Archiving and reporting on the arts is just as important as the execution of artistic practice by itself.
The archival and recording of theatrical work may not be a part of creating the actual work, but it makes sure that theatrical happenings live beyond their ephemerality.
Careful recording and detailed reflections are extensions of the creative process behind any performance, educational program or workshop, and can become valuable learning resources for the entire field.
At TEFO, we’ve always been thinking about how to fulfill our responsibility to develop ourselves as a networking and consulting organization for other practitioners in this field, and we hope that the principle of “Shared Knowledge” can continue carrying us forward in this work.
Thus, we are continually working to strengthen our online database’s ability to gather, organize and preserve applied theatre practice here in Hong Kong, so that our field’s research, records and archives can inspire present and future generations of applied theatre practitioners.
Please note that our English database is still under construction, and there may not be as much content as our Chinese database. For more resources, please visit the Chinese version of our website.
Motivation and Second Language Learning: How Stanislavski’s System Motivates Learning as a Motivational Teaching Practice in Chinese Narrative Writing as a Second Language (Chinese) | DaTEAsia Vol. 9
This paper examines how drama works as a motivational teaching practice and how it enhances students’ learning motivation. Data is collected from eight students, an observer and the teacher-as researcher through action-based research. All sorts of research data sets are triangulated for enhancing the reliability of the study. Interviews of the participants and researcher’s reflective journals are analysed according to the Motivated Strategies for learning (Pintrich et al., 1991) and the Model of Motivational teaching practice (Dörnyei, 2001). The findings show that drama is an effective motivational teaching practice of Chinese narrative writing as a second language for non-Chinese speaking students, and at the same time it also increases students’ learning motivation in terms of self-efficacy, extrinsic goal orientation, intrinsic goal orientation, task value and diminishes learning anxiety.
The Integration of Drama Education in the Subject of Modern Greek Language in Greek Primary Education｜DaTEAsia Vol. 8
The use of dramatic conventions for educational purposes has a long history. However, in the Greek educational system it is only during the last decade that a clear-cut effort has been actually made to incorporate dramatic methods into the teaching of various subjects and in particular into the subject of language. The present study examines ways and approaches of incorporating dramatic methods into the subject of language in the elementary education in Greece.
The Use of Drama Pedagogy in Teaching Chinese Landscape Poetry（Chinese）｜DaTEAsia Vol. 8
Today, the younger generation in mainland China is losing interest in studying classical Chinese, especially classical Chinese poetry. This article is trying to explore the possibility of introducing classical Chinese poetry through educational drama, an approach different from the mainstream pedagogy used in most Chinese schools. By analysing a particular drama lesson series, this article discusses the meaning and practicability of the drama pedagogy.
Students’ Perceptions of Collaborative Playwriting Projects Undertaken at a High School in Japan｜DaTEAsia Vol. 8
This paper explores the activity of collaborative playwriting for theatre performance as a mode of language learning within a task-based framework. It describes a quasi-experimental study in which a pair of similar but distinct playwriting theatre tasks was implemented in a first-year English oral communication course at a senior high school in Japan. This paper briefly discusses the background, rationale and design of the playwriting tasks. It then reviews relevant data obtained from post-task student feedback questionnaires. Despite the evident lack of theatrical experience amongst the student participants, their feedback was markedly positive. In addition, a number of students reported improvements in various areas of their language abilities. They also recognised the opportunities for learning that both the devising process and the performance outcomes afforded them.
Japanese Students Re-engaging in English through Dramatised Digital Storytelling｜DaTEAsia Vol. 8
Through the deconstruction of a collaboratively constructed srudent-devised dramatised digital story, this article examines how a group of Japanese university students engaged in their English language learning in a meaningful and creative way. The digital story was an outcome of a three-week intensive elective that drew on process drama and digital storytelling to foster and develop srudents’ applications of English language. The article provides the contextual background and the authors’ research of the intensive course. Later, a detailed description of the digital story with analysis through a multimodal framework will be discussed thoroughly.
An Alternative Path: A Physical and Metaphorical Group-devised Ethnodrama | DaTEAsia Vol. 7
Graffitopia is a group-devised ethnodrama on the lives of twelve children aged 6 to 12 of different family and socio-economical backgrounds in Hong Kong. It was performed in May 2015 in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, a public performance venue. In this paper, using Graftopia as a case study, we discuss how researcher-devisingperformers (RDPs) embody, transform and present ethnographic data in the creative process of an ethnodrama, and how such process deepens the RDPs’ understanding of the informants, themselves as well as the devising methodology and aesthetics of ethnodrama. The devising process of the eight RDPs were recorded and studied, and small-group interviews with all the RDPs were conducted towards the last stage of the rehearsal process to investigate their experience and moments of discoveries throughout the creative process. It has been found that the physical, stylised, metaphorical, and reflective devising process and performing style generated an aesthetic space for the RDPs to build not only their understanding of the ethnographic data, but also a strong connection between the RDPs’ selves and the children’s lived experience. Such aesthetic space is crucial to the transformative power, authenticity, research purposes, educational and artistic values of ethnodrama as a form of applied theatre.
