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Vol.4.Issue 3. 2016 (July-Sept.)
256 POONEH KARIMZADEH
THE EFFECT OF DRAMA-BASED TECHNIQUES AS METACOGNITIVE PRE-READING
STRATEGIES ON READING COMPREHENSION OF PRE-INTERMEDIATE IRANIAN ESL
LEARNERS
POONEH KARIMZADEH
Department of English language,
Payame Noor University, I. R. of Iran
ABSTRACT
The present study investigates the effect of drama-based instruction as
metacognitive pre-reading strategies on reading comprehension of pre-
intermediate Iranian ESL learners. Because of the significant role of metacognitive
thinking in learning, finding effective strategies to improve metacognitive thinking in
reading comprehension seems necessary. According to different research based on
art, the effect of drama on teaching and learning has been beneficial. In order to
examine the effect of drama- based instruction, a total of 80 pre-intermediate in
third to sixth grade students in a private English institute in Iran, take KET Movers
exam reading and writing test as a pre-test from which 40 homogeneous students
are chosen. This group is divided in to two sub groups , i.e., 20 in experimental
group receiving the required treatment and 20 in control group without that .
Students will take posttest which consists of 2 piloted reading comprehension texts
from Oxford Primary Skills Reading and Writing. The data will be analyzed usingan
independent t-test. The posttest scores of experimental group indicates that the
treatment can improve the reading comprehension of ESL students in Iran, in other
words the usage of drama-based techniques as metacognitive pre-reading
strategiescan be influential and supportive.
Key words: drama, metacognitivestrategies, pre-reading strategies, role play
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INTRODUCTION
One of the most essential skills in learning
language is reading. The more skillful a reader, the
more successful in comprehension he will be. As a
matter of fact if someone can't read correctly
hewon't be able to comprehend. Through extensive
reading learners can elicit a lot of
knowledge.Nowadays because of increasing day to
day growth of technologyall around the world,most
of the Iranian eagerly try to learn English as an
Internationallanguage to facilitate reading
comprehension through extensive reading and
acquire modern technology academically and
professionally. Moreover the role of a teacher as a
great leader is crucial. It’s the teacher that chooses
the appropriate style of teaching, and a high
degreeof learner’s learning depends on this
decision. Teacher is a little artist whose art is
training great educators. Nowadays because of the
growth of science and technology, most of the
people all around the world have been kept far from
the lost pearl of life. Art manifest the beauty of life,
through art everything seems elegant even laborious
process of teaching and learning. As a matter of fact,
RESEARCH ARTICLE
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257 POONEH KARIMZADEH
applyinga suitable manner of teaching; by means of
art, make a paradise in theclass. Drama as one the
strongest tools, can make the ground of teaching
level. 1.1.Back ground and purpose
According to Wallas (2001) reading is
considered as a passive and receptive skill that only
involves grapheme to phoneme decoding, which is a
bottom-up approach .On the other hand ,reading is
considered as a more active process which is a top-
down approach and a reader elicits the meaning
from the whole text based on his schemes(Ediger
,2001 ,p.157).On the basis of schematic theory
,knowledge can be acquired and interpreted of text
through the activation of "schemata".Base on the
study of Piget ( 1970) schemes are organized mental
systems of actions or thought that enable a reader
to think. The more organized thinking process, the
more new schemes development will appear. As
metacognition or in another words "thinking about
thinking" is related to awareness and monitoring ,it
is essential to apply effective strategies to regulate
the thinking process and enhance the degree of
learner's awareness .According to Flavell(1971)
metacognition is intentional ,conscious ,foresighted
and purposeful. In respect to another research by
Flavell (1976), metacognition includes both
monitoringand regulating the learning process.In
regard to a research by Mohammad R.A. (2013)
metacognitive reading strategies not only can raise
the reader's awareness of how he learn, but also
facilitate students reading comprehension.
