Act to Learn: Kinaesthetic Method in English Language Teaching

Abstract

This study looks at the possibilities of applied dramatic techniques, as an alternative learning method, in teaching English language to lower primary level students who belongs to Malayalam medium (Malayalam is their mother tongue also). For this, the authors’ first-hand experience in employing dramatic techniques for teaching English language is foregrounded in this study. Some of the major dramatic techniques elaborated here are role play, instant skit performance, sentence puzzles, story puzzles and use of physical objects in learning. Employing techniques that make use of physical actions in learning is termed as kinaesthetic learning. This study examines the idea of ‘act to learn’ based on the theories kinaesthetic learning.