An examination of the relationship between reading and drama in education

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the theories of drama In education and of developmental reading in order to determine the relationship between drama and reading in the cognitive and affective development of children and to document that relationship through an empirical study carried out with students in Canada and Great Britain. For the empirical study, the students read three stories that were chosen from children's literature appropriate to the two cultures and accommodating a wide range of reading levels. The students were divided into three test groups, one reading the story silently followed by a questionnaire, one reading the story silently followed by discussion and then a questionnaire, and one reading the story silently, followed by dramatic activity based on the story, and then a questionnaire. The questions were designed to measure recalled details, inferred literary concepts, and creative analogy. The information was transferred to a computer and the results tabulated. The hypothesis of this thesis was supported by the empirical study, especially in the areas of critical and creative responding. There was no significant difference in the response to the factual comprehension questions. This study concluded that drama and reading are related in that they both concern the development of perception and of experience. The print that the child reads serves as stimuli for the recall of meanings that have been built up through past experience, and dramatic interaction allows the reader to examine the ideas in the text and facilitates the reciprocal exchange between participants and eventually between reader and author.