Adapting Classroom Materials Using Process Drama Strategies

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Adapting Classroom
Materials Using Process
Drama Strategies
Article December 2013
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Haeok Park
International Graduate School of English
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Foreign Languages Education, 20(4), 2013
Adapting Classroom Materials Using

Process Drama Strategies*
Hae-ok Park
4)
Park, Hae-ok. (2013). Adapting classroom materials using process

drama strategies. Foreign Languages Education, 20(4), 91-120.
This study explores a group of 26 Korean EFL secondary teachers'
experience with process drama during an intensive teacher training
program conducted in the spring of 2013. The drama session consisted
of five two-hour classes which introduced the main features of process
drama by implementing it with the participants. Questionnaires,
trainees' reflections, trainee's adaptation materials and researcher's
teaching log were used to find out how the teachers perceived process
drama and in what ways they wanted to adapt it in their teaching
context. The result of the study shows that all of the teachers want to
use process drama techniques in their classroom since it offers
meaningful context as well as engaging atmosphere for the students to
communicate spontaneously. The combination of tableau and
thought-tracking is regarded as the most useful technique to adapt
their classroom materials because it would provide opportunities not
only to practice productive skills but also to develop creativity. More
teacher training program and teaching materials about process drama
were suggested to be developed for the convenient use of teachers.
[materials adaptation/process drama/teacher training,
, , ]
* This paper was supported by International Graduate School of English in 2013.
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Hae-ok Park
I. Introduction
The importance of adapting ELT classroom materials cannot be overemphasized
as every classroom is unique, and it is almost impossible to satisfy every member
of a class using only one kind of teaching materials over an entire course
(Cunningsworth, 1995; Hong & Kim, 2011; Islam & Mares, 2003; McDonough,
Shaw, & Masuhara, 2013; McGrath, 2002). According to Cunningsworth (1995),
each teaching/learning context is unique due to a range of factors, including
classroom dynamics, the people involved, the chosen syllabus, and the learners
motivations and expectations.
The idea of it being impossible to meet teaching goals using only a published
coursebook has resulted in conflicting opinions about even one's use (Allwright,
1981; Brumfit, 1979; Nunan, 1988; Ur, 1996). For instance, Allwright (1981) claimed
that "the management of language learning is too far complex to be satisfactorily
catered for by pre-packaged set of decisions embodied in teaching materials" (p.
9). As an alternative, he recommended active learner training and teacher training
to yield more highly prolific results in L2 learning instead of relying on a
commercially published coursebook.
ONeill (1982), however, argued in favor of using a coursebook on the condition
that its use be limited to a "jumping-off point" for teachers and the class.
According to O'Neill, a great deal of the core teaching in a class should initiate
with the coursebook but end outside it, in improvisation and adaptation, in
spontaneous interaction in the class and the development from that interaction (p.
110). This idea supports using process drama techniques when adapting classroom
materials in Korean secondary classrooms. Since Korean in-service teachers
should teach classes consisting of varied language levels using the same text,
knowing how to adapt a textbook to their current students' needs and wants is
necessarily an important part of their work.
The effective use of process drama in L2 classrooms has been reported by a
number of researchers outside Korea (e.g., Dunn & Stinson, 2011; Kao, Carkin, &
Hsu, 2011; Kao & ONeill, 1998; Piazolli, 2011; Rothwell, 2011; Stinson, 2008;
Stinson & Freebody, 2006), and recently inside of Korea studies have examined the
effectiveness of process drama in Korean EFL classrooms (e.g., Hong, 2011; Kim,
J. S., 2012; Kim, M. D., 2012; Kim, S. Y., 2013; Lee, 2013; Park, 2006, 2010, 2012).
Adapting Classroom Materials Using Process Drama Strategies
93
For instance, Park (2010, 2012) described how she adapted classroom materials in
order to implement a process drama in a Korean EFL middle school classroom.
The study, however, focused on analyzing classroom discourse to discover how
teacher questioning changes from one classroom environment to another: from her
regular class to her process drama class. However, in spite of the number of
studies conducted, a rationale and approaches for adapting classroom materials by
using process drama have not been appropriately explored.
Furthermore, as Park (2012) indicated, the majority of Korean English teachers
are not aware of process drama and its effectiveness in teaching and learning
English since only a few teacher training programs offer courses about process
drama. According to the 2009 revised national curriculum, the improvement of
English speaking and writing ability is one of the four issues which should be
emphasized in the English classroom.
Regarding the improvement of students' productive skills, Park & Park (2013)
recommended increasing opportunities to practice speaking and writing in class not
practicing each skill separately but rather by integrating the four language skills in
tasks. However, how can teachers integrate all four language skills in their classes
unless their text books provide appropriate materials? (Rha & Song, 2010) In fact,
without knowing how to adapt the given materials to match their students' needs
and wants, successful language teaching would not occur. This study, therefore,
explores a group of secondary English teachers' experience with process drama
aiming to investigate the possibility of using it in their classroom, and finally to
help them to adapt their textbook materials according to their students' needs and
wants using process drama.
II. Literature Review

