Читать книгу The Art of Foreign Language Teaching - Peter Lutzker - Страница 5

In examining and developing the concept of foreign language teaching as an art, I attempted to integrate the two closely related but nevertheless separate fields of foreign language teacher education and foreign language learning. The premise behind this was that the development of the artistry of the teacher was a necessary prerequisite for foreign language teaching as an art to be realized in practice. This led to the book being divided into two separate parts, each with its own background material, qualitative research study and its respective discussions and conclusions. At the same time, I attempted at different points and particularly in the final chapter to elucidate the underlying relations between these two different perspectives.

Accordingly, in attempting to review the relevant developments that have taken place in the last 14 years, I have been faced with the daunting challenge of reviewing large bodies of material in each of these fields, along with their own incorporation of related areas. Even after reducing these findings to those most directly related to the focus of each part of the book, there have been many new contributions to these fields which in the context of an extensive literature review would all deserve to be discussed in detail. However, for the above-mentioned reasons, I have chosen to focus on the work of a few leading institutions and individuals and afterwards to simply inform the reader of a number of further publications that appear to me to be the most relevant. The full bibliographical details of those publications that I have simply listed and not explicitly discussed, can be found in the bibliography at the end of the book. Moreover, I do not expect to have managed to cover all the material that could be considered. In fact, in making use of the wondrous possibilities of the internet, I also came across authors whose earlier writings I would have gladly incorporated into the original if I had known of their existence at that point. Considering the length of the book, perhaps it was just as well.

It seems appropriate to begin with two principal sources which have made significant contributions to ongoing developments in these areas. The online Journal Scenario, hosted by Cork University in Ireland, and the series of articles, books, conferences and networks which they have generated, have provided a unique contribution to the fields of drama in teacher education and drama in foreign language learning and, in a wider sense, of a performative approach to teaching and learning. The founders and driving forces behind this journal are Manfred Schewe from Cork University in Ireland and Susanne Even from Indiana University in the United States. Schewe has also been the author and editor of numerous leading articles, chapters and books. In conjunction with the entire Scenario Project, and through the efforts of Schewe and his colleagues, University College Cork also offers a broad array of Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral Courses which in highly innovative ways bridge the gap between the performative arts and education. Susanne Even is responsible for the artistic focus of the foreign language teacher program in the Department of Germanic Studies at Indiana University-Bloomington. She has also published widely, making the case for performative approaches in teacher education.

Since both Schewe and Even work in the field of teaching German as a Foreign Language, the Scenario journal and book publications are often available in both German and English. With their focus on drama and performative approaches they have continually succeeded in bridging gaps between the teaching of different foreign languages. The broad range of international contributors, both in their conferences and publications, attests to the global dimensions of this endeavor. Along with the ‘first generation’ of contributors who include longstanding and leading figures in these fields, a second younger generation has emerged as highly active both in their research and in a continuing series of publications, some of whose works will also be mentioned in this introduction.

Schewe’s explanation of the intentions of a performative approach to language teaching gives a clear picture of the guiding impulses out of which Scenario was created:

It is the intention of a Performative Foreign Language Didactics to avail of the wealth of forms found in the arts for teaching and learning purposes. It is, above and beyond the disciplines usually associated with foreign language teaching and learning (e.g., general pedagogy, first language didactics, psychology, linguistics and literature) actively seeking dialogue and exchange with the arts… (…) The goal of foreign language didactics is to create a new approach to teaching and learning whereby emphasis is placed on forms of aesthetic expression. This means that special attention is given to ‘language form’ and to the pleasure and even desire to play with words, sentences and expressions. ‘Form’ also implies the ways in which the body speaks and how sound, word, sentence and movement all interact with each other.1

In 2018, in the context of a Scenario Conference in Germany, a ‘manifesto’ was published in which the principles underlying the entire Scenario project were formulated:

 Educators and students alike do not only communicate orally, but also use additional means of expression, so that they are involved in the creative teaching and learning process with their “head, heart, hands and feet”. The focus is no longer exclusively on results, but increasingly on the concrete teaching and learning activities from which lesson content is created.

 The ability to experience empathy through a change of role and perspective, for example, by being in someone else’s shoes in role, is of central importance.

 The educator initiates and supports democratic and participative learning processes and becomes a facilitator of learning processes in which students take on responsibility as autonomous co-designers and co-creators.

