Enhancing EFL Learners´ Communication Skills through Drama Implementation. The Case of a Private Third Year Middle School Class in Algeria

Abstract

An Investigation into Enhancing EFL Learners´ Communication Skills through Drama Implementation, the Case of a Private Third Year Middle School Class in Algeria, is a dissertation dealing with the issue of the absence of drama use in the classroom to enhance pupils’ communication skills in Algerian schools. In fact, drama has received little interest especially in the context of English as foreign language despite the fact that it proved its efficiency in English as a second language classroom. Therefore, this dissertation hypothesizes that drama, which has always been neglected in the Algerian school curriculum, is an effective tool that would enhance pupils’ confidence, group work and active listening skills through a field study that involved fifteen (15) third year middle school pupils in a private institute. The investigation used drama activities and techniques as a means to develop pupils’ communication skills throughout two months or eight 8 sessions of presence as an adequate duration to observe the changes occurring in terms of confidence, group work and active listening. Questionnaires, observation, interview and group discussion were the tools used for data collection in this research through the mix of qualitative and quantitative research methodology. The answers provided by the respondent pupils were analysed and interpreted resulting in confirming the hypothesis that drama is an efficient means to enhance pupils’ communication skills