INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, English is one of the important needs of the human life.

It has important role in the human life. One of the reasons is English is an
international language because English has the first position in the most
used language in the world. It makes the people who want to communicate
with other people around the world have to know about English.
English in each country in the world has different role to play, such
as: first, English as a first language or English as mother tongue (EMT).
There are approximately 375 million people speak English as their first
language such as in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand,
Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, the United States, Canada, Guyana (Wello,
2008:1). Second, English as a second language (ESL). There are about 470
million to over a billion depending on how literacy or mastery is defined
and measured. The countries that use English as second language are
Botsawa, Cameroon, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, India, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi,
Malta, Mauritius, Namibia, Nauru, Nigeria, Philippines, Zimbabwe, Sierra
Leon, Singapore, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Uganda,
Western Samoa, and Zambia (Wello, 2008:1). The third, English as foreign
language (EFL), such as in China, Japan, Mexico, Indonesia, etc (Wello,
2008:2).
English in Indonesia is a foreign language; it means that English
become one of the subjects in the school, started from Elementary School,
Junior High School and Senior High School, it is known as Teaching
English as Foreign Language (TEFL). The purpose of this program is
making the Indonesian know about English and be able to use it which is an
international language. Teaching English to the students is not an easy task
to do. Many teachers teach the students without know whether the students
understand what they teach or not. The effect of this is no development
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achieved by the students. Besides that, the students also thing that English
is difficult subject to be learned, because there are many new words which
dont be understood by the students.
This reason became a burden to the teacher in order to get the main
purpose of teaching English in Indonesia. The teachers have to find an
effective way to teach English to the learner, to be more creative in teaching
and get the learners interest in learning. There are many ways can be
reached by the teacher to make the students fell comfortable in learning
English and get their interest, one of them is through drama. Drama is one
of the teaching techniques to engage the students interest in learning
English because it involves the students and bring them into the real use of
English. It will be discussed more in the discussion below.

DISCUSSION
A. Definition of Teaching

Definition from ardictionary (http://www.ardictionary.com)

Teaching is the activities of educating or instructing or
teaching; activities that impart knowledge or skill; "he
received no formal education"; "our instruction was carefully
programmed";

"good

teaching

is

seldom

rewarded"

(http://ardictionary.com)

Definition from Lott (2008: 47)

Teaching is contract between a teacher and students. This implies
that teachers and students have an agreement to give the teaching
obligations each other. He adds that teaching is bidirectional and
challenging. This is the case with a highly enthusiastic teacher - student
relationship. The common goal of teaching is always the same: learning.
Definition from Davis, James R (http://iteslj.org/)
"Teaching", in this model, is defined as the "the interaction of a
student and a teacher over a subject."2 There may be one student or several
in a class. The students can be young or old, bright or below average
intelligence, "normal" or physically challenged, highly motivated or "turned
off," rich or poor, male or female.

According to the definition of teaching above, the writer can

conclude that teaching is the activity of the teachers to transform the
knowledge, skills, and value to the learner, and interact each other to get the
goals of learning.
B. Definition of Drama
According to Susan Holden (1981 : 31)
Drama is any activity which asks the participant to portray himself in
an imaginary situation; or to portray another person in an imaginary
situation.
According to Charlyn Wessels (1987)
Drama is doing. Drama is being. Drama is such a normal thing. It is
something that we engage in daily when faced with difficult situations. You
get up in the morning with a bad headache or an attack of depression, yet
you face the day and cope with other people, pretending that nothing is
wrong [....] Getting on with our day-to-day lives requires a series of
civilised masks if we are to maintain our dignity and live in harmony with
others.
According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drama.html)
Drama is a term that comes from an Greek word meaning "action"
(Classical Greek: , drama), which is derived from "to do" (Classical
Greek: , dra). The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by
actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of
production and a collective form of reception.
According to Brainyquote

