Last night, Victoria, Lily, Megan, Jess and
I joined the online session with Adesola. I wanted to join the session because
I was struggling to find literature on why students enjoy and engage in drama.
I thought this was because I wasn’t entering the right key words in the
searches in Summon and in the ebooks. I asked the group ‘Why do you think
students enjoy drama and why do they engage in the drama?’ The group had a
variety of responses:
- Physical involvement – physical learners
- It is different to desk work – different types of learners
- Students have to think on their feet – more ‘in the moment’ than other subjects
- Learning through storytelling – it is more creative
- It offers an ‘escape’ from other subjects - feel like you’re away from reality
- Drama gives you more confidence – especially for teenagers
I found these thoughts really interesting
and they have given me some ideas to think about. We discussed how a lot of
these ideas linked to ‘Learning Styles’ introduced in Module 1. I am going to
search for literature with links to learning styles and engagement in drama.
Adesola said that one piece of writing
won’t ‘give you the answers’ and discussed that the literature is often like
‘detective work’. You have to read the bibliography of books, journals and
articles to find out what that person has read and see where that takes you.
You often find yourself looking at something that you didn’t think had anything
to do with your topic.
I have been using the advice of Blaxter,
Hughes and Tights (2001): How to Research
in ‘The Literature Review’ Chapter to annotate bibliographies during my
literature search in Module 3; using this method of literature searching helped
me to find the theories of autonomy support (Reeve 2009; Jang, Reeve and Deci
2010) and relatedness (Furrer and Skinner 2003; Kelm and Connell 2004) which
contribute a significant argument in in the literature of ‘engaging teaching’.
(Blaxter, Hughes & Tight 2010 p131)
ACTION POINT: Annotate the literature
bibliographies to ‘sign post’ me to new resources.
Reference List
Blaxter,
L. Hughes, C. and Tight, M. (2001) How to Research (Second Edition),
Buckingham: Open University Press.
Furrer, C. and Skinner, E. (2003) ‘Sense of Relatedness as a Factor in Children’s Academic Engagement and Performance’ Journal of Educational Psychology, 95 (1), 148-162
Jang,
H., Reeve, J. and Deci E. L. (2010) ‘Engaging Students in Learning Activities:
It Is Not Autonomy Support or Structure but Autonomy Support and Structure’
Journal of Educational Psychology, 102 (3), 588-600
Kelm,
A. M. and Connell, J. P. (2004) ‘Relationships Matter: Linking Teacher Support
to Student Engagement and Achievement’ The Journal of School Health, 74 (7),
262-273
Reeve, J. (2009) ‘Why Teachers Adopt a Controlling Motivating Style Towards Student and How They Can Become More Autonomy Supportive’ Educational Psychologist, 44 (3), 159-175
Thanks for this Jess as a I couldn't make either of the sessions. I like the thought of research being like detective work. I did what you mentioned and followed back the trail of some of the pieces of literature that I have looked at. I found that several of them have sources that come from the same place so this is good I am making connections. Have you found the same?
ReplyDeleteLisa x
Hi Lisa,
ReplyDeleteNot a problem and I'm glad that this helped you.Yes, I happened to read an article that mentioned the terms 'autonomy support' and 'teacher-student relationships' being elements of effective teaching, so I looked at the bibliography and found there had been extensive literature published on both of these topics. I have spent the last week searching for articles, reviewing these and finding new literature again.
It is a great method, but I have found the downside if that it can feel like a 'tangled web' of literature ideas. If I am honest I did feel a bit overwhelmed by the literature yesterday. I decided to create a spider diagram using the sources I had found and their key arguments and how these linked together to help me track my thoughts. I used lots of colour to hep me visual this too.
How are you getting on with the literature? I feel like I have only scratched the surface and there is still so much I don't know!
Thanks for the comment!
Jess
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Jess,
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for sharing this. I also wasn't able to attend and my main concern for a long time was the literature as well, so I am glad you pointed out ways to target it by following a bibliographic 'trail'. I read the Blaxter, Hughes and Tight source a while ago but since the literature process is ongoing, your post was a good reminder to go back to previous sources with a new understanding, thank you! In my search, I have signed up for academia.edu which is a free bibliographic source. You can search for researchers/ PhD students with similar interests and are able to download many of their recent publications for free, even ones that Summon might not have listed. Maybe also browsing other universities' research departments (on drama and education) might guide you to academics/ professors or PhD students who might be investigating the same issue and might have published on it? It helped me a lot. I agree, it is like detective work but I have found a couple of very useful publications for my topic through doing that.
Lastly, I wanted to add to the comments why students might enjoy drama lessons so much. I think maybe it's also the interactive aspect? As schools tend to be very competitive and grading can foster a 'me-competing-against-everyone-else' mentality, students might enjoy the playful teamwork drama offers, free of pressure and welcoming of collaboration?
Best,
Lara
Hi Lara,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comment. This is great advice and I will look into doing this today. I'm glad that we have similar views on the literature. I think reviewing literature can feel a bit overwhelming at times and, like I said to Lisa, a little bit disjointed.
Thanks for your ideas. I agree that this is an important aspect in drama activities. Interestingly, I was reading an article about creativity in Drama yesterday by Davis (2010) and one of the main findings was that students enjoy the collaboration and sharing in Drama exercises. I have found that it is important to ask the opinions of others because this will help me to 'theorise' approaches to drama teaching. I am hoping to review some more literature today and post some of the theories and my opinions on these over the next few days.
How is your literature review going? And your inquiry?
Thanks again for your comments,
Jess.
Hi Jess,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply.
I so agree. Since we are insiders it's so important to check in with others to make sure we aren't making too many assumptions when reading the literature. I sometimes even catch myself out whilst reading and realise I have a different opinion than the author. So I agree, running our thoughts by others is essential in order to be as theoretical and objective as possible.
My literature review is going ok so far, I split it into two main areas - arts marketing and German theatre abroad, so I still need to work on refining it and drawing the connection between the two academic fields.
I'm just looking at formulating some definite interview questions as well and need to also update my Gantt chart as my schedule has changed a little...lots of work!
Best,
Lara