Moreover based on the new approach of
metacognitive reading strategy, any behavior
,thought and technique that improve the process of
learning refers toawareness(Cook, 2001; Macaro,
2001; Oxford, 1990).In the other words ,
metacognitive reading strategies awareness enable
the learners to think about the learning process,
monitoring and controlling their activities and
plans.In addition, according to a Soviet psychologist
Lev Vygotskey (1896-1934),Classroom teaching
begin with explicit teacher instruction on the one
hand andGuided practice of cognitive and
metacognitive strategies on the other hand that
gradually leads to students' independency, self-
monitoring, and new strategiescapabilities , self-
regulation and ability of taking their own
responsibility, for these reasons the role of the
instructors in the class rooms willbe significant.With
respect to these studies and various findings of this
kind, metacognitivepre-reading strategies have a
fundamental role in reading comprehension. On one
hand,the pre-reading strategies include predicting,
inferring, andmaking
connection(Marinaccio,2010),on the other
handmetacognitive strategies that consist of
planning, monitoring and evaluation, have a crucial
role before, during, and after reading (Perie,1997) .It
is worth pointing out that most of the research
workerswho have considered metacognitive
strategies, have emphasized on thinking about one’s
thinking, in other word it is the foundation for other
reading comprehension strategies.
As a matter of fact people have different
metacognitive knowledge andskills, so they differ in
how well and how quickly they learn (Brown,
Bransord, Ferrara ,&Campione,1983; Moris ,
1990).According to this variety the skillful instructor
knows how to activate learner's awareness with
various metacognitive strategies. Indeed there are
lots of metacognitive strategies which can be ……
This article investigates the impact of
another influential technique that can be used as
metacognitive strategies and provide a variety of
learning style. On the basis of studies by Katlie
Dawson(2016) drama based learning strategies as a
teaching tool ,at first was used in the United States
in 1920s.After that gradually other countries tried to
apply them .These strategies include creative drama
and drama –in- education. According to
MandiMoore(2004) historically drama have been a
successful way of teaching. Furthermore drama
based strategies areguided, non- exhibition, process
centered form of drama which deal with problem
solving and creative thinking through creation of
kinesthetic and interactive experience. According to
Rosalind M. Flynn (2012), drama teaching and
learning methods encourages not only creative
thinking, but also deals with brain based learning
principles .On the basis of the fact that drama based
learning strategies is similar to that of metacognitive
learning strategies that both deals with
improvingthe higher order thinking skills, drama–
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258 POONEH KARIMZADEH
based instructions can play a significant role in pre-
reading activities. On the other hand because of the
complexity and difficulty of some standardized
instruction and materials, students and sometimes
even teachers feel depressed and lose their
motivation .In regard to this problem, the delightful
condition that drama can bring to the class, can be a
kind of suitable treatment. In addition as far as
young learners are concerned, attention is the first
step in learning,is essential (Anita E. W., Philip H.W.,
& Nancy E.P.,1962).According to Dr. Bruce D. Perry
drama is a beneficial tool that can maintain learners
attention.
Since few studies have examined the
influence of drama based instruction on pre-reading
activities, the present study investigates the
different drama based learning strategies and its
crucial role as a kind of metacognitive activities in
reading comprehension.
1.2.Statement of the problem
In spite of the fact that most of the TTC
courses emphasize on the pre-reading phase and
clarify the significant influence of this section on
reading comprehension, unfortunately some of the
teachers don't take it in to account and worst of all
skip this crucial part. But on the contrary some
experienced teachers take more responsibility and
consider pre-reading strategies in their classroom.
One of the most popular and effective
technique that teachers use as a pre-reading
practice is activating learner's prior knowledge to
make a connection between their previous
knowledge and new acquired knowledge. It is for
this reason that experienced teachers use various
types of strategies to activate their learner's prior
knowledge. According to Beers (2003) one of these
strategies is story telling as a pre-reading activity
based on the text.Knowledge Rating is another
strategy with which students rate their
understanding of certain terms or concepts from a
reading assignment. UsingKWHL Chartisan
interesting technique with an added column labeled
“How I will find out…”Students write everything they
know about the topic they are studying under the K
column, everything they want to know under the W
column, and strategies for how they will found the
answers to their W questions under the H column.
