Drama pedagogy: subverting and remaking learning in the thirdspace

This qualitative, ethnographic research highlights how drama pedagogy using translanguaging-based Readers Theatre supports students learning English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) to develop knowledge of language central to their engagement with learning (Authors, 2020). Using socio-spatial theory of Lefebvre (1991) and Soja (Annals of the Association of American Geographers 70:207-225, 1980), we argue that drama pedagogy can shape a creative translanguaging space as reported by Li (Journal of Pragmatics 43:1222-1235, 2011) in which the high-stakes test based pressure to narrow curriculum and pedagogical breadth can be resisted, and classroom spaces remade so that literacy learning is identity affirming and caters for the diverse needs of students.