Drama at the Heart of English: Transforming Practice in the Secondary Classroom

Drama at the Heart of English is unique in its exploration of drama’s potential to revitalise English  as a secondary school subject. It focuses specifically on the value and  inclusive nature of educational drama practices in the reading of  literary, dramatic and multimodal texts in the English classroom.

Examples  from the authors’ research show English teachers working in the  drama-in-English mode with real learners as part of their everyday  classroom activity. Challenging current curriculum and assessment  constraints, the authors argue that drama-in-English pedagogy  re-establishes English as a creative, imaginative and interactive  subject. This book:

• offers a blend of theory and practice to demonstrate the powerful potential of drama-in-English
• proposes  that drama is a uniquely sustainable form of learning in English when  fully integrated into the daily work of classroom teachers
• highlights the intrinsic connection that exists between drama and the playful qualities of literary texts
• analyses  landmark moments and key policy shifts that have shaped the development  of the relationship between drama and English over time

This  resource is for all educators interested in and passionate about the  field of English and Language Arts. It is a must-read for the  international academic community of researchers, practitioners,  teacher-educators and teachers of English, as well as student-teachers  of English/Media/Drama.