Developing EFL Preservice Teachers' Oral Communicative Competence and Autonomy Utilizing Literature Circles and Process Drama Design

Abstract This research investigated the impact of literature circles and process drama design on developing EFL preservice teachers’ oral communicative competence, strategic and sociolinguistic competence, and autonomy. Employing a quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design with 32 junior EFL preservice teachers, the study revealed significant improvements post-intervention. Data were collected using a communicative competence test and rubric, and a learner autonomy scale. Paired sample t-tests in SPSS indicated a significant difference at the 0.01 level in mean scores favoring post-intervention, highlighting enhanced levels of both communicative competence learner autonomy. The intervention fostered a shift from teacher-centered to student-centered approaches, providing opportunities for independent learning and collaborative discussions. During the literature circles phase, students took on roles such as discussion director, literary luminary, connector, and summarizer, which developed autonomy. Participants monitored their learning, interacted in groups, exchanged roles, and evaluated the learning process through literature circles’ evaluative forms. This phase also enhanced strategic competence, enabling students to speak without hesitation using paraphrasing, description, antonyms, and synonyms. In the process drama phase, students' sociolinguistic competence improved as they engaged in performing role-playing, story dramatization, improvisation, human slideshow, and tableaux after reading stories. These activities facilitated oral engagement and reflection, resulting in improved expression characterized by continuous, confident, and appropriately intoned speech. The findings underscored the positive effect of the design on teaching English literature novels, emphasizing student-centered and collaborative methods while prioritizing learning processes over outcomes. This research significantly contributed to developing active, orally competent, and autonomous EFL learners.