Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied

Theatre and Performance

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Drama and imagination: a cognitive theory of

drama's effect on narrative comprehension and
narrative production

Wendy K. Mages

To cite this article: Wendy K. Mages (2006) Drama and imagination: a cognitive theory of drama's
effect on narrative comprehension and narrative production, Research in Drama Education: The
Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 11:3, 329-340, DOI: 10.1080/13569780600900750

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13569780600900750

Published online: 23 Jan 2007.

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Research in Drama Education
Vol. 11, No. 3, November 2006, pp. 329
340

THE POSTGRADUATE SHORT ARTICLE

Drama and imagination: a cognitive

theory of dramas effect on narrative
comprehension and narrative
production
Wendy K. Mages*
Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA

This article proposes a cognitive theory of how drama affects two aspects of language development:
narrative comprehension and narrative production. It is a theoretical model that explicitly posits
the role of the imagination in dramas potential to enhance the development of both narrative
comprehension and narrative production.

Drama practitioners and researchers often contend that participation in drama is

particularly beneficial for fostering language development. Childrens language
development, and specifically childrens acquisition of narrative skills such as
storytelling and story comprehension, has been linked to scholastic success.1
Peterson and McCabe highlight the importance of narrative production, noting
that the ability to produce decontextualized language is a crucial skill underlying
literacy acquisition (Peterson & McCabe, 1994, p. 937). However, when the
narrative style children bring to school from their home cultures is dissimilar to
classroom discourse conventions their ability to succeed at school may be jeopardised
(Michaels, 1981). To support the academic achievement of all children, it is critical
to find ways to foster childrens acquisition of the narrative skills necessary for
academic success. Although much of the evidence indicates that participation in
drama positively affects narrative comprehension and narrative production, there is
little consensus about the mechanism, or mechanisms, that mediate this relationship
(Fein et al., 2000; Podlozny, 2000; Nicolopoulou, 2002).
The proposed framework, based on a synthesis of theories and on research in
psychology, offers a mechanism for dramas effect on the narrative development of
very young children. Hence, the majority of the empirical literature reviewed in this
article investigates the correlation between participation in drama and narrative

*1580 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Email: wendy_mages@gse.

harvard.edu
ISSN 1356-9783 (print)/ISSN 1470-112X (online)/06/030329-12
# 2006 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/13569780600900750
330 W. K. Mages

development in children between two and seven years old. As the proposed theory
posits a causal relationship between drama and language acquisition, evidence from
experimental and quasi-experimental studies constitutes the strongest test of the
hypothesis. The majority of the research findings and theories discussed are thus
based on this type of research.
In general, children between the ages of two and seven have not yet developed the
skills necessary for competent reading and writing. The theoretical model explicated
in this paper, therefore, focuses on young childrens development of oral storytelling
and aural story comprehension. Furthermore, the objective of this theoretical model
is to account for the foundations of narrative comprehension*that is the ability to
/

understand information explicitly articulated in the text*and not more sophisti-

/

cated, or even idiosyncratic, skills such as literary inference or interpretation. This

paper follows Blooms taxonomy in using the term comprehension to include
those objectives, behaviours, or responses which represent an understanding of the
literal message contained in a communication (Bloom, 1956, p. 89). The proposed
theory attempts to explain childrens ability to comprehend the factual or literal
elements of a story that is told or read to them, as well as their ability to construct a
story of their own. This is what Galda and Guice refer to as the most basic or
denotative level of comprehension (Galda & Guice, 1997, p. 314) and what Kintsch
(1988) would term the textbase*the literal understanding of meaning that is
/

required as a prerequisite for all higher levels of comprehension and critical

engagement with texts.2
In this paper the construct of drama is defined following Davis and Behms
definition of creative drama as an improvisational, non-exhibitional, process-
centered form . . . in which participants are guided by a leader to imagine, enact, and
reflect upon human experience (Davis & Behm, 1987, p. 262). Although the model
described here was developed primarily to account for the impact of guided
improvisation, it may also have relevance for childrens spontaneous pretend play,
for children engaged in other forms of drama, and for children watching or playing
roles in theatre productions.
The theory put forward in this article provides an integrated explication of the
mechanism that mediates the relationship between drama and childrens develop-
ment of both narrative comprehension and narrative production. If it can be
demonstrated that there is a causal link between participation in drama and narrative
development, drama advocates will be better able to promote the inclusion of drama
in early childhood classrooms. This is particularly important where school budget
cuts and a focus on early academics threaten the inclusion of the arts in early
childhood curricula. Before embarking on a description of the proposed cognitive
theory of dramas effect on childrens narrative development, specifically childrens
aural story comprehension and oral storytelling abilities, I shall begin by offering a
brief overview of the claims and contradictions in related theories. These theories,
most of which derive from experimental and quasi-experimental studies of very
young children, fall into two main categories: the intrapersonal and the interpersonal.
 Drama and imagination 331

