Farrah et al. Using drama in the Palestinian EFL classroom: teachers’ attitudes, advantages, problems, and teaching techniques

The use of drama activities is a method that allows learners to improve their communication skills, think critically, learn new vocabulary, and increase their motivation for learning. This study investigates the attitudes of English language teachers, as well as the advantages, problems faced in, and teaching techniques of the English language learning process in Palestinian schools using drama activities. Using both qualitative and quantitative research methods, the researchers investigated the extent to which drama activities are used while teaching English as a second language in Palestinian schools using a questionnaire and interviews. In the questionnaire, the participating English language teachers were 39 females and 12 males. Two teachers were interviewed. The findings confirm the need to implement changes and improvements regarding the use of drama activities in the language classroom. Moreover, the findings suggest following specific drama usage recommendations to ensure satisfactory results for both teachers and students to improve the four language skills. The implication of this study calls for providing clear and sufficient materials for drama classes, as well as offering teachers training programs to enhance their abilities to use drama activities in an effective way.


Introduction
Kostić- Bobanović and Gržinić (2011) observe that during the past 20 years, specialized purposes, such as business and technology, have replaced academic purposes as the aim of English language teaching. This trend explains why English has become an international language which most people seek to learn in today's modern world for different fields, such as education, medicine, and technology. Yet, most people rely entirely on English classes at school to learn the language. One of the best ways to fulfill this need from school is by using literature in the language classroom. Abdalgane and Ali (2013) believe that literature must be the main part of any designed syllabus to impart an ideal language learning atmosphere. Literature provides a new world full of different experiences that allow its readers to escape from their reality, experience different sentiments, and project themselves imaginatively. Maharsi (2016) confirms that the main reason behind studying literature is to develop different knowledge of cultures, values, and religions. Learners of literature can also broaden their perception of their surroundings because of its ability to embody ethos, ethics, and cultural elements. It also provides the opportunity to connect with both the past and present and anticipate the future.
Many linguists and scholars, such as Curtis (2015), try to address the following question: why should we dedicate time to studying literature? First, the study of literature allows individuals to develop an extraordinary ability to think outside of the box. This occurs through the unconscious practice of thinking critically while reading a literary text. As a result, learners understand the symbolic meaning embedded in the text, pay attention to details that expand their horizons, and become more motivated to think deeply about different ideas, beliefs, and feelings. Erkay (2005) argues that reading literature helps learners develop their own views and learn how to use their imagination when they speak. When studying literature, students will possess a better understanding of other cultures and religions, along with social, historical, and anthropological developments, which give readers the opportunity to understand and experience other lifestyles. Thus, students will appreciate, accept, and think critically about these differences within societies and identify with other cultures because literature usually deals with universal themes like love, revenge, war, and loss. Furthermore, studying literature improves students' language skills in general. The process of learning literature involves the necessary skills for practicing a language by asking the learners to summarize, read, listen, and interact in the language classroom. The language used in a literary work will enrich the readers' vocabulary and idioms used by speakers of that language. Daskalovska and Dimova (2012) argue that giving the foreign learner the chance to understand the meaning of a word or phrase within a literary work will make them effective users of the language. All these reasons point to the significance of the use of literature. Gaudart and Hyacinth (1990) believe that while choosing a drama activity, teachers should always consider their students' age, level, needs, interests, goals, motivation, and classroom size to ensure that the activity is suitable for all students. Hence, students will not face great difficulty in understanding and improving their language skills. Moreover, the teacher should be able to determine the most convenient work that motivates students to interact with one another. The teacher will pick out the most suitable approach to accomplish