The Use of Drama in Overcoming Anxiety in English as a Foreign Language Class: An Action Research
The Use of Drama in Overcoming Anxiety in English as a Foreign Language Class: An Action Research

Summary/Abstract: One of the purposes of foreign language teaching is to help students to be communicatively competent so that they can use the language both in and outside the class. Traditional English as a foreign language (EFL) classes are limited in giving the opportunity to the students to use the language effectively in order to develop fluency. There are many graduated students who are unable to speak in public or engage in real communication as they lack confidence in using the language. They can understand the language that is spoken around them, but in practice they fail to use the language they have learned effectively. The impetus for this study raised when such shortcomings were detected in an undergraduate class called Literary Terminology. Eight junior students who were studying in English Language and Literature (ELL) Department of a private university in north Cyprus participated in the study. Drama activities were incorporated into the course as an intervention which lasted sixteen weeks. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with all the participants to be analyzed qualitatively. The qualitative analysis revealed that a great majority of the participants benefited from the intervention in terms of speaking anxiety, personal development and socialization.

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