PROCESS DRAMA AND THEATRE IN THE LEARNING OF ITALIAN
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Process drama and theatre in the learning of Italian. The case of ‘I Promessi sposi di Birmingham, un “romanzo criminale”’
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This paper illustrates the use of two language-teaching and learning methods (process drama and theatre) in a class of Italian. Process drama is based on improvisation, over-identification, and dramatisation from a short set of coordinates that students can read just a few minutes before the activity that will be later performed in class
(see Dunn, 2016; Giebert, 2014; Hulse & Owens, 2017; Jun, 2001; Kao & O’Neill, 1998; O’Neill, 1995; Piazzoli, 2010; Pirola, 2011). Theatre, on the contrary, is based on a script; it involves actors, a director, costumes, set, props, and an audience (see, Fonio, 2012; Guerra & Militello, 2011; Marini-Maio & Ryan-Scheutz, 2010). These methods promote different learning experiences and through reflection on my teaching experience I demonstrate how both process drama and theatre can enrich the student experience and foster a creative and imaginative use of the foreign language in and outside the classroom.