the targeted improvements for students' weaknesses in the second language and compel students to put the target language into practice. Every type of teaching technique has its own unique characteristics that benefit students in one way or another. However, while most literary works are written to be read, drama is written to be acted out on the stage in front of an audience (Arnott, 1991). This remarkable feature opens room for the teacher to employ different techniques and activities which are unusual and unique to motivate his or her students. According to Abadi (2015), drama is one of the elicitation techniques that contribute to developing speaking skills. Supriyani (2018) argues that language will be applied in an authentic way when the teacher provides real-life situations. By using drama in the language classroom, teachers usually activate the communicative approach. The principle of the latter maintains that the most effective way to learn a language is accomplished by real communication among learners (Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2016;Rahmawati et al. 2018). Sam (1990, p. 3) considers drama as a communicative activity as it promotes effective communication among learners and offers them with prospects "to use the target language in various 'make believe' situations." Unfortunately, this outstanding feature of drama is underutilized because drama activities are not being included in course syllabi. Shakfa (2012) states that the materials of the school are chosen depending on traditional teaching approaches. This selection method accounts for the infrequent use of drama activities in the language classroom. As a result, even after graduating, most students do not seem to have learned the language properly, even though literature is used in the class. As Cheng (2011) points out, the Grammar-Translation Method affects learners' communicative skills negatively. The probable reason behind this is the constant use of literary materials such as short stories, poetry, and novels, which are usually applied using the Grammar-Translation Method, with drama being rarely utilized. This results in a situation where students are structurally competent yet not able to use the language appropriately. This research paper attempts to find a remedy for the aforementioned problem by shedding light on the advantages of using drama activities and anticipating the problems that can occur, along with their solutions. Thus, this study argues for the wide-spread use of drama activities in the language classroom to help students in Palestinian schools become more immersed in the language.
Several studies have been conducted about the use of drama in the language classroom. Arnott (1991) mentions that drama is a type of literature that comes from the Greek, and it means to act, do, or perform. It is written to be performed on the stage in front of an audience. Drama and theater are considered as being two sides of the same coin. Imagination, emotions, and thinking are the source of dramatic work. This is exactly what students need. They have to think creatively in order to appreciate literary works. Appreciating such a work of drama requires not only creative thinking but also different types of language skills such as speaking. Drama adds a nice flavor to EFL while learning because it is an imitation of life. As a result, the drama genre will create a suitable environment for learning through real situations, which make the learning process more enjoyable. Cotter (2007) argues that knowing the language is not the same as using it. Simply put, the use of drama is not limited to entertaining audiences but is also highly useful for EFL students' learning.
Students struggle to speak English as fluently as they should because they speak English neither inside nor outside the classroom. Teachers must provide an encouraging environment to address this issue (Nugroho et al., 2020); drama-based activities are an effective solution. Students cannot learn efficiently by only studying the language theoretically; they must also apply it.
Many researchers suggest that using drama in the language classroom is a necessity due to the various benefits it provides (Jarayseh, 2010;Kalidas, 2014;Moghaddam, 2018;Uysal & Yavuz, 2018). Uysal and Yavuz (2018) believe that one of the best ways to practice a second language is using drama activities in the language classroom. For example, a notable improvement can be seen in students' oral skills. Moghaddam (2018) believes that learning depends on students' interaction, particularly while using drama. With this genre's activities, each student will be obliged to use the target language to communicate and express their ideas effectively and in an authentic way. Since drama is considered as a representative genre of life, students will communicate with quotidian language that will impact them positively in their responses and reactions outside the classroom. Furthermore, Jarayseh (2010) mentions that other language skills, such as reading and writing, will be improved when using drama. Ultimately, students will be exposed to new vocabulary and grammar; this can happen when learners use new words or grammatical structures within a context previously unfamiliar to them. When using appropriate drama activities, EFL students will easily remember new words due to actual use in authentic situations.