Intrapersonal theories
Each of the intrapersonal theories locates the cause of dramas effect on childrens
narrative development within the individual child. In these theories internal
processes, such as cognition or motivation, constitute the mechanism of change.
Perhaps the most fundamental of the intrapersonal theories could be termed the
practice hypothesis. Theorists hypothesise that children need opportunities to practise
their oral language skills and that drama is a medium that provides a wealth of these
opportunities (Paley, 1981; McCaslin, 1996). The practice hypothesis is often
combined with a motivation hypothesis that asserts that drama is a compelling activity
that motivates children to get involved and, once involved, they have a forum to
perfect their linguistic abilities (Christie, 1985; Nicolopoulou, 2002). In addition,
some theorists believe that in curricula in which children dictate stories that are
written down by the teacher and then dramatised by the child-author and the authors
classmates, participants are more motivated to dictate stories because they know they
will be enacted (Paley, 1981). In fact, some evidence indicates that in this form of
curriculum one of the best predictors of childrens narrative improvement is the
number of stories they have told throughout the school year (Nicolopoulou, 1996).
The contextualisation hypothesis contends that children have difficulty comprehend-
ing decontextualised narratives, and suggests that drama provides a context in which
a physical representation of the story helps children make meaning of the
decontextualised language. Nicolopoulou believes that fictional stories are an
especially important example of decontextualized discourse in that they pose the
challenge of explicitly building up a scenario or picture of the world (Nicolopoulou,
2002, p. 122). Under this theory, drama affects narrative development because it
provides the supports necessary to facilitate childrens ability to construct a mental
image of the storys make-believe world. Wagner extends the contextualisation
hypothesis into the imagery hypothesis, theorising that drama utilises iconic knowing
which she defines as knowing through images or mental pictures (Wagner, 1998,
pp. 23
24). Similarly, Singer and Singer note that children who play at make-believe
may be attempting to construct sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes as part of
their games and in this way may actually be practicing and sharpening their capacity
for imagery (Singer & Singer, 1990, p. 138). Although Singer and Singer write about
make-believe in general rather than drama in particular, children engaged in drama
are often asked to imagine sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes. Thus children
participating in drama may be practising and sharpening their capacity for imagery.
Citing a study by Rohwer, Singer and Singer highlight the importance of this
capacity, noting that there is . . . evidence to suggest that the elaborative skills needed
for effective vocabulary development in childhood hinge considerably on the
development of imagery (Singer & Singer, 1990, p. 138). Hence, dramatising the
decontextualised text gives words, and the narrative as a whole, more salience.
The cause and effect hypothesis , another intrapersonal theory, posits that creative
drama helps children synthesise concepts of cause and effect. Saltz and his associates
believe that, in contrast to real-life situations, story-based drama creates a marked
332 W. K. Mages

compression of time. Within the 10 to 15 minutes necessary to re-enact a story, the

entire causal sequence is laid before the children (Saltz et al., 1977, p. 368). They
speculate that this may give children an opportunity to make causal connections that,
without the time-compressing effects of story-based drama, would not be possible.
McNamee articulates a similar perspective: The children . . . experience the logical
necessity of one event following another behaviorally and in relation to other people,
rather than experiencing the meaning of the words alone (McNamee, 1987, p. 301).
In other words, these theorists speculate that drama helps children form internal
schemas, or models, about cause and effect sequences.
The schema hypothesis suggests that drama may foster other schemas in addition to
those pertaining to causal connections. Dansky, who does not use set stories in his
study but instead invites participants to enact themes, writes that:
It seems that involving nonplayers in socio-dramatic play can provide them with an
adaptable medium for constructing meaningful connections among the many informa-
tion fragments they are bombarded with daily. It provokes the formation of meaningful
associations between new experiences and prior adaptations . . . . (Dansky, 1980, p. 56)

