Sử dụng bài tập đóng vai trò trong việc phát triển kỹ năng nói cho sinh viên năm cuối Khoa Du lịch Trường Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn, Đại học Quốc gia

1
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES




NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HÒA


USING ROLE PLAY IN DEVELOPING SPEAKING
SKILL FOR SENIOR STUDENTS OF FACULTY
OF TOURISM AT UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL
SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, VIETNAM
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY




SỬ DỤNG BÀI TẬP ĐÓNG VAI TRONG VIỆC PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NÓI
CHO SINH NĂM CUỐI KHOA DU LỊCH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KHOA HỌC XÃ
HỘI VÀ NHÂN VĂN, ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI






M.A. Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Methodology
Code: 601410






HANOI-2010

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES




NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HÒA


USING ROLE PLAY IN DEVELOPING SPEAKING
SKILL FOR SENIOR STUDENTS OF FACULTY
OF TOURISM AT UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL
SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, VIETNAM
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

SỬ DỤNG BÀI TẬP ĐÓNG VAI TRONG VIỆC PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NÓI
CHO SINH NĂM CUỐI KHOA DU LỊCH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KHOA HỌC XÃ
HỘI VÀ NHÂN VĂN, ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI






M.A. Minor Programme Thesis




Field: English Methodology
Code: 601410
Supervisor: Dr. Lâm Quang Đông





HANOI-2010

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

VNU: Vietnam National University, Hanoi
USSH: University of Social Sciences and Humanities
TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language
GE: General English
ESL: English as a Second Language
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages


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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
FIGURES
Figure 1: Activities used by the teachers at USSH
TABLES
Table 1: Procedure of a role-playing process
Table 2: Types of interaction skills
Table 3: Role play discourse analysis-Pair 1

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i
ABSTRACT iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES v
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1.Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 3
3. Scope of the study 4
4. Research methods 4
5. Research questions 4
6. Organization of the thesis 4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5
1.1. Role-play 5
1.1.1. Definition 5
1.1.2. Types of role plays 7
1.1.3. Process of role-playing. 9
1.1.4. Role-playing and current teaching techniques 10
1.2. Speaking skill 11
1.2.1. Oral skills and interaction 11

1.2.2. Types of interaction skills 12
1.3. Using role-play in class to develop students’ speaking skills. 15
1.3.1. Is Role play for language learning or language practice? 15
1.3.2. Role play is language at work. 15
1.3.3. Role play is language learning, not a theory 16
1.4. Teachers prepare students for role play 17
1.4.1. Different roles for different students 17
1.4.2. Role card
1.4.3. Doing about mistakes 18
1.4.4. Debriefing 19
CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 21
2.1. Background to the Study 21

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2.1.1 The settings 21
2.1.1.1. The syllabus 21
2.1.1.2 The teachers 22
2.1.1.3. The students 22
2.1.2. The problems 22
2.2. The survey 23
2.2.1. Subjects 23
2.2.2. Instruments of data collection 23
2.2.2.1 Interview 23
2.2.2.2 Classroom observation 23
2.2.2.3 Diary keeping 24
2.2.2.4 Follow-up questionnaire 24
2.3. Procedure 24
2.3.1. Interview 24
2.3.2. Class observation 24
2.3.2.1. The pre-test stage 24

2.3.2.2 Data analysis and presentation 25
2.3.3. Follow-up questionnaire 36
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS 37
3.1 Findings 37
3.1.1 Findings from interviews with teachers 37
3.1.2 Findings from the follow up questionnaire with the students 38
3.2 Implications and suggestions 40
3.2.1. How to integrate role play in the syllabus to develop speaking skills. 40
3.2.2. Note for teachers when using role play activities 40
3.2.3. Some possible difficulties and suggestions to overcome them when using role play
activities. 41
PART C: CONCLUSION 42
REFERENCES 43
APPENDICES






