Improving the quality of Farsi speech and the academic performance of Azeri-Farsi bilingual students through attending drama therapy sessions

•We studied drama therapy effect on bilinguals’ linguistic and academic performance.•Thirty-seven Azeri-Farsi students were assigned to experimental and placebo groups.•The experimental group participated in drama therapy sessions for three weeks.•Drama therapy positively affects Mean Length of Utterances and Speed of Speech.•Number of Utterances, Type-Token Ratio, and Academic Average evidenced no effect.

This paper investigates the effects of drama therapy on enhancing the linguistic performance and academic achievement of Azeri-Farsi bilinguals who speak Farsi as a second language. To that end, thirty-seven male bilingual students of Azeri and Farsi (age: 9.32 ± 1.12 years) were randomly assigned to an experimental group (N = 18) and a placebo group (N = 19). The experimental group participated in 90-min drama therapy sessions twice or thrice a week for three weeks. During this period, the members of the placebo group were engaged in effortless activities. The MANCOVA results revealed the positive effect of drama therapy on the Mean Length of Utterances and the Speed of Speech in bilingual students, but it showed no effect on the Number of Utterances, Type-Token Ratio, and the Academic Average. In conclusion, we will discuss the possible factors that mediate such effects and indicate a number of directions for future research.