Abstract Drama is one of those courses which attarcts many students. Many EFL Learners are interested in role performance in drama classes. The writer of this article who has been teaching drama to EFL learners for more than six years understood this interest and used it in teaching plays to Iranian EFL students. This reaserch is being done in drama classes. Eighty students from two classes were chosen and were divided into two groups of experimental and controlling. The first group of the students in the first class were asked to read the plays first, and then perform the roles of the characters. In the second class, the students were just asked to read the plays from the beginning to the end. Since the first group of the students could create a situation for themselves to put the play from mere imagination to performance, were more successful in learning drama, comparing to the second group of the students who were just supposed to imagine the actions of the charaters and plays. The findings of the research show that, performance had a great effect in teaching and learning drama.

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