Teaching Materials Conceived from Theater and Japanese Language Education - A Study of the Dialogue Piece for Education Written by Hirata Oriza

Abstract

A dialogue piece by Oriza Hirata, one of the most promising playwrights and directors in the present theatre scene in Japan, was utilized in a textbook for junior high school students.

The present paper examines characteristics and limitations of Hirata's text. It vividly demonstrates how a conversation of young Japanese people functions; they do not say what they really want to say, keeping a “proper” distance between themselves. However, Hirata urges pupils to be engaged in a more meaningful “dialogue”, and thus sets up a teacher-student relationship based on openness and evaluation.

If we want to develop the potentials of Hirata's text, it should be an object of free discussion by students to get an insight into the nature of their “ordinary” conversation.