Abstract:
The focus of this study is to explore the extent to which the use of drama in teaching English
language promotes students’ speaking skills in four selected schools in Kigali city secondary
schools. The identified gap is that few studies investigated the use of drama in teaching English
language. In addition, some scholars indicated that the lack of fluency, poor pronunciation, limited
vocabulary, and a general lack of confidence in using English in academic settings is caused by
insufficient exposure to English and traditional teaching methods. They often emphasize on
grammar, reading, and writing but without using drama as a teaching method. This study addressed
this gap by investigating on how drama use in teaching English language promote students’
speaking skills. The social Learning Theory and Cognitive Learning Theory of drama use to teach
language guided this investigation. As methodology, the study adopted the mixed methods. It
adopted a descriptive research design with a random sampling of 100 students, and 8 teachers from
the selected schools in Kigali City, from the target population of 142. Questionnaires, interview
and observation were used to collect data. The study’s findings indicated that using drama
activities to teach English in the classroom had a beneficial impact on students’ speaking skills in
secondary schools in Kigali City. In addition, the study’s findings indicated that students’ positive
attitude to drama in speaking was improved at 96%. As a result, the use of drama in four selected
secondary schools in Kigali City enhanced the fluency, pronunciation and accuracy of the students’
speaking. The research recommends that teachers should be aware that all schools needed to
integrate drama as a significant teaching method to enhance students’ speaking skills, increase
their learners’ motivation in speaking skills and initiate clubs of speaking competition through
drama.
