Benefits of English Theatrical Performance: Evidence from EFL Public Speech Learners

英語演講學習者受益於英語戲劇表演之例證

李右芷(Lee, Yow-jyy Joyce)

《應用語文學報》 1期 (2014/03) Pp. 125-141

https://doi.org/10.6906/JAL.201403_(1).0007

摘要

English public speaking (PS) is a core course of EFL departments at universities in Taiwan aiming at fostering the core competency of oral communication in EFL students. The researcher utilized English theatrical performance in the English PS course to seek an effective approach to teaching English PS. Forty-nine students participated in the experimental group while thirty-six students served as the control group in this pretest-posttest research. The participants of both groups made self-assessments as the pretest of their own three types of English PS abilities: verbal, vocal, and kinesic at the beginning of the semester. Next, the experimental group was trained with drama-related activities and then gave an extramural English theatrical performance to elementary school children, but none of those activities was applied to the control group. After the English theatrical performance, the participants of both groups made self-assessments as the posttest of their own three types of English PS abilities. The data analysis showed that the experimental group achieved significantly higher mean scores of vocal ability than those of the control group; the experimental group's level of verbal ability remained similar to that of the control group. In particular, the participating students having lower pretest kinesic ability perceived more significant improvement in this regard than those who had higher pretest kinesic ability. It is concluded that the English theatrical performance as a skills-oriented teaching approach has the potential to help college EFL learners, especially low achievers in kinesics, improve their nonverbal delivery skills and as a result become competent public communicators in social and career life.

關鍵字

English public speaking ； English theatrical performance ； public speaking abilities ； nonverbal delivery

並列摘要

英語演講與溝通乃台灣各大學英語系之核心課程，培養英語系學生口語溝通方面的核心能力。本研究旨在藉由將英語戲劇公演導入英語演講課程，尋求有效的英語演講教學方法。本研究採「前測－後測研究設計」，計有實驗組49名學生以及控制組36名學生參與本研究。在學期初時實施前測，由兩組受試者自我評量三項演講能力：言詞能力、聲音能力、肢體能力。之後實驗組接受戲劇相關活動訓練，並在校外以學童為對象進行英語戲劇公演。戲劇公演後實施後測，由兩組受試者自我評量三項演講能力。結果發現，在戲劇公演之後，實驗組聲音方面的能力與控制組有顯著差異，但言詞能力無顯著差異。值得注意的是，在前測時肢體能力表現較弱的實驗組學生，其後測中的肢體能力進步幅度，與前測時在這方面領先的受試者相互比較，呈現顯著進步。本文結論為，英語戲劇公演對大學英語系學生，特別是對一開始肢體語言呈落後狀態的學習者，在非言語表達能力方面大有助益，應能幫助學生在社交及工作生涯中成為稱職的演講溝通者。

並列關鍵字

英語演講 ； 英語戲劇公演 ； 演講能力 ； 非言語表達