1. Process Drama and L2 Learning
Process drama is a process-oriented drama approach where teacher and
students cooperate to create dramatic elsewheres by responding to a pretext or a
given context. Bowell & Heap (2013) defined process drama as follows;
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Hae-ok Park
Process drama is a term used to describe the type of drama in which

performance to an external audience is absent but presentation to the
internal audience is essential. Whereas in some other ways of
working, the meaning is made by the theoretical ensemble of actors,
playwright, director and designers and communicated to a watching
audience, in process drama the participants, together with the teacher,
constitute the theoretical ensemble and engage in drama to make the
meaning for themselves. (Bowell & Heap, 2013, p. 6)
Process drama first appeared in the second language teaching arena in the
1990s and has been slowly receiving more attention from language teachers and
learners with the increasing number of research studies both outside and inside
Korea. The main features of process drama, represented as absent of script, an
episodic structure, an extended time frame, and an integral audience (ONeill,
1995, p. xvii), clarify the difference from traditional drama techniques, many of
which have been used in L2 classrooms, such as scripted role-play or dramatized
story.
Kao and ONeill (1998) illustrated the difference between drama approaches in
the L2 classroom by placing them on a continuum from the controlled approaches
of the scripted role-play to the open communication of process drama. Unlike other
drama approaches, process drama offers new learning contexts allowing both
teacher and learners to experience different roles, attitudes and perspectives. In
fact, a teacher plays a special role in process drama by performing a drama
convention known as teacher-in-role. By changing identities through moving in
and out of roles, a teacher leads and facilitates learners in drama, and she
functions not only as a facilitator but also as a co-maker of drama. Kao and
ONeill (1998) argue that teacher-in-role drastically changes the classroom from
the typical discourse approach of display or restricted questions, to a place where
teachers and students interact inside the drama (Park, 2012) and transform the
classroom discourse into authentic conversation. Likewise, it offers different
interaction patterns and learning experience to participants from those of their
previous L2 learning.
Park (2010) described a beginning scene of process drama that was conducted
in a Korean EFL secondary classroom where a teacher invited her students to a
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dramatic elsewhere by playing in role.

Here is a group of Korean middle-school students who are excitedly
waiting for the drama to begin. No scripts to memorize and no
costumes to wear. They have just heard that they are going to do a
drama activity and the drama will start when the teacher wears a
cap, glasses or a scarf. Suddenly, the teacher puts on a cap and talks
to the class. Hi guys, Im Jay, the hotel receptionist. You remember
me? You probably heard about my story, right? At that moment the
students realize that the teacher has become Jay, the hotel
receptionist in the story who kicked President Jefferson out of a
luxury hotel because he was wearing dirty clothes. Having read the
story in the previous class, they all quickly notice what the teacher is
talking about. (Park, 2010, p. 155)
As described above, immediately after the teacher changes her identity into a
role in the drama, the whole class moves to a place where everybody in the
classroom experience a new identity in a new context. In doing so, the drama
magically transforms the classroom into a public performance stage where
teachers and students interact, experience and develop their thinking and speaking
skills through negotiation and reflection of each others opinions and viewpoints
(Kao & O'Neill, 1998; Park, 2012).
Considering the effectiveness of process drama in L2 classrooms, Hong (2011)
developed process drama materials using a chapter from middle school freshmen
English textbook and received a positive response from the students after piloting
the materials. Notably, students who exhibited little interest in English class
showed greater enthusiasm during the drama class.
Similarly, Kim (2012) carried out a research to find out how much improvement
and impact process drama can give to Korean high school first year students.
Toward that goal, she adapted two lessons from her textbook using process drama
techniques and implemented the lessons with two different levels of students. The
post-test results showed that the participants' learning accomplishment was
higher than the pre-test.
Lee (2012) developed not only process drama materials for a Korean middle
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Hae-ok Park
school English classroom but also a teacher's manual using questioning

techniques, which were categorized into confirming, informing, and inspiring
questions. The piloting of the materials shows that students improved in terms of
their productive skills, speaking and writing, and felt confident and enjoyed
communicating in English throughout each process drama class. However, despite
the positive results of recent studies of process drama in Korean EFL secondary
classrooms, studies about process drama teacher training has been rarely reported
(Park, 2012). This study, therefore, attempts to establish a process drama teacher
training course for Korean secondary teachers confirming its necessity and utility
to help them adapt their classroom materials and, as a result, maximize their
students' opportunities to learn English communicatively.
2. Adaptation Principles and Techniques

The adaptation stage normally comes after adoption of a textbook (McDonough
et al., 2013). Once decided on which textbook to use, a teacher starts to think
about how to implement the chosen materials for the specific learner group. Byrd
(2001) states that after adoption, the basic question for implementation would be
How do I as a teacher working with particular students in a particular class in a
particular program make this book work to ensure effective and interesting
lessons? (p. 418). As Madsen and Bowen (1978) ascertain that "the good teacher
is constantly adapting" (p. vii), since the scope of adaptation comprises a wide
range of activities from adding a simple exercise to responding to the raised
eyebrows of his students.
Systematic ways of adapting ELT materials have been suggested by a number
of researchers (e.g., Cunningsworth, 1995; Islam & Mares, 2003; Madsen & Bowen,
1978; Maley, 2011; McDonough et al., 2013; McGrath, 2002; Richards, 1985;
Saraceni, 2003; Tomlinson, 2003; Ur, 1996). McDonough et al. (2013), for instance,
summarized the principles of adapting materials into four basic concepts such as
personalizing, individualizing, localizing and modernizing. According to these
researchers, based on these four concepts we can utilize adaptation techniques and
these techniques can be applied to contents areas such as language practice, texts,
skills, and classroom management.
Maley (2011) exemplified nine generalizable pedagogical procedures for adapting
97
or designing materials. He called them flexi-materials that could be used flexibly

