Turkish language teachers’ creative drama competence and opinions

Abstract

Teachers need to have a positive opinion and competence for the thought or knowledge they plan to convey in any acquisition. It is important to determine the opinions and competencies of the teachers about the creative drama method in order to successfully complete the creative drama processes, which is an effective practice in Turkish education, and for teachers to apply creative drama as a method in their professional lives. Therefore, in this study, it is aimed to determine the competencies of Turkish teachers about creative drama method and their views on creative drama. The study group of the research consisted of 60 teachers who were active Turkish teachers in the province of Balikesir in the 2022-2023 academic year. A two-question structured interview form developed by the researcher was used as a data collection tool in the study, in which the basic interpretive qualitative research design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive analysis technique. According to the results obtained from the research, Turkish teachers do not see themselves in a good position in terms of proficiency in applying creative drama as a method. However, they expressed a positive opinion on their contribution to the Turkish lesson and students regarding the application of creative drama as a method. In addition, they said that they could benefit from creative drama practices in Turkish lessons such as expressing themselves in groups, developing communication skills, helping each other, developing positive relationships, cooperating, accepting each other as they are, and creating sincere environments. Keywords: creative drama, Turkish education, teacher competencies and opinions.