الملخص الإنجليزي
Drama instruction is one of the methods recommended in EFL literature. It aimed to investigate the impact of drama instiuction on EFL fifth graders' reading comprehension. It also explored the students and the teacher's perceptions of the use of drama in reading lessons. A total of 74 students participated in the study and randomly selected to form the control group and the experimental group. The study was a mixed quasi-experimental design. A pre- and posttest reading test were administered to examine the impact of drama on reading comprehension. A questionnaire was implemented to explore students' perceptions of drama. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to probe students' and teacher's perceptions of drama. The results were quantitively and qualitatively analyzed. They showed no significant difference in reading comprehension between the control group and the experimental group. However, the experimental group performed better in the posttest than the control group although their mean scores in the pretest were lower. The participant teacher and students reported positively towards the use of drama in reading lessons. They reported that drama activities were exciting and made them love reading.
Key words: drama instruction, drama activities, reading comprehension, Omani fifth graders
