Effectiveness of Role-Playing in Enhancing Creative Writing of English Major Students at Al-Quds University

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*Corresponding author: E-mail: rdaghameen@yahoo.com;
British Journal of Education, Society &
Behavioural Science
19(2): 1-12, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29794
ISSN: 2278-0998
SCIENCEDOMAIN international
www.sciencedomain.org
Effectiveness of Role-Playing in Enhancing Creative
Writing of English Major Students at
Al-Quds University
Rashed Daghamin
1*
, Inas Naser
2
and Buad Khales
3
1
Department of English Language, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Hail, Hail, KSA.
2
Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Al-Quds University,
P.O.Box: 20002, Palestine.
3
Department of Elementary and Kindergarten, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Al-Quds University,
P.O.Box: 20002, Palestine.
Authors’ contributions
This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author RD designed the study, wrote
the protocol and supervised the work. Authors IN and BK carried out all laboratories work and
performed the statistical analysis. Author BK managed the analyses of the study. Author IN wrote the
first draft of the manuscript. Author RD managed the literature searches and edited the manuscript. All
authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Article Information
DOI: 10.9734/BJESBS/2017/29794
Editor(s):
(1) Eleni Griva, University of Western Macedonia, Greece.
Reviewers:
(1) B. Chametzky, Washington & Jefferson College, USA.
(2) Katherine J. Janzen, University of Sheffield, UK.
(3) Mogahed M. Abu Al-Fadl, Mansoura University, Egypt.
(4) Alis Puteh, (SEML) UUM, Malaysia.
Complete Peer review History:
http://www.sciencedomain.org/review-history/17458
Received 29
th
September 2016
Accepted 6
th
December 2016
Published 7
th
January 2017
ABSTRACT
Aim:
The study aims to identify the impact of using the strategy of role-playing in enhancing the
creative writing skills of English Majors at Al-Quds University.
Methodology: In order to carry out this study, some educational material was prepared from the
Drama course in accordance with the strategy of role -playing. The material was applied on the
sample of the study which consists of 15 students (female and male) from the Department of
English at Al-Quds University in Palestine. In addition to the creative writing test, an interview of 6
Original Research Article

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2
students (male and female) was conducted. The study used the quasi-experimental approach with
one group pre-and post-test design to determine the relationship between the independent variable
and the dependent one.
Place and Duration of the Study: The study was carried out in the Department of English at Al-
Quds University, West Bank, Palestine, between March 2016 and June 2016.
Results: The results of the study showed a development in creative writing skills as a whole. After
studying a selected play using the role-playing strategy, the results showed a development in
students’ creative writing skills: originality, linguistic accuracy, and content organization. The study
shows no development in both skills fluency and flexibility. It also showed no gender differences of
statistical significance between the pre and post tests. The results of the interview showed positive
impressions among the students regarding the use of role-playing strategy and its impact on
developing their creative writing skills, as this strategy helped them in analyzing the text in a better
way, organizing their writings and enhancing their imaginations of the events.
Conclusion: Creative drama activities are an effective technique to enhance students’ creative
writing skills. Role-playing helps students to understand, evaluate and appreciate the text in a
better way. It also helps them enjoy the literary text, and thus look at the text from a beautiful
perspective.
Recommendations: In light of the results of the study, the researchers recommended the need for
further similar studies but on other variables, as well as the necessity for the use of role-playing
strategy in teaching.
Keywords: Drama; role-laying; creative writing skills; fluency; test; interview; strategy.
1. INTRODUCTION
We face social, moral and ethical issues in our
daily lives. Drama is the expression of these
issues through body, words, gestures and
writing. Drama not only helps us improve our
communication skills but also it helps us develop
our self-perception and creative thinking and
writing skills. The close relationship between
educational drama and the development of
language and literacy has been recognized [1].
There are few empirical studies that investigated
the relationship between drama and creative
writing; those that tend to have focused on the
role drama plays in motivating writers and
improving writing [2].
