Moving Toward Language Acquisition: Adapting and Applying Laban Movement Analysis in the English as an Additional Language Classroom

This dissertation investigates how Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), a system developed by twentieth-century dance theorist, Rudolf Laban, can be adapted and applied toward the goal of language acquisition in an international high school English as an Additional Language (EAL) classroom. More specifically, I argue that the study of LMA categories (body, effort, space, and shape) can be adapted as a method for use at a Swiss boarding school with the goal of improving spoken and nonverbal communication, reading comprehension, and writing. My experience as both a dance and writing educator informs my research. LMA is not to be confused with the more complicated and esoteric system of dance documentation called Labanotation. Rather, LMA is taught to movement specialists at the beginning of their careers across many fields whereas Labanotation requires years of training to successfully read and write. LMA consists of simple vocabulary and shapes that are much more relevant to students of EAL than is Labanotation, which would likely be considered inaccessible or unintelligible to high school students. Additional goals of the case study include mapping patterns across language groups and promoting cultural awareness, encouraging empathy, and reducing insensitive language by drawing attention to movement. Given the lack of prior research connecting LMA and English language learning, a pedagogical experiment in this area is warranted. Participants in this case study include 43 high school students (ages 16-19 years) enrolled in three advanced-level EAL courses at The American School in Switzerland, a private, co-educational international boarding school. I gather data in the form of online questionnaires, written class work, and videotaped performances with the permission of participants via Institutional Review Board approval, serving as the students’ main English instructor. Possibilities for future research, exploration, and development on a larger scale are also considered at the study’s conclusion. Ultimately, this dissertation serves as a precedent and point of departure for broader, more far-reaching studies in language learning and acquisition.