The Social Creativity of Language

Picture what actors do on a stage. They become someone else, and at the same they never stop being themselves. Language teachers have long used performance-based approaches, particularly improvisation, for developing classroom interaction in the target language. I am suggesting that performance is more than a classroom technique; it is a lens for seeing our students and ourselves (like infants) not as only as acquirers of new vocabulary but as active social, relational, makers of meaning.

Improvisation is particularly valuable because it requires “creating the ensemble.” In my experience, this promotes an especially rich environment for harnessing students’ ability to do things they don’t know how to do, mitigating the fear of making a mistake becoming immersed in the moment and taking responsibility for the classroom “ensemble.” Together we create a stage (the ZPD) where linguistic risks are not avoided but embraced and celebrated.

Here’s one example of how I use this understanding of performance. On day one, I ask students, “how do babies learn to speak?” We investigate the environment co-created by speakers and non-speakers. We notice the support that the baby is given to be who they are -we express pleasure; we do not correct or get annoyed – and who they are becoming by continuing to speak to them. I tell them that the baby and the parents are creating a “stage” on which the baby can perform as a speaker. We consider the fact that babies are the best language learners we know and we explore what we can use from that early language learning performance to create our own language learning stage in class, which we rebuild each time we meet.

While they are not pretending to be babies and parents, they have the similar experience of creating a stage on which they can all perform as speakers of English! The teachers I have trained have found this new lens, and a wide array of activities designed for the classroom, to add to their expertise as instructors. They are able to co-create performatory, fun environments, which tap into students’ very early language learning experiences, and in very little time, they report that they are collectively creating new activities with their students. This always inspires me.

Connery, M., John-Steiner, V., Marjanovic-Shane, A. (2010). Vygotsky and Creativity. New York: Peter Lang.

Holzman, L. (2009). Vygotsky at work and play. London: Routledge.

Holzman, L. (2014). Vygostsky’s Zone of Proximal Development: The Human Activity Zone. Retrieved from http://eastsideinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Vygostskys-Zone-of-ProximalDevelopment.pdf

Lobman, C. and Lundquist, M. (2007). Unscripted Learning: Using Improv Activities across the K-8 Curriculum. New York: Teachers College Press.

Robinson, K. (2001). Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative. West Sussex: Capstone Publishing Limited. Vygotsky, L. S. (2004). Imagination and creativity in childhood. Journal of Russian & East

European Psychology, 42(1), 7-97. Resources:

East Side Institute
Improv Activities for Teachers of English Improv Encyclopedia – Classroom Activities Performing the World
Performance of a Lifetime

Gwen Lowenheim, M.S. Ed. teaches academic writing, listening and speaking in the English Language Institute at New York Institute of Technology. She is a teacher trainer and learning design specialist with the East Side Institute, an international training and research center. She is also an organizational consultant with Performance of a Lifetime, an executive education firm. She can be reached at glowenheim@gmail.com.