This paper investigates the pedagogical use of authentic plays for developing learners' L2 oral skills, measured as global accuracy pronunciation accuracy, syntactic complexity and mean length of ...AS-units (MLAS). The study was conducted with final year high-school students (N = 10) in an Italian compulsory curriculum. A text-based approach (TBA) followed by a performance-based approach (PBA) were implemented. Quantitative data were collected by means of an oral pre-test, mid-test and a post-test. The results regarding accuracy and complexity along with the pedagogical implications will be discussed.
This article engages with learners' attitudes towards authentic plays and dramatic approaches, implemented in English as foreign language classes (L2) within a compulsory curriculum. The mixed-method ...approach study, which employs a quasi-experimental design, was conducted longitudinally with final-year high-school Italian students whose English language level ranged from low-intermediate to upper-intermediate. The experimental group (n = 10) was exposed to two interventions conducted over a term each: a text-based approach (TBA) in the first term followed by a performance-based approach (PBA) in the second. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected by implementing a questionnaire and a follow-up interview. Learners' attitudes in terms of interest, usefulness, enjoyment, difficulties encountered and preferences, levels of comfort and of language perceived towards the two approaches were examined in the questionnaire while the follow-up interview shed a deeper light on learners' numerical choices as given in the questionnaire. The findings display diverse, but essentially highly favourable attitudes regarding the employment of a TBA and a PBA in the L2 classroom.