As a matter of fact all of these types of
activities are mainly considered to activate the prior
knowledge of learners that help learners think about
their own thinking, develop confidence and
eventually apply his reflective thinking to their
readingpractice (Tanny Mc. Gregor, 2016).
According to all of these reasons, those
teachers who don't involve students in pre-reading
activities, don't take in to consideration the fact that
they have eliminated such a crucial phase and they'll
confront problematic consequences. On the other
hand most of the reading comprehension texts can
be a little difficult for second language learners. The
reading texts include not only new vocabularies but
they also can't be comprehended appropriately and
easily. Most of the learners who haven'tacquired
enough prior knowledge, find reading
comprehension difficult and boring, gradually lose
their confidence and try not to participate in reading
comprehension practice in their classroom. As a
matter of fact those teachers, wholecture a lot in
their classesand neglect the role of a student as an
active member, turn the learner into a passive
observer. As a result of applying such a carrier in the
classes, creativity and thinking are ruined on the
spot.
In regard to all of these mentioned
problems, choosing suitable and appropriate
activities as a pre-reading strategy seems essential.
Using drama based techniques as metacognitive
pre-reading strategies can be beneficial.
1.3.Significant of the study
The present research focused on the
investigation the drama based techniques based on
the metacognitive strategies. This typeof study can
provide valuable techniques as pre-reading activities
that teachers can use in their ESLClasses. As a
matter of fact theoretical and interactive drama-
based methodsprovide a non-threatening and safe
condition for learners. Unlike more traditional
learning methods theatre can not only engage all
the learners’senses, but also provide a safe
environment where learners can interact with each
othereasily. Asfar as a young learneris concerned,
the significant of this type of instruction is obvious.
According to Dr.Rosalind M.F. (2012), thereare 10
powerful benefits of using drama in the classroom
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259 POONEH KARIMZADEH
which on one hand can go well with learner’s brain
based learning principles, and on the other hand
involve learner’s emotions and movement.
Furthermore through drama, emotion and learning
come together to provide smooth way of teaching.
According to Dr.Rosalin
M. (2012) these are 10
benefits of using drama
In classroom:
1.Student Engagement
2. Collaboration and
Cooperation
3. Active Learning
4. Creativity within Limits
5. Flexibility
6. Investment in Learning
7. Higher Order Thinking
Skills
8. Showing Appreciation
9. Fun
10. Discipline.
Figure 1
Besides the benefits that have been mentioned
above, theteacher can take advantage of providing a
suitable condition in the class in which more
confident, highly motivated and active problem
solver learners are involved and can support
amusing peer interaction and verity of group work
and team work. Furthermore the teacher’s role can
shift from the traditional teacher center position to
a supporter.(Boudreault,2010)
Figure 2
1.4.Research questions and hypotheses
Concerning the problem stated above, the
following research questionis projected:
Q1:Do drama-based instructionsas metacognitive
pre-reading strategies have any effecton reading
comprehension of pre-intermediate Iranian ESL
learners?
Based on the research question mentioned
above, the following hypothesis is proposed:
H01:Drama-based instructionsas metacognitive pre-
reading strategies don't have any effect on reading
comprehension of pre-intermediate Iranian ESL
learners.
1.5.Definition of key terms
1.5.1. What is drama?
Drama refers to any story that can be told in a
dialogue and concludes different characters.
1.5.2.What is the role of dialogue?
Dialogue is a kind of conversation between
characters. It provides a situation that is exciting and
affects people’s feeling.
1.5.3.What is drama script?
Script is a written text of play which can be
a kind of written copy that a teacher prepares based
on the reading comprehension content or it can be a
kind of learner’s open improvisation.
1.6.Limitation of the study
In classroom activities, when given tasks
are challenging ,metacognition is most beneficial.