Furthermore, drama activities require the application of different learning styles like auditory, kinesthetic, and visual methods. Kalidas (2014) mentions that drama improves students' learning experience because of its ability to provide different learning styles that motivate learners. When teachers prepare for drama activities, they try to do so in a way that encourages students to participate in order to maintain joyful environment. Students will also be able to determine their learning style type. As a result, linguistic improvements among students will become visible.
Drama depends a lot on making impersonations of others, not only in terms of bodily movement, but also in the way EFL students speak. For example, some students will gain the ability to speak in the TL using different accents. They will improve their fluency, pronunciation, and intonations unconsciously. Furthermore, the purpose of learning a language is to communicate with others. Communication depends on speaking, bodily movements, and facial expressions. Uysal and Yavuz (2018) add that ideas and emotions can be expressed through gestures and facial expressions. With drama courses, students will mostly focus on delivering a message in ways other than speaking. Likewise, Boudreault (2010) suggests that drama enhances students' selfconfidence. Confidence is generally accepted as one of the most crucial elements when learning a language. Through confidence, students will take risks in making mistakes and see them as a normal aspect of the learning process. This means that they will speak in the target language without fear, allowing them to speak more and better master the target language. Furthermore, confidence makes students more creative. They become active learners as they will move, create, question, discuss, write, sketch, revise, rehearse, and perform. This will develop their critical thinking as well as starting to think in the target language because they are going to produce a play with it .
Furthermore, Guliyeva (2011) believes that drama grabs students' attention. Drama disrupts the monotonous learning environment because every student is given a role. Students become a part of the learning process, gaining a sense of responsibility to work in groups and allowing every student to accomplish a task. As a result, the whole production can be completed and students become independent. A significant advantage presents itself here when some students feel ashamed of committing mistakes in front of their teachers and classmates. This feeling of shame is mitigated because less emphasis is placed on the individual student in a group-based learning activity. For example, a student can think of ideas to write a script; another could create a set, others can be the directors, and so on. Therefore, the class will be studentcentered rather than teacher-centered, where the teacher is going to be a facilitator rather than a director. While working in groups, students will talk to each other and feel that they are responsible for each other's learning (Lehtonen et al., 2016). Students will also learn how to finish the requirements in the target language within a short amount of time. This requires proper communication with each other. They will also build friendships with others while participating in the group activity. Ozdemyr and Cakmak (2008) believe that all of these factors help in improving students' communicative and social skills. Finally, Atas (2014) reported that the drama techniques significantly decreased the speaking anxiety of EFL learners.
Thus far, the researchers have made use of a literature review presented by several studies (Boudreault, 2010;Guliyeva, 2011;Jarayseh, 2010;Kalidas, 2014;Moghaddam, 2018;Uysal & Yavuz, 2018). However, these reviews did not cover in a comprehensive way more up-to-date insights on the topic under study. Additionally, this study aims to explore the general attitudes of English language teachers, advantages of drama, problems that are faced while using drama in the EFL classroom, and teaching techniques. To gain an in-depth understanding of this issue, this study will attempt to answer these research questions: (1) What is the general attitude of English language teachers towards using drama in the language classroom? (2) What are the advantages of drama in the language classroom? (3) What are the problems that a teacher may face while using drama? (4) What are the techniques or classroom activities which a teacher can follow while teaching drama?
The researchers hope that the results of this study would be beneficial for other researchers by finding useful recommendations to consider in their studies. Moreover, it could help English teachers to take into consideration the results while using drama activities in the language classroom.

