Combining foreign, native and national Languages through Theatre in Schools: an ‘enactive Approach’ to Education

Sandrine Eschenauer (1)

1 LPL - Laboratoire Parole et Langage

In this article, we are looking at the contribution of aesthetic and languaging (Varela) dimensions of the arts, and in particular of theater, to the teaching of foreign languages.  In  this  respect  we  are  considering  the  skills  of  mediation,  which  are  neglected in French curricula. Neurosciences have shown that aesthetic responses are  based  on  the  activation  of  physiologically  universal  embodied  mechanisms,  which integrate actions, emotions and sensory perception (Freedberg and Gallese). Creative emergence would therefore be right at the root of human language as put forward by Lecoq, Brook and many other theatrical artists who have shown an interest  in  education.  In  this  context  we  suggest  that  the  socio-­‐biological  roots  of  learning and language should be taken into account through transversal skills, such as creativity, emotional competence and mediation or “relational intelligence” skills in language curricula. The  AiLES  experimental  project  (Arts  in  Language  Education  for  an  Empathic  Society) has been designed to test this hypothesis. It stands at the crossroads between  innovative  practical  teaching  and  research.  It  is  a  longitudinal, four-­‐year  study (2011-­‐2015) in a dual language class (German/English) carried out in a multicultural  secondary  school  in  a  Parisian  suburb.  Two  actors  (one  English-­‐speaking, and one German-­‐speaking), come into the classroom on a regular basis. The study analyses if and how theater, as a physical, cultural and linguistic means of  expression, facilitates  speech  and  how  it  can  stimulate  sensory,  kinesthetic,  emotional and linguistic forms of expression and perception. Given such a holistic view  of  the  teaching-­‐learning  process,  I  hypothesize  that  the  language  of  the  theatre plays a role of mediation and facilitates “relational intelligence”, as it allows students to delve into all their language repertories in order to switch from one  language to another (that  of  their  family,  of  their  school  context,  and  of  modern languages learnt at school). This article is therefore an invitation to move from disciplinary language teaching to “translanguage”  teaching  without  boundaries,  so  that  tomorrow’s children  will  build together an empathic society.

Mots clés: empathy; perfomative teaching and learning; creativity; aesthetic experience; translanguaging; enaction

Domaines: Education; Linguistique

Sandrine Eschenauer. Combining foreign, native and national Languages through Theatre in Schools: an ‘enactive Approach’ to Education. Performing Arts in Language Learning. Proceedings ofthe International Conference,Rome 24/24 october 2014, Edizioni Novacultur, pp.65-71, 2014, 978-88-96875-01-8. ⟨hal-01956749⟩