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iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration
i
Acknowledgements
ii
Abstract
iii
Table of contents
iv
List of tables
vi
List of charts
vii
List of abbreviations
viii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION


1.1. Rationale
1
1.2. Aims of the study
2
1.3. Scope of the study
3
1.4. Significance of the study
3
1.5. Method of the study

3
1.6. Design of the study
3

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Communicative Language Teaching & Cooperative Learning
5
2.1.1. Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching
5
2.1.2. Cooperative Learning
6
2.2. Role-play in developing speaking skills
9
2.2.1. What is role-play?
9
2.2.2. Types of Role Play and Procedures in Using Role Play
11
2.2.3. Roles of Teachers and Students in role-play activities
17
2.2.4. Significance of Role Play in Developing Speaking Skills
21


CHAPTER III: THE STUDY


v
3.1. Setting of the study
22

3.2. The study
22
3.2.1 Type of research
22
3.2.2. Participants
23
3.2.3. Data collection instruments
23
3.2.4. Data collection procedure
24
3.2.5. Data analysis procedure
25
3.3. Results
25
3.3.1. Research question 1 and 2
25
3.3.2. Research question 3
38
3.3.3. Research question 4
39
3.4. Discussion
40

CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION

4.1. Major findings of the study
44
4.2. Implications
45
4.3. Limitations of the study

47
4.4. Suggestions for further research
48

REFERENCES

49
APPENDICES
I
Appendix 1: Questionnaire for students
I
Appendix 2: Questionnaire for teachers
IV
Appendix 3: Interview questions for students
VII
Appendix 4: Interview questions for teachers
VIII





vi
LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Degrees of students’ interest in different kinds of role-play activities (SQ-Q5)
Table 2: How teachers form a pair/group/team (TQ-Q2)
Table 3: Students’ preference in pair/group/team forming (SQ-Q6)
Table 4: Students’ preference in being prepared for a role-play activity (SQ-Q7)
Table 5: How teachers give instructions to students (TQ-Q3)

Table 6: How teachers monitor the activity (TQ-Q4)
Table 7: Students’ preference in terms of teacher monitoring the activity (SQ-Q8)
Table 8: How teachers encourage students to use English in the activity (TQ-Q5)
Table 9: Time of correction (TQ-Q6)
Table 10: Ways of correction (TQ-Q7)
Table 11: Students’ preference in having their mistakes corrected (SQ-Q9)
Table 12: Difficulties students face in role-play activities (SQ-Q11)
Table 13: Difficulties teachers encounter in conducting a role-play activity (TQ-Q10)
Table 14: Students’ expectations of teachers’ roles in RP activities (SQ-Q12)
Table 15: Teachers’ expectations for effective role-play activities (TQ-Q11)








vii
LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1: Frequency of students’ participation in role-play activities in speaking lessons
(SQ-Q1)
Chart 2: Frequency and kinds of role-play activities used in speaking lessons (TQ-Q1)
Chart 3: Languages used by students in role-play activities (SQ-Q2)

Chart 4: Influence of RP on students’ motivation (SQ-Q3)

Chart 5: Students’ opinion about the benefits of role-play (SQ-Q4)

Chart 6: Students’ evaluation on role-play activities introduced in their speaking lessons
(SQ-Q10)
Chart 7: Teachers’ evaluation on students’ enjoyment in role-play activities (TQ-Q8)
Chart 8: Teachers’ evaluation on the effectiveness of role-play activities (TQ-Q9)


















viii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT : Communicative Language Teaching
CL : Cooperative Learning
ELL : English Language Learning
RP : Role-play
TTT : Teacher Talking Time

STT : Student Talking Time
FC : Faculty of Chemistry
HaUI : Hanoi University of Industry
TQ : Teachers’ Questionnaire
SQ : Students’ Questionnaire
Q : Question

1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
This initial chapter presents the rationale, purpose, scope, significance, research methods and
design of the study. Above all, it is in this chapter that the research questions are identified to
work as clear guidelines for the whole research.

1.1. Rationale
Nowadays, when Vietnam is on the way to regional and global integration, a demand for
training students as competent communicators has been generated for Vietnamese education in
general and foreign language education in particular. A high proficiency of spoken English
becomes not only an academic goal but one of the crucial keys to a guarantee of a successful
career.