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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
English has become the most essential language in the world used by almost all people
from many different countries for international communication. The area of English study
has also become a special interest because of the importance of English in any scope of our
lives.
Julian Edge (1996) said: “Since British trade, followed by colonial and imperial expansion,
English spread around the world. Then the military and economic dominance of the United
States of America has confirmed English as the international language of present historical

period.
In international relationship, English speaking ability is very important so people must be
able to participate in the wider world of work. The speaking skill is measured in terms of
the ability to carry out a conversation in the language. This reality makes teachers and
parents think that speaking ability should be mastered by their students and children.
Based on the above reasons, in recent years, English language teaching has focused on
teaching the language rather than teaching about the language. The emphasis is not only on
linguistic competence of the language learners but also on the development of their
communicative ability. In order to develop the learners’ communicative ability, the teacher
needs to create a scenario to teach the target language in a vibrant, active and interesting
manner.
In learning speaking skill, students often find several problems. The problem frequently
found is that the influence of their native language makes it difficult to use the foreign
language. Another reason is the lack of motivation to practice the foreign language in daily
conversation. They are also too shy and afraid to take part in the conversation.
Many factors can cause problems of the students’ speaking skills namely the students’
interest, the material, and the media among others including the technique in teaching
English. Many techniques can be applied including role play because many research
findings say that this technique is effective to use.

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Role play is very important in teaching speaking because it gives students an opportunity
to practice communicating in different social contexts and in different social roles. In
addition, it allows students to be creative and to put themselves in another person’s place
for a while. According to Stephen D. Hattings (2007) based on his observation in the
conversation class, the role play would seem to be the ideal activity in which students
could use their English creatively and it aims to stimulate a conversation situation in which
students might find themselves and give them an opportunity to practice and develop their
communication skill. For these reasons, the writer is interested in analyzing the use of role
play in teaching speaking for the students of Faculty of Tourism at University of Social

Sciences and Humanities. She wants to show that using role play in developing students’
speaking skill offer a variety of benefits.
A very wide variety of experience can be brought into the classroom through role play. The
range of functions and structures, and the areas of vocabulary that can be introduced, go far
beyond the limits of other pair or group activities, such as conversation, communication
games, or humanistic exercises. Through role play we can train our students in speaking
skills in any situation.
Role play puts students in situation in which they are required to use and develop those
phonic forms of language which are so necessary in oiling the works of social
relationships, but which are so often neglected by our language teaching syllabuses. Many
students obtain information from that language teaching syllabuses. Many students believe
that language is only to do with the transfer of specific information from one person to
another. They have very little small talk, and in consequence often appear unnecessarily
brusque and abrupt. It is possible to build up these social skills from a very low level
through role play.
Some people are learning English to prepare for specific roles in their lives: people who
are going to work or travel in an international context. It is helpful for these students to
have tried out and experimented with the language they will require in the friendly and safe
environment of a classroom. For these students, role play is a very useful rehearsal for real
life. It enables them not just to acquire set phrases, but to learn how interaction might take
place in a variety of situations.

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Role play helps many shy students by providing them with a mask. Some more reticent
members of a group may have a great deal of difficulty participating in conversations about
themselves, and in other activities based on their direct experience. These students are
liberated by role play as they no longer feel that their own personality is implicated.
Perhaps the most important reasons for using role play is that it is fun. Once students
understand what is expected of them, they thoroughly enjoy letting their imagination rip.
Although there does not appear to be any scientific evidence that enjoyment automatically

leads to better learning, most language teachers would probably agree that in the case of
the vast majority of normal people this is surely so.
Finally, role play is one of a whole gamut of communicative techniques which develops
fluency in language students, which promotes interaction in the classroom, and which
increases motivation. Not only is peer learning encouraged by it but also the sharing
between teacher and student of the responsibility for the learning process. Role play is
perhaps the most flexible technique in the range, and teachers who have it at their finger-
tips are able to meet an infinite variety of needs with suitable and effective role play
exercise.
In brief, the needs of teaching about the language not the language itself, designing
interesting speaking activities, and getting students to involve in oral activities are the
reasons why the writer is interested in conducting this research.
2. Aims of the study
The purpose of the study is
 To find out the importance of role play in developing speaking activities used by the
teachers at University of Social Sciences and Humanities
 To examine the use of role-playing as a speaking activity in helping develop students’
speaking skill.
The researcher hopes to change some ways in the choice of speaking activities, which is
for the sake of students, not for the sake of the activity.