Research design
This study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative research approaches aid in gathering data under precise conditions (Farrah, 2006;Jacobsen, 2003). On the other hand, Hoepfl (1997) suggests that qualitative approaches are powerful tools for enhancing researchers' understanding of teaching and learning. Similarly, Saldaña (2009) believes that qualitative data is effective in eliciting the respondents' perceptions. According to Zhang and Wildemuth (2009), interviews create a better comprehension of the interviewees' points of view. The quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire, and the qualitative data was collected through interviews.

Participants
The participants are fifty one English teachers from different Palestinian schools. They speak Arabic as their first language. Table 1 presents the demographic data of the participants. It shows that 76.5% of the participants are females and 24.5% are males. Regarding their age, 45.1% had the age that ranged between twenty-two and twenty-nine. 39.2% had the age that ranged between thirty and thirty-nine. 15.7% were 40 years old and above. Regarding the years of teaching experience, 49% had one to four years of experience; 29.4% had five to nine years of experience and 21.6% had more than ten years of experience. Two teachers participated in the interviews.

Data collection
In order to achieve the objectives of the study, two research instruments were conducted to collect the data: a questionnaire and interviews with teachers. The questionnaire was used to show the general attitudes of students towards using drama in the language classroom. The questionnaire was developed by the researchers in consultation with the literature review that was conducted to determine the advantages of using drama in the language classroom. After the literature review, the researchers developed a 16-item questionnaire pertaining to the use of drama.
The first section of the questionnaire dealt with demographic data. To illustrate, age, gender, and teaching year were included in this section. The second section contained items about attitudes towards using drama in class. Likert-Scale was used in the questionnaire and given to English teachers from Palestinian schools. Participants answered the questions that range from strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree. The researchers sent the questionnaire for two experts from Hebron University for validation. They commented on the questionnaire and offered some suggestions to improve it. Their comments were taken into consideration and incorporated in the final questionnaire. The questionnaire was formulated using the Likert scale to indicate the degree of agreement and disagreement from 1-5, which were: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree and strongly disagree. After that, the questionnaire was posted on a Facebook group with the needed instructions, clarification of purpose, and the intended category to answer it. Fifty questionnaires were filled by teachers. Then the researchers stopped accepting responses to this questionnaire.
Interviews were also included in this paper to reveal teachers' attitudes towards the benefits and difficulties of using drama, and the best techniques to use it in the language classroom.

Data analysis
After the quantitative data was collected, it was analyzed statistically using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24. The researchers examined the questionnaire reliability, and they found that the overall Cronbach Alpha Coefficient of the questionnaire was (r =.81), indicating a very good degree of internal consistency. This means that the questionnaire was a reliable instrument and acceptable for the purpose of the current research . The quantitative data resulted from participants' responses on the online questionnaire were presented using descriptive statistics (means, and Standard Deviation (SD)).

The general attitude of English language teachers toward using drama in the language classroom
The following tables 2, 3, 4 and 5 show the result of the data analysis collected in the questionnaire. (Correction Key: Strongly Agree = 4.20 -5, Agree= 3.4-4.19, Neutral l= 2.60 -3.39, Disagree =1.8-2.59, Strongly Disagree = 1 -1.79).  Table 2 shows that the items that respondents strongly agreed with are Item 8, Item 15, Item 14, and Item 13. Items were arranged in the table starting from the item with the lowest mean, which is Item 15 (M= 4.29), to the item with the highest mean, which is Item 13 (M= 4.20). Item 8 (M= 4.25) and Item 14 (M= 4.25) demonstrate the positive role that drama plays in students' confidence and critical thinking skills. Item 13 (M= 4.20) and item 15 (M= 4.29) show that providing drama activities in the language classroom provides students with the opportunity of communicating with one another.  Table 3 shows that the items that participants agreed with are Item 10, Item 9, Item 7, Item 12, Item 2, Item 4, Item 6, Item 16, Item 11, and Item 3. Items were arranged in the table starting from the item with the lowest mean, which is Item 3 (M= 3.34), to the item with the highest mean, which is Item 7 (M= 4.10). The items concerning students' psyche while using drama activities are Item 16 (M= 3.96), Item 6 (M= 3.92), and Item 11 (M= 3.66). Item 12 (M= 4.02) is concerned with the best method to be applied while using drama activities. The items which deal with teachers' concentration on language skills to benefit students are Item 7 (M= 4.10), Item 2 (M =4.00), Item 4 (M= 4.02), and Item 3 (M= 3.34).  Table 4 shows the only item that participants were neutral toward being item 1 (M= 3.08). This item addresses the level of drama use in the language classroom in Palestinian schools. The educational environment in the language classroom is suitable to help meet the goals of applying drama activities.
2.84 1.02 Table 5 shows the only item that participants disagreed with, which is item 5 (M= 2.84). The item speaks to the lack of resources that are needed to use drama activities in the language classroom.

The advantages of drama in the language classroom
Adding variety to the class Both interviewees reported that drama is a new way of teaching a second language that takes students away from traditional teaching methods. Moghaddas and Ghafariniae (2012) confirm that drama activities allow utilizing the language away from conventional learning methods. They state that drama creates an enthusiastic atmosphere in the class, encouraging students to participate and do their best to be a part of the work. They also explained that using drama in the class breaks students' hesitation to speak, to express themselves, and to be in front of their classmates which develops their speaking skill. An interviewee clarified, "Students become more confident through participating during drama classes." Moreover, they added that drama is a good way to engage low-level students in the process of learning English. They also clarified that using drama in the language classroom adds suspense to the class, so students will always be interested to know what they are going to do or work on.

Helping both teachers and students think out of the box
The interviewees confirmed that involving drama in the language classroom motivates both teachers and students to think out of the box. They will have the ability to create drama activities, games, and materials. For example, one of the interviewees said, "When I give a drama lesson, I always try to come out with new ideas to encourage students to think differently." The interviewees suggested that literature allows the teacher to turn an English lesson into a drama lesson which makes it different. One interviewee mentioned that by using drama in teaching her students, she gained the skill of creating worksheets, activities, and plays .

