Arab Educational Information Network

This study aimed at specifying the required speaking skills for the students of the first year intermediate stage in Makkah Almukaramah and exploring the effectiveness of using the educational drama strategy in developing their speaking skills, at the following levels: pronouncing the words correctly, using meaningful sentences and statements, controlling the intonation and tone according to the situation, and having a rich linguistic inventory (single and combined). The researcher used the quasi-experimental design for processing the study problem and achieving its aims; using a sample of (120) students in two groups. One of them was an experimental group of (60) students and the other one was a controlling group of also (60) students. An observation sheet then had been applied (preapplication) for measuring the oral performance (speaking skills) of the two groups. The experimental group had been taught using the educational drama strategy and the controlling group had been taught using the traditional method. At the end of the determined time for teaching the topics, the observation sheet had been applied again (post- application) for measuring the oral performance (speaking skills) to compare the results of the two groups. The results of the study yielded that there were statistical significant differences between the mean scores of the two groups in the (post-app.) Of the observation sheet for measuring the oral performance (speaking skills) at the level of pronouncing the words correctly, using meaningful statements, controlling the intonation and tone according to the situation, and having a rich linguistic inventory (single and combined) for the benefit of the experimental group. In the light of study results, the researcher recommended the following: the importance of using the modern teaching strategies that focus on the role of the learner like educational drama strategy for developing linguistic communication skills in English among students, holding intensive training programs for teachers of English language to train them using modern strategies that emphasize the role of the learner in the learning process to have a better learning for the English language. The researcher finally suggested making more scientific researches like: the effectiveness of the integration between many modern teaching strategies that concentrate on the role of the learner in learning the other skills of the English language; making other scientific studies for investigating the effectiveness of the educational drama strategy in teaching reading and diction skills. (Published abstract)