According to [3], dramatic play was highly related
to total word writing fluency; although this was
only shown through single dictated words. [4]
found that drama was a more effective
forerunner to writing than traditional planning and
discussion and others too have observed and
recorded similar findings (e.g. Wooland, 1993;
Wagner, 1998; Booth & Neelands, 1998).
Primary aged learners, in the opinion of [5]
engage in drama prior to writing, write more
effectively and at greater length, using a richer
vocabulary that contains more emotive and
expressive insights. Her work also reveals that
students’ writing during drama reflects a better
understanding of the issues and possesses a
clearer sense of voice, which she defines as
‘writing-in-role where the writer appears able to
‘get under the skin’ of the character and identify
with him / her on an affective as well as cognitive
level’ [5:79].
In [6’s] point of view that drama enhances
secondary pupils’ attitudes to writing and that
such pupils recognize the mutually reinforcing
relationship between drama and writing and their
empathetic potential. Also working with
secondary aged learners, [7] stated that role
playing can support persuasive writing, whilst [8]
indicated that it can enrich historical writing.
As has been illustrated by [9] who also found that
students’ writing composed in drama had more
depth and detail. These researchers propose that
drama becomes a medium which facilitates a
flow of imagination between process and
product. It could be argued however that drama
has the potential to be more transformative than
this metaphor implies, since multiple
perspectives are adopted and a variety of tools
are available for kinesthetically, orally and
physically generating ideas. It is clear that
through drama students compose multi-modally
and are able to shape their ideas in action prior
to committing these to paper or screen [10,11].
More recently, [12] undertook a quantitative
study also indicating the positive effect of drama
on primary learners’ achievements in writing and
other core subjects. Work in the field of language

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and literacy has additionally shown that when
drama is integrated pedagogically into the
teaching of reading, writing, speaking and
listening, the quality of related writing is
enhanced, particularly when it is written in-role
[13-15]. Research undertaken for the Primary
National Strategy has also revealed that boys’
attitudes and attainment in writing can be
positively affected if drama is integrated into the
English curriculum [16]. This research sought to
examine this interplay further, exploring the
nature of the links between drama and writing
and identifying any qualitative features of writing
which regularly surfaced in student’s drama
related compositions.
Creative drama activities allow students both the
enjoyment of reading an author’s story book and
to internalize the messages of the story [2].
Through reading story books for several times for
comprehension, checking their understanding
through questions regarding the story elements,
and dramatizing the messages of these literature
resources are important learning experiences for
students [6]. Through use of creative drama
students can actively participate in the learning
process and they can discover their skills and
creativity as well. It is assumed that creative
drama activities can be an effective method to
increase students’ creative writing skills [17].
Role playing enable students to step outside
themselves, to accept and change into a different
character. Students either improvise or create
their own character or they are given role-cards
[2]. In either case, it has a stimulating effect and
students feel freer to engage themselves in
learning.
1.1 Statement of the Problem
Since writing is considered very important in the
workforce in and daily life, especially for English
majors, any limitation in the writing skills will have
negative impact students. Through interaction
between the researchers and students, it has
been noticed that students are having problems
in the writing skills and specifically in creative
writing. The present study seeks to investigate
the effectiveness of role-playing in enhancing the
individual skills (fluency, flexibility, originality,
linguistic integrity, content organization)
as well as collective skills of creative writing
among English majors at the University.
It also seeks to explore the students' attitudes
towards the strategy of role playing. The
study seeks to answer the following general
question:
What is the effect of employing the strategy
of role-playing on the progress of creative
writing skills among the students of the
English Department at the Al-Quds
University?
1.2 Objectives
The present study aims to achieve the following
gaols:
- Investigate the effectiveness of role-
playing in enhancing the individual skills of
creative writing (fluency, flexibility,
originality, linguistic integrity, content
organization).
- Identify the students' attitudes towards
using the strategy of role playing in
education.
1.3 Questions of the Study
Based on the above general question, the study
aims to answer the following specific questions:
1. What is the impact of using role-playing on
enhancing the individual skills (fluency,
flexibility, originality, linguistic integrity,
content organization) as well as the
collective (overall) skills of creative writing
among the students of the English
Department at Al-Quds University?