(http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/drama.html)
Drama is
a. A composition, in prose or poetry, accommodated to action, and
intended to exhibit a picture of human life, or to depict a series of
grave or humorous actions of more than ordinary interest, tending
toward some striking result. It is commonly designed to be
spoken and represented by actors on the stage.
b. A series of real events invested with a dramatic unity and interest.
c. Dramatic composition and the literature pertaining to or
illustrating it; dramatic literature.
From the definition above, can be concluded that drama is an activity
in the human life which act by actors or actress to deliver a story in front of
the audience and express the idea, emotion, and feeling.
C. Why use drama?
As explained in the introduction that teaching English is not an easy
task to do. The students are easy to feel bored caused by the lack of interest
to learn English. The teachers are asked to be more creative to teach English
to the students to avoid boredom.
One way to solve this problem is by using drama in teaching
English. Drama releases imagination and energy and this could be
considered as an educational objective. Drama also encourages students to
exercise their sensitivity and imagination and thus makes learning more
realistic and meaningful. The activities using drama tend to be purposeful.
There is a Chinese proverb which say; I hear and I forget, I listen
and I remember, I do and I understand (Chinese Proverb). This is in
essence why drama is a powerful classroom tool. It works through our
experiential senses, they are seeing, hearing, saying and doing. Drama
activity is used here to bring the various aspects of drama into teaching,
mainly involving and stimulating the feelings and imagination of the
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students, providing them with various stimuli and enriching their learning
with an experience on the deeper level. The student here is not a passive
recipient but an active meaning maker. The student engages on a much
deeper and personal level then simply being given information. In drama
the student demonstrates his understanding by acting out or being what
Boal refers to as the spect-actor.
Using drama activities has clear advantages for language learning. It
encourage students to speak gives them the chance to communicate, even
with limited language, using non-verbal communication, such as body
movements and facial expression. There are also a number of other factors
which makes drama a very powerful tool in the language classroom.
Some of the areas where drama is very useful to language learners and
teachers are stated below.

To give learners an experience (dry-run) of using the language for

genuine communication and real-life purposes; and by generating a
need to speak. In the classrooms, we usually expose students to small
bits of language such as individual words, rather than whole phrases or
chunks. Drama is an ideal way to encourage learners to guess the
meaning of unknown language in a context. Learners will need to use a
mixture of language structures and functions if they want to
communicate with other people successfully.
To make language learning an active, motivating experience.
Dramatizing a text is very motivating and fun. In addition same activity
can be done at different levels at the same time. In a class, there are

many students and all the students ability is different. Drama can be
used to involve all the students, which means that all the students can
do it successfully.
To help learners gain the confidence and self-esteem needed to use the
language spontaneously. By taking a role, the students will act not as
his self, but act as another character. When you give students special
roles, it encourages them to be that character and abandon their
shyness. The students will try hard to be another character and they
have to be spoken. Automatically, this way will force their confidence
in using English.
To bring the real world into the classroom (problem-solving, research,
consulting dictionaries, real time & pace, cross-curricular content).
When using drama our aims can be more than linguistic. We can use
topics from other subjects: the students can act out scenes from history,
we can work on ideas and issues that run though the curriculum, such as
respect for the environment. Drama can also be used to introduce the
culture of the new language, through stories and customs, and with a
context for working on different kinds of behavior.
To emulate the way students naturally acquire language through play,
make-believe and meaningful interaction. Dramatizing is part of
studentss life from an early age. Students try out different roles in daily
life situations such as shopping in the market, visiting doctors, buying
medicine, etc. They practice the language and the script of the
situation and experience the emotions involved, knowing that they can
switch back to reality whenever they want to.
To make what is learned memorable through direct experience and
affect (emotions)for learners with different learning styles. Dramatizing

appeals to all kinds of learners. When students dramatize, they use all
the channels (sight, hearing, and physical bodies) and each student will
draw to on the one that suits them best. This means they will all be
actively involved in the activity and the language will enter through
the cannel most appropriate for them. Dramatizing allow learners to add
emotion personality to a text that they have read or listened to. This
makes language memorable.
To stimulate learners intellect and imagination. Drama encourages
studentss creativity and develops their imagination in daily life, and at
the same time gives them the opportunity to use the language which has
been learned and outside of their daily needs. Language teachers can
use this natural desire to act out situations.
To develop students ability to empathize with others and thus become
better communicators. Students often work in a group or pairs when
dramatizing. They have to make decisions as a group, listen to each
other, and value each others suggestions. They have to co-operate to
achieve their aims in doing a drama. Automatically, they apply their
knowledge and ability in real life communication.
Helps learners acquire language by focusing on the message they are
conveying, not the form of their utterances. Each drama or story have to
contain massage or meaning, whether it is to the students, to the
teacher, to the society, to the government, etc. the students in this case
have to tried to deliver the massage from the story to the audience by
using their ability in using language.
Robinson (1997, pp. 223-227) suggests two approaches to the
teaching of drama. First is the a type analytical approach to
drama/theatre texts in which the language analysis (i.e., the phonological

and lexical components of language) is the matter of consideration. This

analytical approach deals with language structures and language items that
the teacher or the course designer must take into account. He also points to
the b type experiential approach to drama theatre texts as a second
approach. In this approach, which is inductive, language is regarded as a
tool rather than an object. Learning through the students experiences is the
major concern, and this is acquired via their comments, responses, and
expressions based on the text itself or its theme/topic.
As well as benefits to learning, the use of drama in the classroom can
have very positive personal benefits. The student develops communication
skills, leadership, team work, compromise, listening skills, presentation
skills, self esteem, confidence, self-acceptance, acceptance of others,
empowerment

pride

in

work,

responsibility,

problem

solving,

management, to name but a few.

