The effect of creative drama and interactive reading on the reading comprehension skills of second grade students

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the impact of integrating creative drama and interactive reading strategies on the reading comprehension skills of second-grade primary school students. Employing a quantitative approach, the research was designed using a quasi-experimental model with a pretest–posttest control group structure. The study was conducted during the 2024–2025 academic year at a public elementary school in the Yakutiye district of Erzurum, Turkey. To assess students' reading comprehension levels, a custom-developed "Reading Comprehension Test" was utilized. The study was implemented in three phases: pretest, intervention, and posttest. Based on the pretest results, two homogeneous groups were formed 15 students in the experimental group and 15 in the control group, totaling 30 participants. The intervention lasted for eight weeks, comprising 16 instructional hours (two hours per week). While the control group continued with the standard Turkish language curriculum, the experimental group received instruction through a structured program that combined interactive reading techniques with creative drama activities. Data collected from the reading comprehension tests were analyzed using SPSS 27.0. Both the Independent Samples t-test and Mann–Whitney U test were employed for statistical evaluation. The findings indicate that the interactive reading approach enriched with creative drama led to a statistically significant and substantial improvement in the reading comprehension performance of the experimental group. These results suggest that combining these instructional methods may offer considerable pedagogical benefits, particularly in enhancing student engagement and deepening comprehension in early reading education. Keywords: Creative Drama, Interactive Reading, Reading Comprehension