Proceedings of The 5th World Conference on Social Sciences
Year: 2022
DOI:
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The Impact of Drama Activities on the Development of Communicative Competence in Primary Education
Asst. Prof. Zrinka Vukojević
ABSTRACT:
In the process of learning and teaching the Croatian language, the key question arises – what methods and procedures should be used to encourage and develop the ability of successful and meaningful communication of pupils in order for them to become communicatively competent people? Drama activities correspond to the communication approach to language teaching because they include the pupil as an active participant rather than a passive recipient. In the educational process, drama activities can take many forms, such as mime, pantomime, simulation, improvisation, role-playing, dramatized reading of a text, acting of a text, etc.
The paper will present the results of experimental research on the impact of drama activities on the development of pupils’ communication competence in primary education. The research was conducted on a sample of students in the fourth year of primary school (N=344) in the City of Zagreb. An experimental model with equal parallel groups was applied, in which the procedure was carried out according to the following scheme: K-control group – traditional Croatian Language classes (lecturing and presenting) and E-experimental group – where drama activities were performed in Croatian Language classes. The pupils’ communication competence was measured by a written composition, which was evaluated at three levels: content, language, and spelling. The results of the analysis showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the communication competence of students between the control and experimental group at two of the three levels.
keywords: communication competence, drama activities, language learning, primary education