Drama Techniques as Contributors to Third graders’ English Oral Skills Development

Resumen

The purpose of this action research study was to observe the impact of third grader’s English as a Foreign Language (EFL) oral skills through drama techniques to reinforce their fluency, motivation, confidence and pronunciation with audiovisual materials that integrate current cartoon series. To carry out this study, field notes and interviews were implemented to gather data and determine how drama techniques such as dialogue and improvisation with simulation and thought tracking contributed to the understanding and the improvement of third graders’ EFL oral skills. During the study, it was observed that learners could understand the foreign language through the gradual analysis of expressions and vocabulary meanings by connecting these concepts to their real backgrounds and topics of interest. Moreover, collaborative listening and repeating exercises, along with the kinesthetic activities helped learners to be closer to EFL meanings, achieve better pronunciation, fluency and motivation. The conclusions of the study include the fact that learners gained more participation through collective construction knowledge work related to their real contexts. Thus, we made some recommendations to encourage the educational community to apply the techniques mentioned in this study as a new ELT method and to integrate them within their curriculum to help learners to obtain better English oral skills results.