Drama-based role play activities to impact on students’ speaking performance

This article investigates the impact of drama-based role play activities on three domains of speaking performance – accuracy (vocabulary and grammar), pronunciation and interactive communication of English as foreign language (EFL) students at An Giang University, Vietnam and examines students’ attitudes towards the use of role-play activities in a speaking class. The experimental study was conducted with thirty freshmen who were assigned as one control and one experimental group. This paper draws on data collected as part of a larger project including pre-and post-speaking tests and interviews. The quantitative analysis reveals that students in the treatment group made progress in their speaking performance whereas the level of speaking performance among students in the control group remained unchanged. Notably, interactive communication was significantly gained compared to accuracy and pronunciation within the intervention group. The qualitative analysis from interviews indicates that students held positive attitudes towards the implementation of drama-based role play activities.