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ACADEMIC ESSAY

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
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

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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 nonverbal 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
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,

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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 peoples 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.

6.0 REFERENCES

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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, and
Stimulate 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.