Drama as Pedagogy for English Language Education in Neoliberalist Hong Kong: Reflections from Students’ Learning English Through Drama 新自由主義下香港學生透過戲劇學習英語的反思
Abstract
The authors have observed from related literature and their own front-line English teaching experiences that neoliberalism is posing adverse effects on English language Education (ELE), affecting English teaching and learning at the classroom level in Hong Kong. To address the adverse neoliberalist influence on ELE, this paper examines the relations between drama pedagogy and ELE in Hong Kong. It discusses findings from students’ experiences with learning English through drama as delivered by their teachers who experienced the drama pedagogy for the first time through an in-service teacher development programme organised by Hong Kong Arts School (HKAS, 2016). The discussion is informed by the Freirean notion of critical pedagogy and drama as “relational pedagogy”. At the end of the paper, the authors reflect on the possibilities of a dialogical and humanising approach to ELE for drama practitioners, English teachers and educators in Hong Kong.
Keywords: neoliberalism, English language education, drama as relational pedagogy, critical pedagogy
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