2. Are there any significant differences at the
level of significance (0.05 ≥ α) between the
means of the pre-test and post-test due to
the gender of the students?
3. What are the students' attitudes towards
the strategy of role-playing?
1.4 Significance of the Study
The significance of this study can be attributed to
the following points:
- The importance of the subject matter, the
effectiveness of role-playing strategy in
enhancing creative writing, as well as the
importance of the participants in this study,
university students who are expected to be
English language teachers—hence the
need to develop their creative writing skills.
- The results may help other university and
college English teachers to employ the
strategy of role-playing in teaching creative
writing skills.
- The current study may also open the way
for further similar research.

Daghamin et al.; BJESBS, 19(2): 1-12, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29794
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1.5 Limitations of the Study
This study is limited to the students of English
who are enrolled in the second semester of the
academic year 2015/2016. Also this study is
limited to the qualitative and quantitative
analysis. In addition to that the study is related
to conceptual limitations in creative writing
(fluency, flexibility, originality, linguistic integrity,
and well-organized content).
Procedurally, role-playing is seen in the present
study as simulated situations which represent
real life situations, played by students during a
lesson or a lecture, to tell a subject or a
phenomenon under the guidance of a teacher.
Creative writing is a type of writing that gives rise
to an issue for the purpose of clarification and
discrimination. It takes place in a framework of
beautiful meanings, and it has a great emotional
impact on the receiver. Procedurally, creative
writing refers to the student's ability to express
his feelings and thoughts in writing via a creative
image characterized by fluency, flexibility,
originality, linguistic integrity, and well-organized
content. It is formulated in a beautiful literary
manner. It is measured in this study through a
test prepared by the study team for this purpose.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
According to [18], writing is one of the significant
skills in people’s expressing their views and their
effective communication. Writing is an activity
including cognitive, affective, social, and
psychomotor processes. In the writing process,
writer needs to realize various cognitive
processes coordinately in order to express
his/her feelings and ideas effectively and to
convey meaningful messages to the readers [19].
Along with this process, individual’s attitude,
interest and desire play an important role in the
writing process. Attitude towards writing is an
affective feature that related with how individual
feels himself/herself while writing. Students those
who developed a positive attitude towards
writing, desire to write, enjoy writing and are
more likely to become successful. Negative
attitudes developed towards writing causes
students to avoid being engaged in writing
activities and leads to unsuccessfulness [20].
Students’ attitudes towards writing are an
important factor in shaping their success or
unsuccessfulness in the writing process [21-23].
As has been observed by [24], the use of role-
play in an undergraduate university course
designed to prepare students to become public
school coaches and physical education teachers.
The five original vignettes that were role-played
were specifically written to prepare the students
to successfully handle situations they might
reasonably encounter in their future work. The
role-play model used in the research was
originally created by the Shaftels in the 1960s,
but several creative variations devised by the
current investigators were added to that model
for this study causing it to be an adapted version.
Data collected included questionnaire responses
from two different questionnaires, information
from a focus group, and observations by the two
investigators. Investigators concluded that the
students not only exhibited skill in the techniques
used to resolve the issues in the vignettes, but
that students gained confidence the more they
participated in the role-plays which occurred over
a 4-week period. The students themselves
reported that learning from one’s peers, trying
out their ideas in a safe environment, being
forced to plan an intended outcome in advance,
and hearing feedback from others were their
most valued experiences. They also
overwhelmingly reported preferring role-
play to the more traditional university lecture
method.
In a study conducted by [25] with the purpose of
examining the educational effect of applying role
– playing teaching method in History on second
grade girl students of Asadabad guidance school
in 2012-2013 academic year. For this purpose 60
student among 254 were selected through
random sampling method. The research method
was semi experimental through pre-test and post
test design with control group. The data
gathering instrument was researcher made
questionnaire .Findings showed that role- playing
method has increased students’ educational
skills Keywords: Role- playing, history,
educational skill, guidance school.
In an attempt made by [19] to determine the
effectiveness of role-playing teaching as a
pedagogical approach for construction
management educators in achieving educational
objectives. The paper presents the results of an
experimental study where one group of students
was taught using role-playing and the control
group was taught using traditional approach.