whenever a teacher needed to provide learners with materials that did not fit their
levels or interests. The suggested procedures are expansion, reduction, media
transfer, matching, selection/ranking, comprehension/contrast, reconstruction,
reformulation, interpretation, creating text, analysis, and project work. These
procedures can be applied not only to short written raw materials such as diary
entry, short poems, or prayers but also pictorial material or audio recordings.
Similarly, Saraceni (2003) presented a range of key features in adapting materials
that are represented as learner-centered, flexibility and choice, open-ended,
relevant, universal, and authentic. Her views on materials adaptation, which are
exemplified and illustrated in her adapted materials (p. 80), interestingly, coincide
in many respects with the procedures in the principled framework of the
text-driven approach by Tomlinson (2003). Both Saraceni (2003) and Tomlinson
(2003) recognized that literature is a good resource for teaching materials as it
stimulates human feelings in an authentic manner and helps learners not only
communicate but also express themselves.
They also noted that the topic of the selected materials should be universally
appealing and culturally provoking but at the same time be present in all
cultures (Saraceni, 2003, p. 77). The importance of the selected topics has been
emphasized repeatedly, because affective and cognitive engagement is essential in
SLA (Anderson, 1993; Arnold, 1999; Green, 1993; Masuhara, 2003; Pavlenko, 2005;
Schumann, 1999; Tomlinson 2003, 2013). According to Tomlinson (2013), learners
who learn language through emotional responses such as smile, feel joy, feel
excited, and feel empathetic, and cognitive engagement such as inferencing,
connecting, predicting, and evaluating will have more possibility to acquire
communicative competence than learners who learn language without any
stimulation (p. 12). Teachers, therefore, should be aware of the importance of
thinking and feeling in the process of acquiring the second language since it
facilitates deep processing and eventually leads to second language acquisition.
Not many materials, however, appear to encourage learners to think and feel in
the process of acquiring an additional language. Knowing and implementing
adaptation techniques, which help learners feel and think, therefore, will play an
important role in L2 learning and teaching. Since process drama invites learners
not only to feel but also to express and communicate their feelings in a meaningful
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Hae-ok Park
situation (Kao & O'Neill, 1998; Park, 2012), using process drama techniques to
adapt classroom materials could provide opportunities for learners to acquire
language not only by feeling and thinking but also in multi-dimensional ways such
as miming or creating a still-images.
III. Methodology
The researcher carried out this study as the instructor of a course attempting to
improve current Korean secondary English classrooms by investigating the
participants' on-going reflections, questionnaire results, adapted materials
completed by the participants, and instructor's teaching log throughout the course.
1. Participants
The participants in this study are a group of 26 secondary English in-service
teachers from Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education. They participated in an
intensive teacher training program that started the first of March, 2013, and
finished at the end of August, 2013. The training program consists of two months
of training at Gyeonggi-do Institute of Foreign Language Education, three months
of training at a domestic university and one month of training at an overseas
university. This study was conducted during the three months of training at a
domestic university. The participants' teaching experience ranged from 13 teachers
with 5-10 years of teaching experience, 10 teachers with 10-15 years of teaching
experience and up to three teachers with more than 15 years of teaching
experience (see TABLE 1).
TABLE 1
Teaching Experience
Frequency
Percent
less than 5 years
5-10 years
13
50.0
10-15 years
10
38.5
more than 15 years
11.5
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Prior to the drama session, the first questionnaire was conducted (see Appendix
1). It mainly asked about the participants' teaching experience and their awareness
of process drama. Regarding the awareness of process drama, only two teachers
answered that they had learned about process drama before but their knowledge is
considered basic, and the other teachers answered that this is the first time for
them to encounter process drama or that they had heard about it but do not know
what it is. Nobody answered that they had learned about it or had experimented
with process drama with their students (see TABLE 2).
TABLE 2
Awareness of Process Drama
Frequency
Percent
20
76.9
I heard about it but I do not know what it is
15.4
I learned about it but my knowledge is basic
7.7
I learned about it and I tried it with my students
This is the first time I heard about process drama
Regarding the question about teaching English in a communicative way in high

school classrooms (Ministry of Education, Science & Technology, 2011), the
majority of the teachers answered positively, only two teachers answered that they
disagree with the idea (see TABLE 3).
Considering the positive answers about teaching communicatively in their
classrooms and the participants' willingness to implement innovative ways to
teach English in their classrooms (see TABLE 4), their answers about how often
they use improvisational role-play in their classrooms reveals a large contrast (see
TABLE 5). More than half of the teachers answered that they rarely use it or they
haven't done so yet. Three teachers added in the questionnaire that they want to
use improvisational role-play with their students but they do not know how to
implement it. There were some other comments such as 'if the textbook guided
me to use improvisational role-play, I would use it regularly' and 'I did a musical
with my students and after learning about process drama I want to open a drama
club in my school'.
In sum, the participants wanted and needed to learn about how to use drama
techniques effectively in their classrooms, and they were ready to explore new
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Hae-ok Park
teaching techniques such as process drama during the teacher training session.
TABLE 3
Teaching High School English in a Communicative Way
Frequency
Percent
Strongly Agree
26.9
Agree
17
65.4
Disagree
7.7
Strongly Disagree
TABLE 4
Willingness to Use Innovative Ways of Teaching
English
Frequency
Percent
I love implementing innovative ways to teach