The Role of the Teacher

As the teacher who wants to teach English through drama, there are
some preparation have to be done before teaching. This can be done in
order to make the drama lesson fun to be learned and give the best result for
the purpose of learning English. But the most important thing before
introduce drama to the students is having personality of a teacher. It is not
possible to introduce drama if the teacher does not have self confidence,
and try to ensure the students about the importance of learning English
through drama. Here are some important points in preparation for a drama
lesson. If we plan it carefully, students will take it seriously and perform
better, therefore benefitting more and wanting to do more.

 Choose the right activity

When you plan a drama activity, you need to know your aims.
There can be activity for different purposes. The learners age
affects the kind of activity you plan. The more dramatization the
learners do, and the more they reflect on what they have done, the
better they will become. The topic also has to be decided to create
more interested from the learner.

Start small
Not all students are good at acting, especially if drama isnt part of
their curriculum. This becomes the duty of the teacher to
introduce drama into the classroom in small steps. Start with easy
guided activities and move on to less controlled ones, until the
students enjoy the lesson and be more creative to apply their
knowledge of English.

Give feedback
Teaching English through drama are not training professional
actors and actresses but the teacher tries to give learners an
enjoyable way of practicing and using their English. The teacher
need to give feedback on what the students have done, not only
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the end product and language, but also the process that the went
trough, the way they co-operated with each other and how they
came to decisions. Find something positive to comment on. There
will be areas of learners work that can be improved and this
should be part of your feedback to them. While the students are
doing the activities, watch and listen to them, try not to interfere,
and take notes on what you are observing. The process is your
main aim, but learners will see that the performance as the most
important part of the lesson. You need to value their performance.
When they have finished give them feedback. There are many
ways of doing this in oral or written forms. If constructive
feedback becomes a regular part of dramatization activities, the
learners will gradually improve their dramatizing abilities and
their language. Another important thing in giving feedback is
dont focus on the mistake of the students, but try to motivate
them by giving support and positive feedback to burn their
motivation in learning English, especially to drama.
Besides that, Judes (Jude, 2010 : 2) gives roles of the teacher in the
learning process. They are:

modeling pronunciation, intonation, stress, rhythm, and oral

expression;

facilitating comprehension of vocabulary, idioms, cultural aspects,

and plot;
stimulating interest and conversation, and interacting with the
students;

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 establishing an acting workshop atmosphere;

creating a student-participatorjy language learning experience.
Drama as a Powerful Teaching Tool
In the ESL/EFL classroom, role-playing is a powerful tool. It
teaches cooperation, empathy for others, decision making skills and
encourages an exchange of knowledge between the students. These aspects
alone make role-playing beneficial because the students are learning from
each other. Yet, there are many other positive aspects to the role-playing.
Apart from the obvious development of communication skills, it encourages
leadership, team work, compromise, authentic listening skills and practice
with real life savior-faire. However, it does not stop there. It teaches
cooperation, empathy, develops decision making skills, promotes the
exchange of knowledge, builds confidence and self-esteem, refines
presentation skills, encourages self-acceptance and acceptance of others,
features of empowerment, pride in work, responsibility, problem solving,
management and organizational skills, begets creativity and imagination.
A good drama teacher can use the practice with role-playing to
contribute to the self-esteem of the students, build their confidence in using
the target language (English) as well as develop many of the skills
mentioned above which will carry over to real life. It is certain that selfacceptance can be encouraged in subtle ways and acceptance of others.
Drama has the potential to empower the students, give them many
opportunities to have pride in their work, it teaches them responsibility,
problem solving, management and directing proficiencies. The many
activities of team work force students to develop organizational skills and to
think on their feet. These are tools that can be used in all aspects of their
lives. These skills will be useful in the future job market when the students
need to work with others or even in the future job interview when the
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potential employer asks an unexpected question and you need to think

quickly.