Results indicate that students taught using role-
playing demonstrated a better understanding
about the subject matter and showed more
positive attitude towards construction as a
profession. Based on the results, the paper
argues that role-playing teaching meets the

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needs of construction management educators
who are attempting to offer students an active
learning environment that balances theory and
practice while equipping students with the
skills necessary to be successful in the
profession.
In the opinion of [20] the pedagogical use of
integrated drama-based role play and Student
Teams Achievement Division (STAD)
cooperative learning, and its effects on the first
year non-English majors’ speaking skills,
motivation, and self-esteem. The study was
conducted over an academic semester in a Basic
English class in a northeastern university in
Thailand with two separate groups, with a quasi-
experimental design. The participants in this
study were 80 non-native undergraduate
students whose major was not English. Over the
16 weeks of the study, both groups of students
studied English with the same learning content;
however, only the experimental group was
introduced to drama-based role play and STAD,
with blended-learning instruction, while the
control group continued using the course book
role plays with regular group work activities and
classroom instruction. The results of the
quantitative and qualitative analysis showed the
effectiveness of drama-based role play combined
with STAD on students’ speaking skills,
motivation, and self-esteem in the experimental
group. The study concludes with
recommendations for the integration of the
blended drama-based and cooperative learning
to improve students’ English speaking skills and
affective involvement.
The impact of using role -play on improving
students' speaking ability for the primary school
was investigated by [26]. The study is restricted
to sixth grade female pupils in the primary
schools in Babylon City during the second term
of the academic year 2011– 2012.The population
consists of (160) Iraqi EFL students distributed
over two sections A and B. Sixty students are
chosen randomly to represent the main study
sample and other twenty students represent the
pilot administration. To achieve the aim of the
study, two tests are constructed. The total
number of items of the first test which represents
written test is (10). While, the second test
represents oral test. From the analysis of the
data, it is found that the mean of post- scores of
the experimental group is (57.7333), which is
higher than the mean scores of the control group
that is found to be (48.1000). This indicates that
students’ achievement in the experimental group
is better than that of the control group, which
shows that role –play technique is more useful
for them in teaching speaking skill than the
lecture method teaching.
Learning to write is a long formal process.
Writing is the most difficult language skill [27,28].
For the writers, those who have not got the
necessary skills for writing, writing is hard and
requires much effort. In order to make this
process easier, systematic teaching is required
[29]. Writing is not considered as an attractive
activity [30]. Among the reasons of this, there is
necessity of abiding strict rules while writing [31].
Furthermore, writing needs many processes in
terms of cognitive, social and psychomotor point
of view, students find writing process difficult and
boring. Most students have negative opinions
about writing because of the experiences that the
students lived before, and writing is a skill which
can be acquired hard and late [18].
At the basis of negative feeling, opinion and
attitudes of the students towards writing, also
there lies that students not being motivated
enough to writing. Students need to be motivated
in order to begin, continue and complete the
writing. With right method and techniques, these
motivational supports can be supplied and
students can be helped for developing positive
attitudes towards writing [32]. Various methods
and techniques should be employed to make the
students develop positive attitudes towards
writing. Such methods and techniques are
student-centered, creative and enjoying [33].
Creative drama is one of these methods. The
creative drama method can be employed to
improve the students’ writing skills and their
attitudes towards writing [34].
Creative drama refers to as the expansion of
experience and learning [35]. [36] argues that
creative drama is a method in which individuals
reorganize their cognitive patterns regarding an
experience, an event, an idea, an abstract
concept or behavior in a group setting through
theater or drama techniques such as role-playing
o improvisation. [37] defines creative drama as a
process in which imaginative ideas are
transformed into actions. Creative drama
involves fictional journey. Participants of the
process are allowed to inquire about the
experiences through fiction [38]. The most
significant characteristics of creative drama are
based on the individuals’ own experience and the
provision of a living educational environment
[36].

