Importance Of Drama In English

NEED FOR PRACTISE AND A WHOLE LANGUAGE APPROACH These recent findings shows the dreadful levels of English skills amongst students in India. The cause for this point to a variety of reasons. The main causes can be distilled to the lacuna in the syllabus and teaching methodologies which ignore the need for practise. The student isn’t encouraged or motivated to use the language outside the classroom. He prefers to use his native tongue. Even during classes, the learner is not emboldened to use the laguage independently. The focus is mainly on completing the syllabus nad preparing them for a written exam. The students lack the opportunity to practise the language that they have diligently learnt from the prescribed textbooks. English is taught as a subject

Its origins can be traced back to the 19th century. When the world started adopting a Communicative Approach to language teaching, using drama as a tool for language learrning consequently became very popular. Drama encompasses many aspects of language learning. Drama ensures student participation. It provides exposure to the language and improves communication skills as it is usually a group activity. It also develops listening, reading, speaking and writing skills (LSRW). It augments vocabulary and instill proper sentence structure in the minds of the learners. Sara Phillips in her book, Drama with children details how drama engages the students in an appealing way and how the children learn the language at a subliminal level.In her book, she states:

They are short, fun, easy to set up and can be adapted for use with different language content. Many of the activities focus on mime so that children can work on using their bodies for language learning: The children acquire the language at a more subconscious lebel because they are not thinking about what they are saying, but how to show the