1 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Research
The traditional way of vocational education in China is to pay attention to the teaching ofbasic knowledge and the training of basic skills. Due to the long-term impact ofexam-oriented education, the content of teaching depends on what the exams are. And weteach students to recite the contents. Teaching knowledge has always been the main task ofschool education. The teacher emphasizes the acceptance and mastery of the knowledge fromthe book. In China's current education situation, schools emphasize quality education,focusing on the overall development of students. English is a subject with strong practicality,which means that the mastery of this language requires a lot of practice. Hence, it is difficultto improve students' comprehensive language skills and English proficiency through simpleteaching of several textbooks. There is often such a phenomenon in current vocational schoolEnglish teaching: many teachers are influenced by traditional intellectual views, whichEnglish teaching should focus on language intelligence as the core. Classes are monotonousand boring, Lack of pertinence and personalization in classes’ activities. English teaching ismostly teacher-centered, which means most students rarely participate in activities. There areno sufficient language practice opportunities for students who are always in a passivelyaccepted position. Students rarely have a pleasant and successful experience. Therefore, theylack enthusiasm and interest in English learning.
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1.2 Purposes of the Research
This essay aims to observe and study the promotion of the concept and method ofeducational drama to the teaching of vocational school English by applying educational dramato English teaching activities, and to explore how educational drama as a means of processlearning can be integrated into vocational school English teaching.
Question 1: What is the role of educational drama in the vocational school Englishteaching of preschool education majors?
Question 2: What kind of systematic teaching plan can be formulated to best integrateeducational drama into the vocational school English teaching of preschool education majors?
So far, there have been few studies on the application of educational drama in vocationalschool English classrooms, especially for preschool education majors. This study attempts toexplore an effective educational drama application teaching plan and verify the advantages ofeducational drama in vocational school English teaching, with a view to the broad masses.The teaching practice of vocational school English educators provides some reference.
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2 Literature Review
2.1 Definitions and modes of Educational drama
Educational drama is the intersection of “education” and “drama”, which can be definedby examining the concepts of "education" and "drama", that is, consciously reproducing andtransmitting good human experience through imagination and play social activities.
Educational drama is the use of dramatic methods and theatrical elements in teaching,social or cultural activities.3The focus of educational drama is on the participation ofstudents, to understand the meaning of knowledge from feelings, to communicate with eachother, to discover possibilities and create new meaning. In European and American countries,educational drama is a very important teaching method to cultivate students' comprehensivequality and ability, and it is even considered to be the best teaching method. China'seducational drama is currently in its infancy, but more and more parents recognize the role ofeducational drama and the importance of cultivating their children's overall quality. Therefore,educational drama is about to draw an important period of development in the country.
Educational drama is the use of dramatic methods and elements in teaching, social andcultural activities, so that learning objects achieve their learning goals and objectives in thepractice of drama; the focus of educational drama is on the participants' participation, fromwhich they feel and appreciate the meaning of knowledge, communicate with each other,discover possibilities and create new meanings. Drama education is a specialization, eliteeducation, drama popularization and general education. The purpose is to cultivate theprofessional drama of the editor, director, actors and stage art talents and popularize theprofessional drama appreciation of knowledge-based talent.
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2.2 The Application of Educational drama in English Teaching
2.2.1 Educational Drama in English Teaching
Educational drama have been recognized and applied in many developed countries andgradually incorporated into formal education. Inspired by countries such as the UnitedKingdom and the United States, other countries in the world have also taken measures toencourage the integration of drama into the education system. In 1983, Canada hadestablished a drama teacher training program in 30 schools. At present, the educational dramatrend is in the ascendant in the world. Many countries and regions have established their owndrama education organizations, such as the International Theatre/Theatrical and EducationalAlliance (IDEA), American Theatre and Education Alliance (AATE), etc.
Educational drama originated in France in the eighteenth century. But forming a clearconcept and consciously applied in practice, it is a matter of recent decades, from a globalperspective. The systematic exploration of the theory of educational drama and the perseexploration of the methods began around the 1920s and 1930s.
China has rich drama resources, but there is still no overall drama teaching and researchin the general education system. In the 1980s, "Foreign Drama" magazine (No. 2, 1984)published Mr. Sun Jiaxiu's "TIE on the UK" article, introducing Western educational drama.
Tab. 3-1 English Teaching Plan For 4 Semesters
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3 Research Design ......................... 19
3.1 Participants of the Research ........................ 19
3.2 Research Methods ............................. 19
4 Results and Analysis ................................... 30
4.1 Analysis of Class Observation.......................... 30
4.2 Analysis of Interview......................... 30
5 Conclusion............................. 45
5.1 Major Findings.................................. 45
5.2 Enlightenment to Teaching.......................... 46
4 Results and Analysis
4.1 Analysis of Class Observation
The main contents of class observation records are shown in the table:
Tab. 4-1 Teacher’s observation record
Through class observation, the author found that each student in the experimental classraised his hand 4.3 times on average, while the control class only 2.8 times; in terms of speechand review performance, the students in the experimental class have obvious advantages overthe students in the control class, and their answers are often more accurate and fluent.
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5 Conclusion
5.1 Major Findings
There are two main research questions in this thesis:
Question 1: What is the role of educational drama in the vocational school Englishteaching of preschool education majors?
Question 2: What kind of systematic teaching plan can be formulated to best integrateeducational drama into the vocational school English teaching of preschool education majors?Through one semester's experiment and research, the application of educational drama invocational school English teaching has achieved remarkable results:
First, the presentation of learning content in various teaching methods advocated byeducational drama is conducive to stimulating and cultivating the interest of vocational schoolstudents in learning English. Using the theory of educational drama to guide teaching caneffectively improve the efficiency of English classroom teaching, improve students' Englishlearning performance, and achieve the expected teaching effect;
Second, improvisation, role-playing, drama games, situational dialogue performance,textbook drama rehearsal, reading texts in different roles, imitation and other activities are allclassroom activities under the guidance of educational drama theory. Flexible use of theseactivities in actual teaching can play a role in invigorating the classroom and improvingstudents' interest in learning.
In the test process of nearly half a year, the author used the same English teachingmaterials and arranged the same amount of English homework for the two classes, and theEnglish tutoring time was also the same. Because the factors are strictly controlled during theexperiment, the influence of the irrelevant variables is reduced, and the reliability and validityof the experiment can be basically guaranteed. Therefore, the author believes that the resultsof this experiment are true and credible.
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