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6
Creative drama provides the individuals
significant opportunity to remember their life
experiences [39]. Creative drama used in
classrooms is a useful tool to improve creativity,
imagination and curiosity. It teaches reasoning,
self-perception and visualization. It further helps
the teaching of these skills through experiential
techniques [39]. Creative drama has the
characteristics for realizing holistic learning. It
involves the cognitive, affective and physical
dimensions of learning processes. Participants
experienced various drama processes in which
they are in the center of the learning process.
They assume several roles in this process and
become more familiar with themselves, perceive
themselves better and develop various
predictions [40,41].
The method of creative drama includes
three major steps [18]. The most basic
distinction among these steps from traditional
practices is that they involve implicit or explicit
participation of the leader and others in the
process [41]. These three steps are as following
[40]:
1. Preparation-warming up activities: It is the
step in which the body is activated, senses
are used intensively and self-oriented
activities are done. Various activities are
conducted to build a group dynamics. The
basic aim of this step is to prepare the
participants for the next step.
2. Animation: This step is composed of the
activities in which a topic is shaped,
revealed and developed.
3. Evaluation-discussion: At the third step,
the outcomes of the creative drama
activities are evaluated and discussed to
uncover their essence, significance and
qualities [18].
Research suggests that creative drama improves
the students’ writing skills and their attitudes
towards writing [34,39,42,33,43]. According to
many educators, creative drama has a potential
power for developing and sustaining of students’
writings [27].
The process of writing is also composed of
several steps, including pre-writing, drafting,
reviewing, organizing and publishing [44,45].
Creative drama helps to implement these steps
of writing process [39]. Since preparation-warm
up, animation and evaluation activities carried
out in the creative drama process includes and
supports these steps, creative drama improves
the students’ writing skills. Students perform
many activities of the writing process during the
process of creative drama. Creative drama
techniques propose linking ways for supporting
writing process. According to [38], arts, music
and kinesthetic processes that used in creative
drama activities provide students rich
experiences in the pre-writing activities. [30] The
more efficient these processes are, the more
qualified the writings will be.
The writing skill is developed together with other
language skills which are listening, speaking and
reading [30,18]. All these skills are
interconnected, any of them can be developed
itself. During the writing activities included in the
process of creative drama, four language skills
improve simultaneously. Creative drama is
therefore a creative and integrated tool for the
interaction of these language skills [39].
In the development of students’ writing skills and
students’ developing positive attitudes towards
writing, teachers have the key role. Teachers
may help the students to improve their writing
skills and attitudes towards writing through the
suitable learning and teaching processes.
However, teachers should have developed good
writing skills and positive writing attitudes in order
to provide such processes [18]. Their own writing
skills, their perspectives regarding the process of
writing and their writing attitudes significantly
affect the writing activities [32]. According to [31]
it is important and necessary for teachers who
want to provide writing activities should try writing
before realizing these activities. That teacher’s
doing such activities not only improves his/her
writing skills but also it provides establishing
empathy with their students [46].
The above previous studies related to creative
writing are various and included its conceptual
understanding and its various practices like
cognitive, social and psycho-motors sub-skills
[47]. The studies also included ways of
developing creative writing such as role-playing
and the dilemmas that students have and the
skills that they need to develop, especially the
writing skills. Most of the above research focus
on role-playing and the use of drama activities to
enhance the creative writing of students since it
enlighten students’ minds to new methods that
may help in improving their writing skills [17].
This will open the horizon to students to use their
imagination and cognition to be creative writers
in the future [48].

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3. MATERIALS AND METHODS
3.1 Approach
The study used a quasi-experimental approach
with one group pre- and post-test design to
determine the relationship between the
independent variable and the dependent
variable.
3.2 Population of the Study
The population comprised all male and female
English-major students (225) enrolled in the
academic year 2015/2016.
3.3 Sample of the Study
The study selected a purposive sample of 15
Drama course students from the English
Department enrolled in the second semester of
the academic year 2015/2016. There was only
one section and the instructor wanted to try a
new method for teaching the course. As part of
the course requirements, students were assigned
to read, analyze and critique three plays.