 Competency is only fully acquired through practical application, i.e. experience. Performative methods can be used to simulate authentic contexts.

 Knowledge acquisition requires space, i.e. an inspiring learning environment in which educators and students can move freely.

 Sustainable learning requires time, i.e. an adequate pacing and distribution of topics and projects.

 Mistakes are seen as learning opportunities. This requires rethinking the definition of assessment, as it would then no longer focus on penalising errors.

 The whole world is a stage. (…)2 (emphases in original)

Another principal source of contributions to relevant fields is the online journal Humanising Language Teaching (HLT), hosted by the Pilgrims Organization formerly based in Canterbury and now in Oxford, England. Although not as specifically focused on the central themes of my work as Scenario, the range of what they have published under the umbrella of humanism has consistently included articles which have addressed these themes in different ways. A regular contributor and arguably the pioneer in introducing drama and different forms of performative and creative approaches to foreign language teaching is Alan Maley, whose seminal contributions to the field were first published in the 1970s and who has remained highly prolific to this day. His article on the occasion of the 20^th anniversary of HLT in 2019 both elucidates the importance of this journal and his own thoughts:

So why should we be celebrating the 20^th anniversary of HLT Mag?

The hegemony of testing and evaluation, the temptations of easy-fix technological solutions, the creeping encroachment of academic research at the expense of teaching expertise, the flat-lining of publishing, and the blight of bureaucratisation – all have contributed to a narrowing of the opportunities for teachers to explore independently the nature of learning and teaching and their role in it. In the face of this sometimes depressing scenario, HLT Mag has kept the flame of humanistic inquiry and experimentation burning.

Just out of curiosity, I checked every issue of HLT Mag since it’s foundation in 1999. There are certain recurrent themes. Among the most frequent are:

Teacher Development. In the very first issue, Paul Davis’ major article ‘What is Teacher development’ (Davis, 1999) in a way set the scene. Effectively, all successive issues have been focusing, in one way or another on possible answers to that initial question.

Aesthetic approaches to teaching and learning: stories and story-telling, wisdom stories, creative writing, art, music, drama, clowning, literature. There is abundant material on all these aspects of enriching learning through the arts.3

In 2014, Maley together with Chaz Pugliese co-founded “The C Group: Creativity for Change in Education” which has in its various publications and contributions at international conferences consistently made the case for humanistic and creative approaches to foreign language teaching.4

In addition to Maley, there are a number of other leading figures in the U.K. who have continued to pursue and further develop the concept of teaching as an art. They include Adrian Underhill, many of whose contributions are directly connected to a central focus of my own work – the role of improvisation in teaching.5 Mike Fleming has continued to work both nationally and internationally in further developing performative approaches to teaching foreign languages.6 Fleming, a regular contributor to Scenario, is also one of the editors of the highly informative Routledge International Handbook of the Arts and Education.7. Mark Almond has long been nationally and internationally active in incorporating drama and performative approaches into foreign language teaching.8

Michaela Sambanis has connected relevant findings in the neurological sciences with the incorporation of peformative approaches in foreign language teacher education and foreign language learning in numerous publications as well as in the practice of teacher education at the Freie Universität in Berlin.9

Martyn Rawson has extensively addressed the themes of teacher education and language learning from the perspective of Waldorf Education in a series of recent publications which also include a study together with Catherine Bryden on the effects of theatre clowning courses in pre-service language teacher education.10

Erika Piazzoli has published a major work, Embodying Language in Action: The Artistry of Process Drama in Second Language Education, focusing on the manifold possibilities of working with process drama in foreign language learning and the crucial role of embodiment in this context.11 She has also written about her innovative work with students with learning disabilities; a highly welcome development in this field.12

In drama education, John O’Toole, along with his collaborators and students, remains a central figure not only in Australia but internationally.13. His work has continued to be relevant and inspiring for foreign language teachers, as evidenced by an online conference with him in April 2021, organized by Scenario and attended by language teachers throughout the world. Among the many developments which have grown out of his work is the International Drama/Theater and Education Association (IDEA).14