English in my classroom
14
53.8
I like the idea of using innovative ways but I don't

use them in my class
12
46.2
I don't use innovative methods because most of

them are not appropriate for my students
I don't like innovative methods or techniques
TABLE 5
Using Improvisational Role-play in the Class
Frequency
Percent
I did it regularly
3.8
I did it sometimes
26.9
I did it rarely
13
50.0
I haven't done it so far.
19.2
2. Research Aims and Data Collection

The study was conducted from May 3 to June 24 of 2013 during an intensive
101
teacher training program at a teacher training institute in Seoul. The drama course
was composed of five two-hour classes, and the data was collected from
questionnaires, participants' learning reflections, the instructor's teaching log, and
participants' adapted material completed in class. The study schedule is detailed in
TABLE 6.
The questionnaires were administered twice, one at the beginning of the course
and the other at the end of the course. Regarding the learning reflections, the
participants were asked to write three times at the end of the classes and each
learning rationale asks three questions: (1) 'What were the three most important
things you took away from today's lesson? And why do you think so?' (2) 'How
would you apply today's lesson to your own class?' and (3) 'Is there any
suggestion about today's lesson?' The instructor kept a teaching log to fulfil her
role as a reflective practitioner (Schn, 1983).
The main aim of this research is to explore the teachers' experiences with
process drama and to investigate how much they are able to increase their
awareness of process drama through the training course. Consequently, the
researcher wanted to find out which process drama strategy they regarded as the
most adaptable for their teaching context and how and why they would adapt it.
Additionally, the possible challenges in implementing process drama will be
discussed.
TABLE 6
Study Schedule
Class Date
Topic
Classroom Activities
Collected Data
1st class
May 3
Introduction to
process drama
Lecture & group work

Performing a process drama:
AJAY'S STORY
Questionnaire 1
Learning Reflection 1
Teaching Log
2nd class
May 24
Process drama &

language learning

TINA'S STORY
Teaching Log
3rd class
May 31
Process drama
conventions
4th class
Jun. 14
Adapting textbook
using process
drama

Teaching Log
A BOY WHO CRIED WOLF
Adapting textbook materials:
THAT'S REAL BARGAIN!
Teaching Log
Adapted Materials
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Hae-ok Park
5th class
Jun 24
Readers' theatre &

course review

Performing a readers' theater:
THE THREE WISHES
Questionnaire 2
IV. Results
1. The Most Adaptable Process Drama Strategy
After experiencing three process dramas, the second questionnaire was
administered. The participants were asked which drama strategy would be most
adaptable for their teaching context and why they thought so. The combination of
tableau and thought-tracking was selected by 18 participants, role-on-the-wall
was chosen by six, writing-in-role by four, and questioning-in-role by three.
Because a few participants selected more than one strategy, 31 answers were
counted from among the 26 participants' answers.
1) Tableau to Enhance Reading Comprehension, Creativity, and Motivation
Tableau is a drama strategy that is also known by a range of other names such
as group sculpture, freeze-frame, photograph, frozen picture or still image
(Fleming, 2011; Kelner & Flynn, 2006). Groups create "an image using their bodies
to crystalize a moment, an idea or a theme" in a tableau (Neelands & Goode, 2000,
p. 25). It is commonly used in conjunction with another drama strategy named
thought-tracking defined as follows;
Thought-tracking reveals publicly the private thought or reactions of
participants-in-role at specific moments in the action so as to
develop a reflective attitude towards the action and to contrast
thinking-for-self with outward appearances or dialogue. Action may
be frozen and participants 'tapped for thoughts', or thoughts may be
prepared to go with the presentation of a still-image (Neelands &
Goode, 2000, p. 91).
Ajay's story, the first process drama in this study, ended with creating an
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ending scene using tableau and thought-tracking. The participants were asked to
imagine what would happen to the family of the Indian boy, Ajay, whose family
came to live in Korea. However, recently, his father was fired from the factory
where he was supposed to work for four more years, and his sister felt sick from
leukemia which requires urgent operation. After experiencing a range of tasks
such as role-on-the-wall, teacher-in-role, and questioning-in-role in the form of
TV talk show, the participants were asked to create ending scenes imagining what
might happen to the family of Ajay using tableau and thought-tracking.
The second process drama, Tina's story, also ended in a tableau and
thought-tracking in groups. Adopted by an American family when she was a
baby, a 22 year-old-Korea-born girl Tina, wanted to find her biological mother,
and the drama unfolded by going through a range of drama strategies and
pre-tasks. The final activity was also creating a tableau and thought-tracking by
representing what might happen to Tina.
Likewise, the third process drama, the boy who cried wolf and its epilogue,
ended with a tableau about what might happen to the shepard boy who cried wolf.
The drama started with the shepard boy who lived with his mother and had a
lonely, miserable life, needing attention from others. That's why he shouted twice
without expecting the real wolf to come so soon. From this terrible incident, he
was forced to leave the village because of the villagers anger and distrust. The
drama started with the villagers looking back at the boy's lonely life and realizing
that he was only a little boy who needed company. After carrying out several
drama strategies, the combination of tableau and thought-tracking was performed
by the participants representing what might happen to the shepard boy.
The results of the questionnaire and the learning reflections showed that tableau
would be the most adaptable strategy for their classroom contexts. The following
table illustrates the coding results of the answers of the participants' questionnaire
(see TABLE 7). Because a few participants pointed out more than one reason,
those answers were coded more than once according to relevance.
TABLE 7
Reasons for Using Tableau to Adapt Textbook
Reason
No.
helps Ss to be good for

