An Analytical Study of Teaching Acting with Interpersonal Communication and Intrapersonal Communication

Abstract

Taking acting class is a way to enhance acting skills. Currently, acting class has attracted a lot of attention as a part of personality adjustment. Teaching acting does not have a standard curriculum as most of the instructors teach by their experiences. Moreover, there is no acting course for the acting instructors as well. The objectives of this article were to study and to analyze the process of teaching acting through the concept of interpersonal communication and the concept of internal communication. The topic was divided into 3 issues: the acting teaching process, the analysis of the interpersonal communication concept between the acting instructors and the acting students, and the analysis of the concept of intrapersonal communication among the acting students. The results showed that the teaching process was consisted of 1) the physical preparation activities 2) the faith building activities 3) the transfer activities and 4) the acting activities by using stimulation and role play. The context of the acting class was consistent with Wilbur Schramm's communication model of interpersonal communication, included with the vertical communication. The instructors controlled and influenced the students according to their roles and duties. The verbal communication and the nonverbal communication were also applied. Acting students used their own intrapersonal communication through perception theory, which was consisted of the attention and the selection, the organization of stimuli, and the interpretation. This  indicated the reason why different acting students have the different experiences in watching the performances.