The effect of theater texts on reading anxiety

The aim of the research is to examine the effect of theater texts on reading anxiety in students by having them read to students with reading anxiety. Reading anxiety negatively affects the student's reading success and comprehension skills. A student whose reading comprehension skills are not sufficiently developed cannot be expected to be interested in other subjects, understand what she reads, and achieve academic success. Mixed method was used in this study, which examined the effects of theater texts on reading anxiety. Quasi-experimental design was used in the quantitative dimension of the research. In the qualitative dimension of the research, a case study was preferred to examine and analyze the facts and situations in detail. While the "Reading Anxiety Scale for Secondary School Students" developed by Melanlıoğlu (2014) was used to collect the quantitative data of the study, student diaries were used to collect the qualitative data. The study group of the research consists of 5th grade students at a public secondary school in a city center in the north-east of Turkey in the 2023-2024 academic year. The participants of the study were selected from the school where the researcher worked. In the study, firstly, "Reading Anxiety Scale for Secondary School Students" was applied to the experimental and control groups as a pre-test. The experimental group students were made to read 6 selected theater texts for 8 weeks and the students kept diaries to obtain qualitative data. At the end of the application, the anxiety scale was re-applied to the control and experimental groups for the post-test. According to the quantitative and qualitative findings, teaching theater texts reduces students' reading anxiety. According to the data obtained from the diaries, it was seen that the students were anxious at the beginning of the process, but during the process, their anxiety decreased, their desire to read increased, and they understood the reading texts better. Based on this result, it is recommended that students read more theater texts, which not only reduce reading anxiety but also contribute positively to language development. Keywords: Reading anxiety, reading skill, theater texts.