Learning new vocabulary and expressions
The interviewees raised the point that when the teacher uses drama while teaching, students' vocabularies will be enriched. They also emphasized that drama increases students' exposure to English in an interesting way that makes them feel happy because they will need to read a text, know the meaning, and perform it later.

Increasing students' attention in the class
The interviewees also suggested that drama keeps students focused on the teacher because when the teacher makes a dramatic activity, students feel more responsible for accomplishing it. As a result, students will pay more attention to the teacher's instructions and information. One of the interviewees said, "In drama classes, every student's participation is required to complete the task."

The difficulties while teaching drama in the classroom
When the interviewees were asked about the problems they face when giving drama lessons, they confirmed that they face many. Both interviewees reported that a large number of students in the class makes it more difficult to perform dramatic work. The interviewee stated, "The classroom size is too small to handle a large number of students to perform a dramatic work." It also impedes the improvement of all students' levels, especially when they are of varying levels in English and not all of them are keen on using drama.
Another problem that the interviewees mentioned is students' poor grasp of English, many of whom lack basic English skills, requiring more effort from the teacher to help them. An interviewee elaborated, "As a teacher, I have to exert a lot of effort to follow up with the different levels of students." Moreover, they mentioned that they face a shortage of projectors, microphones, LCDs, boxes, costumes and props. The lack of these materials was always an obstacle to create new ideas to apply drama activities in the class.
In addition, they identified time as hindering the use of drama in the class. This problem appears because class time is about 45 minutes in Palestinian schools, which is not enough to practice drama activities, as students are rushed and not given the necessary time to develop their ideas adequately.

The techniques for teaching drama
The interviewees mentioned a number of techniques to be followed by teachers. The following are some of the tips they suggested. First, they suggested interacting with the events of the dramatic work. For example, an interviewee suggested changing the voice when telling a story. They added that making a play from students' imagination where students think about a subject from their daily life. Then discussing the best subject with all students and everyone has the chance to brainstorm and write an idea even in Arabic. Teachers can then help students with translation . This is followed by a rehearsal of the play and performing it by the students in front of their classmates . An interviewee said, "I feel this way helps in making the dramatic work closer to the real world". Second, they suggested using puppets which resemble a character from a lesson they have in their book. This is a simple way to practice drama activities in the class especially as it doesn't require a large space. For example, "Puppets help students to express their ideas with high self-confidence without being afraid," as stated by one of the interviewees. Additionally, they suggested using puzzles at the beginning of the class. One interviewee stated that he uses puzzles while teaching drama. He gives each group five minutes to solve it which adds suspense and competition among students.
Third, they suggested using cards in which one student stands in front of his/her classmates and performs what is written on the card. This technique helps students to be serious and realize that acting is not only comical.
Fourth, using a record made of different sounds and asking students to use their imagination to compose a short story about the sound they hear. One of the interviewees mentioned, "Records encourage students to use their imagination, and at the same time, it helps to improve students' listening skills." Fifth, using pre-reading activities that set up the background information is needed for students' understanding. For example, they suggested asking students about the writer, genre, and vocabulary .
Sixth, using reading activities, such as asking about the setting, plot, characters, and themes. These activities are extremely effective in achieving confidence and effective communication.
Finally, exposing students to post-reading activities to focus on different language skills like writing. They emphasized that teachers must do some of these activities before getting out of the class to show students' analytical capabilities. This is clearly stated by one of the interviewees when he said, "By using writing at the end of a drama class, I make sure that students develop their writing skills".