good for
convenient
motivating
fun cooperative
expressive
creativity post-reading
to do
5
5
5
3
3
3
1
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Hae-ok Park
Among the reasons offered by participants, one answer showed a specific plan
for using tableau in a future classroom.
I have been teaching middle school students for seven years and I've
been managing the English musical club since 2012. For my own
situation in normal English class, tableau is the most suitable
strategy for post reading activity, because students may be involved
to make a creative tableau after reading comprehension. For my
musical club, I want my musical club students to create their own
process drama using TV interview or hot-seating. Actually, I want
to make the six-month project including various strategies (middle
school teacher M).
Some teachers pointed out the passive and static learning environment of the
Korean secondary English classroom showing the possibility of changing in the
learning atmosphere using tableau.
Most students aspire to get engaged in fun activities in class. They
don't want to sit straight up looking at the board all the way of
class. To get students involved in 'text' and 'class' at the same
time, teacher will utilize tableau & thought-tracking at certain stage
of lessons (high school teacher K).
One high school teacher's thought on the benefit of using a tableau in her class
summarized a comprehensive opinion about its possibility of use.
In tableau, each student takes a role and shares what he/she learns.
This has two obvious advantages. One is we can cover long text
(many contents) or information in a short time without losing any
part. The other is we can teach responsibility and cooperation as well
as language skills simultaneously (high school teacher S).
2) Role-on-the-wall to Encourage Writing in a Meaningful Context
Role-on-the-wall is a drama strategy that is used to explore or develop a
105
character. An important role is represented in picture or diagram form, and the

participants in groups of four or five fill out the diagram imagining the possible
relationships the selected role would have with others in the drama. In this study,
role-on-the-wall was used in every process drama; in Ajay story, the participants
explored the character of Ajay using a role-on-the-wall diagram and later shared
their picture with the other groups'. In Tina's story, they investigated the role of
Tina and in the boy who cried wolf they examined the role of the shepard boy.
The questionnaire results revealed that the participants found it a useful writing
tool for their students since it provided a safer, meaningful and engaging context
for them to write something (see TABLE 8).
TABLE 8
Reasons for Using Role-on-the-Wall to Adapt Textbook
Reason
No.
convenient to use
in class
3
offer meaningful writing good post-reading good for

context
task
creativity
3
1
1
Some comments about the possible benefits of using role-on-the-wall in their

classes follow.
Role-on-the-wall makes students think about a main character and
other surrounding people's thought. So it will help students
understand other position and situation. Also it enhances students'
creativity and improves their writing skill. Even though there are so
many students in one class, writing activity is the most suitable
activity in class (middle school teacher, A).
I think role-on-the-wall is the most useful in English classroom. I
can apply this strategy into any kind of text. According to the genre
of the reading text, there are informative, descriptive, fairy tale, or
story. I can use this strategy for students to summarize the contents,
analyze the problems, compare good points with bad points, and
systematize in a big picture. It's definitely useful for post-reading
activity (middle school teacher, G).
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Hae-ok Park
3) Writing-in-role and Questioning-in-role to Motivate Productive Skills

In Ajay's story, the participants were asked to write a letter to a community
center from Ajay's perspective. They wrote a letter in pair and later shared their
letters with the class. In Tina's story, participants pretended to be Tina, and they
were asked to write a letter to Tina's adoptive parents telling them that she
wanted to find her biological mother. After completing the letter, they exchanged
the letters with another pair and did an improvisational role-play as Tina's
parents after receiving the letter. In the boy who cried wolf, the participants
became the shepard boy and wrote a good bye letter to his mother.
The questionnaire results showed that the participants thought a writing-in-role
activity a good way of practice writing because it easily invites students into the
given context by allowing them to take on a role. By taking on a role, all the
surrounding information becomes a valuable source for writing, and they feel freer
in writing from a different identity and not as themselves. The following
comments explain about how the teachers felt about writing-in-role in drama.
Based on the reading section, students can write about something
they want to say in brief. To do this, they have to understand the
text and the character who they pretend to be. It will be a memorable
experience and good for approaching writing activities (high school
teacher, S).
Writing is a demanding skill. To relieve the students' stress, it will
be helpful to give a specific purpose to write. By being in a certain
role, they can be more motivated to write (high school teacher, H).
Questioning-in-role was used in the study in the form of TV interview in
Ajay's story. Teacher-in-role as a TV host invites Ajay's mother and father to
the talk show, and the other participants became audience who were invited as
professionals wanting to help Ajay's family. Prior to the TV talk show, the
audience group were asked to create questions to ask to Ajay's parents, and make
one solution to help Ajay's family. In Tina's story, questioning-in-role was
conducted in the form of hot-seating. Tina's adoptive parents sat on hot-seat and
107
the rest of the teachers became other adoptive parents who also had a similar
experience about their adopted child. The instructor's teaching log describes the
hot-seating of Tina's parents as follows;
Today's highlight was the hot-seating of Tina's parents. D and P
were Tina's parents, and the other teachers became other adoptive
parents who had similar problems. I gave them some time to create
questions in advance. Honestly, I was worried about how D and P
would act out because they looked shy and introverted. Surprisingly,
the two teachers acted as if they were real Tina's adoptive parents,
and everybody was really surprised. I think it's the power of process
drama. It changes people right away. Thanks to their authentic
acting, today's hot-seating progressed successfully.
In a similar fashion, the teachers thought that questioning-in-role is an
effective tool for creating communicative classroom atmosphere because the
students feel easier to express their feeling as a character than as themselves. One
teacher's comment on hot-seating experience shows the possible use of
hot-seating in her class.
Students can get involved in the character's emotional state and try
to deliver message they want to say. This has two benefits: first,
they can live vicariously the characters so they understand others
well. second, they can improve their learning autonomy because they
have to speak in English in the character's position (high school
teacher, D).
2. Challenging Factors to Implement Process Drama

