The effect of drama method in education on bilingual and non bilingual 5th. grade elemantary school students' academic achievement and attitude

THE EFFECT OF DRAMA METHOD IN EDUCATION ON BILINGUAL AND NON BILINGUAL FIFTH GRADE ELEMANTARY SCHOOLSTUDENTS' ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTITUDE In the present experimental study, the effects of "scenario based learning approach supported by drama in education" on elementary school fifth grade students' academic achievement (understanding by reading, understanding by listening) and "attitude scale of language (Turkish language-mother tongue- Turkish course) and developing language skills" were investigated. The research was conducted at three elementary public schools of middle socio-economic level at Adana- Seyhan during the spring semester of 2004-2005. Participants were the 196 fifth grades students. The study had been taken ten weeks. The three experimental groups were instructed with drama method based on scenario based learning approach (SBLA). The three control groups were instructed teacher-centered method based on traditional whole class teaching. "Achievement test of understanding of reading", "achievement scale of listening" and "attitude scale of language (Turkish language-mother tongue and development of language skills)" developed and controlled for the reliability and validity by the researcher, were administered as pretest and posttest. The research results from "The achievement tests of understanding reading and understanding listening" show significant difference among the experimental groups. The finding from the 1.st subscale "attitude towards Turkish lesson" reveal that there are meaningful differences among experimental groups and control groups. Controlling for the bilingual students pretest scores on 2.nd scale "attitude towards Turkish" it has been found significant differences favoring the experimental groups on posttest scores. Beside significant difference favoring the experimental groups is found from the 3.rd subscale "attitude towards mother tongue". The finding of 4.th. subscale "attitude towards developing language skills" shows significant difference among groups favoring the experimental groups. Keywords Scenario Based Learning Approach. Drama in Education Teaching Turkish Attitude Scale Bilingualism and Language Education.