Dansky promotes the notion that drama helps children form schemas about the
world, and that these schemas allow the children to better synthesise new
information with the knowledge they already possess. Not dissimilarly, Silvern
et al. advance the idea that drama helps children construct story schemas by helping
them develop meta-linguistic knowledge through active engagement. Citing Piage-
tian theory, they explain this process:
Younger children, whose thinking is still preoperational in nature, need direct active
experience with phenomena in order to construct schemes for dealing with such
phenomena whereas older children, whose thinking is more operational in nature, are
better able to relate new phenomena to schemes already present in their schematic
repertoire. (Silvern et al ., 1986, pp. 75
76)
The motoric hypothesis, put forward by Saltz and his associates, also emphasises the
importance of active experience. As Saltz and his colleagues note, a number of
diverse theorists contend that for young children in particular, there is a strong
motoric component to concepts and knowledge about the world (Saltz et al., 1977,
p. 368). Marbach and Yawkeys research confirms this hypothesis with their finding
that the effect of dramatisation, children enacting a story using their whole bodies, is
greater than that of children using puppets to reconstruct a story (Marbach &
Yawkey, 1980).
Pellegrini and Galda postulated the hypothesis of verbal stimulation, noting that
children who took more prominent roles in the dramas had larger gains on measures
of story recall and story sequencing. This was attributed to dramas ability to
stimulate the verbal skills necessary to retell stories (Pellegrini & Galda, 1982, p.
450). Other theorists disagree (Saltz et al., 1977), pointing out that if verbal
stimulation alone was responsible for these increases then children in discussion
groups would do as well as children in drama groups. Furthermore, at least one study
 Drama and imagination 333

found an effect of dramatisation on recall even though the dramatisation was done
solely in pantomime (Marbach & Yawkey, 1980).
The multi-modal hypothesis posits the effect of multiple forms of intrapersonal
engagement. Bruner avers that being exposed to a flow of language is not nearly so
important as using it in the midst of doing (Bruner, 1990, p. 70). If Bruner is
correct, then perhaps it is not verbal stimulation alone that contributes to dramas
effect on oral language skills, but an interaction between verbal stimulation and other
factors such as motoric stimulation. Brown proposes this type of multi-modal theory,
arguing that it is easier for young children to communicate through visual and
physical modes than it is for them to communicate through linguistic means.
Moreover, she believes that drama helps children retain information because it
simultaneously provides a visual, physical, and verbal representation of [an] idea
(Brown, 1990, pp. 26
27). Brown contends that the action and visual elements
support and reinforce verbal language, creating a multiple imprint on the learners
memory (Brown, 1990, p. 27). Thus, it is the interaction among these three modes
that affects childrens language development.

Interpersonal theories
In addition to theories attributing dramas effect on language development to
intrapersonal factors, there are a number of theories that assert that it is interpersonal
factors that are responsible for dramas effect. In these theories social interaction is
thought to constitute the mechanism of change. The conflict resolution hypothesis
described by Pellegrini, asserts that it is the conflict/resolution cycle, characteristic
of peer play, [that] is a causal element in the thematic-fantasy play paradigm
(Pellegrini, 1984, p. 700). In other words, it is not the drama itself so much as the
conflicts that the children work through as they dramatise a story that affects
narrative development. Pellegrini and Galda explicate this theory:
Through this verbal negotiation process children become aware of many aspects of the
story, aspects other than they alone knew. To engage in play they had to accommodate
their views to others views. (Pellegrini & Galda, 1982, p. 449)

Williamson and Silvern (1991) agree and also contend that these verbal negotia-
tions, known as metaplay, have an effect on childrens meta-linguistic knowledge.
Thus, they hypothesise that metaplay may promote the development of story schemas.
It is worth mentioning, however, that creative drama has been found to have an effect
even when children enact a story by themselves (Marbach & Yawkey, 1980).
Nicolopoulou (1997, 2002) has a slightly different perspective on how the social
aspects of drama promote learning, and follows the peer culture hypothesis. She
believes that a Paley-style curriculum, in which a childs classmates enact a story the
child has dictated, creates a culture in which the peer-group supports and encourages
the childs participation. Nicolopoulou contends that it is, in part, the public, peer-
oriented, and peer-evaluated character of this type of curriculum that fosters
childrens narrative activities (Nicolopoulou, 2002, p. 137).
334 W. K. Mages

