ENHANCING STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN EDUCATION THROUGH DRAMA: COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT SECONDARY SCHOOL OWERRI, IMOSTATE IN FOCU
The study is aimed at examining the educational values derived from teaching of drama, problems encountered in the teaching of drama in secondary schools, with the view to discover the reasons for these problems and their possible solutions. The aim of this research therefore, is to examine the importance of using drama to teaching secondary school students. The study is hinged on Albert Bandura's social learning theory which posits that people learn from one another, via observation, imitation and modeling. The study used the mixedmethod research to achieve set objectives. The qualitative data was analyzed through discussions with the focused group while the quantitative data was analyzed through the simple percentage mathematical calculation. The study discovered among other things that non use of dramatization and role-play as a teaching technique for teaching in the classroom may create problem, because some students tend to forget easily what the teacher taught in class due to lack of retentive memory, but they can retain what they have practicalized and seen. This study further demonstrates the validity of using drama to teach students in secondary schools. In the light of the findings, the study recommends that efforts should be geared towards encouraging drama in our school system especially from nursery to secondary school levels, since it is the foundational level where many of the skills are developed.
Keywords: academic, comprehensive, development, drama, education, enhancing, focu, imostate, owerri, performance, school, secondary, students