A Study Of The Application Of Drama In Education In Primary School English Teaching

In recent years, there exist many controversies on English teaching. Lots ofresearchers have reflected the shortcomings in current primary and secondary schoolEnglish teaching: the overemphasis on memorizing language symbols, linguistic rules,mechanical sentence drills, and the ignorance of the learners’psychologicalcharacteristics and communication context in the process of internalizing knowledge.The traditional English teaching model, its relevant teaching method, and thecurriculum design concept, which focus only on knowledge impartation and languageskills training, are criticized constantly. It’s a crucial challenge and a major researchtopic for the primary and secondary English teachers to motivate students’interest inlearning English, improve the effect of English teaching, and create a student-centeredand well-interacted class atmosphere. In order to motivate primary school students’interest, some educators try to integrate drama into English teaching.As a special and integrated literary art form, drama combines language andparalanguage (facial expressions, tone, action, etc.), and can vividly reproducepeople’s lifestyles and habits in a particular cultural context. In addition to theaesthetic features, drama also has its educational functions.Drama in Education (DIE) is a teaching method and educational model whichhas the main purpose of education, and has the character of drama. Originating inBritain and America, DIE has been widely used and developed in the basic educationof Western countries and in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The promotion of DIE inprimary and secondary schools can enrich education means and improve teachingmethods, develop the overall qualities and capabilities of students, mobilize students’enthusiasm and creativity, improve their English communication and performanceskills, develop and stimulate students’interest in learning. It can be said that theteaching philosophy and method of DIE provides new inspiration for the currentEnglish teaching.In this paper, the feasibility and importance of DIE is discussed first, then someresearch methods such as questionnaire, observation, interview and experiment are employed, which are to validate if the application of DIE to the primary schoolEnglish teaching is able to stimulate students’interest and enthusiasm in learningEnglish, and to improve the teaching effects.Based on certain teaching practices and a series of educational experiments, theauthor of this paper has applied the theory of DIE to primary school English teaching,and achieved some positive results. The experiment lasted for one semester, with twoclasses of students at the level of Cambridge Young Learners English (movers) as itsobjects of study. It was proved that the teaching methods of DIE played a positive roleon inspiring and developing students’interest, mobilizing students’enthusiasm, andimproving the teaching effects.This paper made an analysis and reflection of primary school English teaching inthe light of theories of DIE, hoping to provide some references for primary schoolEnglish teachers.