From the teachers' learning reflections and the questionnaire answers, several
barriers to implementing process drama in their classrooms were found. Since the
teacher's role in process drama is more active than that of conventional teachers',
and it requires spontaneous and instant responses to students' talk or action, some
teachers found it difficult and challenging to deal with.
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Hae-ok Park
Classroom management in process drama was anticipated as a big challenge by

a number of teachers as well. Since the number of students in a class exceeds 40,
and the gap of students' English proficiency levels in a class is wide, several
teachers noted how difficult it would be to give equal chances to speak English
using drama to all the students.
Choosing a suitable drama topic for teenagers and developing process drama
materials were thought challenging as well. Students' passive learning attitudes
were brought up by some teachers to be a further challenge in implementing
process drama. TABLE 9 summarizes the anticipated barriers to implementing
process drama in Korean secondary classes.
TABLE 9
Challenging Factors to Implement Process Drama in Class
Factors teacher-in-role
No.
classroom finding topics

motivating
it's not
management & materials students to act challenging at all
6
5
5
3
V. Discussion
Willis and Willis (2007) argued that one of the most important things about
task-based-teaching is promoting learners' confidence by offering them "plenty of
opportunities to use language in the classroom without being constantly afraid of
making mistakes" (p. 2). Based on this idea, they emphasized the important role of
meaning in language because "in the course of meaning-focused activity learners
naturally focus on language for themselves" (p. 4). Their ideas on task-based
lesson, therefore, center on not a single task but a sequence of tasks since going
through a range of tasks progressing with the same topic gives learners more
opportunities to use language in a meaningful context.
The structured approach provided by Willis and Willis (2007) demonstrated their
emphasis on sequencing tasks in which learners are required to process language
for meaning. A proposed sample activity starts with teacher-led instruction and
learners processing language for meaning, responding to teacher's priming. It is
very much similar to sequencing strategies in process drama. In process drama, a
teacher commonly starts the drama in a role informing and inviting learners to the
drama context. By using a range of strategies, learners' involvement in drama
109
progresses allowing them to express and communicate their ideas with one
another. In the meantime, a number of opportunities to practice and use the target
language take place. This is clearly shown in the adapted materials by the
teachers (see TABLE 10). After experiencing three process dramas, the teachers
were asked to adapt a reading text from one of the authorized high school
textbook (for the given text see Appendix C). Considering the materials adapted
by the teachers during this study, one can notice how frequently learners have
opportunities to use the language in a meaningful context while participating in the
drama. As can be seen in TABLE 10, prior to conducting each drama strategy,
students are required to prepare the next stage by collaborating with their group
members, consequently, they use language practicing the prepared expressions or
ideas in the drama. Since this is designed as a post-reading activity, background
knowledge about the story and basic expressions were already covered in previous
lessons.
From the classroom discussions and learning reflections, it was revealed that
the teachers had been looking for suitable ways to adapt their textbook materials
for their classrooms. Since their classes are composed of students of various
proficiency levels. in order to satisfy as many students as possible in the class,
they agreed that teachers need to know various ways of adapting the given
materials. In that sense, learning and experiencing about process drama provided
them with an inspiring and eye-opening experience since for the most of the
teachers this training session was their first experience with process drama.
The instructor's teaching log revealed that the teachers enjoyed changing into
new identities in drama regardless of their personal traits. Some teachers looked
introverted and serious; however, when they took on a role in drama, their acting
was real, and they looked like different people. This was repeatedly observed
during the class, especially when they were doing questioning-in-role. In this
study, questioning-in-role was done in the form of hot-seating or TV talk show,
and every time the teachers took on a new role, they easily moved into the role,
and enjoyed acting out.
Unlike the first questionnaire results, in the learning reflections and the second
questionnaire, all of the teachers were not only willing to use process drama
strategies in their classes but also looking forward to using them as soon as
possible.
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Hae-ok Park
TABLE 10
Adapted Materials by Trainees Using Process Drama
Group
Procedure
Teacher's Action
Teacher introduces
Preparing for
hot-seating and assign
hot-seating
three roles (Mr. Jones,
(in the form
expert, and professor), to
of TV show)
three student.
Performing Teacher hosts a TV talk
TV Talk
show introducing the
Show
guests.
Teacher asks Ss to
create tableau &
Preparing for
thought-tracking about
tableau
what will happen to the
ending of the story.
Teacher invites each
Performing
group to the front and
tableau
tableau performance
continues.
Teacher asks Ss in
group to conduct
Role-on-therole-on-the-wall
wall
assigning each group a
role to develop.
Teacher asks Ss to
choose which
Choosing who
role-on-the-wall
is who
represents who in the
story.
Teacher assigns parts of
Preparing for
the text to each group to
tableau
create tableau.
Teacher invites each
Performing
group to the front and
tableau
tableau performance
continues.
Teacher suggests Ss to
write a letter to anyone
Writing-inin the story being one of
role
the characters of the
story
Students Action
Language
Use
The rest of the class

