Enhancing Thai secondary school students’ English speaking skills, attitudes and motivation with drama-based activities and Facebook

ABSTRACT

The study reported in this article explores Thai secondary school students’ English as a foreign language (EFL) learning experiences and examines the effects of using drama-based activities and Facebook on the students’ English speaking skills, attitudes and motivation in learning EFL. The study employed a mixed methods approach to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The study used Facebook together with drama-based activities to deliver English language lessons in EFL classrooms. A total of 40 students from two Grade 12 classes and two Thai EFL teachers at a high school in Thailand participated in the study. Data was collected through English speaking tests, Attitude and Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) questionnaires, classroom observations and interviews. The results of the study indicate that drama-based activities and Facebook had positive effects on the students’ speaking skills and increased their motivation and positive attitudes towards learning the English language; they also provided the students with an interactive and flexible learning environment where they could actively communicate and collaborate with their teachers and peers. Findings suggest that drama-based learning activities and Facebook can be creatively integrated to assist language learning in the EFL classroom.

KEYWORDS:

• English as a foreign language
• speaking skills
• attitudes
• motivation
• drama-based activities
• Facebook

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Manit Wongsa

Manit Wongsa, Ph.D., is a native of Thailand who studied and worked in Australia for over 16 years. His professional experiences are in health science (nursing), education (TESOL) and teaching primary and secondary school students in Thailand. His research interests include active learning, second/foreign language teaching, and teacher development.

Jeong-Bae Son

Jeong-Bae Son, Ph.D., is a teacher educator and researcher in Applied Linguistics & TESOL at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. He has published extensively in the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and conducted seminars and workshops around the world. He is the President of Asia-Pacific Association for Computer-Assisted Language Learning (APACALL: www.apacall.org), Director of Technology-Enhanced Language Learning Research Network (TELLRN) and Editor of the APACALL Book Series. He can be reached through his website at <drjbson.com>.