Findings and Hypothesis

The most eye opening data collected with regards to Critical Literacy would be that from 'Voice Memo'  and the associated 'Anecdotal Notes' where it was made clear that many students were unable to participate in reflective discussion and questioning. For success in comprehension, whether it be evaluative, inferential or critical literacy the ability to question both intra and interpersonally in depth is an advantage. This competence is reflected across literacy in both reading and writing.

These findings made me research further into the effectiveness of two particular areas of Process Drama: 

Hot Seating and Mantle of the Expert (MoE)
Both of types of drama provide an excellent opportunity for reflective discussion. 

Both Hot Seating and MoE allow for the exploration of multiple perspectives which can be adopted to strengthen view points with the opportunity to walk in other peoples shoes.
Viv Aitken in 'Connecting Curriculum Linking Learning,' discusses the MoE (developed by Dorothy Heathcote), as the breaking down of black and white thinking offering a post structuralist view of reality where there are multiple perspectives and truths. Students can explore issues, themes, dilemmas and character motivation. Patrice Baldwin in 'With Drama in Mind' uses a wonderful phrase 'virtual reality internal stimulation' where children can safely explore themselves and their world by being protected in a role and in a fictional context. Through personal experience / anecdotal notes students will inadvertently share the exploration of their internal self while being in role in a fictional context. Richard Deasy sums this up in 'Critical Links' where students involved in drama based pedagogy were better able to comprehend what they are reading along with an increased motivation to learn!

Consequently a potential Hypothesis could be... Can the specific and deliberate use of two types of process drama not only improve Reflective Discussion amongst reluctant contributors but also Critical Literacy.


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