However, there exists one problem that teachers and students of English in Vietnam cope
with: the target language is mainly used in the classroom and learners have few opportunities
to use English in authentic contexts outside the classroom. This problem sets a challenging
task for teachers of English in Vietnam, that is to design communicative activities which can
provide students with “real” contexts for negotiating meaning so that they can develop
communicative competence.

This requires some changes in teaching approach from traditional ones which put emphasis on
the production of accurate grammatical sentences into CLT approach which focuses on

developing learners‟ communicative competence, i.e. the ability to communicate through
language. In CLT, learner-learner interaction is paid more attention with such classroom tasks
as problem solving, decision – making, opinion exchange, picture dictation and jig saw tasks,
etc. However, if teachers want to make these tasks beneficial and motivating to students, they
should take into consideration the following questions raised by Hedge (2002: 263, cited in
Rong, R & Lanying, X. 2008):
1. Which activities encourage participation from all students and so ensure that they
all get practice opportunities?
2. Which activities oblige negotiation of meaning?

2

In order to determine the effectiveness of classroom activities, a search for teachers and
students‟ perception of these activities is necessary otherwise students may undervalue the
tasks assigned by teachers if there are any differences between their beliefs and teachers‟ ones,
which may cause students‟ inactive participation and gradual loss of motivation in learning.

Considered an integral part of English learning, “communicative task” has been introduced at
HaUI but implementing it is not a simple work. Proper pedagogical tasks are of significance to
the effectiveness of English course here. However, little research has been carried out on this
topic. Hence, there exists a gap which the current study will be aimed at bridging.

The above reasons have urged the author to conduct a study to gain more insight into the
current situation of using classroom activities with a focus on role-play tasks and try to draw
some implications for using role-play to improve speaking skills for 1
st
-year students at the
Faculty of Chemistry – Hanoi University of Industry (FC - HaUI). It is hoped that this study
will lay a foundation on which subsequent research into this matter is based and developed.

1.2. Aims of the study
Firstly, this research is carried out in order to investigate the reality of applying role-play
activities in teaching speaking skills to 1
st
-year students at the Faculty of Chemistry – Hanoi
University of Industry. Additionally, it is planned to explore students and teachers‟ attitude
towards role-play activities as well as the difficulties in using these activities in improving
speaking skills.
In brief, the research paper seeks the answers to the following questions:
a. What is the current situation of using role-play activities to teach speaking to 1
st
-year
students at the Faculty of Chemistry – Hanoi University of Industry?
b. What are teachers and students’ attitude towards using role-play activities in speaking
lessons?
c. What are the difficulties in using role-play activities to teach speaking skills to 1
st
-year
chemistry majors at HaUI?
d. What are implications of making role-play activities successful in speaking class of 1
st
-
year FC students?
1.3. Scope of the study

3

Within the scope of a graduation paper and due to the limitation of time, the study is confined
to the Faculty of Chemistry, Hanoi University of Industry with focus on first-year chemistry
majors. Moreover, although role-play activities could be used extensively in different contexts

and for different purposes, the study is dealing with role-play in developing speaking skills
only.

1.4. Significance of the study
The study is carried out with the intention to provide teachers of English at FC – HaUI with a
deeper understanding of using role-play activities in teaching speaking skills. In addition, it is
hoped that the study will be of great significance in helping teachers find an effective way to
increase their students‟ participation in speaking lessons as well as supply them with
successful communication outside classrooms.

1.5. Methods of the study
Questionnaires and interviews will be utilized to collect data for the whole paper. A survey is
done by delivering a questionnaire to 20 teachers of English and another questionnaire to 120
first-year students at FC- HaUI who are being taught speaking skills under the process-based
approach.

After completing questionnaires, those who are willing to give further response on the issue
will be invited to take part in semi-structured interviews.

All the collected information and data are then analyzed and discussed.

1.6. Design of the study
The thesis consists of four chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 provides a general introduction, including the rationale for the research and its aim,
significance, scope, research questions and the design of the thesis.

Chapter 2 is an attempt to review some theoretical background for the study. The two
underlying theories: communicative approach and cooperative learning - the background for

4

role-play activities to occur are discussed. In addition, the theory of teaching speaking and an
overview of role-play activities are also presented.