Types of Drama
David Schejbal (2006:7) gives the following list of a number of
drama activities that are commonly found in English language teaching:
1. Role play Role plays enable students to step outside themselves, to
accept and change into a different character. Students either
improvise or create their own character or they are given role-cards.
In either case, it has a stimulating effect and students feel freer to
engage themselves in learning.
2. Simulation In the initial stages of their learning, students become
acquainted with various roles starting from the simpler ones, usually
those they are used to from everyday life i.e. a mother, a father, a
shop assistant, a customer, a tourist etc., before they take up more
complex ones i.e. a consultation, problem solving, plays etc.
3. Drama games - Wessels points out that drama games should "involve
action, exercise the imagination, involve both learning and
acquisition and permit the expression of emotion." (1987: 29) All
the elements mentioned help students to become actively engaged in
learning and experience the dynamics of the learning experience.
There are many forms of games with various functions i.e. icebreakers, warm-ups, fillers, concentration games etc.
4. Guided improvisation This kind of practice requires the teacher to
guide students through the initial stage of an activity. When students
join in and become part of the evolving activity, they use their
imagination and improvisation, than the teacher steps out and
13

becomes more like an observer who helps if there is a need. This

help might be in a form of suggestions or even joining back in the
story if the progress of the students is slow or if they are finding the
work too difficult. The following are examples of activities for
guided improvisation: a scene of a crime; a company meeting; a
summer camp at night etc.
5. Acting play scripts It is important to remember that a script is not a
drama so much as a proposal for drama. Script becomes a starting
point that provides great space for each individual to utilize his or
her talents and bring personal aspects into the learning experience.
Students are presented with the script by the teacher or even prepare
their own. All the stages of preparation, practice, performance or
even the afterward analyses and evaluation can be very effective
tools in learning and reinforcing the use of a foreign language.
6. Prepared improvised drama Students themselves work and perform a
story, a situation or a number of situations. They can also work
within given framework that is set by the teacher. It is students who
are in charge of their work. The aspect of ownership provides further
motivation in order to succeed in the activity. The whole class can
be involved in a more complex drama, although for practical reasons
and affectivity, it might be more beneficial to have the students work
in smaller groups. There are many forms of Drama.

Besides that, SACSA also give another types of drama besides

mentioned above. Here is a non-exhaustive list of another types of drama:
1. Improvisation / Let's Pretend

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A scene is set, either by the teacher or the children, and then with
little or no time to prepare a script the students perform before the
class.
2. Role Plays
Students are given a particular role in a scripted play. After
rehearsal the play is performed for the class, school or parents.

3. Mime
Children use only facial expressions and body language to pass on a
message tcript to the rest of the class.
4. Masked Drama
The main props are masks. Children then feel less inhibited to
perform and overact while participating in this form of drama.
Children are given specific parts to play with a formal script. Using
only their voices they must create the full picture for the rest of the
class. Interpreting content and expressing it using only the voice.
5. Puppet Plays
Children use puppets to say and do thngs that they may feel too
inhibited to say or do themselves.
6. Performance Poetry
While reciting a poem the children are encourage to act out the
story from the poem.
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7. Radio Drama
Similar to script reading with the addition of other sound affects,
The painting of the mental picture is important
Using improvisation and mime in the drama will provide the learners
with a practice of a foreign language similar to use in the real life of the
students. When the learners experience sufficient practice in the class, they
will feel more comfortable using the language in the real environment, their
response will be spontaneous, they will have to adapt and react quickly and
act the roles they were assigned.

CONCLUSION
English is the most used language in the world and it becomes the
international language. It is very important to the people to know about
English. English in Indonesia is a foreign language, so it is taught to the
students in the school as Teaching English as Foreign Language (TEFL).
16

Teaching English the student needs to be more creative, in order to get the
students interest in learning english. One of the way to teach english to be
more enjoyable is by using drama.
Drama is an activity in the human life which act by actors or actress
to deliver a story in front of the audience and express the idea, emotion, and
feeling. Drama becomes the effective way to teach English because drama
involves the learners to practice their English in the real life
communication. It will make the learners are easier to remember because
they act directly, practice directly, and bring them into the real life
advantages of learning English. Besides that, drama also will force the self
confidence of students in using English, develop their imagination, etc.
In order to making a good sense of drama to the students, the teacher
has important role. The important things are having self confidence to
ensure the students the benefits of using drama, giving the students the
instruction, and also giving feedback after the show of drama. The teacher
has to prepare which types of drama can be used to the students in order to
get the purpose of teaching English, and it must started from the small and
easy way to do.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Desiatova, Liubov. 2008. Using Different Forms of Drama in
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El-Nady, Mamdouh. 2000. Drama as a Teaching Technique in the Second
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Gasparro, Marie et al. 1994. Creating Drama with Poetry: Teaching English
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