Stockholm university

Research project Drama-based L2 teaching from an interactional and multimodal perspective

This project investigates drama-based language teaching in Swedish as a Second Language from a multimodal and interactional perspective.

Through a longitudinal research design, we will follow students in the language introduction program during an academic year as they participate in different drama-based projects. Drama-based teaching puts the body and interactional skills at the center.

Three teenagers lifting up a friend
Photo: Freepik

Project description

We use multimodal interaction analysis to systematically describe teachers’ and students’ use of different semiotic resources (meaning-making signs such as gestures, body posture, prosody, verbal language, and artifacts), the linguistic and interactional forms of participation offered by the instruction, and how students’ interactional skills develop over time. The students are a very heterogeneous group in terms of linguistic, cultural, and educational background. The highly variable conditions and needs of newly arrived pupils imply that teachers need a broad repertoire of teaching methods.

The project contributes with new and deeper understanding of drama-based language teaching as a method and of its implications for students’ language development.

Project members

Project managers

Maria Rydell

Docent, Universitetslektor

The Department of Swedish Language and Multilingualism
Maria Rydell

Members

Stefan Norrthon

Universitetslektor

The Department of Swedish Language and Multilingualism

Klara Skogmyr Marian

Universitetslektor

The Department of Swedish Language and Multilingualism
Profile pic. Dec. 2021