Can Augusto Boal's Games for Actors and Non Actors be used as a tool for developing the social communication skills of S1 students?

Abstract

This honours project explores the application of specifically chosen games from Augusto Boal's Games for Actors and Non-Actors, in a First Year Secondary School class, to examine if these games can improve their social communication skills. Each workshop was based on drama techniques that might improve the students skills, exploring the techniques involved in that skill through the use of Boal's games. The facilitation of the workshop was based on the works of Alex Kelly's Talkabout series, using her work as a basic understanding of what social skills are and using the framework outlined in her literature to explore the chosen communication skills. Augusto Boal's games were then used as the basis of the workshops, using them to explore the social skills each week, testing their suitability to the understanding of and improvement of the chosen skills. The ability to facilitate this workshop was also based on literature research of social communication skills, their link to drama in education, the importance of the arts and the social impact it can have and its link to Boal's work and theories. The researcher observed the students, assessed them using rating skills and questionnaires and continued this evaluation process throughout the practical research of this project.This honours project explores the application of specifically chosen games from Augusto Boal's Games for Actors and Non-Actors, in a First Year Secondary School class, to examine if these games can improve their social communication skills. Each workshop was based on drama techniques that might improve the students skills, exploring the techniques involved in that skill through the use of Boal's games. The facilitation of the workshop was based on the works of Alex Kelly's Talkabout series, using her work as a basic understanding of what social skills are and using the framework outlined in her literature to explore the chosen communication skills. Augusto Boal's games were then used as the basis of the workshops, using them to explore the social skills each week, testing their suitability to the understanding of and improvement of the chosen skills. The ability to facilitate this workshop was also based on literature research of social communication skills, their link to drama in education, the importance of the arts and the social impact it can have and its link to Boal's work and theories. The researcher observed the students, assessed them using rating skills and questionnaires and continued this evaluation process throughout the practical research of this project. Using this data, the researcher found that all students had made an improvement in at least one area of social communication skills. This improved their confidence and ability to talk to, listen to and work with their classmates. Due to the nature of this research process and its limitations, the project cannot draw any finite conclusions. However, the data is indicative that Boal's games can be used to develop the social communication skills of S1 students. This research project makes way for further development in this area to draw more final conclusions on the topic.