Chapter 3 presents the methodology of the study, including the background information of the
context where the study is conducted, the subjects, the instruments used to collect data, and the
procedures of data collection. Furthermore, a detailed description of data analysis is presented;
and some explanations and interpretations of the findings of the study are given in this chapter.

Chapter 4 is the conclusion of the study, providing some pedagogical implications. The
limitations of the study as well as some suggestions for further research are also discussed in
this chapter.

Summary
In this first chapter, the following points have been discussed:
(a) The rationale for the study
(b) Aims of the study
(c) Scope of the study
(d) Significance of the study
(e) Methods of the study
(f) Design of the study
These issues have not only justified the major contents and structures of the study but will also
work as the guidelines for the rest of the paper

CHAPTER II - LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, the writer attempts to provide a review of theoretical background of role-play
activities.

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2.1. Communicative Language Teaching & Cooperative Learning
2.1.1. Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching
The communicative approach (Communicative Language Teaching or CLT) emphasizes
communication as both the means and the goal of foreign language teaching and learning. The
communicative approach aims to help students use the target language in a variety of contexts.
Its primary focus is to help learners create meaning rather than help them develop perfect
grammar or acquire native-like pronunciation. This means that successfully learning a foreign
language is assessed in terms of how learners have developed their communicative
competence.

The communicative approach is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching rather
than as a teaching method. As such, it is most often defined as lists of general principles. One
of the most recognized of these lists is five features of CLT pointed out by Nunan:
- An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.
- The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
- The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language, but also
on the Learning Management process.
- An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing
elements to classroom learning.
- An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the
classroom.
(David Nunan, 1991)
These five principles show that the communicative approach focuses on the needs and desires

of their learners. Based on these principles of CLT, it can be concluded that any teaching
practice that helps students develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is
deemed an acceptable and beneficial form of instruction.
There are various classifications of activities that are typically found in a communicative
language classroom, among which role-play is one of the most popular and often used at high
frequency. Paulston and Bruder (1976), in their book Teaching English as a Second
Language: Techniques and Procedures, included role-play in the activity types that they
thought were of maximum benefit in enabling students to attain communicative competence.

6


In role plays, students are assigned a fictitious role. The students may even act out the role of
themselves. The complexity of role plays and the improvisation is a matter of student
proficiency. Paulston and Bruder (1976) maintain that the teacher should attach importance to
the format of the role play which consists of three basic components (the situation, the roles
and useful expressions), whether or not it is a complex one. In terms of situation, the teacher
clearly explains the scene and the plot of the role play, which is followed by the description of
the task and the action to be accomplished. Then, the teacher assigns the roles, the list of
characters, making sure that the roles are not too elaborate for the students to carry out. Useful
expressions part contains the linguistic information, primarily expressions and phrases that
will facilitate the acting out of the roles.

In short, role-play in which students practice and develop language functions is one kind of
communicative classroom activities which often take the form of pair work and group work
and require certain degree of cooperative learning.
2.1.2. Cooperative Learning (CL)
2.1.2.1. Definition
CL has received much attention of many researchers and become popular over the last decade.
In general, CL is one instructional strategy which is under the learner – centered approach.

According to Slavin (1995), CL is “an instructional program in which students work in small
groups to help one another master academic content.” Holding the same opinion with Slavin,
Brown (1994) states that “CL involves students working together in pairs or groups, and they
share information. They are a team whose players must work together in order to achieve
goals successfully”.
Kressler (1992) gives a more specific definition of CL in terms of language learning context.
He claims that CL is one way of grouping students of different levels of language proficiency
when working together on specific tasks so that all of them can gain benefit from the
“interactive experience”


7

In defining cooperative learning, Johnson, Johnson and Holubec (1994) stress the benefits of
CL that “cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups through which students
work together to maximize their own and others‟ learning". In classrooms where collaboration
is practiced, students pursue learning in groups of varying size negotiating, initiating, planning
and evaluating together. Rather than working as individuals in competition with every other
individual in the classroom, students are given the responsibility of creating a learning
community where all students participate in significant and meaningful ways. Cooperative
learning requires that students work together to achieve goals which they could not achieve
individually.

