Insights into Utilizing Educational Cooperative Drama for Palestinian Speaking Skills in a War-Torn

The landscape of English language teaching in Palestine is still surrounded by issues such as apparent weaknesses in the speaking skills among Palestinian students. One reason for such weaknesses was found to be the traditional teaching methods used by the majority of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. In addition, the students’ lives were also encircled by war-related issues following the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Thus, the present study aimed to shed some insights into the importance of utilizing Educational Cooperative Drama (ECD) for Palestinian seventh graders’ speaking skills in the war-torn city of Jenin. Furthermore, the study explored the significance of using cooperative learning and educational drama in English language classrooms, especially in the teaching of speaking skills. Three main objectives of the study have guided the study; First, to explore Educational Cooperative Drama (ECD) influences the learning of the English language among Palestinian seventh graders in the war-torn Jenin. Second, to explore the challenges faced by EFL teachers in Palestine when using ECD. Third, to explore the way teachers and students perceive the use of ECD in a seventh graders' speaking skills classroom. In order to achieve the objectives of this qualitative study, a purposeful sample comprising five supervisors, five teachers, and twenty students was chosen. The thematic analysis approach was employed by utilizing the NVivo™ program to analyze the data that have been collected, such as semi-structured interviews and observation checklists, as well as artifacts, such as videos, classroom worksheets, presentations, online sessions, and plays. The results revealed that the
utilization of the Educational Drama and Cooperative Learning Approach, which is also known as Educational Cooperative Drama (ECD), has the potential to improve speaking skills, increase creativity, enhance cooperation and teamwork, develop the ability to act and dramatize, increase achievement, and promote the self-esteem of the students, in addition to decreasing the effects of war-torn environments for them. However, the study also revealed some challenges that mitigated drama integration in teaching the English language, such as shortage of time, teacher professional development, and design of suitable activities. In the light of these results, the decision-makers in the Ministry of Education in Palestine were recommended to plan for teacher professional development programs that aim at training teachers on how to integrate educational drama and design relevant activities. On the other hand, regardless of the aforementioned results, the study has some limitations related to the limited number of participants who came from one specific directorate, “Jenin” as well as using a purely qualitative approach.