Browsing by Subject "theatre"
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Item Preservice Teachers' Observations about Theatre as a Teaching Tool for English Language Learners(2014-12-08) Wiese, RachelThis research reveals preservice teachers? observations of their own experiences and their English Language Learners? (ELL) experiences while performing in a full-scale, bilingual production of Peter Pan the Musical in Italy. Though existing research supports the use of theatre in language learning, there is still very little research on the role of theatre for additional language learning. The findings answer two questions. Based on preservice teachers? perspectives, how did participating in Peter Pan the Musical affect ELLs? development of English? And, how did participating in Peter Pan the Musical affect preservice teachers? empathy for ELLs? The 10 participants in the study were preservice teachers participating in the Texas A&M University Italy Education Study Abroad Program during the spring semester of 2014. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews before, during, and after the semester abroad, and through journal entries. Analysis of the data revealed six common themes in the participants? observations: 1) English language learning was enhanced through the development of close relationships with preservice teachers, English immersion, songs, dances, and lines; 2) preservice teachers? empathy for ELLs increased while performing in Italian and interacting with ELLs; 3) motivation to perform for an audience was high; 4) theatre made learning fun; 5) positive attitudes already existed towards theatre; and 6) there are potential drawbacks to the use of theatre in ELL instruction.Item Rules of Engagement: Performance and Identity in the War on Terror(2012-07-16) Piepenbrink, EmilyWar and war-fighters have become immortalized through performance; generations of service-men and women are defined by actions on the battlefield artfully altered on stage and screen. This reciprocal relationship, whether war-fighters intentionally participate or not, has imbued the entertainment industry with the power to characterize war-fighters in lasting ways. Performance enters the military in other ways as well: war-fighters reenact moments from war films; combat training takes on theatrical tactics and rhetoric; war-fighters of the War on Terror record and stage their own war performances. We accept that current war performances will inevitably affect the perception and reputation of war-fighters, not only for the duration of the war but for decades afterward, but do we fully understand the cost of the relationship between today's war-fighters and performance's role in the military? In this MA thesis, based on ethnographic fieldwork with veterans of the War on Terror, I explore the intersection between war-fighters, war, and performance. By examining how veterans relate to cinematic and stage performances of war, I will discuss how war-fighters of the War on Terror use performance to surrogate their warrior identities, to train for and defer the war experience, and to produce their own war performances. Combining my ethnographic fieldwork with archival film and play research, I illuminate how performance constitutes and challenges the war-fighter?s identities in the War on Terror.Item Status & solidarity through codeswitching: three plays by Dolores Prida(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Anderson, Sheri L.This analysis employs the sociolinguistic framework of status and solidarity (Holmes, 2001) to examine the use of codeswitching on the relational development between the characters in three plays by Cuban-American playwright Dolores Prida. The three plays discussed are Beautiful Se?oritas (1978), Coser y cantar (1981) and Bot?nica (1991). Linguistic scholars recognize the lack of linguistic analysis of literary texts; specifically, codeswitching at present is not fully explored as a linguistic phenomenon in written contexts. Furthermore, Prida's works have never before been appraised using linguistic methodology. Hence, this work aims to add to scholarly research in the fields of codeswitching, discourse analysis, and literary linguistics, using the status and solidarity framework to examine the codeswitching in Dolores Prida's plays. Dolores Prida is a feminist and Hispanic dramatist whose central theme is the search for identity of Hispanic immigrants, specifically women, in the United States today. Due to her ideological stance, it is expected that a strong emphasis on solidarity rather than status and the use of affective rather than referential speech functions are present in the relationships in her plays. Accordingly, the analysis of Bot?nica reveals that indeed codeswitching between the characters does affect their relational development in maintaining solidarity and intimacy. However, the relationships found in Beautiful Se?oritas and Coser y cantar do not offer such conclusions, due to the variable nature of the relationships identified. Further analysis of these and other literary works will more accurately determine benefits of the status and solidarity framework as applied to the codeswitching research.