Drama technique in EFL teaching

Abstract

Summary: Considering the drama technique as appropriate in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL), in our paper, we have examined and analysed teachers' attitudes towards this technique. We wanted to find out if the respondents think that the drama technique is useful in teaching foreign languages and if they use it in their classrooms. The research was conducted in Italy during the finals of the second international competition in English - Hippo, on a specific sample of English teachers (N = 47) from eight countries whose students were finalists in the competition. A non-experimental descriptive method - survey, has been used. To collect data, we have constructed a questionnaire in English, which consists of three parts: 1) respondents' sociodemographic data; 2) a scale for measuring attitudes towards drama technique, divided into two subscales - one measures the assessment of drama technique advantages (contains six statements), and the other the assessment of its disadvantages (three statements); and 3) assessment of the use of drama activities in teaching (one statement). The respondents rated the degree of agreement with each of the statements based on a five-point Likert scale, from 1 - I strongly disagree to 5 - I strongly agree. The results analysis has indicated that the teachers, mentors of students who have achieved exceptional success placing in the finals of the international English language competition, consider the drama helpful technique and use it in EFL teaching. Namely, there is a statistically significant positive correlation between the use of drama technique in EFL teaching and the assessment of the advantages of this technique (r = .49; p <.001), as well as the general attitude towards drama technique (r = .51; p <.001). Our research can be useful to EFL teachers. It can encourage them to apply drama techniques in practice as much as possible, enhancing students' motivation to acquire a foreign language more successfully. Theoretically, our research contributes to the methodology of foreign language teaching and psychology of learning, since motivation is an important psychological factor in EFL learning and teaching. The paper can be helpful to future researchers in these fields.