Use of multimodality in remote drama performance among pre-service teachers during the covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the drama, which is normally performed live on stage, was changed to remote drama performance. This paper explores the use of multimodality as a pedagogical tool in a drama course among a group of 22 pre-service teachers in an institute of teacher education in Malaysia. A single case study investigated the most common modes of multimodality that students used in adapting and presenting Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” into a remote drama performance as well as their engagement in learning. Students’ project output in the form of playscripts and short films were collected and analysed using a multimodal framework for analysing multimodal engagement among students. Students’ reflective journals were also analysed thematically to investigate their multimodal engagement. The findings revealed the six most common multimodal modes were linguistic, visual, audio, gestural, spatial, tactile, and technical and digital. Students’ multimodal engagement was also highlighted through their learning in technical and technological skills as well as cooperation. The results pave the ways for revising the course contents for the drama pedagogy through the integration of technology and more research into the use of multimodal pedagogical tools in the field of English language especially for remote drama courses.