In these days teaching foreign language is based on the idea that the goal of language acquisition is communicative competence. In order to motivate, to arouse student’s interest to the subject, to make them use language for speaking the teachers of the foreign language is often use role – plays at the lessons. Role – play is a very important part in coping with a foreign language. It encourages thinking and creativity, helps students develop and practice new language and behavioral skills in a relatively no threatening setting, and can create the motivation and involvement necessary for learning to occur. In my opinion, role – play is the most interesting way for students to show how they master the language, their creativity and for the teacher the most suitable techniques for teaching communicative English thus I found it to be important and interesting for me as a teacher of foreign language to research the role-playing technologies as interactive forms of teaching discourse.
Teaching is seen from many angles. Many students, educators andparents effectively demonstrate that they think teaching consists of pouring knowledge into the student's head akin to prying the lid off a can and filling it with paint.
Despite the wide spread application of this approach it is not in fact the best way for students to learn. In fact, it is a native view of the first stages of learning. Teaching can ideally be seen as a dynamic balance between the teacher and student both interacting together and with a body of knowledge. In early stages the process may seem very teacher centered. As learning progresses the interaction will take on new balances. As the student beginning to be conversant with the terms and operations of the body of knowledge being studied he/she begins to need to interact directly with the subject. There is a point in the learning process that the student not only contributes to the knowledge of the teacher but also deposits new information to the common wisdom.
Useful for cognitive and affective domains on task and structure reporting/product to ensure effective use of time
Class discussion
- Whole group participates
- Teacher leads, coaches
- Effective for upper level cognitive domain Discussion groups
- Used for larger groups
- Reduces anxiety
- Groups may be structured for homogeneity or diversity
- Teacher must circulate to keep groups Group projects
- Teacher as consultant/manager of process
- Useful for higher levels of learning
- Encourages generic interpersonal, negotiation, teamwork skills
- Evaluation can be difficult Peer teaching
- Useful when great variance in levels of learning
- Those who have mastered skill coach others
- Can be used to master components of a task
- Must ensure peer teachers are teaching material accurately and are competent
Among the classroom activities role-play and stimulation rate highly as suitable vehicles to use in a communicative approach to language teaching. Used well, they can reduce the artificiality of the classroom, provide a reason for talking and allow the learner to talk meaningfully to other learners. [1]
The terms role-play and stimulation have been interpreted in many different ways by teachers and textbook writers, and as stimulations involve role-playing, it is best to look first at some different language learning activities that have been described as role-play. The following examples differ from each other in design and in what they allow the learner to achieve in class, but they share to a greater or lesser degree one feature of true roleplay: they have an element of freedom of choice for the student. It lies either in a freedom to choose whatever language he pleases or to develop the character or situation as he wishes
Example 1
At the Post Office A: B: A: B: A: B:
I'd like to post this Put it on the scales. Where to? To . That'll be please.
This type of exercise is familiar but it is role-play in that it differs from the controlled practice of a dialogue or dialogue with slots for the learner to substitute alternatives. It has the element of freedom and a possibility of surprise. B could quote a prohibitive price for sending the parcel or letter and A could decide not to send it. Where there is freedom there is also the opportunity for the learner to experiment — stretching his limited knowledge of the foreign language as he will have to do in real life. It is essential that the learner has this chance at certain points in his language learning programme and that the teacher accepts the probability of error.
This example raises a point about the selection of a role-play situation. Unless B in Example 1 is, or is training to be, a Post Office Clerk he has no experience of the role in his first language and no need of it in the foreign language. On the other hand we must compromise; if we accept that A's role and the situation are relevant to most learners then we must accept B acting as a foil to A. However, the more remote the situation and the roles are from the experience of the learners the more 'unreal' the language they use becomes. For example, a role-play where a policeman confronts a motorist who has parked in the. Wrong place may provide a lot of fun, but may also result in 'fantasy' language with a very low priority as far as learner's needs are concerned. When this happens role-play reaches into the realms of drama and though it provides motivating practice in the foreign language it does not prepare the learner for the situation he might meet outside the classroom. Obviously the situations and roles must be selected with the needs of the students in mind.
'A similar danger of overacting may arise when the learner takes the role of a character in the textbook and plays that character in a given situation. He is aware of the personality of the textbook character, his appearance and even the way he speaks. The learner has the support and protection of a mask to hide behind but he will speak as the character in the situation and not as himself.' In the following example, on the other hand, the learner is himself and is given guidance as to what to say and how to say it.
Example 2 The Invitation
You meet your friend B at school. You are having a party on Saturday and you would like B to come. The party is informal. Tell B what time to come. Say how glad you are that he is coming.
Cues:
- We're having a ..
Are you doing anything on Saturday?
- It's very informal . . . Come as you
- That's That'll be lovely.
The cues offer an alternative to 'Would you like to come to a party' and if they are new to the learner they change the nature of the activity from using language that he already knows to practicing language that he is learning. They also impose language upon him which might not suit his personality: there is a feminine ring to 'That'll be lovely'.
