ABSTRACT
The relationships between language and situation may be particularly difficult to understand when the language is provided in a written form. Drama is used to provide students with the experience they need to produce writing in response to a particular need and purpose. Because drama offers a representation of the real world, pieces of writing may be worked on so that they are as authentic, in appearance, as possible. Prior to the writing stage of the drama the teacher uses a variety of dramatic strategies to help the students fully understand the living context for their writing. Drama is a particularly efficient medium for studying impersonal and non-chronological genres of writing. The imagined experience of drama, however, can offer a powerful and concrete alternative to actual experience, particularly when the imagined experience heightens the tensions and emotions of real life and makes a connection between the causes and effects of different genres of language.
