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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Drama can give a lot of advantages in language learning. It encourages the students to

have a high self-confidence to speak and to act in front of people. Drama provides an

opportunity to improve the social skill of a student in term of communication and self-assurance

(Baldwin, 2009). Drama incorporates many different skills such as teamwork, communication

skills, memory, literary research and history (Hare, 2000). Drama is not only about the

performance, but it is one of the way to acquire language learning. Dramatizing is an active

process of learning language as the students are producing a lot of meaningful languages to

convey the drama. There are many advantages of using drama activities and techniques in the

language classroom. The major reason of using drama is because it is fun and exciting.

Moreover, it provide motivation for the students to acquire new experience and learn language.

Plays and drama are very familiar with young learners. Thus, plays and drama are very suitable

to be integrated in the teaching of English language. In this essay, I will discuss how plays and

drama can be integrated in the teaching of English in the Malaysian Primary classroom by using

the activities related to drama which are, role play, mime and simulation.

2.0 ROLE PLAY

According to Booth (2005), role play can provide students with opportunities in social

situations and to explore unfamiliar relationship of other people. Hence, the practising of role

play will give a new perspective on the students about how other people behave and give them

a wider scope in viewing the community through social context. The experience to communicate

in the role play as well as the experience to speak during the role play have indirectly help to

promote the students language learning. Role play activity has to highlight on the importance of

pronouncing words correctly as well as maintaining the accurate sentence structures. Even

though role play activity sometimes provide students with the script to memorise, it is quite often

that the students are unable to speak using a correct sentence structure. Thus, by making

rehearsing role play over and over again, it can surely help to improve the students’ mastery of

sentence structure as they only have to follow the script given. When they are used with the

drills, they can apply the knowledge in the real life situation when they are having conversation.

Script is very crucial as a guidance for the students to perform the role play. Instead of a guide

to memorise the line to speak, the student might be able to learn new knowledge such as a new

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set of vocabulary based on the words in the script. Thus, through role play, they can identify the

new words that they have found and make it familiar with themselves. The opportunities to learn

new knowledge and practice with the correct structure of English can surely assist the students

to improve the mastery of their English Language.

3.0 MIME

Mime is one of the drama activity that can be practised in the teaching of English Language.

As we know, a language is not mainly focusing on the verbal language, the non-verbal language

is important to be practised as well. Majority of mime activity is focusing on the use of non-

verbal language. According Swartz and Larry (2014), mime is the use of gesture, movement

and facial expression without words or sounds communicates action, character, emotions or

relationships. Mime uses the body to act or interact with something or someone not visible. To

use mime activity in the classroom, the teacher can divide the students into two groups. A

representative from each group has to perform mime and the other group member try to speak

the actual words that the representative try to convey. For example, the teacher mention the

topic which is sport and give a subject to mime to the representative. When the group member

are able to answer correctly, they can get extra mark by giving a short speech based on the

answer. Game and competition able to arouse student interest to learn and to participate (Zhou,

2014). Game creates a fun and interesting learning atmosphere for the students. When the

students are interested in the activity, they are able to learn more effectively. Hence, the teacher

has to adapt the mime activity to be more competitive and challenging. By doing this, it can

provide students with enjoyment in learning as they are will feel as if they are playing rather than

learning. Thus, it will erase all the negative perception about the difficulty in learning English

Language. All in all, mime activity able to create a game-like environment that provide a rich

learning experience that will arouse the linguistic interest among students (Aleven, Kay &

Mostow, 2010).

4.0 SIMULATION

A simulation activity involves participants in a certain situation or setting that is based on

an operating model of the "real world." The participants will take turn according to their role.

Simulation is usually conducted to imitate a process, or problem that is familiar in the daily

activities. Martino and Sabato (2014) stated that simulation is frequently perceived as a broader

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concept which may embrace drama and role play. The purpose of simulation activity is to

provide an opportunity for the students to practice taking on specific roles. Other than that,

through simulation, the students might be able to improvise within specific situations when it is

happening in a real life situation. Simulation provides students with an opportunity to have a

new experience in learning. As stated by Stewart (2004), simulation enable the students to try

out a new role that they have never practised in real life. Students are always curious to try a

new thing. Trough simulation, they can be the person who is completely different with their

personality. Thus, they can acquire a new set of experience about other people’s life. More

importantly, they will learn how to act in a certain situations that is happening to them. Martino

and Sabato (2014) added that, simulation is undoubtedly able to facilitate second language

acquisition in whatever form it may take. Usually, when performing a simulation, the students

are provided with the dialogue to act out. The students need to analyse the situation as well as

the language in the dialogue to understand it clearly. Through this activity, it can enhance the

students’ ability to comprehend a text and provide a new knowledge of language structure. The

students might be able to communicate better after performing simulation activity as they have

already know what are the things to say.

5.0 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, plays and drama can be integrated in the teaching of English Language in the

Malaysian Primary classroom through the implementation of several drama related activities

such as role play, mime and simulation. Teachers play an important role in the implementation

of those activities as they are responsible to make sure that the activities conducted are good.

As stated by Woolland (2014), drama is important as a means of motivating and enhancing

learning in other curriculum areas. Pertaining to his statement, we can consider that one of the

curriculum areas that Wolland intended to convey is the language learning area. The teacher

has to be creative and innovative in applying the drama activities in the teaching of language as

it can provide a lot of benefit to the students. An effective application of drama activity will

engage the attention and feeling of the students as well as enriches the learners' experience of

the language. Conclusively, the teacher has to provide opportunities for all of the students to be

active in the participation of drama activities as it will promote their language learning abilities.

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6.0 REFERENCES

Aleven, V., Kay, J. & Mostow, J. (2010). Intelligent Tutoring Systems: 10th International Conference. Philadelphia: Springer Science & Business Media.

Baldwin, P. (2009). School Improvement through Drama: A Creative Whole Class, Whole School Approach. London: A&C Black.

Booth, D. (2005). Story Drama: Creating Stories through Role Playing, Improvising, and Reading Aloud. Ontario: Pembroke Publishers Limited.

Hare, R. (2000). Studying Drama. London: Crimson Publishing.

Larry & Swartz. (2014). Dramathemes: Classroom Literacy That Will Excite, Surprise, andStimulate Learning. 4th ed. Ontario: Pembroke Publishers Limited.

Martino, E. D. & Sabato, B. D. (2014). Studying Language through Literature: An Old Perspective Revisited and Something More. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Stewart, D. A. (2004). Effective Teaching: A Guide for Community College Instructors. Washington: American Association of Community College.

Wolland, B. G. (2014). The Teaching of Drama in the Primary School. New York: Routledge.

Zhou, M. (2014). Advances in Sport Science and Computer Science. Southampton: WIT Press.

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