From Beth Melhuish
INTRODUCTION
The acquisition of knowledge occurs in many ways. We learn from reading, writing, listening, watching, imitating, and performing. English literature is an academic subject which possibly requires all methods of learning. In prose, poetry, and drama, a student is expected to look beyond the flow of words to seek deeper knowledge of the words in context. The student must appreciate intonation and emphasis to render true meaning from the words on the page. This is often difficult for students working with twentieth century authors, poets and playwrights but it is even more complicated with writers of past centuries where vocabulary and phrasing are archaic and seemingly incomprehensible.
RATIONALE
"Why do we have to do this?"
"Why don't they talk like we do?"
"I can't make out what they're saying!"
"I don't understand!"
The above are only a few of the criticisms and comments students level at Shakespeare's work. Frequently, when studying Shakespeare's plays, today's students have difficulty comprehending the words and meanings which would have been obvious to spectators in the Globe Theatre in England four hundred and fifty years ago. The English language has indeed undergone a transformation during this time period. How then can a teacher of English Literature give students an interest in understanding Shakespeare? How can a teacher encourage interest enough to promote curiosity to enquire further and search for comprehension? Should we "translate" Shakespeare into "modern language" so that our students can easily understand and, if we do so, what would be lost in the translation? In my opinion it is the way that Shakespeare couches his words that reflects his genius. These words can often mean one thing on the surface but contain nuances and niceties on deeper reflection. Without a thorough knowledge of what the characters are saying the subtleties of plot may be lost to students.
My constant conundrum, the search for ways to "turn students on" to Shakespeare, led to this area of research. The question I posed was, generally, "Will the learning and performing of Shakespeare's work enhance understanding; and, specifically, would the learning and performing of a scene from a play enhance understanding of the play as a whole?"
PURPOSE:
This idea arose from the ambition to improve my teaching and the students' learning. To try a different method and create a different and hopefully better learning environment, "Through reflection on action, teachers analyze aspects of their teaching' (Roth. 1993) and seek new ways to improve it. Prior to asking the students to begin this assignment I examined my past teaching practice with this play. We had spent a week and a half reading Twelfth Night aloud in class, pausing for explanations and interpretations. Students had taken turns to read the different characters' parts so that all twenty read one or two roles at different times. We had watched Videotape of the play performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The students were then given two weeks to write a research paper on one aspect of the play. These aspects ranged from assessing a character to explicating a theme. Yet still I felt, from marking the papers, that understanding was not thorough. I bel ieved that unless the students actually (however briefly) became a character, spoke the words and performed the actions, they would not have a full and deep understanding. I saw this as a form of cognitive apprenticeship, 'a framework for the conceptualization of (a) new learning environment" (Roth 1993).
As Roth says in his Metaphors and Conversational Analysis as Tools in Reflection, "The notion of apprenticeship implies a culture of sharing and learning among apprentices. Apprentices not only learn most from their peers but where the circulation of knowledge between them is possible it also spreads rapidly and effectively". I believed that by allowing the students to select their own groups, their own scene from the play, their own methods of presentation, they would then teach each other and themselves. 1, as the teacher, could "fade" backwards in my support as the foundations of the previous work we had done should carry them through, and they would take responsibility for their own task.