Voicing Identity Through Puppetry: An Embodied Arts-Based Intervention to Enhance Oral Fluency, Creativity, and Confidence in Adult EFL Learners
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This qualitative study explores the pedagogical and expressive potential of puppetry as an embodied, arts-based practice in adult English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning. Situated within sociocultural, embodied, and arts-based perspectives, the study examines how puppet-mediated interaction shapes oral expression, creativity, and identity negotiation among adult learners. Adopting a performative qualitative case study design, the research was conducted over a six-week puppetry-based program in a private language institute. Data generated through puppet performances, semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and classroom observations suggest that puppetry can reduce affective barriers such as anxiety and self-consciousness, enabling learners to engage in risk-taking and sustained discourse. Participants’ narratives indicate that puppetry functioned as a “third space” for identity experimentation, allowing learners to project alternative voices and negotiate social positioning in the target language. The multimodal and playful nature of puppetry supported learner agency by engaging affective, social, and embodied dimensions of language use. Overall, the study contributes to arts education and applied linguistics by demonstrating how puppetry, as an artistic and material practice, can open alternative pathways for voice, identity, and participation in adult EFL learning.
DOI: 10.59236/ijea27n28
Author: Mohammad H. Keshmirshekan
Institution: Kharazmi University
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7208828019