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3. Scope of the study
Because of its small scale, this study tries to examine how using role-play develops
speaking skill in a number of aspects such as accuracy, fluency, lack of hesitations, turn-
taking and negotiations of meaning. Also, this study is limited to the context of USSH with
the participation of twenty- five senior students at Department of Tourism.
4. Research methods
The study is carried out employing the following techniques: holistic class observation

done via tape recording, diary keeping, interviews and especially discourse analysis.
5. Research questions
The study tries to answer the following questions:
1. What are the current speaking activities used at University of Social Sciences and
Humanities to develop students’ speaking skill?
2. How could role-play help developing students’ speaking skill?
3. How could role-play be integrated into the current teaching syllabus to develop the
students’ speaking skill?
6. Organization of the thesis
The thesis includes three parts. The first part: “Introduction” introduces the motivation for
the research, defines the specific aims, scope, methods and research questions.
The second part consists of three chapters. The first chapter, Chapter 1 “Literature
Review” gives an overview of role-play and speaking skill
The second chapter, Chapter 2: “The study” tries to answer the two research questions of
the study. In this chapter, background information for the study is presented, giving the
premises for the next part. Then there is the detailed description of how the study is carried
out, including methods and procedure and summary of the findings of the study.
Chapter 3: “Findings and Implications” presents the findings from the study and
proposes some practical suggestions for teachers at USSH, including the ways to integrate
role-play in syllabus.
The last part of the study is the conclusion, which gives a summary and recommendations
for the further study.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, some theories related to role-play are reviewed, including the definitions of
role-play, their characteristics, and types of role-play as well as the process of carrying out
a role-play as an oral activity. Then there is a discussion of what role-plays are. The
chapter is ended with the relation between role-play and speaking skill.

1.1. Role-play
1.1.1. Definition
In Cambridge International Dictionary of English (2004) 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 training courses language learning and psychotherapy.
In this case, Ladousse (1996) illustrated that when students assume a “Role”, they play a
part (either their own or somebody else’s) in specific situation. “Play” means that is taken
on in a safe environment in which students are as an inventive and playful as possible.
According to Crookal and Oxford (2007), there is a little consensus on the terms used in
the role playing and 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. Role play is included in simulation as well.
In defining role play, Byrne (1976) gave comments that role play is a part of drama
activity. In details, he described that there are three items to cover the drama activities.
They are mime (mimicry-memorization), role play and simulation. He distinguished the
terms as follows:

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a. Mime, the participants perform actions without using words (although as we shall see,
this activity leads naturally on to talk).
b. Role play, the participants interact either as themselves or others in imaginary
situations.
c. Simulation, this 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 to be more appropriate as a language
game. It is performing actions without using words. For instance, if someone mimes and
action, the others try to guess what it is.
Another definition is stated by Budden (1999) in British Council Teaching English (BBC)
on 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 favour and those
who are against the theme.
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 role play as 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 the students to
encourage thinking and creativity, let the 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.

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1.1.2. Types of role plays
In view of the persons taking an actor, Gillian (1996) explained that there are several types
of role. The first is the roles which correspond to a real need in the students’ lives. In this
category, it involves such roles as doctors dealing with patients, or salesman traveling

abroad. The second type of role is the students play themselves in a variety of situations of
which they may or may not have direct experience. The example for this category is a
customer complaining or a passenger asking for information. The third type is the type that
few students will ever direct experience but it is easy to play because the teachers have
such vast indirect experience of them. The television journalist is a good example of this
type and it is very useful kind of role taken from real life. The last type is fantasy roles,
which are fictitious, imaginary, and possibly even absurd.
In case of role play activities, according to Byrne (2007), 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 text book 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, Adrian Doff (1997) gave an example of scripted role play dialogue and
reading text and 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 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.

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Clerk: Here’s your stamp, and here’s 20 pence change.
Angela: Thank you. Where is the post office?
Clerk: You want the air mail box. It’s over there, by the door.
(Adapted from Living English book 2:A.G.A bdalla et al-1999)
To demonstrate a role play activity based on the dialogue, the procedures given by Doff is
as follows:
1) First, the teacher guides the role play by writing these prompts: (Where? / air mail/ how

much? / post box? / thanks). Talk as you write to show what the prompts mean.
2) If necessary, go through the prompts one by one, and get students to give sentences or
question for each one.
3) Call two students to the front: one plays the role of Angela and the other one is the post
office clerk. They should improvise the conversation using the prompts to help them. 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 and it should just
cover the main points indicated by the prompts.
4) Call out a few other pairs of students in turn, and ask them to have other conversation
based on the prompts.
Based on the procedures, the writer views that the ways of organizing this dialogue can be
carried out into pairs of students who would improvise a 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 are adapted from Adrian Doff’s
book are as follows:

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One student has lost a bag.
He/she is at the police station.
The other student is the police officer, and asks for details.
To bring out these ideas:
1) The teacher could prepare the whole class, by:
a) Let them discuss together what they may say.
b) Let them all try out the role play privately, before calling on one or two pairs to act out
in front of the class.

