Script Analysis and Performance in the L2 Classroom

This paper presents the results of an experimental German conversation course taught using a single play, Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Die Physiker. The course consisted of 10 hours of instruction over 10 weeks for advanced students. Between the short time period and infrequent class hours, conversation classes can sometimes fail to propel students forward in their language learning; the goal of this course was to determine whether using one piece of literature, a similar format each week, and various theatrical techniques would result in greater conversational gains than in a traditional conversation course. Taught by a German instructor who had also stage directed over 10 works in multiple languages, students read a 5-10 page segment of Die Physiker each week for homework and then, in class, worked in small groups to score those pages of the script: deciding on “beats” (moments in a line at which the emotion changes), assigning an adjective to each beat, discussing and practicing alternate interpretations, and staging the segment, all entirely in German. While engaging with the content of the play, students held focused discussions about the value of science in society and the ways in which they as scientists (all students were in STEM fields) were ethically responsible for the outcome of their work. These discussions were fostered by guided warmup questions at the start of each session and were given new vocabulary targeting the topics brought up by that week’s reading selection. Students were given a modified OPI at the beginning and end of the course and these results were compared with those of a traditional conversation course.