Johnson et al. (1991) elaborate how CL takes place by stating that, cooperation is not
assigning a job to a group of students where one student does all the work and the others put
their names on the paper. Neither is it having students sit side by side at the same table to talk
with each other as they do their individual assignment. It is not having students do a task
individually with instructions that the ones who finish first are to help the lower students. On
the contrary, CL is a teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different

levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject.
Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping
teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. Students work with assignment
until all group members successfully understand and complete it.

In brief, there are many definitions of CL, but most cooperative learning definitions involve
small, heterogeneous teams, usually of four or five members, working together towards a
group task in which each member is individually accountable for part of an outcome that
cannot be completed unless the members work together; in other words, the group members
are positively interdependent.

2.1.2.2. Cooperative Learning and Language Acquisition
In general, CL has been proven to be effective for all types of students because it promotes
learning and fosters respect and friendships among diverse groups of students. Students in
cooperative classrooms achieve many social and academic benefits as Slavin (1987) stated:
“Cooperative classrooms are classrooms where students are likely to attain higher levels of

8

achievement, to increase time on task, to build cross-ethnic friendships, to experience
enhanced self-esteem, to build life-long interaction and communication skills, and to master
the habits of mind (critical, creative and self-regulated) needed to function as productive
members of society.”

CL is particularly beneficial for any students learning a second/ foreign language. Language
teachers frequently hear that CL is an effective strategy for classrooms with English language
learning (ELL) students. CL strategies have been shown to improve academic performance
(Slavin, 1987), lead to great motivation toward learning (Garibaldi, 1979), to increase time on
task (Cohen & Benton, 1988), to improve self-esteem (Johnson & Johnson, 1989), and to lead
to more positive social behaviors (Lloyd et al., 1988). For ELL students especially, CL

promotes language acquisition by providing comprehensible input in developmentally
appropriate ways and in a supportive and motivating environment (Kagan, 1995).

Olsen and Kagan (1992) also report some research on CL with respect to some of its benefits
for language learning. According to them, in traditional classrooms, teachers do most of the
talking leaving students very little time to speak and to do language production, especially
low-achieving students are given fewer opportunities to participate. In contrast, in cooperative
classes, up to 80 percent of cooperative class time may be devoted to activities. Half of the
students may do language production while the others are engaged in language
comprehension. This results in increased active and complex communication for students.

Furthermore, CL is found to have a positive impact on almost all the variables critical to
language acquisition because small group work enriches the language classroom with
comprehensible, developmentally appropriate, irredundant, and accurate input and it also
promotes frequent, communicative, and referential classroom talk in a supportive, motivating,
and feedback-rich environment (Kagan, 1994).

In conclusion, CL activities promote peer interaction, which helps the development of
language and the learning of concepts and content. Therefore, it is important to assign ELL
students to different teams so that they can benefit from English language role models. Apart
from learning to express themselves with greater confidence when working in small teams,

9

they can pick up vocabulary and benefit from observing how their peers learn and solve
problems.

2.2. Role-play in developing speaking skills
2.2.1. What is role-play?
In Cambridge International Dictionary of English, role is defined as the person whom an actor

represents in a film or play, while role play is a method of acting out particular ways of
behaving or pretending to be other people who deal with new situations. It is used in language
learning courses and psychotherapy.

Ladousse (1995) illustrated that when students assume a “Role”, they play a part (either their
own or somebody else‟s) in specific situation. “Play” means that it is taken on in a safe
environment in which students can be as inventive and playful as possible.

According to Oxford Advanced Dictionary (1995) and Crookal (1990), there is a little
consensus on the terms used in the role playing and simulation literature. A few of the terms
often used interchangeably are simulation, games, role play, simulation-game, role play
simulation, and role playing game. There seem to be some agreement; however, simulation is
a broader concept than role playing. Simulations are complex, lengthy, and relatively
inflexible events. Role play, on the other hand, can be a quite simple and brief technique to
organize. It is also highly flexible, leaving much more scope for the exercise of individual
variation, initiative and imagination.

In defining role play, Byrne (1986) gave comments that role play is a part of drama activity. In
details, he described that there are three terms to cover the drama activities. They are mime
(mimicry-memorization), role play and simulation. He distinguished the terms as follows: In
miming, the participants perform actions without using words (although as we shall see, this
activity leads naturally on to talk). In role play, participants interact in imaginary situations.
Simulation involves role play as defined above. However, for this activity the participants
normally discuss a problem of some kind with some setting that has been defined for them.
Both role play and simulation are commonly used in foreign language classes to facilitate
communicative competence whereas mime seems more appropriate as a language game. It is

10

performing actions without using words. For instance, if someone mimes an action, the others

try to guess what it is.

