Page 21 - Diversity in Action

Introduction: Diversity in Action

the fourth chapter, authored by Kristina Riman and Lorena Lazarić, who fo-
cus on how process drama can create dynamic and inclusive educational
environments that promote multilingualism and intercultural awareness.
The authors begin by defining process drama as an educational approach
in which learners and teachers engage in an embodied make-believe that
can be linked to any topic or subject across the curriculum. While this form
of drama in education originated in England in the 1970s, it remains rele-
vant today because of several key characteristics that the authors explore
in their chapter, emphasising the holistic nature of this approach. Process
drama develops creativity, critical thinking, empathy, social skills, and com-
municative competencies. The authors offer practical suggestions for its ap-
plication, stressing the importance of careful planning, thoughtful topic se-
lection, clear objective setting, and learner preparation. Although process
drama is an improvised form of drama that allows participants freedom in
its execution, the authors emphasise that its success relies on structured
preparation. Evaluation methods need to be integrated into the planning of
process drama activities and can take a variety of forms in order for process
dramatocontribute tochildren’seducational development. Finally, the au-
thors acknowledge the challenges of process drama but argue that these dif-
ficulties can be minimised or resolved through proactive planning, foresight,
and preparation. Ultimately, the benefits of process drama far outweigh the
challenges.
In the fifth chapter, Natascha Jassmin Taslimi, Ursula Maurič, and Karin
Steiner emphasise the importance of promoting multilingual literacy by
highlighting migration-related plurilingualism as a key component. They
argue that the development of multilingual literacy should be seen as an es-
sential aspect of Austria’s educational mission and advocate for a language
policy that embraces a more inclusive vision of society. Recognising the di-
versity of society, the authors stress the need for linguistically and socio-
culturally sensitive approaches to learning in kindergartens and schools to
enhance the learning process for all children. Given that learning processes
are dynamic and constantly evolving, the authors argue that they are most
effective when they enable learners to respond to changing circumstances.
They illustrate this concept with the botanical metaphor of rhizomes – root
networks that grow without a specific centre – suggesting that learning, like
rhizomes, should be flexible and interconnected. While they are sceptical
of traditional monolingual education programmes, they believe that learn-
ing communities can contribute to culturally sensitive, rhizomatic language
learning. As a concrete example, they cite the voXmi educational network

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