The Effect of Ritual Poetry Recitation in the Style of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh on Enhancing Social Skills and Empathy in Elementary School Children

Abstract

Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of ritual poetry recitation in the style of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh on enhancing social skills and empathy among elementary school children.

Methodology: The study employed a quasi-experimental design with experimental and control groups. The statistical population consisted of all elementary school students in Shahrekord County, including 7,869 female students and 6,970 male students. Among them, 30 students who demonstrated difficulties in communication skills and empathy were identified by teachers and school administrators and referred to the researcher. From this group, 30 children were selected and randomly assigned to either the control group (n = 15) or the experimental group (n = 15). The research instruments included the Basic Empathy Scale developed by Jolliffe and Farrington (2006) and the Communication Skills Questionnaire developed by Queen Dam (2004). The intervention program consisted of ritual poetry recitation in the style of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, implemented over ten sessions across ten weeks. Data obtained from the questionnaires were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

Findings: The findings indicated that ritual poetry recitation in the style of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh had a statistically significant effect on increasing social skills and empathy in the experimental group. Furthermore, based on eta-squared values, the effect size of ritual poetry recitation on children’s social skills was 45%, while its effect on empathy was 0.78.

Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that an educational intervention based on ritual recitation of the Shahnameh possesses substantial potential for enhancing empathy components and improving social skills among elementary school children.