Communicating and Resisting Oppression: using Drama for Communication Skills and Social Consciousness in Language Classrooms

The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence. (Rabindranath Tagore) This statement made by Tagore highlights the most prominent objective of education as a means not only to provide information but most importantly to imbibe the sense of respect, love and fellow feeling that is the main ingredient required to usher in peace and harmony in a nation. Here, information denotes the skills that education imparts whereas the harmony that he refers to speaks of a social responsibility that can bring about harmony and national development. However the syllabi in most of the educational institutions related with language learning and communication skills especially in technical institutions are questionable as to whether they serve to impart both these aspects. A formidable query arises as to whether we are moulding humans equipped with technical and social skills or are we merely manufacturing living and breathing machines sans any form of moral and emotional attachment to their surroundings. The present paper is a case study conducted to determine whether the inclusion of literature in the form of drama in a language learning classroom for engineering students would help to hone the communication skills and inculcate the social responsibility and imbibe consciousness in them.