For some routine activities, planning, monitoring
and evaluation are unconscious but for those
activities which are new, these processes can be
done consciously(Bargh&Chattrand , 1999; Reder,
1996). Since drama –based techniques are new
strategies for both teachers and students, at first
sessions it can be a little time consuming and the
process of metacognitive skills can be done
gradually and consciously under the direct control of
the teacher. Fortunately after a few sessions
learners will be able to accomplish their goals and
solve the problems easily and unconsciously.
Moreover, because of the complexity of the
metacognitive process, teachers need to take part in
specific drama-based instruction course or take
advantage of extra teaching consultants.
Review of literature
2.1.Role play and drama
The role of role-play in drama is vital. According to
Chris Boudreult(2010) role-play as a powerful
teaching tool can be beneficial in different ways as
follows:
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Vol.4.Issue 3. 2016 (July-Sept.)
260 POONEH KARIMZADEH
Drama and
Role-play
1.encouraging cooperation
2.encouraging team work and group work
3.decision making
4.exchanging knowledge freely
5.building self-esteem
6.encouraging self-acceptance
7.encouraging acceptance of others
8.providing real-life condition
Figure 3
In regard to all of these benefits, drama
based techniques as metacognitive pre-reading
strategies can be beneficial.
2.2.How can drama be described according to
teaching English?
On the research by Holden(1981) the
definition of drama is any activity that asks students
to depicta)himself in an imaginary situation or
b)another person in an imaginary situation .This
form of drama is a kind of role-play that can be used
in different class room activities. Students can take
role in a real life situation, cooperate with each
other, experience the peer-interaction, solve their
problems together and have enjoyable moments.
Figure 4
2.3.What is the role of script?
Script as a written text has different forms.
The present study mainly deals with classroom
dialogue script, funny dialogue scriptor even a short
story. As a matter of fact ,role play can be done as a
dialogue so it needs a script. Unlike the traditional
teaching methods which most of the time use pre-
preparedscript of a textor dialogue for the students,
in this study a learner should write a script for a
dialogue himself .Of course at first sessions teacher
should monitor and control this activity. But
gradually learners will be able to write their own
script effortlessly by themselves.
Figure 5
2.4.With which knowledge and skills are learners
able to write their script for the task based
dialogue needed for drama?
As a matter of fact in using drama-based
techniques in the process of writing a script for a
drama ,the learner’s knowledgeis provided by
metacognitive knowledge that comes declarative
knowledge(self-awareness),procedural knowledge
(knowing that what to do and how to do…) and
conditional knowledge (knowing when and why to
apply the strategies)(Bruning ,Schraw ,&
Ronning,1999).It is important to emphasize that
metacognitive knowledge is used to regulate
thinking and learning. On the other hand, there are
different essential skills that each learner should
possess in order to be able to write a dialogue, that
include some metacognitive skills, such as :
planning, self-regulating, self-monitoring, evaluating
and problem solving.
Student2
Brainstorming
Topic of the text
Text key words
Text picture (visual image)
Student2
Teacher Script
writing
Teacher as a supporter
Student1 Student2
Role-play
Cooperation
Peer-
interaction
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Moreover as a matter of fact this kind of task based
dialogue is a guided practice .According to
figure6one of the most important knowledge as a
kind of prior knowledge can be provided by teacher.
Since brain storming in writing the script is the basic
part, teacher uses topic of the text, some important
key words and phrases and also the picture of the
text or extra posters or pictures related to the
reading comprehension text to guide the students.
Key words and phrases
Text visual image or picture
Text topic
Figure 6
2.5.How can drama based techniques be used as a
metacognitive pre-reading strategies?
On one hand ,in the process of script writing ,the
provided knowledge directly or indirectly are related
to metacognitive knowledge ;declarative knowledge,
procedural knowledge and conditional knowledge,
and on the other hand metacognitive skills;planning,
self-regulating, self-monitoring, evaluating and
problem solving, have crucial role in organizing an
appropriate script for the dialogue. Moreover
studentsas participants, should share their
knowledge and negotiate their roles.(Wagner,1976)
2.6.How dodrama based techniquesas a
metacognitive pre-reading strategiesaffect reading
comprehension?
