Despite decades of EFL instruction, learners often achieve grammatical accuracy while remaining pragmatically incompetent, unable to produce contextually appropriate speech acts in real social interaction (Kasper & Rose, 2002, p. 1). This study addresses the critical gap in pragmatic instruction within low-resource university contexts by investigating the effect of Task-Based Role-Play and Drama Techniques as creative catalysts for enhancing EFL pragmatic competence. Traditional form-focused pedagogy fails to provide the embodied, affective, and contextualized practice necessary for the acquisition of sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic norms (Taguchi, 2015, p. 15). To examine the extent to which Task-Based Role-Play and Drama Techniques improve EFL learners’ performance and awareness of speech acts, politeness strategies, and sociocultural appropriateness. A 14-week quasi-experimental mixed-methods design was employed with 92 EFL university students. The experimental group (n = 46) received instruction through task-based scenarios enacted via role-play and process drama, while the control group (n = 46) received standard communicative tasks. Data were collected through pre/post Discourse Completion Tests, video-recorded role-play performances, and learner reflective journals. Quantitative data were analyzed using ANCOVA, and qualitative data were analyzed thematically (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018, p. 174). The study was grounded in Sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86) and Pragmatic Theory (Leech, 1983, p. 11). The experimental group demonstrated statistically significant gains in the production of requests, apologies, and refusals, and in ratings of sociopragmatic appropriateness compared to the control group, _p_ < .001, _d_ = 0.91. Qualitative findings revealed three key themes: reduced speaking anxiety, heightened awareness of cultural norms, and increased learner agency. Learners described the drama space as a "safe rehearsal for real life" (Van Ments, 1999, p. 21), where mistakes were depersonalized and pragmatic experimentation was encouraged.This study concludes that Task-Based Role-Play and Drama Techniques function as powerful, low-resource pedagogical tools that transform pragmatic competence from abstract knowledge into embodied performance. It is recommended that EFL curricula integrate "Pragmatic Drama Units" and that teachers be trained as facilitators of dramatic interaction (Kao & O'Neill, 1998, p. 9). Future research should explore longitudinal transfer and the use of multimodal drama for intercultural pragmatic development. By repositioning the classroom as a laboratory of social action, this approach offers a motivating and equitable pathway toward communicative and intercultural competence.