2. Susan House (1999) explained that there are several procedures in using role play:
a. Students read and familiarize themselves with the dialogue.
b. Divide the class in pairs, A and B, give A and B roles from the dialogues.
c. Let students act out their role play, not just say them but students should read it loudly.
d. Walk around correcting and checking.
e. Students swap roles and repeat, those finish first can be asked to make up their own
role play, using different words to fill gaps.
The above procedures do not mean an exact to be used. It is flexible; teacher can create or
develop procedure which is appropriate and suitable with his/ her own class.
1.1.3. Process of role-playing.
According to John (1982:31-37) each role-playing activity has four-part structure:
preparation, introduction, activity and debriefing. This is set out in Table 1.






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Table 1: Procedure of a role-playing process
Preparation
Ensuring students’ familiarity and
confidence with interactive learning
Assessing students’ needs, interests, and
abilities
Selecting or writing the role-play activity
Organizing the room and gathering
resources

Introduction
Information input: tasks, roles, background
Learners engage in information collection
tasks
Language input: useful lexis, structures,
genres, discussions strategies, research
skills, etc.
Activity
Group discussions and works on tasks
Work arising from discussions, e.g. report
writing or oral presentations
Debriefing ( optional)
Behavior: task review, discussion of tactics
employed, assessment or performance,
possible discussion of cultural aspects
Language: analysis of language used,
discussion of errors, remedies work, further
linguistic input.
1.1.4. Role-playing and current teaching techniques
Role-playing fits well with the recent emphasis on action learning and “task” as both a
communicative instructional technique and a concept of curriculum planning (Candlin

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1987; Nunan 1989). This is because they provide a means of integrating various tasks into
a coherent and believable whole. Essentially, a task is a complete communicative activity
that involves learners in comprehending and using language while their attention is focused
on meaning rather the form (Nunan 1989:12). Tasks have a particular objective,
appropriate content, a specified procedure, and a range of outcomes. They are seen as a
compelling and effective means for realizing fundamental principles of communicative
language learning, such as those discussed by Canale and Swain (1980), Widdowson

(1983), and others who stress the importance of pragmatic aspects of communicative
competence. In these terms, a role-play activity provides an optimal environment for
communicative language learning. The technique offers teachers a means of setting up
large scale tasks and creating a structured context for linking sub-tasks that involve data
gathering, problem solving or decision-making.
1.2 Speaking skill
1.2.1. Oral skills and interaction
On looking more closely at what is meant by “skill”, Bygate, (1979:5) shows that motor-
perceptive skills and interaction skills are seen as skills. The former involves perceiving,
recalling and articulating in the correct order the sounds and structures of the language.
This is used to be the conception of second language teaching many years ago and can be
seen in audio-lingual approach. The learners try to listen and imitate the language in order
to be native-like. A series of exercises and tasks were chosen for the purpose of making
learners to be good speaker: choosing the right forms, putting them in the correct order,
sounding like a native speaker, even producing the right meaning (Mackey 1965:266)
Some years later, people recognized that those types of exercises and tasks could not
answer some problems arising during the course of teaching speaking as those ways of
teaching are context-free teachings. It is like teaching a person to dive and never letting
him know what actual driving means. Wilkins (1975:76) realized that “If all his language
production is controlled from production he will not be able to transfer his knowledge from
a language-learning situation to a language-using situation”.
sBesides motor-perceptive skills, interaction skills need to be developed. So what are
interaction skills? Bygate, M (1975:5) supposes that these skills refer to the ability of using

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knowledge and basic motor-perception skill to achieve communication. Interaction skills
involve making decision about communication, such as what to say, how to say it, and
whether to develop it, in accordance with one’s intentions, while maintaining the desired
relations with others.
As the focus of this study is on the interaction skills (oral interaction skills), motor-

perceptive skills will not be detailed in the following parts.
1.2.2. Types of interaction skills
As developing interaction skills has become the centre of discussion in the course of
teaching and learning the second language, many linguists have tried to classify them.
Nunan (1989:32) suggests that to achieve good communication, a speaker should have the
following skills:
 The ability to articulate phonological features of the language comprehensibly
 Mastery of stress, rhythm, intonation pattern
 An acceptable degree of fluency
 Transactional and interpersonal skills
 Skills in taking short and long speaking turns
 Skills in negotiating meaning
 Conversational listening
 Skills in knowing about and negotiating purposes for the conversation
 Using appropriate conversational formulae and fillers.
Bygate, (1982: 4) states that interactions skills involve two sub-skills: routines and
negotiation skills. The former are the skills used when participants have to communicate in
typical patterns. He further discusses that there are two types of routines namely
informational routines and interaction routines. Examples of informational routines are
stories, descriptions, and instructions. The second type of routines is interactional routine,
which can be characterized in broad terms to include the kinds of turns typically occurring
in given situations, and the order in which the components are likely to occur. Examples of

