Benefits of Using Improv Games for Teaching EFL Classes

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English - Pedagogy, Didactics, Literature Studies, grade: 1,3, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg (Intitute of English Studies), course: Kompetenz- und Standardorientierung im Fremdsprachenunterricht, language: English, abstract: Improvisation is in human nature. We improvise frequently when we have to solve problems in every day life, react to unforeseeable events, and communicate with others, especially through spoken language. Communicative competences are the key to speaking a language. Fluency plays an important role in communication. While as teachers it is our goal to enable our pupils to communicate in the new language, we are free in the choice of methods with which we want to accomplish this goal. Overall, classroom games and drama teaching are widely explored in literature from the mid 20th century until today and positive effects on learning and teaching have been reported. However, the mixed form of "improv games" did not receive much attention and therefore still leaves room for further investigation. Successful communication requires "turn-taking"-skills. These can be trained through improv games because turn-taking is an essential mechanism of improv. Two or more players interact with each other, reacting to expressions and comments, posing questions or solve a task together. The following sections give an insight into what improv games are, how they work and whether they should be used in teaching for different levels of language classes. They key features will be compared to classic teaching methodologies to see how they can integrate into or enhance given techniques. For easy reading I have alternated the use of male and female pronouns, although every he and she includes both genders, if not explicitly stated to be gender specific.