3.4 Preparation of Educational Material
Making use of the related literature, the
researchers designed educational material in
accordance with the steps of strategy of role-
playing. A Shakespearean play was selected for
this purpose. The implementation process
needed 14 lectures of approximately 90 minutes
each over a month and a half. To carry out the
lessons, the researchers adopted the following
steps:
Step 1: The preparation phase: determining and
explaining the problem.
Step 2: Selecting participants (Students often
had the choice to choose the character
or role which they wished to embody or
play).
Step 3: Setting up the stage: determining the
issue of setting up the stage and the
roles.
Step 4: Preparing the viewers: assigning tasks.
Step 5: Implementation of the scene.
Step 6: Discussion and evaluation: reviewing
the process of role-playing.
Step 7: Reimplementation of the scene.
Step 8: Discussion and evaluation: reviewing
the process after it is completed.
Step 9: Sharing and circulation of experience:
linking the problem case with real life
practices and dissemination of key
behaviors.
3.5 Instrumentation
Having reviewed the related literature, the
researchers carefully designed a test for creative
writing. In addition, they also used the interview
as an instrument to learn about the students'
attitudes towards the strategy of role-playing.
3.5.1 Test of creative writing
This test was prepared in accordance with the
creative writing skills (fluency, flexibility,
originality, linguistic integrity, content
organization). The test consisted of three main
questions with five sub-questions each. A 1-5
scale lexical rubric was designed to mark
creative writing skills. The test was administered
to the study sample before the intervention, and
then it was re-administered after the intervention
was completed in accordance with the role-
playing strategy.
To check its reliability and validity, the test was
reviewed by a jury of specialists, and based on
their remarks, necessary modifications were
made. Then, it was administered to an
exploratory sample from outside the study
sample and was re-administered after two
weeks. Pearson correlation coefficient between
the two applications was calculated (0.80), a
result which is acceptable for this kind of studies.
3.5.2 The interview
The researchers interviewed (8) students from
the sample to identify their attitudes towards
utilizing the strategy of role-playing in teaching
drama.
3.6 Steps of the Experiment
1) Choosing a unit of the Drama course to
prepare lessons according to the steps of
role-playing strategy.
2) Preparing the test of creative writing and
verifying its reliability and validity.
3) Administration of the creative writing test to
the Drama class of the English Department
before intervention.
4) Application of the unit prepared in
accordance with the steps of role-playing
strategy for a month and a half, equivalent
to (14) lectures with nearly (90) minutes
each.
5) Administration of the creative writing test
after intervention.
6) Monitoring, analyzing and interpretation of
the results.

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8
3.7 Treatment of Data
Pearson correlation coefficient was used to
calculate the reliability of the instrument through
testing and re-testing the exploratory sample. In
addition, means and standard deviations were
calculated. T-test was also used to investigate
whether there were any significant differences in
mean scores of the participating group.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the light of the pre- and post applications (pre-
test and post-test) of the study administered to
the sample group and the outcome of the
statistical treatment using SPSS,
recommendations and suggestions were made.
What follows is a presentation and analysis of
the findings of this study according to the
sequence of its questions.
4.1 Results Related to the First Question
What is the impact of using role-playing on
enhancing the individual skills (fluency, flexibility,
originality, linguistic integrity, content
organization) as well as collective skills of
creative writing among the students of the
English Department?
To answer this question, means and standard
deviations for the participants' grades in the test
of creative writing skills (fluency, flexibility,
originality, linguistic integrity, and content
organization) were calculated separately, and so
were the collective skills of creative writing in
both the pre-test and the post-test. The value of
(t) was also calculated for two interlinked
samples to find out the significance of differences
between the mean scores of members of the
study group. The results were tabulated in
Table 1.
Table 1 shows an improvement in each of these
creative writing skills (originality, linguistic
integrity, content organization), and an
improvement in the collective creative writing
skills among members of the experimental study
group, as a result of their studying one unit, using
role-playing strategy. This is evident in the
following table.
There is no statistically significant difference at
the significance level (0.22) between the pre- and
post-applications to the test of creative writing
skills for the skill of fluency. This is an indication
that the strategy of role-playing has no effect on
the fluency skill development.
