scholarly journals The praxis of Dorothy Heathcote: A paradigm in its own right?

2017 ◽  
pp. 79-88
Author(s):  
Amanda Kipling
Keyword(s):  
Dorothy Heathcote

Standing in Dorothy’s Shoes: What Can Language Teachers Learn from Dorothy Heathcote? Part One: Where Dorothy Came From, What She Did, and How It Can Support Language Development

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-12
Author(s):  
Ben Cowburn
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Process Drama ◽  
Drama Education ◽  
Educational Drama ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Dorothy Heathcote ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Many

From the 1960s onwards, Dorothy Heathcote became a highly influential figure in UK drama education. Her practice, based around unscripted, participatory dramas in which students were often guided by a teacher working ‘in role’, helped to shape the way drama is taught in schools today, particularly within the process drama approach. Influenced by a range of educational theorists and practitioners, Heathcote developed a style of educational drama that she saw as being distinct from ‘theatre’, and more concerned with experiencing drama than performing it. To this end, she developed a number of dramatic techniques, such as ‘Teacher in Role’ and ‘Mantle of the Expert’, to help students inhabit dramatic contexts and learn through the direct imagined experience of a particular place, time or problem to be solved. These techniques have much to offer language teaching, particularly when communication is the main goal. Placing students in dramatic contexts is claimed to enhance motivation and engagement and lead to more truly authentic communication than is often found in language classrooms. Using a framework based on Heathcote’s techniques, and those developed by other process drama educators, language teachers can begin to explore the many benefits drama can offer language learners.

Dorothy Heathcote: Drama as Therapy?

Dramatherapy ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-17
Keyword(s):  
Recent Book ◽  
Dorothy Heathcote

John Hands extended book review on Betty Jane Wagner's recent book on Dorothy Heathcote's work.

Standing in Dorothy’s Shoes: What Can Language Teachers Learn from Dorothy Heathcote? Part Two: Process Drama and Language Teachers

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-20
Author(s):  
Ben Cowburn
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Process Drama ◽  
Expert Teacher ◽  
Level Of Use ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Dorothy Heathcote ◽  
Teachers Attitudes ◽  
High Level ◽  
Potential Use

To explore language teachers’ attitudes to using drama activities, and to determine the level of use and understanding of process drama techniques in language classrooms, a survey was carried out. The results showed a high level of support for the benefits many theorists and researchers have claimed for the use of drama activities in language learning. They also showed that process drama techniques were used to a lesser extent than activities such as warm­up games and scripted role­plays. Following the survey, a workshop was planned, to explore language teachers’ responses to using process drama­based techniques. The workshop was designed to include a number of process drama activities, including Mantle of the Expert, Teacher in Role, Tableau and Improvisation. The feedback from the workshop showed enthusiasm for these techniques, and for their potential use in language teaching.

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