Another definition is stated by Budden (2006) on British Council Teaching English (BBC) in
her article with the title “Role Play”. She said that role-play is any speaking activity when you
either put yourself into somebody else's shoes, or when you stay in your own shoes but put
yourself into an imaginary situation.

What is meant by imaginary people is that students can become anyone they like for a short
time. The President, the Queen, a millionaire, a pop star…., the choice is endless. Students can
also take on the opinions of someone else. 'For and against' debates can be used and the class
can be split into those who are expressing views in favor and those who are against the
opinion.

Functional language for a multitude of scenarios can be activated and practiced through role
play in imaginary situations. 'At the restaurant', 'Checking in at the airport', 'Looking for lost
property' are all possible role-plays.

From those explanation above, the writer views that role play is a technique which involves
fantasy or imagination to be someone else or to be ourselves in a specific situation for a while,
improvising dialogue and creating a real world in scenario. It aims at encouraging the students
to think and create, lets students develop and practice new language and behavioral skills in a
relatively non-threatening setting, and can create the motivation and involvement necessary
for learning to occur.

2.2.2. Types of Role Play and Procedures in Using Role Play
In case of role, Ladousse (1995) explained that there are four types.

The first is the roles which correspond to a real need in the students‟ lives. In this category, it
involves such roles as a job applicant at an interview or a tourist traveling abroad.

11

The second type of role is the students play themselves in a variety of situations which may or
may not have direct experience. The example included in this category is a customer
complaining about a product, service or a passenger asking for information.

The third type is the type that few students will ever experience directly themselves, but it is
easy to play because they can get help from teachers who have such vast indirect experience of
them. A television journalist or a master of ceremony is good example of this type and they
are very useful kinds of role taken from real life.

The last type is fantasy roles, which are fictitious, imaginary, and possible even absurd, such
as a superman or an alien.

In case of role play activities, according to Byrne (1986), role play can be grouped into two
forms, scripted and unscripted role play. In details, those types of role play activities are
described as follows:
a. Scripted Role Play
This type involves interpreting either the textbook dialogue or reading text in the form of
speech. The main function of the text after all is to convey the meaning of language items in a
memorable way.

For more details, Doff (1988) gave an example of scripted role play dialogue and explained
how the process is:
Angela: Good morning. I want to send a letter to Singapore.
Clerk: Yes, do you want to send it by air mail or ordinary mail?
Angela: I think I’ll send it air mail. I want it to get there quickly. How much does it
cost?
Clerk: To Singapore? That will be 30 pence, please.

Angela: (give the clerk 50 pence) Here you are.
Clerk: Here’s your stamp, and here’s 20 pence change.
Angela: Thank you. Where is the post box?
Clerk: You want the air mail box. It’s over there, by the door.
(Adapted from living English book 2: A.G. Abdalla et al)

12


The procedures given by Doff (1988) are as follows: First, the teacher guides the role play by
writing the prompts such as “where? / air mail / how much? / post box? / thanks”. The teacher
can talk as she writes to show what the prompts mean. Secondly, if necessary, she can go
through the prompts one by one, and get students to give sentences or question for each one.
Thirdly, the teacher may call two students to the front to play the role. They should improvise
the conversation using the prompts to help them and point out that the conversation should be
similar to the one in the textbook, but not exactly the same; the conversation can be shorter
than the presentation dialogue. It should just cover the main points indicated by the prompts.
Finally, the teacher calls out a few other pairs of students in turn, and ask them to have other
conversation based on the prompts.

Based on these procedures, the writer views that the ways of organizing this dialogue can be
carried out into pairs of students who would improvise a conversation in front of class, in
turns. The teacher can also ask the students to practice the conversation privately with their
partners before they act it out in front of the class.
b. Unscripted Role Play
In contrast to scripted role play, the situations of unscripted role play do not depend on
textbooks. It is known as a free role play or improvisation. The students themselves have to
decide what language to use and how the conversation should develop. In order to do this
activity, good preparation from teacher and students is really necessary.
The example and procedures of unscripted role play which is adapted from Doff‟s book (1988)

are as follows:
One student has lost a bag. He/she is at the police station.
The other student is the police officer, and asks for details.
(Doff, 1988)
Procedures in conducting this role-play may come as follow: Firstly, the teacher could prepare
the whole class by discussing what the speakers might say (e.g. the police officer would ask
the students how he or she lost the bag) and writing prompt and any key vocabulary on the
board to guide the role play. Secondly, the teacher could divide the class into pairs, let them
discuss together what they may say and let them all try out the role play privately, before
calling on one or two pairs to act out in front of the class.