The role-card makes it clear that the learner is a student talking to a friend, a fellow student; the social situation and status of the speakers is clear. This helps the learner to recognize in the foreign language what he instinctively knows in his mother tongue, that different people are addressed in different ways and that he cannot rely on learning formula for all situations.
Example 3
Borrowing something A 2 Friends
Communication in the Classroom 2 Friends
Ask B to lend you something Give reason
Agree Thank B
End conversation Ask reason
Agree: add a condition
Give object to A (words or action) End conversation
Here again the relationship is made clear. The learners are given (he moves in order and are free to use whatever language they wish. The element of surprise brought in by the information gap between the pair-cards provides something of the spontaneity of a real exchange. It is therefore more in line with a communicative approach than Examples 1 and 2. In classroom management terms though, Example 1 is easier for the teacher in that it can be found in the textbook or written on the blackboard. Examples 2 and 3 on the other hand are designed with an information gap, and wherever information gap techniques are used of least two different role-cards are necessary. The teacher may need to prepare this himself. However, the advantage of pair work cards is that more than one role-play situation can be given out at a time and then pairs of learners can exchange cards when they have finished. In this way the more able learners may complete 3 or 4 exchanges while the slower ones complete only one. The teacher can also grade the difficulty of the situations and give the more difficult pair cards to the more advanced learners. In this way there is some allowance for the individual's level and learning pace.
A disadvantage of the role-card design in Example 3 is that the learners have to be taught the language of the instructions, for example, agree: add a condition. However, the role-cards do provide the structure of the exchange without imposing any language. This advantage is shared by pictorial role-cards showing events in sequence; these avoid the use of written instructions and are particularly useful with younger learners. [2]
In all these examples the exchange has been very limited; the role-play has provided practice in particular language functions within a narrow situation. Role-play within a stimulation on the other hand allows for extended interaction between learners.
In a simulation the learner is given a task to perform or a problem to solve; the background information and the environment of the problem is simulated. For example the learner is given the information about a town and then told that a new motorway is to be built there. The learner has to discuss the best route for the new motorway. As a learning technique simulations were originally used in business and military training and the outcome of a simulation was of paramount importance. In language learning the end-product, that is the decision the learners reach, is of less importance than the language used to achieve it. The learner however, must feel that the outcome
is important for then he will use language to achieve his objective as he would need to do outside the classroom. This is most obvious in a multi-lingual group where the foreign language is the only means of communication through which the partners or group can work as a team.
In a monolingual group there is the obvious danger that the learners will lapse into their mother-tongue in the excitement. The teacher can bring this problem up with the class and possibly reach an agreement that when one member of a group lapses it is the duty of the others, and in particular the learner to whom he is speaking, to reply in the foreign language. It becomes even more important with a monolingual group to bring as much of the foreign language into the simulation as possible; a foreign language environment must be provided. Alternatively the teacher can recognise the artificiality of a monolingual class working in the foreign language and select simulations where it is notthe process that is the decision making, where the language practice takes place but in the end-product. For example the group can be required to use foreign language sources to compile a newspaper or 'radio programme', to do research or prepare a written or oral report. This is not 'surrender', it provides the class with a rehearsal for how they might really work with foreign language sources in their monolingual environment and provides valuable practice in changing from one language to the other.
There are two ways of playing roles within a simulation: with a role-card and without one. When the learner has a role-card it can support him in different ways. It may describe in detail the personality or opinions of the character whose role he is taking. It may tell him how he feels to other members of the group or how to react to a particular situation if it arises. Certain types of interaction, including those less likely to be found in the usual classroom exchanges, can be built into the simulation through the role-card. Hostility or stubbornness which requires strong persuasion can be included.
Example 4
The Cambian Educational Aid Project
You are on good terms with your superior, Mr. Green, the Chief Language Inspector, although you often disagree with him. However you are ready to argue against anything Mr. K. Brown, the Teacher Trainer says as you are old opponents. You want the money to be spent on tapes and tape recorders.
- Point out that the country needs
- Argue that tape recorders would be easier for inexperienced staff and technicians than language laboratories.
Here Mr. Dawson knows his status and relationship with his superior, Mr. Green, and that he is not afraid to disagree with him. He also has a clue as to the personality of Mr. Dawson who is likely to be somewhat aggressive towards Mr. Brown. He is told what his attitude is and given some suggestions as to points he might make during the discussion. While a role-card can provide a mask for the shy learner, it can also have an inhibiting effect upon a learner who receives a role-card which imposes a point of view upon him which he does not share or requires him to act a part alien to him. Role-cards which bring out emotional extremes or acrid disagreement should be avoided. Playing roles can be dangerous and language teachers should step with care in this relatively unknown field.
A simulation which is most likely to give the learner his nearest chance of 'reality' without the stresses of the outside situation is one where no role-card is given and he evolves his own role. In real life we all take 'roles' and are 'different' people depending on whether we are with our family, or friends or the boss. Thus, when no rolecard is given the learner faces the task or problem with his partner or the group and his role is determined by his own personality within the group and the job that he does in solving the problem. The learner is most likely to find his usual role when the problem is near to his own experience.