In teacher education, there have also been significant new contributions to the concept of educating teachers to become artists in their respective fields. Keith Sawyer, whose work I already referred to in the first edition, has remained a highly active and innovative figure, particularly in exploring the relations between creativity, improvisation and teaching.15 Donald S. Blumenfeld-Jones has sought to bridge the gaps between creativity, aesthetics and ethics, and has made an eloquent case for the central role of aesthetics in teacher education.16 In a chapter called “Aesthetics in Academics and Classrooms” he directly addresses those themes which are central to my approach to teaching as an art:

At the outset, let us consider this simple point: our task is to help our learners discover their aesthetic knowing and their sensory perception capacities as a valuable dimension of their thinking/knowing and thus, enhance their lives on many fronts. What we can do for our teacher preparation students, they can do for the students they will teach. In this way, aesthetic consciousness as a valued mode of knowing and being will become more commonplace within our society and culture.17

He concludes his chapter with the following remarks:

As you will have noticed, in this chapter the emphasis is on seeing/feeling/perceiving as an artist sees/feels/perceives. We emphasize the act of art-making as the location from within which aesthetic consciousness develops. We do this without requiring or expecting that our learners will become professional artists. We only require and expect that they will immerse themselves in the act of art-making as a species of aesthetic knowing. This point cannot be too strongly stressed.18 (italics in original)

In choosing to highlight the work of these prominent journals and educators, I have unfortunately had to leave out many authors whose relevant and recent contributions to those fields deserve to be considered as well. What follows is an undoubtedly incomplete selection of further relevant books, chapters and articles which have been published since 2015. The titles themselves give a clear indication of how this field has both deepened and expanded in recent years. Articles and individual chapters are given with quotation marks, book titles are in italics. The complete references are given in the bibliography.

Belleza, Annemaria (2020): “Developing Performative Competence and Teacher Artistry: A Pedagogical Imperative in the Multicultural Classroom.”

Bernstein, Nils & Lerchner, Charlotte (eds.) (2014): Ästhetisches Lernen im DaF-/DaZ-Unterricht. Literatur – Theater – Bildende Kunst – Musik – Film.

Conte, David & Thiem, Annegret (eds.) (2021): Literatur performativ: Spanische Lyrik der Gegenwart – Literatura performativa: poesía española actual.

Crutchfield, John (2016): “Brief Encounters: Reflections on the Performative Integration of Creative Writing in the Foreign Language Classroom.”

Elis, Franziska (2015): “Mit dramapädagogischen Methoden sprachliche und kommunikative Kompetenzen fördern”

Fanselow, John (2020): Small Changes in Teaching, Big Results in Learning.

Fleiner, Micha (2016): “Museum Education and Performative Teaching and Learning: Words, Bodies, Images.”

Haack, Adrian (2018): Dramapädagogik, Selbstkompetenz und Professionalisierung. Performative Identitätsarbeit im Lehramtsstudium Englisch.

Hallet, Wolfgang & Carola Surkamp (eds.) (2015): Dramendidaktik und Dramapädagogik im Fremdsprachenunterricht.

Hensel, Alexandra (2020): Fremdsprachenunterricht als Ereignis. Zur Fundierung einer performativ-ästhetischen Praxis.

Hillyard, Susan (2016): English through Drama.

Jaffke, Christoph (2021): The First Four Years of English: A Hands-On Approach to the Waldorf Way.

Maley, Alan (ed.) (2019): Developing Expertise through Experience.

Maley, Alan & Tomas Kiss (2018): Creativity and English Language Teaching: From Inspiration to Implementation.

Mages, Wendy K. (2020): “Educational Drama and Theatre Pedagogy: An Integral Part of Training English-as-a-Foreign-Language Teachers.”

Mentz, Oliver & Micha Fleiner, (eds.) (2018): The Arts in Language Teaching: International Perspectives: Performative – Aesthetic – Transversal.

Passon, Jenny (2015): “Auf dem Weg zur performativen Fremdsprachenkompetenz. Eine Darstellung theater-und dramapädagogischer Ansätze.”

Prabhu, Neiman Stern. (2019): Perceptions of Language Pedagogy.

Schmenk, Barbara (2015): “Dramapädagogik im Spiegel von Bildungsstandards, GeRS und Kompetenzdiskussionen.”

Sievers, Ulrike (2017): Creative Teaching-Sustainable Learning. A Holistic Approach to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching^.

Vaßen, Florian (2016): “The Diversity of Theaterpädagogik in German Schools – Theater and theatrical training in the context of teacher education, as a method of instruction, and as an artistic/aesthetic school subject.”