13


With a broader view, House (1997) explained that there are several procedures in using role
play:
a. Students read and familiarize themselves with the (example) dialogue.
b. Teacher divides the class in pairs, A and B, give A and B roles from the dialogues.
c. Teacher lets students act out their role play, students should read it loudly.
d. Teacher walks around correcting and checking students‟ work.
e. Students swap roles and repeat, those who finish first can be asked to make up their own
role play, using different words to fill the gaps.

The above procedures do not need to be used exactly. It is flexible; teacher can create or
develop procedures which is appropriate and suitable with his/her own class.

Holding different ideas from Byrne, in dividing types of role-play, Littlewood (1981) reported
that role-play activities can be categorized into four types as follow:

a. Role-playing controlled through cued dialogues

Following is an example of this kind of role-play:


Learner A
You meet B in the street.
A: Greet B.
B:
A: Ask B where he is going.
B:
A: Suggest somewhere to go together.
B:

A: Accept B’s suggestion.
B:
Learner B
You meet A in the street.
A:
B: Greet A.
A:
B: Say you are going for a walk.
A:
B: Reject A’s suggestion. Make a different
suggestion.
A:
B: Express pleasure.


Learners will normally have their cues printed on separate cards. This gives the interaction
some of the uncertainty and spontaneity involved in „real‟ communication: each learner must
listen to his partner before formulating a definite response. On the other hand, the cues enable

14

them to predict a large proportion of what the other will say and, of course, to prepare the
general gist of their own responses. This makes it easier for a learner to draw on language
forms that he would have difficulty in using with complete spontaneity. The teacher can
therefore use cued dialogues to elicit forms which he has just taught or which his learners
would otherwise avoid. This use of the forms in a „semi-communicative‟ context helps to
prepare learners to use them later in fully spontaneous interaction.

b. Role-playing controlled through cues and information
In cued dialogues, two sets of cues must interlock closely, in such a way that no cue produces
an utterance which conflicts with what follows. This places tight limits on the amount of
creativity that is possible within that format.

A more flexible framework is created if only one learner is given detailed cues. The other has
information that enables him to respond as necessary. Here, for example, two learners play the
roles of a prospective guest and a hotel manager(ess):
Student A: You arrive at a small hotel one evening. In the foyer, you meet the
manager(ess) and:
Ask if there is a room vacant.
Ask the price, including breakfast.
Say how many nights you would like to stay.
Ask where you can park your car for the night.
Say what time you would like to have breakfast.

Student B: You are the manager(ess) of a small hotel that prides itself on its friendly,
homely atmosphere. You have a single and a double room vacant for tonight. The
prices are: £8.50 for the single room, £15.00 for the double room. Breakfast is £1.50
extra per person. In the street behind the hotel, there is a free car park. Guests can

have tea in bed in the morning, for 50p.

The main structure for the interaction now comes from learner A‟s cues. A can thus introduce
variations and additions without throwing B into confusion. For the most part, B‟s role

15

requires him to respond rather than initiate, though he may also introduce topics himself (e.g.
by asking whether A would like tea).

This kind of framework is obviously best suited to those situations where there is a natural
initiator, whose cues can control the interaction. These are mostly situations where one person
needs to gather information or obtain a service, for example: in a travel agency, where one
learner needs to find out train times and fares, and the other has timetables and brochures; in a
bank, where the manager has to obtain personal information about a client who wants to
borrow money; interviews for jobs, interview for news reports; and so on. In this type of role-
play, there is greater emphasis on the social context in which the information is obtained.

c. Role-playing controlled through situation and goals
The 2 types of role-playing above provide specific cues for learners. These enable teachers to
control the interaction and to ensure that learners express a particular range of meanings in
addition to any variations they may introduce. The cues also provide learners with a
supportive framework which relieves them of some of the responsibility for creating the
interaction themselves.

