Developing English speaking competences by using picture books in preschool drama activities

Master's Thesis from the year 2023 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: Preschoolers, University of Freiburg, course: M.A. E-LINGO - Teaching English to Young Learners, language: English, abstract: This action research uses creative drama activities to develop speaking competence through picture books among preschoolers on online platforms. This study aims to determine the creative drama activities I implemented to achieve speaking outcomes in preschoolers. The research group consisted of four preschool learners. The study's implementations began on October 30, 2022, lasted twelve weeks, and ended on December 25, 2022. Three picture books were used in the research: book 1, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle; book 2, The Colour Monster by Anne Llenas; and book 3, From Head to Toe by Eric Carle. Learners read the story and played games, sang songs, and did creative drama activities during the lessons. I emphasized creating a supportive and engaging learning environment that fosters learners' sense of comfort and ownership. I also emphasized the importance of creative drama techniques in encouraging learners to speak and the need to tailor teaching methods to the learner's needs, interests, and abilities. Learners spoke up and used props efficiently during target tasks. To provide evidence of the effectiveness of creative drama and storytelling in improving speaking skills in preschoolers, data collection methods, including video recordings, feedback and questionnaires from parents, the observation of a nonparticipant observer, and the teacher's journal, were used in this study. The data collected using these methods was triangulated to ensure the findings' validity and reliability. Future research could focus on broadening the study's scope to include a larger sample size and a broader range of learner ages. It would be interesting to investigate the long-term effects of CD activities on speaking abilities and compare their efficiency to other language instruction techniques. It would also be helpful to study how learner activities are used and how well they work in online or hybrid learning environments.