Playbuilding in a Japanese College EFL Classroom: Its Advantages and Disadvantages

Abstract

Drama-in-Education is basically process-oriented, but which counts more in foreign language learning, process or performance? In the fall term of 2005, thirteen students in my fourth-year seminar attempted to build a play on the pioneering journey of a historical female figure in Japan who contributed to offering higher education to Japanese women. Her letters, journals and biographies became the sources, or pretexts, for creating the play, but the most challenging part for the class was to stage their script. In this paper I will examine the advantages and disadvantages of taking either of the two approaches in EFL classroom and will demonstrate an effective way of integrating those two in order to promote students’ competences in language learning through aesthetic experiences.