Applying Sociodrama with Music and Poetry Therapy to Enhance the Vocabulary and Reading Skills of EFL Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder

In the context of the ۲۱st century’s rapidly advancing global and technological landscape, the importance of inclusive universal education has perhaps never been greater. This is especially relevant most disenfranchised groups – learners with special needs. The latter includes individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who often require alternative teaching methods, as traditional educational approaches typically fail to engage them effectively. Despite the relative abundance of studies on general education for learners with ASD, a review of the English as a foreign language (EFL) literature shows a noteworthy in this regard. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine the vocabulary and reading skills of EFL learners with ASD by applying techniques combined with music therapy and poetry therapy. For this purpose, ۲۰ male adolescents from three ASD-specialized schools in Tehran (whom the researchers managed to have access to) were selected for the study through nonrandom convenience sampling. They were subsequently divided into two groups, each receiving a ۱۰-session intervention: one group engaged in sociodrama with music therapy, while the other participated in sociodrama with poetry therapy. The results indicated promising improvements in both groups, suggesting that the combination of sociodrama with music and poetry therapy may be an effective approach to enhancing the vocabulary and reading skill of EFL learners with ASD. This study may serve as a small step towards expanding the existing dearth of knowledge concerning teaching EFL to individuals with ASD in line with the goal of inclusivity in education.

کلیدواژه ها:

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) ، EFL ، Music therapy ، Poetry therapy ، Reading comprehension ، Sociodrama ، Special needs education ، Vocabulary Learning