About the Theory and Practice of Performative Teaching and Learning
Drama pedagogy plays an increasingly important role in the field of foreign languages and is asscociated with a ‘new, performative arts-based teaching and learning culture’. This lecture serves as a more general introduction to the series of lectures at the University of Education, Freiburg, entitled "The Arts in Language Teaching - International Perspectives". It will take us back to the beginnings of drama in education and trace some of the important developments that have paved the way towards the more recent scholarly debate focusing on ‘performative teaching and learning’. Throughout the lecture the rich potential of the performative arts for language education will be highlighted and, in doing so, the lecturer will refer to his own teaching practice in German as a Foreign Language at University College Cork. Towards the end of the lecture participants will be invited to discuss questions such as: Is foreign language teaching a form of art? Can the foreign language teacher be regarded as an artist?