Pellegrini uses the explicit language hypothesis to assert that in drama the social play
context seems to necessitate childrens use of more explicit language . . . Children, in
social fantasy contexts, realize that ambiguous language does not communicate their
intentions. As a result, they are motivated to use more explicit language (Pellegrini,
1985, p. 113). Nicolopoulou concurs, noting that in a Paley-style curriculum the
acting out of stories helped the children to understand the need to construct a
complete and explicitly self-contextualizing narrative scenario when they composed
the stories (Nicolopoulou, 2002, p. 141). This theory implies a reciprocal relation-
ship in which drama facilitates story comprehension and story knowledge which, in
turn, improve the quality of childrens narratives. The childrens ability to construct
more sophisticated stories leads to better, more successful dramas.
Smith and Syddall (1978) use the hypothesis of adult
child interaction to show that in
drama it may be the interaction between the adult facilitator and the children that leads
to childrens improved performance. They tested this theory by maintaining equivalent
amounts of adult
child interaction in a drama and a control group. This limited the
effects of the drama intervention. Smith and Syddall demonstrated that it is possible to
artificially alter the linguistic and interpersonal opportunities available in other
contexts to equal those of drama. Yet, it may be the case that drama provides a context
that promotes opportunities for adult
child interaction. Specifically, drama may offer a
particularly rich environment for verbal engagement between adults and children.

Theory of drama and imagination

A cognitive account of dramas effect on story comprehension and story production
The theories reviewed above illuminate a number of possible mechanisms to explain
the impact of drama on childrens narrative development. What is needed, however,
is a comprehensive model that integrates the many insights these individual theories
have proposed. The following theoretical model is a synthesis of many of the
theoretical explanations that scholars have developed to date. In Dreaming by the
Book, Scarry writes:
A poem or a novel is a set of instructions for mental composition*/in something of the
same way that a musical score provides a set of directions for how to reconstruct the
music the composer heard long ago in his or her own head. (Scarry, 1999, p. 244)

If literature, or perhaps stories more generally speaking, provides the reader or

listener with instructions for the imagination, perhaps children need training on how
best to follow these instructions in order to achieve full comprehension of the
meaning of the text. Drama may provide this training.
This training may be analogous to that of musicians whose musical training
enables them to read a score and imagine the sound of the music in their minds or to
chefs whose training allows them to read a recipe and imagine the taste of a dish. At
first, novice musicians must play the notes on the page to understand how the music
will sound. With practice and training they come to understand how the
 Drama and imagination 335

decontextualised notes on the page relate to the sound of the composition. Thus,
through training, musicians learn to use their imaginations to mentally simulate the
music of a composition. Similarly experienced chefs, familiar with the terminology
and processes of cooking, can imagine how each step in a recipe will affect the
outcome of the dish. In other words, experienced chefs can read the decontextualised
language of a recipe and can comprehend both the process and the product described
in the text. They can imagine how a recipe will taste when it is prepared and how
small changes in the ingredients or the cooking procedures will affect the outcome of
the dish. Yet a novice chef, not yet having developed this capacity, may need to cook
the dish in order to understand how it will look and taste.
Young childrens comprehension of stories may be analogous to the novice
musicians understanding of musical scores or the novice chefs comprehension of
recipes. Young children may have relatively little experience with stories and, thus,
may have difficulty creating representations of the salient characteristics of the
text*images, sounds, sensations, emotions*in their imaginations. Although books
/ /

intended for very young audiences frequently provide illustrations that serve as visual
representations of the text, these images may not always be sufficient to assist
children in creating internal representations of the story in their imaginations. If
children are unable to imagine the pertinent details and sequences of a story they
may also be unable to fully comprehend the text. Although the text provides
instructions for imagining the story, young children may have trouble interpreting
and following those instructions.
Dramatisation, however, provides a tangible context for decontextualised lan-
guage. In a drama children can use their bodies and voices to dramatise the
characters actions. In this way they can touch, see, and experience the meaning of
the words in the text. As the children continue to dramatise stories, their drama
experiences may support a stronger more direct pathway from the decontextualised
language to the imagination and comprehension.
Harris writes:
Role play depends upon an active process of simulation in which the role player projects
him- or herself into the make-believe situation faced by the protagonist. Having fed that
make-believe situation into their own knowledge-base, the role player can arrive at
judgments, plans, and utterances that are appropriate for the adopted role. (Harris,
2000, p. 36)