In figure 7 the pre-reading activities
comprise of drama strategies that students can
perform on the basis of their own scripts. Since
they’ve elicited enough prior-knowledge through all
of these processes, they will be well-prepared for
the reading comprehension.
thinking action thinking
Figure 7
Metacognitive knowledge
declarative knowledge procedural knowledge conditional knowledge
Metacognitive skills
planning
self-regulating
self-monitoring
evaluating
Metacognitive/ knowledge
Prior –knowledge
Metacognition(thinking)
Learner’s mind
Teacher’s
instruction Writing
script
Monitoring/controlling
Teacher as a supporter
Metacognition
Metacognitive
knowledge
Metacognitive
skills
It is used to regulate thinking
and learning
Guided practice
practice
p
guided
Pre-
reading
activities
Comprehending
the reading
content
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262 POONEH KARIMZADEH
Methodology
3.1. Participants
A total of 120 pre-intermediate intheforth to sixth
grade students in a private English institute in
Iranwilltake KET movers exam reading and writing
test,80 homogeneous students will be chosen. This
group will be divided in to two sub groups ,i.e., 4o in
experimental group receiving the required
treatment and 40 in control group without that .The
number of10 teacherswill be also participated in
13classes. A supervisor as a supporter ,instructor
and observer will participate too.
3.2. Materials and instrumentation
KetMovers reading and writing test will be
administered as the pretest to select 80
homogeneous students. Ket Movers exam is one of
the three English language tests for young learners
from Cambridge English Language Assessment. The
test includes 40 reading and writing questions. It
takes about 30 minutes. It consists of multiple
choice, sentence completion and reading
comprehension questions. In 12 sessions that each
takes one hour and thirty minute, 6 reading
comprehension texts from Oxford Primary Skills
Reading and Writing level 4,published by Oxford
university press(2009) are taught .Students can take
advantage of the useful exercises at the end of each
unit.Students will take posttest which consists of 2
piloted reading comprehension texts from Oxford
Primary Skills Reading and Writing that takes30
minutes.
3.3. Procedure
During these 12 sessions, reading
comprehension texts will be taughtin experimental
and control group .In experimental group,
teacherswill use thedrama based techniques as
metacognitive strategies butthe other groups will be
taught by traditional methods. As the first step of
treatment in experimental group class, students will
make their groups or they can work two by two,
then the teacher will select some keywords or
phrases from the reading text ,write them on the
board and put the words in different sentences in
terms of examples and ask student to guess their
meaning ,show the text picture and ask students to
think and talk about the pictures. The teacher will
write the topic of the text on the board and gives
them some clues and supports them so students
should try to guess the meaning. They will be even
able to use their dictionary if they have and take
advantage of pair work or group work. The second
step can start with this teacher’s utterance, “Now
it’s time to write your dialogue”. Students start
writing the script for a dialogue based on the given
knowledge and their prior knowledge. During this
phase teacher will monitor and guide them. As the
third step ,after a short time students will be asked
to act out their dialogue or even lecture their script
.In this phase students have one of the most
interesting and enjoyable moments in the class.
They cooperate and feel each other, laugh a lot,
present their abilities and learn in a real lifelike
situation. Teacher as a supporter, a friend or even a
director on one hand will control and monitor the
students, on the other hand praise them for their
performances. Finally students will be ready for the
reading comprehension text. They‘ve already
thought about the topic and key words and even
written a script based on it so in a shorter time than
before they will read and comprehend the text .
3.4.Data analysis
This study will investigate the effect of
drama-based techniques as metacognitive pre-
reading strategies on reading comprehension of pre-
intermediate Iranian ESL learners. The scores of the
posttest of reading comprehension of the students
in both experimental and control groups will be
compared in order to probe the research question in
this study.
