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Navigating Performative Language Pedagogy

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Embodying Language in Action

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Abstract

This chapter advances a four-dimensional model to navigate performative language pedagogy, considering L2 development over time and knowing-in-action. It opens with a brief overview of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) levels, and alignment with various dramatic forms in performative language pedagogy, both large-scale and small-scale. It also contemplates language assessment in process drama from a variety of perspectives. The second half of the chapter illustrates a pilot case study on teaching Italian through an embodied approach at beginner level, working with adult L2 students with intellectual disabilities. The chapter includes a process drama structure, David and Goliath, a workshop that draws on Caravaggio’s art work as pre-text to explore the tension between parents and son, as well as community and personal achievement.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The concept of mediation, as put forward in CEFR (2018), refers to mediating meaning within/across languages: “In mediation, the user/learner acts as a social agent who creates bridges and helps to construct or convey meaning, sometimes within the same language, sometimes from one language to another (cross-linguistic mediation)” (p. 105). This notion of mediation does not conceptually align with the construct of symbolic mediation in sociocultural theory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Erika Piazzoli

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  1. Erika Piazzoli
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Correspondence to Erika Piazzoli .

Workshop 7. David and Goliath

Workshop 7. David and Goliath

Description: This workshop explores the tension between parents and son, community and personal achievement.

Students’ Context—Inspiration for the workshop: This L2/drama workshop was conducted with a group of male and female adult students with intellectual disabilities, enrolled in an introductory Italian and visual arts module at the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Dublin. As we had just attended an exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland on Caravaggio’s works, the students were particularly attracted to Caravaggio’s art work.

Educational Aims: Practising basic Italian language skills, including negotiating permission in informal discussion (family context); building emotional and spatial awareness; building social skills; expressing feelings and opinions related to art work.

Pre-text: David with the Head of Goliath, by Caravaggio.

Level: A1 (CEFR).

Duration: Two hours.

Workshop 7 David and Goliath
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This chapter advanced a four-dimensional model to navigate performative language pedagogy, considering L2 development over time and knowing-in-action. It opened with a brief overview of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) levels, and alignment with various dramatic forms in performative language learning, both large-scale and small-scale. It also contemplated language assessment in process drama from a variety of perspectives. The second half of the chapter illustrated a pilot case study on teaching Italian at beginner level, working with adult L2 students with intellectual disabilities. The case study was intended as a praxial example to integrate the discussion on navigating the four dimensions of performative language pedagogy.

This chapter concludes Part II of the book. So far, we have considered the question: How can teacher/artists navigate the aesthetic dimension to facilitate performative language learning? We looked at some key concepts in aesthetic and intercultural engagement (Part I), as well as play, protection, distancing, and navigating the aesthetic dimension (Part II). In Part III we turn to performative research, grounding these themes in a research-based discussion. The next chapter offers an overview of the unique methodological challenges that I encountered during my doctoral study.

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Piazzoli, E. (2018). Navigating Performative Language Pedagogy. In: Embodying Language in Action. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77962-1_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77962-1_8

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