There is no statistically significant difference at
the significance level (0.17) between the pre- and
post-applications to the test of creative writing
skills for the skill of flexibility. This is an indication
that the strategy of role- playing has no effect on
the flexibility skill development.
There is a statistically significant difference at the
significance level (0.005) between the pre- and
post-applications to the test of creative writing
skills for the skill of originality, in favor of the post
application. The mean of the post-test scores
increased by (0.93) over the mean of the pre-test
scores in the skill of originality, which shows that
the strategy of role-playing has an effect on the
originality skill development.
Table 1. Significance of differences between the pre-test and post test of creative writing skills
Skill Test No. Mean Standard
deviation Degree of
freedom Calculated
value of t Calculated level
of significance
Fluency Pre- 15 3.87 0.92 14 -1.29 0.22
Post- 15 4.13
0.92
Flexibility
Pre
-
15
3.73
1.15
14 -1.43 0.17
Post- 15 4.06
0.70
Originality Pre- 15 3.13 1.24 14 -3.28 0.005
Post
-
15
4.06
0.79
Linguistic
integrity Pre- 15 3.13 1.24 14 -4.05 0.001
Post- 15 4.33
0.72
Content
Organization
Pre- 15 3.13 0.83 14 -7.89 0.001
Post- 15 4.06
0.90
Overall
Degree Pre- 15 17.00 2.71 14 5.27 0.001
Post- 15 20.66 4.75

Daghamin et al.; BJESBS, 19(2): 1-12, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29794
9
There is a statistically significant difference at the
significance level (0.001) between the pre- and
post-applications to the test of creative writing
skills for the skill of linguistic integrity, in favor of
the post application. The mean of the post-test
scores increased by (1.2) over the mean of the
pre-test scores in the skill of linguistic integrity,
which shows that the strategy of role-playing has
an effect on the linguistic integrity skill
development.
There is a statistically significant difference at the
significance level (0.001) between the pre- and
post-applications to the test of creative writing
skills for the skill of content organization, in favor
of the post application. The mean of the post-test
scores increased by (0.93) over the mean of the
pre-test scores in the skill of content
organization, which shows that the strategy of
role-playing has an effect on the content
organization skill development.
There is a statistically significant difference at the
significance level (0.001) between the pre- and
post-applications to the test of collective creative
writing skills, in favor of the post application. The
mean of the post-test scores increased by (3.66)
over the mean of the pre-test scores in the
collective creative writing skills, which shows that
the strategy of role-playing has an effect on the
development of the collective creative writing
skills.
The researchers believe that the presence of
statistically significant differences between the
collective creative writing skills and the individual
creative writing skills (originality, linguistic
integrity, content organization) can be attributed
to the use of the strategy of drama which helped
the students to use their own style in writing and
to express their ideas more effectively. In
addition to that, thanks to this strategy, they were
able to discuss their roles en masse. Thus, it
opened more prospects for writing, giving the
students the opportunity to contribute effectively
to the various situations that led them to think
critically, exchange and discuss ideas, search for
new information, organize thoughts, and modify
them till they managed to produce a creative
piece of writing. In short, drama has provided the
students with the opportunity to understand the
concepts and ideas through portraying them and
through role-playing, discussion, participation
and imagination.
More interestingly, drama added an atmosphere
of delight and gratitude to the lectures. Students'
anxiety of writing was observed to have
decreased. They had a feeling of achievement
and confidence. They also felt that their writing
skills and abilities had been improving, which
motivated them to write more and more.
4.2 Results Related to the Second
Question
Are there any significant differences at the level
of significance (0.05 ≥ α) between the means of
the pre-test and post-test due to the gender of
the students?
To answer the second question, i.e. to explore if
there were any differences between the means
of the pre-test and post-test due to the gender of
the students, the researchers calculated t-test for
independent samples. Table 2 shows the result.
Table 2 shows that the mean for males was
(19.28), while the mean for females was (21.87).
The value of the Calculated ( t ) was (2.03) at the
significance level (0.06), a value which is greater
than the value (0.05 = α). There are no
statistically significant differences related to
gender.