Results
This study explores the effect of drama-
based instructions as metacognitive pre-reading
strategies on reading comprehension of pre-
intermediate Iranian ESL learners. To achieve these
objectives the following research question was
posed;
Do drama-based instructions as
metacognitive pre-reading strategies have any effect
on reading comprehension of pre-intermediate
Iranian ESL learners?
The data were analyzed through
independent t-test which assumes normality of the
data and homogeneity of the variances of the group.
The latter will be discussed within the main report.
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263 POONEH KARIMZADEH
As displayed in Table 4.1 the present data enjoyed
normal distribution. The ratios of skewness and
kurtosis over their respective standard errors were
within the ranges of +/- 1.96.
Table 1: Testing Normality Assumption
Group
N Skewness Kurtosis
Statistic Statistic Std. Error Ratio Statistic Std. Error Ratio
Experimental NELSON 20 -.124 .512 -0.24 1.509 .992 1.52
RC 20 -.102 .512 -0.20 -1.427 .992 -1.44
Control NELSON 20 -.081 .512 -0.16 -1.228 .992 -1.24
RC 20 -.316 .512 -0.62 -1.039 .992 -1.05
KET Movers exam reading and writing Test
An independent t-test was run to compare
the experimental and control groups’ means on the
KET Movers exam reading and writing test in order
to prove that the two groups were homogenous in
terms of the general language proficiency before
administering the treatment. Based on the results
displayed in Table 2 it can be claimed that the
experimental (M = 71.95, SD = 6.77) and control (M
= 69.55, SD = 8.24) groups had close means on
theKET Movers exam reading and writing test.
Table 2: Descriptive Statistics; KET Movers exam by Groups
Group N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
KET Movers Experimental 20 71.95 6.770 1.514
Control 20 69.55 8.243 1.843
The results of the independent t-test (t (38)
= 1, p =.321, r = .16 representing a weak effect size)
(Table 3) indicated that there was not any significant
difference between the two groups’ mean scores on
the test. Based on these results it can be claimed
that the two groups were homogenous in terms of
their general language proficiency prior to the main
study.
Table 3: Independent Samples Test, KET MoversTest by Groups
Levene's Test for
Equality of
Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. T Df Sig. (2-
tailed)
Mean
Difference
Std. Error
Difference
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
Equal variances
assumed 2.951 .094 1.006 38 .321 2.400 2.385 -2.429 7.229
Equal variances not
assumed 1.006 36.618 .321 2.400 2.385 -2.435 7.235
Note. The negative 95 % lower bound confidence
interval of -2.42 indicated that the difference
between the two groups’ means on the tKET Movers
test could have been zero. Thus the above
mentioned conclusion as no significant difference
between the two groups’ means was correctly
made.
It should be noted that the assumption of
homogeneity of variances was met (Levene’s F =
2.95, p = .094). That is why the first row of Table 3,
i.e. “Equal variances assumed” was reported.
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264 POONEH KARIMZADEH
Figure 8 .tKET Movers exam by group
Null-Hypothesis
Drama-based instructions as metacognitive
pre-reading strategies did not have any effect on
reading comprehension of pre-intermediate Iranian
ESL learners.
An independent t-test was run to compare
the experimental and control groups’ means on the
posttest of reading comprehension (RC) in order to
probe the only null-hypothesis posed in this study.
Based on the results displayed in Table 4 it can be
claimed that the experimental group (M = 85.10, SD
= 11.74) had higher mean than the control group (M
= 65.85, SD = 9.28) on posttest of RC.
Table 4:Descriptive Statistics; Posttest of Reading Comprehension by Groups
Group N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
RC Experimental 20 85.10 11.747 2.627
Control 20 65.85 9.281 2.075
The results of the independent t-test (t (38) = 5.75, p
= .000, r = .68 representing a large effect size) (Table
5) indicated that there was a significant difference
between the two groups’ mean scores on the
posttest of RC. Thus the null-hypothesis was
rejected. The experimental group after receiving
Drama-based instructions as metacognitive pre-
reading strategies significantly outperformed the
control group on the posttest of RC.
