The object can be linked to the character
e.g. their cloak, map, watch or purse or can be linked with a
setting e.g. a candle, clock, china cup or picture. Encourage
the objects to voice what they would say about the character
and then freeze. Allow ‘objects’ who have not stepped into
the circle to step in when they feel comfortable to do so and
avoid teacher selection. Encourage pupils to make notes
after the activity that reflect the object’s ‘voice’.
Rumours
This encourages participants to think about what they know
and don’t know about a character and to think about what
rumour they could circulate about them in the light of this.
Once they have had some thinking time, encourage learners
to move around a space and whisper their rumour to another
person, moving on to a new person once complete. Allow
them to add or amend their initial rumour
depending on what they hear. Develop this by
Concept Line – How Likely is it
asking them to justify their rumour using evidence
that the Rumour is True?
from the text. Record the rumours and look for
evidence that confirms or rejects them as the plot
of the text progresses. Concept lines are a useful
tool for recording this (mark with one colour for
Unlikely
Highly Likely
prediction, another colour using the facts
presented in a text).
Freeze Framing and Thought Tapping
Groups, Pairs or individuals form a frozen image that depicts
something they have read or their response to this. When they
are tapped on their shoulder or the teacher walks by them
they voice aloud what they think the character would say if
they were in the scene. Encourage creative responses to
significant events in a plot to establish what a learner thinks
about the events and establish if they have inferred into a
character’s behavior.
Forum Theatre
An interactive strategy that allows those who are ‘watching’ an
improvised scene to move from passive to active. It
encourages interaction, dialogue and interaction between the
‘actors’ and the ‘audience’. Choose a situation in a plot that is
negatively influencing a character e.g. bullying. Ask the ‘actors’
to role play/act the scene out. At any time a member of the
‘audience’ can shout ‘STOP’ and either offer advice to the
actor playing the character or step into the circle to replace
them in the scene. The scene is replayed from the beginning
with whoever has stepped into the circle changing the course
of the action.
Hot Seating
A common but nevertheless tricky strategy to get ‘right’. The
key to this is emphasising the purpose of the activity i.e. to
establish what we do not know about a character as well as
reinforcing what we do know about them. This needs careful
structuring and preparation. Group creation of questions and
placing them in a hierarchy of importance can reduce the
frequent ‘unnecessary’ questions that can creep in and
threaten to de-rail the person in the hot seat. In the first
instance the person in the hot seat should always be the
teacher, modeling language patterns etc. Another key strategy for making it work is
to ‘mirror’ or bounce questions back to the speaker, almost pulling them into a
dialogue about a character. Questions stems can support reluctant speakers and
assist with the asking of more open ended questions e.g. Why did you…? Can you
explain…? Is it true that…?
Role on the Wall
A way of recording thoughts and responses about a character.
Draw a big outline of a head or body and display centrally.
Encourage learners to add notes to it e.g. inside the outline what
they know; outside what they want to know, inside - positive
characteristics; outside- negative characteristics, inside – a
response to a characters actions; outside – a comment on the
responses of others, inside – what a character would say to justify
their actions; outside – the conscience of the character or opinion
of another character.