As children continue to enact a story, they may become better able to project
themselves into the make-believe world of the narrative. This could increase their
ability to mentally simulate the events, characters, and nuances of that story and of
narratives in general. Thus, as children learn to fully engage their imaginations they
may be better able to comprehend the decontextualised language of a narrative.
Finally, the connection between the text and the imagination would become strong
enough so that drama is no longer necessary to facilitate comprehension. However, if
a substantially more sophisticated text is presented to the child, the child may once
again benefit from dramatising the story.
336 W. K. Mages

In this paradigm the dramatisation of a set story is described. However, a similar

model can be applied to the dramatisation of themes. In this case the language input
is only that of the dialogue created by the participants. When children enact a drama
they have the opportunity to watch and evaluate their peers actions as they listen to
their language. This contextualises the dialogue and provides children with visible
evidence of whether or not they have accurately comprehended the meaning of the
verbal interchange. In addition, themes have scripts that are not dissimilar from
story schemas. In other words, a trip to a fast food restaurant entails a number of
canonical events or episodes, such as walking up to the counter, placing an order,
paying the cashier, receiving the food, eating the food (or taking it home), and
leaving the restaurant. Although these episodes are not as prescribed as those in a set
text*for example some people might choose to eat at the fast food restaurant and
/

some people might choose to take their food home*there is still a conventional
/

pattern to the way events unfold.

Importantly, thematic dramas, like story-based dramas, give children the
opportunity to engage their imaginations. Singer (1973) writes:
It is proposed that make-believe play represents one of the important ways in which
children practice imagery and rehearse a variety of elaborate skills both imaginal and
verbal and in addition develop a learning set which prepares them for later and, in many
cases, more effective use of imagery in learning processes. (Singer, 1973, p. 190)
Drama, like make-believe play, promotes the use of mental imagery and thus
nurtures the development of the imagination.
The theory of drama and language acquisition proposed in this paper can also
accommodate a narrative production component. As Nicolopoulou (2002) contends,
the dramatisation of child-authored narratives may reveal to the young authors their
failure to make explicit the intended content of their stories. As novice storytellers
begin to tell their first tales, the pathway from their conceptualisations of the story in
their imaginations to the linguistically encoded story content may be tenuous.
As children continue to dramatise their self-authored stories, they experience the
communicative effect of their narratives. Any failure of their narratives to produce
the intended effect sensitises the storytellers to the need to use explicit language to
fully communicate their thoughts. This strengthens the pathways between their
concept of the story and their actual texts. Eventually, children become aware of
criteria for successful narratives, or narrative schemas, and they may no longer
require the feedback that dramatisation provides.
Often the Paley-style curricula that use dramatisation of child-authored stories also
use dramatisation of adult-authored stories. As the children engage in these symbiotic
activities, they strengthen the pathways of these processes. It is likely that the addition
of the storytelling component to the more traditional story-based drama curriculum
increases and reinforces childrens understanding of narrative structures. Thus, the
inclusion of this storytelling component may not only benefit childrens ability to
produce a narrative, but may also positively affect their narrative comprehension.
Finally, the pathways between the imagination and the interrelated processes of
 Drama and imagination 337

storytelling and story understanding become strong enough so that drama is no longer
necessary to facilitate narrative comprehension or production. It is important to
realise that for children, as well as for adults, the stories that one is exposed to can
continue to have an effect on the content and style of the stories one tells.
Importantly, Harris explicates intriguing parallels between childrens absorption
in make-believe and adults engagement with text while reading (Harris, 2000, p.
48). He contends that the process of simulation which guides role play [in
childhood] has an enduring part to play in our mental life (Harris, 2000, p. 36).
He believes that the mental simulation necessary for children to engage in drama is
comparable to the mental simulation that adults engage in while reading. Thus, he
offers the caveat that it would be unwise to mistake an outer decline for an inner
change (Harris, 2000, p. 36). In other words, adults may not continue to engage in
make-believe play but that does not mean that they do not continue to engage in this
type of mental simulation. Gerrig concurs, noting that childrens ability to be
transported into imaginary circumstances during pretend play is a basic aspect of
narrative experience that endures through the lifespan (Gerrig, 1993, p. 195). If the
theory of drama and language acquisition just articulated is correct, then it is possible
that drama fosters the developmental trajectory*from make-believe play in child-
/

hood to absorption while reading in adulthood*that Harris and Gerrig describe.