Table 5: Independent Samples Test, Posttest of Reading Comprehension by Groups
Levene's Test
for Equality of
Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. T Df Sig. (2-
tailed)
Mean
Difference
Std. Error
Difference
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
Equal
variances
assumed
1.986 .167 5.750 38 .000 19.250 3.348 12.473 26.027
Equal
variances
not
assumed
5.750 36.069 .000 19.250 3.348 12.461 26.039
6062646668707274767880
Experimental Control
Series1 71.95 69.55
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265 POONEH KARIMZADEH
It should be noted that the assumption of
homogeneity of variances was met (Levene’s F =
1.98, p = .167). That is why the first row of Table 5,
i.e. “Equal variances assumed” was reported.
Figure 9. Posttest of reading comprehension by groups
Criterion Reference Validity
The Pearson correlation between the KET Movers
examandthe posttest of RC was computed as the
criterion referenced validity index of the latter test.
Based on the results displayed in Table 6 (r (38) =
.62, p = .000, representing a large effect size) it can
be claimed that the posttest of reading
comprehension enjoyed a significant criterion
referenced validity index.
Table 6: Pearson Correlation; KET Movers with Posttest of Reading Comprehension
Posttest of
Reading Comprehension
NELSON Test
Pearson Correlation .623**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 40
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
KR-21 Reliability Indices
The KR-21 reliability indices for the KET Movers exam posttest of reading comprehension were .64 and .92
(Table 7) respectively.
Table 7; KR-21 Reliability Indices for aKET Moversexam and Posttest of Reading
Comprehension
N Mean Std. Deviation Variance KR-21
Proficiency 40 70.75 7.544 56.910 .64
Test 40 75.48 14.290 204.204 .92
Conclusion
This research investigated the effect of
drama-based instructions as metacognitive pre-
reading strategies on reading comprehension of pre-
intermediate Iranian ESL learners. A total of 80 pre-
intermediate in third to sixth grade students took
KET Movers exam reading and writing test as a pre-
test from which 40 homogeneous students were
chosen. This group was divided in to two sub-groups
.During 12 sessions, 20 in experimental group
received the required treatment and 20 in control
group received traditional teaching style at the same
time.Drama-based instructions as metacognitive
pre-reading strategieswere applied for experimental
group and their influential effect on reading
comprehension were investigated. Studentstook
posttest which consists of 2 piloted reading
comprehension texts from Oxford Primary Skills
Reading. The results confirmed the idea that drama-
based instructions as metacognitive pre-reading
strategieswere appropriate enough to shed light on
learners’ reading comprehension development. In
50.0055.0060.0065.0070.0075.0080.0085.0090.0095.00
100.00
Experimental Control
Series1 85.10 65.85
Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL) A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal
http://www.rjelal.com; Email:[email protected]
Vol.4.Issue 3. 2016 (July-Sept.)
266 POONEH KARIMZADEH
the light of creative elegant drama based-
instruction, teachers as a supporter could bring
paradise to their classes.
As a matter of fact English classes should
provide peaceful places for cooperation,team
working ,group working,decision making, self-
monitoring,building self-esteem, creativity,
providing real-life condition, communicating and
active learning. To achieve such a complicated
pedagogical situation, choosing a suitable method is
crucial. Moreover the teacher’s role as a supporter is
essential to raise learner’s capacity to engage in the
process of active learning in the class.
In spite of the fact that this research
focused on a verity of drama based-instructions that
have positive effect on the process of learning, there
is a need to investigate the influence of drama
based- instructionsas a as metacognitive pre-reading
strategies on different genders and compare their
degree of reading comprehension development.
Acknowledgement: ''Special thanks for my
respectful professor; Dr. Amir Reza Nemat Tabrizi
who taught me how to write research article ,and
many thanks for the manager of Can Do Institute in
Iran, Mr. Otady and Mrs. Momen and my lovely
family .
Art manifest the beauty of life. Through art
everything seems elegant even laborious process of
teaching and learning. Teachers are little artists who
train great educators.''
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