reading &
create questions to ask to
writing
the three invited guests.
The three guests answer speaking
the questions asked by
&
the audience.
listening
Students in group of four
discuss how to represent
reading &
the new ending of the
writing
story using tableau &
thought-tracking.
Students perform tableau
& thought-tracking in
front of the class.
speaking
&
listening

are given a role to
reading &
develop its character by
writing
doing role-on-the-wall.
Students guess who is
who by examining the
exhibiting
role-on-the-wall papers.
reading
Students discuss the

reading &
given text and design a
writing
tableau using the text.
Students perform tableau
& thought-tracking in
front of the class.
speaking
&
listening

choose a character of the
story write a letter to
any character in the story
writing
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VI. Implication and Conclusion

The three process dramas used in the training session were developed by the
researcher to introduce process drama to Korean English language learners,
especially Korean teenagers. Ajay's story was developed to give teenagers time to
reflect upon society. Since the theme of the drama is helping neighbors in need,
especially helping people who have come to Korea to work but now face troubles,
students would have the opportunity to look around their neighborhoods and
develop empathy with non-Koreans, and finally could grow to be responsible
adults. Similarly, Tina's story invites learners to consider another hot issue in
Korean society: adoption. During the drama, the participants are anticipated to
experience a range of roles such as an adopted girl Tina, Tina's adoptive parents,
Tina's friends, and even Tina's biological parents. Consequently, they are exposed
to a variety of situations and feelings. By experiencing this dilemma, students not
only use language but also grow as mature persons responsible for their own
actions.
Drama does things with words (Kao & O'Neill, 1998; Stinson & Winston, 2011).
The words in drama have special power because they convey something to do
with the story of the drama. Nothing happens in vain in drama; therefore, the
language used in drama cannot help being meaningful and authentic. Students in
drama easily feel a desire to say something because the tension and sense of
drama urge them to respond in character, and this experience as a different
identity provides an opportunity to grow as maturing people who can empathize
with others in society. It further promotes language practice in meaningful
contexts.
In that sense, exploring teachers' experiences with process drama has been an
insightful and purposeful experience for the researcher as teacher trainer. There
were some suggestions about this training course such as the length of the
session. For some teachers, five two-hour classes were not considered sufficient to
learn about process drama; they wanted more class time and more experience in
process drama. Other teachers commented that they need published materials
making use of process drama which deal with various topics suitable for Korean
teenagers. They also showed a desire to study about process drama by themselves
later. Most of the teachers commented in their reflections that they could learn a
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Hae-ok Park
variety of process drama techniques through this process drama training session,
and they felt now much more ready to teach a multi-leveled group of students. A
more interesting comment was that their students as well as they, also language
learners, want to learn English using drama techniques because now they realize
more clearly than ever that learning an additional language cannot be separated
from using it in meaningful situations. Since drama provides language learners
with enriched experiences to use the language, they believe that knowing how to
adapt textbook materials using process drama techniques would be a valuable
asset for them as English teachers.
To conclude, this study was designed to find out how secondary English
teachers would receive process drama as a textbook adapting tool aiming to
investigate the possibility of using it in their classrooms. The results showed that
all participants wanted to use process drama in adapting their classroom materials,
and among drama strategies, the combination of tableau and thought tracking was
chosen as the most adaptable technique for their teaching context. As challenging
factors to implement process drama, teacher-in-role, difficulties in classroom
management, finding materials, and motivating students to act were pointed out.
Additionally, more teacher training programs and teaching materials related to
process drama were suggested to be developed in the near future.
Improving learners' productive skills is one of the most urgent and important
issues that secondary teachers are facing. It is also one of the four issues that the
2009 revised national curriculum emphasizes. By developing more teacher training
programs about process drama, more teachers will have opportunities to learn not
only how to adapt their classroom materials but also how to develop process
drama materials for their classroom contexts, and as a result, learners could have
more opportunities to improve their productive skills by participating in drama
activities more often. As the teachers of the study commented, process drama is
insightful, new, interesting, motivating, creative, practical, convenient, authentic,
cooperative, integrating, helpful, useful, and most of all, communicative.
113
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APPENDIX A
Questionnaire 1
The following questions are designed to investigate ways to implement
process drama in the Korean EFL secondary classroom. Many thanks
for our help in advance.
1. How long have been teaching English?
a. less than 5 yrs.
b. 5-10 yrs.
c. 10-15 yrs.
d. more than 15 yrs.
2. Do you think that Korean high school students should learn English
in a communicative way?
a. Strongly agree
b. Agree
c. Disagree
d. Strongly disagree
3. Have you ever tried improvisational role-play in your classroom?
a. I did it regularly
b. I did it sometimes.
c. I did it rarely
d. I haven't done it.
4. Are you willing to use innovative ways of teachig English such as
process drama in your classroom?
a. I love implementing innovative ways to teach English in my
classroom.
b. I like the idea of using innovative ways to teach English but I
don't use them in my class.
c. I don't use innovative methods because most of them are not
appropriate for my students.
d. I don't like innovative methods or techniques.
5. What is your awareness of process drama?
a. This is the first time I heard about it.
b. I heard about it but I don't know what it is.
c. I learned about process drama but my knowledge about it is basic.
d. I learned about it and I tried it with my students.
6. Have you ever tried any drama techniques in your classroom? If
you have any, please describe how it was.
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APPENDIX B
Questionnaire about Process Drama 2
1. You developed process drama lesson by adapting the given
classroom materials. Which drama strategy do you think the most
convenient one to adapt in the Korean secondary classroom? And why
do you think the strategy is the most suitable for the Korean
students?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Teacher-in-role
Role-on-the-wall
Tableau & Thought-tracking (shoulder touch)
Writng-in-role
Questioning-in-role (Hot-seating or Interview)
You can write the reason why you think that way:
2. You observed and practiced process drama lesson which was