As learners progress, the teacher will not necessarily abandon the use of specific cues. He will
still sometimes want to produce a particular kind of interaction and elicit a particular range of
functional meanings and forms. There will also be increasing scope, however, for providing a
looser structure, which gives learners greater responsibility for creating the interaction
themselves. The control now determines not so much the specific meanings that learners

express. It is directed at the higher level of situation and the goals that learners have to achieve
through communication. For example:
Student A: You wish to buy a car. You are in a showroom, looking at a second-
hand car that might be suitable. You decide to find out more about it, for example how
old it is, who the previous owner was, how expensive it is to run and whether there is a
guarantee. You can pay up to about £900 in cash.

Student B: You are a car salesman. You see a customer looking at a car in the
showroom. The car is two years old and belonged previously to the leader of a local

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pop group. It does about twenty miles to the gallon. Your firm offers a three-month
guarantee and can arrange hire purchase. The price you are asking for the car is
£1,400.

During the activity, the learners‟ attention might be focused on a picture of the car in question,
in order to add realism and avoid misunderstandings about its appearance.

In this role-play, learners are initially aware only of the overall situation and their own goals in
it. They must negotiate the interaction itself as it unfolds, each partner responding
spontaneously to the other‟s communicative acts and strategies.

d. Role-playing in the form of debate or discussion
This is a variation of the kind of role-playing activity just discussed. The situation is a debate
or discussion about a real or simulated issue. The learners‟ roles ensure that they have (a)
adequate shared knowledge about the issue and (b) different opinions or interests to defend. At
the end of the activity, they may have to reach a concrete decision or put the issue to a vote.
For example, here is an activity from Over to you. Learners work in groups of four.
You are a group of people who are anxious to help the old in your small town, and you

have managed to make a start by collecting £1,000 from local inhabitants and holding
jumble sales.
Study your role and then discuss how the money can best be used.
Student A: Role: Miss Julia Jenkins, spinster.
You feel that you should contact one of the charity organizations, at least
for advice.
Student B: Role: Rev. Ronal Rix, the local vicar.
You wish to found an Old People’s Club which will meet in the church
hall. Some of the £1,000 that has been collected was raised by holding
jumble sales in the church hall.
Student C: Role: Mr David Hicks, headmaster of the local primary school.
You are anxious for the pupils at your school to play a role in helping the
aged.
Student D: Role: Mrs Dorothy Foster, widow.

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You think the money should be used to renovate an old country house
which could be used as an old people’s recreation centre.

The skills that learners need to practise are similar to those in the problem-solving activities,
except that here the social constraints are stronger. The activity is also similar in nature to the
discussion sessions. Here, the simulated roles ensure that there will be sufficient conflict of
opinion to sustain the interaction.

In summary, there are a number of ways to categorize role-play activities; however, the writer
highly appreciates Littlewood‟s division because it is clear, specific and it covers almost all
the cases in which role-play occurs.

2.2.3. Roles of teachers and students in role-play activities

2.2.3.1. Roles of teachers
In discussing the roles of teachers, Wright (1987) proposed two major teacher roles in role-
play activities: the first, the “enabling” or management function, is to create the conditions
under which role-play can take place; the second, the instructional function, is to impart, by a
variety of means, knowledge to the students.

To encompass these two roles in the role-play activities, Littlewood (1981) used only one term
“facilitator”. Breen and Candlin (1980) added another two and thus vested the teacher three
roles in role-play: the first is to act as facilitator of the role-play process, the second is to act as
a participant, and the third is to act as an observer and learner.
a. Facilitator
First, as a facilitator, the teacher may need to perform a variety of specific roles, separately or
simultaneously. These include the following:
(1) He may perform the familiar role of language instructor.
He may provide the students with learning materials and initiate role-play activity.
(2) He is the organizer of the classroom activities.
According to J. Harmer (1991), of all the roles, it is the teacher as organizer that is the most
important and difficult from the perspective of classroom management: “The success of role-
play activities depend on good organization and on the students knowing exactly what they are

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to do. A lot of time can be wasted if the teacher omits to give students vital information or
issues conflicting and confusing instructions. The main aims of the teacher when organizing a
role-play activity are to tell the students what they are to talk about, give clear instructions
about what exactly their role is, get the role-play activity going, and then organize feedback
when it is over. This sounds remarkably easy, but can be disastrous if teachers have not
thought out exactly what they are going to say beforehand.”