The researchers explain this result as follows:
using the strategy of role-playing produced the
same effect regardless of the gender of the
student, especially because male and female
students in the same class had been exposed to
the same method of teaching and taught by the
same professor.
4.3 Results Related to the Interviews
Six participants were interviewed, and the
analysis of the interviews showed that the
dramatic activities had influenced the students'
creative writing:
4.3.1 Students' attitudes towards dramatic
activities and role-playing
All the interviewed students reported that drama
is very important for the students to develop their
ability to appreciate, evaluate and critique the
texts being studied.
Student J: Role-playing helps me to develop my
ability to understand and analyze texts.
Student M: Drama has indeed developed our
ability to judge and think critically.

Daghamin et al.; BJESBS, 19(2): 1-12, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29794
10
Table 2. Results of post t-test for independent samples by gender
Gender
No.
Mean
Standard deviation
Degree of
freedom
Calculated t
Calculated level
of significance
Males
7
19.28
2.75
13 -2.03 0.06
Females 8 21.87 2.17
All the interviewed students pointed out that role-
playing and drama had enriched their linguistic
repertoire and provided them with helpful
vocabulary and expressions.
Student B: Through drama activities, we have
gained new words and phrases.
Five out of six students reported that dramatic
activities had broadened their horizons and
helped them solve the problems they face.
Student D: When we discuss issues and
articles, we think in deferent ways to solve the
problem, and this technique has improved our
ability to solve problems.
Five out of six students said that drama had
helped them to exchange ideas with each other.
Student F: Through dramatic activities, we were
able to exchange ideas.
Student S: Dramatic activities have encouraged
us to speak our views.
4.3.2 The role of dramatic activities in
enhancing students' creative writing
skills
Students expressed their satisfaction with
learning English through role-playing and
dramatic activities, as this method had been
clearly fruitful in the development of their abilities
in creative writing. All the interviewed students
pointed out that they had gained the skills of
writing through dramatic activities, and that they
had developed their competence to write texts.
Student J: Reading the roles helped us to learn
new words and enhanced our linguistic fluency.
Five students explained that dramatic activities
gave them the opportunity to discover the
qualities of the characters they were playing; in
addition to improving their linguistic abilities, such
activities improved their ability to imagine the
sequence and interdependence of events. The
students said that dramatic activities also
encouraged them to search for new words and
express their thoughts more clearly.
It can be argued that drama allows students to
ask questions and engage in discussing the
answers and getting a lot of knowledge. This
result is supported [13-15] findings that drama
enhanced reading, writing, speaking and
listening. The present research shows that
drama helps students to appreciate writing. This
reflected on their ability to write paragraphs
and texts. It could be said that this requires
changing teaching writing to be more active and
helpful.
5. CONCLUSION
The analysis of the test and the interviews show
that drama helps students to understand and
evaluate the text. It also helps them enjoy the
literary text, and thus look at the text from an
interesting perspective; go beyond the external
level of the story and become able to appreciate
the themes which the story implies. This result is
supported by [2] findings that drama activities
allow students both the enjoyment of reading an
author’s story book and to internalize the
messages of the story.
The study findings also show that drama
increase students’ ability to write texts related to
creative writing. This result may be attributed to
the fact that role-playing helps students to
understand the literary text in a better way, and
drama helps in improving students’ creative
writing skills by increasing their vocabulary
fortune. This corresponds with [6]. Through the
use of creative drama, students can actively
participate in the learning process and they can
discover their skills and creativity as well. It is
assumed that creative drama activities can be an
effective method to increase students’ creative
writing skills [47].
6. RECOMMENDATIONS
The researchers recommended that teachers
should focus on drama as a learning method,
and that it should be applied in various university
courses. It is also recommended that teachers
should focus on creative writing skills especially
fluency, flexibility, and originality. Researchers
also recommend the need of conducting a similar
study in other departments of the Palestinian
universities.

Daghamin et al.; BJESBS, 19(2): 1-12, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29794
11
COMPETING INTERESTS
Authors have declared that no competing
interests exist.
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