/

Drama, unlike playing music or cooking, is rarely a solitary endeavour. Thus, it is

important to acknowledge the role that a childs peers and the adult facilitator play in
this process. The guidance of the facilitator and the actions of the other children will
influence a childs understanding of what the story is about. For example, the
facilitator may remind the children of events in the story that the children would have
otherwise omitted from the drama. This focuses the childrens attention on the role
each event plays in the story and the consequences that deleting an episode has on
the rest of the story. Hence, drama facilitates childrens awareness of a storys
structure and therefore may assist their development of story schemas.
Another way the facilitator might assist the childrens learning is by explaining
unfamiliar vocabulary. A transcript in the McNamee (1987) study provides a
pertinent example. Before dramatising a story a child had written about a crow, the
teacher asked the class, Do you know what a crow is? (McNamee, 1987, p. 300).
The level of specificity that is required to dramatise a story may help teachers identify
words that the children do not fully comprehend. Similarly, children who have only a
vague understanding of a words meaning may believe that they understand that
word until they attempt to act it out. When they have to demonstrate their
understanding through dramatisation they may come to realise that they do not
actually know the meaning of the word. In this way drama may alert the facilitator to
specific vocabulary difficulties children are experiencing, while providing a rich
context for vocabulary acquisition. Drama activities could also be used in
conjunction with successful vocabulary acquisition programmes to augment and
enhance vocabulary development.
A childs peers may also contribute to a childs understanding of the text. For
example, one of the childs classmates may perform a particularly persuasive or scary
338 W. K. Mages

rendition of the Big Bad Wolf or Cinderellas Stepmother. The next time the child
hears the story of the Three Little Pigs or Cinderella the salient image of that
classmates compelling performance may make the text more vivid. In this way,
dramatising a story with peers can affect a childs language comprehension.

Testing the theory

The proposed theory hypothesises the mechanism that mediates the relationship
between drama and narrative development. The articulation of this model provides the
foundation for future empirical research. Because the model posits a causal relation-
ship, experimental research would be needed to investigate the validity of this theory. A
series of experimental studies could be designed to test the hypotheses explicated in the
proposed theory of dramas effect on narrative development. For example, a line of
research can be developed to explore whether storytelling and drama can, in fact,
promote childrens narrative development. One study in this line of research might
investigate whether the addition of a storytelling component to a drama curriculum
enhances childrens narrative comprehension and production over and above
dramatisation alone. Another study might investigate whether storytelling or drama-
tisation can enhance a childs narrative development over and above simply listening to
stories. Childrens narrative skills, as well as their imaginative skills, can be assessed
using both standardised tests and qualitative coding schemes. If this line of research can
establish that the development of childrens narrative skills is related to the develop-
ment of their imaginative skills, it would support the existence of the imagination link
proposed above. Moreover, if a causal relationship can be demonstrated between
drama and the kind of narrative development that is essential for academic success,
then this research may provide the evidence necessary to keep drama in schools.

Conclusions
The cognitive theory just articulated provides a comprehensive integrated model that
explicitly posits the role of the imagination in dramas ability to foster the narrative
development of young children. As suggested, the use of the imagination need not
apply solely to visual stimuli or images, but can also apply to imagining other
sensations such as tastes, sounds, smells, and textures. Drama participants can
mentally simulate and enact tasting a sour lemon, listening to a wolf howl, smelling a
rose, or feeling the warm sand with their toes. In addition, drama participants can
mentally simulate and enact a wide range of emotions. They can project themselves
into a situation faced by the protagonist, or another character, and imagine how that
character feels. It is the iterative process of listening to or producing a decontextua-
lised narrative, then mentally simulating and enacting the sensations and emotions
described in the text that can enhance narrative comprehension and production.
This cognitive theory describes such an iterative process and thus provides a new lens
for understanding the impact of drama on narrative development.
 Drama and imagination 339

Notes
1. See, for example, ONeill and Lambert (1982), McCaslin (1996), Wagner (1998) and
Podlozny (2000) on language acquisition and drama, and Snow et al . (1998) on narrative.
2. For accounts of reader response theories and critical literacy, that might constitute more
complex levels of interpretation, see Rosenblatt (1982) and Giroux (1988, 1990).

Notes on contributor
Wendy K. Mages is a professional actress, drama educator and is a doctoral
candidate in Human Development and Psychology (Harvard Graduate School
of Education). Her research focuses on how drama and theatre foster learning
and development.

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