In addition to this, the teacher has to break the whole class into pairs or groups, and decide on

procedures of pair, group or class work. When the role-play is being conducted, the teacher
has to walk around the classroom and make sure the communication is going smoothly.
(3) He may be the error-corrector.
Before the performance of role play activity, the linguistic errors should be strictly monitored
and corrected, but at the group work and class work levels in the process of role-play activity,
errors are viewed as the unavoidable by-products of communication and can be ignored unless
they hinder communication.
(4) He may choose to be a by-stander (passive viewer), making no intervention after initiating
the proceedings, and let communication take place through independent activities.
(5) While role-play is in progress, he may act as consultant or adviser, walking in the
classroom and helping where necessary or when asked. The students may have questions
about the language items and the role. And the teacher‟s presence in this capability may be an
important psychological support for many students, especially for those who are slow to
develop independence.
b. Participant
There is no reason why the teacher should not participate as an equal in the activity. He can
offer his information, and at the same time stimulate and present new language, without taking
the main initiative for communication away from the students themselves.

When engaging in role-play activities, the teacher has to be clear in mind that he should act as
one equal in position to the students and one only authoritative and superior in language
ability and language teaching skills.
c. Observer and learner
The teacher may also act as an observer and learner.

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When the role-play activity is in progress he may move about the classroom in order to
monitor the strengths and weaknesses of the students, as a basis for planning future learning

activities. He can use the weaknesses as signs for learning needs which he must cater for later,
probably through more controlled, pre-communicative activities.

In conclusion, role-play activity is one of the main types of communicative activity designed
for developing the learners‟ communicative abilities in the foreign or second language
classroom. In this kind of activities the teacher is less dominant but by no means less
important than in the traditional classroom activities. He is a facilitator of the communicative
process in which he may play the roles of instructor of language items, organizer of the role-
play activity, error-corrector, passive viewer, and consultant. He may also take part in the role-
play activities as a co-communicator, or observe the students‟ performance for planning future
activities.

2.2.3.2. Roles of students
The roles of students have changed since the invention of Communicative Teaching
Approach. According to Morrow, (1977: 71), “the learner is now concerned with using
language, not English usage. In order to do this, learners take on roles and interact with other
learners who also have roles. What they say is determined by the roles they play, their
communicative intentions and the contribution of the other learners”.

It is obvious that the roles of students in role-play activities are different form those found in
the traditional classroom activities. These roles are suggested being closely related to the
functions and status of the teacher in a role-play activity.

Breen and Candlin (1980) claim that the learner serves as a negotiator – between the self, the
learning process and the object of learning. This role emerges from and interacts with the role
of joint negotiator within the group. The student should contribute as much as he gains, and
thereby he can learn in an independent way. This fundamental role is clarified by the
following set of particular roles:

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 Learners regularly work in groups or pairs to transfer (and, if necessary, negotiate)
meaning in situations in which each person plays his own role.
 Learners often engage in role play or dramatization to adjust their use of the target
language to different social contexts.
 Learners‟ needs, styles and aims are focused on or accounted for.
 Learners are given some control; their creativity and innovation are encouraged.

To sum up, it can be said that all of these roles help to enhance learners‟ sense of competence
and self-worth, a sense of mastery of their learning and thereby add to their intrinsic
motivation.



2.2.4. Significance of Role Play in Developing Speaking Skills
Larsen-Freeman (1986) explains that role plays, whether structured or less structured, are
important in developing speaking skills because they give learners an opportunity to practise
communicating in different social contexts and in different social roles.

A role play is a highly flexible learning activity which has a wide scope for variation and
imagination. According to Ladousse (1987), role play uses different communicative
techniques and develops fluency in the language, promotes interaction in the classroom and
increases motivation. Here peer learning is encouraged and sharing of responsibility between
teacher and the learner in the learning process takes place.

Ladousse (1987) also stressed that role play can improve learners' speaking skills in any
situation, and helps learners to interact. As for shy learners, role play helps by providing a
mask, where learners with difficulty in conversation are liberated. In addition, it is fun and
most learners will agree that enjoyment leads to better learning.