Discussion
As presented in the results, the need for implementing drama activities in the language classroom is strongly recommended to help learners improve their target language skills. The claim that the needed environment for applying drama activities in the language classroom exists in the Palestinian schools is strongly disagreed with, as shown in Item 5 (M= 2.84). This emphasizes the importance of conducting studies similar to this one, suggesting drama activities to help students take the highest advantages while learning.
In item 6 (M=3.92) participants believe that drama is considered a nontraditional method of teaching the second language for students because it applies activities students have never done before far from The Grammar Traditional Method. This shows the necessity of including drama activities as a way of avoiding the boring traditional method. To avoid this method, the teachers agreed on the communicative approach as the best method to follow, as shown in Item 12 (M= 4.06). Likewise, Sam (1990) considers drama as a communicative activity will allow students to have effective communication and effective use for the target language. As a result, students will be immersed in the language as agreed with in Item 7 (M= 4.10). Thus, students will be completely involved in the activity since drama involves all learning styles and channels: visual, aural, and kinesthetic.
The results of the study show that teachers are satisfied with the positive effects that drama activities have on the psychology of students. This can be recognized in most of the items as in Item 13 (M=4.20), Item 16 (M=3.96), and Item 11 (M=3.66). Drama activities create a motivational environment that enhances students' confidence and motivates them to participate and share their ideas with others. As Gül and Çağlayan (2017) believe that drama affects the learners psychologically in such a way that makes them feel good towards their lives and have the ability to make their own decisions.
There are other items that received the level of agreement among respondents. These items are 2 (M= 4.00), 4 (M=4.02), and 3 (M=3.43). This means that the teachers believe that drama activities improve students' language skills especially speaking skill. The participants strongly agreed in item 10 (M=4.6) that students interact using the target language when applying drama activities. This result is in line with Zyoud (2010) who conducted a study at Al Quds Open University, Palestine. He found out that drama integrates the four language skills which are reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Regarding the educational environment, in Item 5 (M=2.84), the participating teachers confirm that the current educational environment in the classroom is not suitable to meet the goals of involving drama in the educational process. Nugroho et al. (2020) considered the learning environment as one of the key elements that enhance learners' language acquisition. This emphasizes the need for such studies to enhance the educational process using drama activities through improving its components or elements. For example, teachers agreed in Item 9 (M= 4.14) that the number of students in a single classroom affects the use of drama activities. This represents an obstacle in Palestinian schools because as one of the interviewers said that the number of students is not suitable for them to control, for their classes are too crowded, which prevents them from meeting the students' needs, controlling classrooms, and achieving the educational goals using drama activities.
Taking into account the results interpreted above, the limited and inadequate use of drama activities in the language classroom deprives students of original and beneficial language knowledge that can be gained through drama. However, improving the use of drama activities in the language classroom can be implemented successfully through conducting changes and enhancements in relation to the teaching methods, approaches, techniques, classroom environment, and school curriculum used in preparing drama activities. Concerning the language weaknesses that students in Palestinian schools face due to the lack of practice, researchers think that drama must gain wider attention from teachers and the Ministry of Education in order to put students' skills into practice while using the language.
As for the educational environment, classrooms should be provided with technological equipment to help facilitate the educational process and meet the educational goals using drama activities. The number of students in each classroom should not exceed 25 students to help teachers control the class and give equal attention to every student. Curriculums should be modified to include drama activities that address the need for every language skill.

Conclusion
Regarding teachers' general perception towards using drama, generally, it is evidenced that the findings provide strong support that the participants had Farrah et al. Using drama in the Palestinian EFL classroom: teachers' attitudes, advantages, problems, and teaching techniques Journal on English as a Foreign Language, 11(1), 85-103 p-ISSN 2088-1657; e-ISSN 2502-6615 100 high levels of positive attitudes towards using drama in the EFL classroom. They perceived it to be very promising in contributing to the overall improvement in their English language skills and as well as critical thinking. Moreover, they thought that it would contribute to building students' selfconfidence and ultimately has a positive outcome on their learning as well as performance. Regarding the challenges, the participants believe large classes, poor level of students and time limitations to be among the most noticeable challenges. Finally, the participants suggested a number of techniques that may promote effective utilization of drama in the language classroom. Based on these findings, the researchers suggest some specific recommendations. First of all, they recommend the teachers consider the different factors while deciding what the used methods must be, such as students' age, level, motivation, knowledge, number, and so on. The researchers recommend that students should practice the language during drama classes. Additionally, the ministry of education should prioritize the inclusion of drama in the school curriculum and work on advancing the educational environment for the use of drama activities by decreasing the number of students in each class and providing each classroom with technological equipment. Finally, the researchers recommend that other researchers conduct similar studies to increase our knowledge of the benefits of using drama in the language classroom.