Using Dance in an EFL Classroom

Abstract

The main purpose of this project is to design and pilot a course that integrates English with dance skills to develop both language skills, and dance performance skills in foreign language learners. This course shows the relationship between non-verbal language, i.e. movements, and second language learning, and it gives some evidence from different studies about how language learners can learn English simultaneously by exploring arts, such as dance. The EFL design project shows how dance education, as a form of arts education, may reinforce world cultural exhibits by experiencing them visually, auditorially, and kinetically. The course was piloted during a four-month period of time at the Experimental English Classes of the Center for Research in Applied Linguistics at the American University of Armenia with nine students in the 13-18 age range. The course syllabus of the project includes ten lesson plans based on topics related to four dance types: street dance, folk dance, social Latin dance, and ballroom dances. According to the findings, learning English through dance fostered students’ language proficiency. The students developed both their productive and receptive skills based on the theory and practice of dance, and dance performance skills. The findings also showed that students increased their proficiency in creative thinking skills through the use of arts education like dance. According to the results of the piloting session, the course met the expected goals and outcomes successfully.