Effects of Teaching Modern English Drama on the Students’ Fluency and Accuracy of Speaking

In teaching-learning processes, drama method has some positive effects. In this study an attempt was made to consider one of the main concerns of language learners, that is, how to improve their speaking components such as oral fluency, accuracy, and communication. The research reported in this study explored which variables of the two selected texts of modern English dramas can effect students’ fluency and distinguish fluent from non-fluent L2 learners. This study was designed as a true experimental research and data of this research have been gathered from 60 EEL students of English language and literature Hormozghan University, Iran. The data were the recorded speaking transcripts which were analyzed by Praat software to see the progress after four-time (10 weeks) treatment was given. The factors considered were the numbers of filled and unfilled pauses in each narration, the total number of words per minute, mean Length of utterance, and number of stressed words. The results were compared and their temporal and linguistic measures were correlated with their fluency scores and this revealed that the speech rate, the mean length of utterance, phonation time ratio and the number of stressed words produced per minute were the best predictors of fluency scores and speaking fluency of the students increased in some areas after they studied and learnt these presented texts which were taught to the treatment group, and proved that by using the texts of dramas in EFL classes the students speaking fluency increased in some areas as shown by the improvement on their ability of fluent communications, and vocabulary in any oral interactions, but the students’ accuracy of speaking decreased in some areas.

کلیدواژه ها:

Modern English Drama ، Fluency ، Accuracy ، Speakin