Example 5
What are they going to do when they leave school?
In this stimulation a group of secondary school teachers learning English have the task of finding careers for four school leavers. They have details of the careers and openings available and the qualifications, training and characteristics needed for the job. They have to match this information with what they know of the boys and girls from school reports and references. They have to be ready to suggest careers that might suit and interest the school-leavers. The information they receive is both in print and on tape and so they practise both reading and listening skills as they collect the information. No role-cards are given because the teachers are aware of the problems of school-leavers deciding on careers and can give their advice both as people and teachers.
Stimulations deserve a more considered place within the teaching programme; they are more than just 'fun' activities or the answer to the conversation class. They are motivating in themselves, they provide a test and feedback on communicative competence and help to develop empathy between learners; furthermore they provide a 'rehearsal for life'. [3]
will give different definitions of the role-play interpreted by different “In role-playing, participants adopt and act out the role of characters, or parts that may have personalities, motivations, and backgrounds different from their own. Role-playing is like being in an improvisational drama or free-form theatre, in which the participants are the actors who are playing parts, and the audience. People use the phrase "role-playing" in at least three distinct ways: to refer to the playing of roles generally such as in a theatre, or educational setting; to refer to a wide range of games including computer role-playing games, play-by-mail games and more; or to refer specifically to role-playing games.”[4]
“Role playing – the acting out of the part, especially that of somebody with the particular social role in order to understand the role of the person better. This process is used in psychotherapy and in training people in inter personal skills.”[5]
“Role play also role playing – drama like classroom activities in which students take the roles of different participants in a situation and act out what might typically happen in that situation. For example, to practice how to express complaints and apologies in a foreign language, students might have to role – play a situation in which a customer in a shop returns a faulty article to a salesperson etc.”[6]
According to Rebecca Teed, SERC from Carleton College“In most role-playing exercises, each student takes the role of a person affected by an issue and studies the impacts of the issues on human life and/or the effects of human activities on the world around us from the perspective of that person. More rarely, students take on the roles of some phenomena, such as part of an ecosystem, to demonstrate the lesson in an interesting and immediate manner. The instructor needs to decide the context for the exercise and the role(s) that the students will play. If the students are taking human roles, the context is generally a specific problem such as global warming or dealing with an active volcano. Lessons need to be carefully explained and supervised in order to involve the students and to enable them to learn as much as possible from the experience. However, a well-done scenario never runs the same way twice, teaches people things they might not ordinarily have learned, and tends to be fun for all involved.”
“Role-play simulation is strongly experiential which challenges learners both logically and emotionally. The situation is purposely messy or ill-defined; the problems and their answers buried within a range of personalities and their private agendas which have to be attended to before logical, well-informed solutions can be found. This mirrors more exactly the problematic situations that our learners will find themselves in when they join the work world.”
Gillian Ladousse: “When students assume “a role”, they play a part (either their own or somebody else’s) in a specific situation. Play means that the role is taken on in a safe environment in which students are as initiative and playful as possible”
Roger Gower and Steve Walter: “Role play is when students play the parts of the other people in a situation.
It’s unscripted, although general ideas about what they are going to say might be prepared beforehand.”
Adrian Deffoe in his book “Teach English” gives such explanation: “Role play is therefore a classroom activity which gives the students an opportunity to practice the language, the aspects of role behavior, and the actual roles may be need outside the classroom.”
“In a role play students take on the role of another person – a waiter, an adult, even a Martian or a monster. Often the situation is given (e.g. “You are in a restaurant. Order a meal.”)and perhaps some ideas of what to say. Role-play is a popular method in language-learning classroom for a number of reasons. Students of this age find it fun and quite students are often found to speak more openly in a ‘role’. In a role-play students are encouraged to use communication creatively and imaginatively and they get an opportunity to use language from ‘outside’ the classroom.”[7]
Finally I can say that roleplay is an activity which helps to develop students’ speech ability with the help of which students must be able to improvise and reproduce real, practical daily life speech. We know role-playing is fun, educational and entertaining and students like learn to speak with the help of role – play.
- Brammer, , and Sawyer-Laucanno, C. S., Business and industry: specific purposes of language training, New York: Newbury House, 1999, p. 210, pp. 143-150.
- Burns, C., and Gentry, J. W., Motivating students to engage in experiential learning: a tension-to-learn theory, 29, 2008, p. 300, pp. 133-151.
- Jaworski, and Coupland, N. , The Discourse Reader.London: Routledge, 1999, p. 456, pp. 236-259.
- Andrew Rilstone, "Role-Playing Games: An Overview" 1994, Inter Action, p21
- World English Dictionary Bloomsbury Publishing 1999.
- Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied J.C Richards, John Platt, Heidi Platt,p.426
- Cambridge English for A to Z Methodology. 2000 pp56-59.