THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DRAMA TECHNIQUES ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM ANXIETY REDUCTION OF THAI EFL STUDENTS

Abstract

The study aims to explore the types of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA)that Thai EFL students have; to study the effect of drama techniques on the levels of FLCA ofThai EFL students; to examine drama activities that affect English language learning of ThaiEFL students with FLCA; and to improve drama techniques for reducing FLCA. The participantswere 44 non-English majored university students selected via non-random sampling method.The research instruments were eight drama technique-based lesson plans, FLCA questionnaireand guided questions for focus group discussion. The quantitative data were analyzed bymean, standard deviation, and t-test while the qualitative data were analyzed by contentanalysis technique.The results of the study indicated that, before the experiment, all 44 participants hadoverall FLCA at the moderate level. When classifying according to types of FLCA, theparticipants had Communication Apprehension to a high degree, but Fear of NegativeEvaluation and Test Anxiety to a moderate degree. After learning through drama techniques,the studentsû FLCA reduced significantly at the .05 level. From the analysis of qualitative data,prepared-improvised drama and drama games were indicated as the most effective dramaactivities on reducing FLCA. In addition, the participants suggested that the teachers have afriendly personality, have a sense of humor, use non-threatening words, pay careful attentionto their performance, and find ways to engage the students not participating in group activity.Keywords Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety, Drama Techniques, Thai EFL Students