Effect of Creative Drama on Academic Achievement: A Meta-analytic and Thematic Analysis

Abstract

Creative drama implies that there is a teacher who facilitates the lesson by adding structured plays that often consist of beginning, middle, and conclusion. The method operates as a group process and it is effective because of its ability to strengthen a group and create a cohesive unit (Booth & Lundy, 1985; cited in Arieli, 2007). Creative drama includes improvisation, movement, and rhythms and is created on the spot, not memorized or scripted. Thus, a spontaneous self-expression of the participants comes into the scene (McCaslin, 1996). The students in the class act out a story they had learned before and this improvisational and spontaneous process enables them to further analyze and synthesize information creating personal meaning (Arieli, 2007; Guli, 2004). Creative drama includes students in concrete and applied practices of behavior as skills are physically and verbally acted out which results in an authentic experience for the participants (Bailey, 1997). In addition, Laurin (2010) suggested that the students and the teacher can go back and forth in creative drama and make changes as they wish. That is, the focus of creative drama is to be on participants' experience which indicates that creative drama is nonexhibitional and process centered.The outcomes of utilizing creative drama in learning environments can be beneficial as students who behave in a shy, quiet, or self-conscious manner often regain confidence after they learn to use their unlimited imagination. Knowledge and vocabulary that have been internalized through traditional teaching methods has an opportunity to be externalized in creative drama environments (O'Hara, 1984). Developmental psychologists explain that children explore the world and how to behave in it through imitation, symbolic plays, and dramatic plays. However, our educational system has yet to embrace this strong and natural learning method. Many teachers hesitate from applying creative drama as a teaching tool in the lesson because they think it will take too much time, energy, or effort. They may rationalize that it is a method that they are not familiar with and therefore cannot begin to master without a lengthy training process. In fact, the opposite is true; once you have learned how to do it, you never forget (Bailey, 1997).In the process of creative drama, participants may not necessarily become experts in a field, but instead, learn or develop certain skills as they engage in meaningful dramatized stories together (Guli, 2004). Especially in students' speaking skills, creative drama offers a valuable facility to practice and also increases motivation for students to express themselves (Shand, 2008). Creative drama provides active use of the senses, and thus addresses the issues related to Garden's multiple intelligences. That is, students learn through dialogue, movement, sound, and sight. Dialogue, role-playing, and kinesthetic movements appeal verbal-linguistic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligence styles. Creative drama, then, is a means for teachers to engage multiple learning styles in learning environments (Tate, 2002). Therefore, with this meta-analytic review, the effect of such a multi-functional method was investigated.The Aim and Significance of the StudyUsing creative drama for teaching has led many researchers to examine its effect on various fields or courses, one of which is conducted in seventh graders' science achievements in ecology and matter cycles unit. In this experimental study, the author found a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of groups in favor of the experimental group after treatment (Cokadar & Cihan-Yilmaz, 2010). In a quasi-experimental research study by Gundogdu (2012) the effect of a creative drama-based assertiveness program on students' assertiveness skills was studied. Following a period of a 10-week application, it was observed that the scores of the experimental group increased at a significant rate compared to those of the control group. …