Drama as inclusive literacy in high diversity schools

ABSTRACT Drama is becoming increasingly valued in the context of additional language learning. Representing knowledge in multiple modes has been shown to support diverse students. The use of drama can enhance meaning and comprehension for language learners as it enlists the voice and body as additional semiotic tools. Sociocultural theory provides a framework for understanding this dynamic, as does the work of Kress and Jewitt in multimodal communication. This article reports on a hermeneutic phenomenological study centring of three English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) students during weekly Year 1 literacy classes where drama was used. The setting was a high diversity primary school in Western Sydney. In keeping with the research method, participants’ lived experiences were sought, and narrative interpretations were used to represent the collected data. The findings indicated that drama provided both multimodal comprehension support and increased sociocognitive motivation for the participants during these sessions.