The Views of ELT Pre-Service Teachers on Using Drama in Teaching English and on Their Practices Involved in Drama Course

Abstract

Drama provides an opportunity for students to use their imagination to express themselves verbally and with body language and is concerned with the world of 'let's pretend'. It has been widely used to foster language skills in foreign language teaching and engages both students and the teachers affectively and cognitively. Apart from its motivational aspect, drama enhances students’ socio-semiotic capabilities by enabling them to engage with various modes simultaneously. Considering the wide range of contributions of drama, its integration into foreign language teaching curriculum and investigating ELT pre-service teachers' (PSTs) views on this integration seem highly valuable. Therefore, the aim of this qualitative study is to find out the perceptions of junior ELT PSTs on using drama in English Language Teaching and on their practices in a drama course. The study included twenty-eight junior ELT PSTs studying at a state school in Turkey. The participants were enrolled in Drama in ELT course in 2018, fall. This research adopted a Grounded Theory study design. Data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire and a semi-structured focus group interview with randomly chosen five participants in order to find out the participants’ views on drama and their Drama in ELT course. The results revealed that ELT PSTs find Drama course useful for their professional development. Furthermore, they indicated positive feelings during the Drama in ELT course and the participants mostly stated that they will use drama as a part of their future English lessons. Therefore, drama courses offered by ELT curriculum has been found to contribute to ELT PSTs’ academic development as well as professional development by freeing them from the conventional classroom environment and giving them opportunity to benefit from their own experiences and imagination.