designed by your group members. Which aspect do you think was the
most challenging part for you to conduct the drama?
3. Do you want to use any process drama strategy in your classroom?

If you want to, write which one and why.
4. You attended four process drama classes and each class lasts 100
minutes. Do you think the length of the course is appropriate for you
to learn about process drama? If you have any suggestion about the
future course, you can write about it here.
Appendix C
Reading Text from an Authorized High School
Provided to Teachers for Adapting in this Study
That's Real Bargain!
Textbook
A man invested $3 and earned $19.5 million. No, he didn't buy a

lottery ticket. He bought a map at a thrift store where they sell
used goods inexpensively. The map turned out to be an antique of
great value.
Ed Jones often dropped by a thrift store in Indianapolis, Indiana. If he
found something valuable, he bought it and resold it to an antique
dealer. One day, while visiting the shop, Mr. Jones found nothing of
interest and started walking toward the door. Then something caught
his eye. A large map was hanging on a wall.
Mr. Jones walked over for a closer look. The map was covered with
dust. When he cleaned it with his handkerchief, he could see that it
was a color map of Paris. It looked old. On the back of the map,
someone had written the price: $3. Mr. Jones was certain that the map
was worth more than $3. He bought it, thinking could probably sell it
for $40.
Later, at home, Mr. Jones looked at the map more carefully. It was
beautiful. He decided it was worth much more than $40. The next day
Mr. Jones took the map to a professor at a nearby university. After
looking at the map for a few minutes, the professor became excited.
He said, "I've read about this map!" Then he told Mr. Jones what he
knew.
In 1671, Louis XIV, the King of France, had a cartographer make a
map of Paris. The cartographer worked on the map for four years and
produced a beautiful work of art. He made a several black and while
copies of the map. Then, he carefully colored one of the copies. The
professor said that one black and while copy of the map was in the
British Museum in London, and another was in the Bibliotheque
Nationale in Paris. The professor told Mr. Jones, "I think that you've
just found the color copy of the map in a thrift store in Indianapolis!"
The professor suggested that Mr. Jones take the map to New York
City. Experts there could tell Mr. Jones if the professor was right.
The New York experts agreed with the professor. They told Mr.
Jones that he had the only color copy of the map in the world. They
also said it was very valuable. Mr. Jones asked the experts, "How
much do you think it's worth?" "Millions," replied. "It's impossible to
say exactly how much this map is worth. It's worth whatever
someone is willing to pay for it."
Soon Mr. Jones discovered how much people were willing to pay.
Someone immediately offered him $10 million. Then someone else
offered him $12 million. The most recent offer was $19.5 million. Mr.
Jones has not decided whether he will sell his three-dolloar map at
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Hae-ok Park
that price or wait for a higher offer. He is thinking it over.

How in the world did this map find its way to a thrift store in
Indianapolis? Here is what some experts think: The map was probably
in the home of a wealthy family in France. Then a thief stole it,
perhaps during World War II. The thief sold the map to an antique
dealer in France. The French antique dealer, not knowing how much
valuable the map was, sold it to an antique dealer in Indianapolis. That
antique dealer, who also did not know its value, gave it to a neighbor.
For ten years, the map hung on a wall in the neighbor's house. Then
the neighbor got tired of it and gave it to the thrift store. The map
sat in the thrift store for months until Mr. Jones found it.
Mr. Jones was looking for a bargain when he went shopping that
day. He wanted to find something that was worth more than its price.
He paid $3 for the map, but it is worth at least $19.5 million. Now
that's a real bargain!
(Shin, Yu, Jang, & Cho, 2008, pp. 168-172)
(Examples in): English

(Applicable Languages): English
(Applicable Levels): Secondary
Hae-ok Park
Department of English Language Teaching
449-11 Sungnae-dong, Gangdong-gu, Seoul
Tel: 02-6477-5115, 010-2764-1371
E-mail: parkgeo@igse.ac.kr
Received in September, 2013
Reviewed in October, 2013
Revised version received in November, 2013

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