The effect of drama on beginner students' reading motivation

In this study, it was intended to determine whether traditional reading instruction or drama activities which one is more effective in the context of increasing students' motivation, facilitating the learning process, making the courses more fun and permanent for beginner-level students in English language teaching and learning in reading lessons. Almost 100 prep-class students from the School of Foreign Languages at Erciyes University participated to this research during the fall semester in 2014-2015 academic years. In the first part of the study; background of the study, statement of the purpose and problem, research questions and definitions of terms are presented. In the second part; history of the drama, the role of drama and reading in language learning, who needs drama? , motivation and its importance in language learning and reading skills and effects of drama on motivation and reading are investigated. In the third part of the study; participants, research design, instrumentation and data analysis procedure are presented. In the fourth part; qualitative data are obtained through interviews and descriptive comparison analysis. The data analysis shows that there are differences after traditional reading instruction and drama activities in reading courses. Finally, the last part includes conclusion, recommendations for the further studies and limitations of the study. Key words: Reading Course, Traditional Reading Instruction, Drama Activities, Language Learning and Motivation