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these skills are telephone conversations, interview situations, casual encounter,
conversations at parties, and conversations around the table.
The second of interaction skills are negotiation skills which can be seen from two aspects:
management of interaction and negotiation of meaning.
Management of interaction refers to the freedom of participants when taking part in
conversation. They can function as they wish in the conversation without any external

intervention.
Interaction management has at least two aspects: agenda management and turn-taking.
Agenda management refers to the topic chosen by the participant and turn taking relates to
the turns taken by whom and for how long in the conversation. Efficient turn taking
requires five abilities which can be seen in the following:
 Knowing how to signal that one wants to speak using phrases, sounds, gestures
 Recognizing the right moment to get a turn.
 Use appropriate turn structure in order to use the turn properly.
 Recognize others’ signal of their desire to speak
 How to let someone else have fun.
Negotiation of meaning refers to the skill of communicating ideas clearly and Bygate,
(1982:27) supposes that level of explicitness” and “procedures of negotiation” are two
factors affecting the understanding in any oral interactions.
The first factor which is called “level of explicitness” refers to the speakers’ choices of
expression in the light of what our interlocutor knows, what he or she needs to know or can
understand. So it is suggested that it is not advisable to talk to two people in the same way
about the thing that one of them knows a little while the other knows a lot. Thus it is of
great importance for a speaker to foresee what the listener has already known and what he
has not known about or known just little. In this situation, the speaker must decide to
choose how much information should be delivered to each listener because no one wants
too much or too little information.

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We have just discussed the first aspect of negotiation skills, which refers to the skills that a
speaker needs to have, that is, knowing how much background information processed by
the listener. Based on that premises, he/ she will know how much information should be
informed to the listener. However, negotiation skills also concern the factor of deciding
how specific we are in what we say. Bygate, (1982:32) lists some strategies needed. They
are paraphrase, metaphor, the use of vocabulary to vary the degree of precision. The
classification of interaction skills by Bygate, (1982:32) can be charted as follows:

Table 2: Types of interaction skills
Interaction skills
Routines
Negotiation
Informative routines: describing, story
telling.
Interactional routine phone conversations
Management of interaction: agenda
management turn taking.
Negotiation of meaning: how much and
how specific information of something is
mentioned.
I have reviewed two ways of classification of interaction skills and find each way has its
own advantages. However, in my study, to assess the interaction skills achieved and
developed, I will base on the criteria given out by Bygate since I found the classification
very detailed and there is a discussion of things related to each skill.
In the above parts, much space was spent for discussing two terms “role-play” and
“interaction skills” and related issues. However, some may wonder if they have any
relations and why much effort has been done to study them.


1.3. Using role-play in class to develop students’ speaking skills.
1.3.1. Is Role play for language learning or language practice?

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“It is likely that you view the learning a process of language acquisition” (Ladousse, 1996).
In this sense, teachers present their students with some new items, they drill students with
these items, and then they expect their students to be able to use them. However, students
have seldom acquired complete mastery of a new set of language items at the end of one
lesson. Exactly how and when learning takes place is still a mystery. What is certain is that

a variety of mental processes go on before the new language is used spontaneously. To see
it in terms of learning itself and then practice is perhaps only a question of definition, but
these are unfortunate definitions because they do not openly acknowledge a whole area of
the complex business of learning which often involves “doing” as much as “thinking”.
Of course what teachers think learning is, and what their students think it is, are important
matters for consideration. It is essential for them as teachers to see the validity of the
activities that they are proposing in their own terms, and for them to be able to demonstrate
this validity to students so that, however loose-ended and unstructured a role play may
appear, it may be stopped at any point so that the language that the students are using, or
could, or should be using, can be analyzed in terms of structures, functions and lexis, etc.
Learning should not only take place, but should be seen to be taking place. In absolute
terms this may be an impossible task, for no one yet has any set answers to the question.
1.3.2. Role play is language work.
Role play belongs to the category of language learning techniques sometimes referred to as
low input-high input. This means that the teachers-centered presentation phase of the
lesson is very short and not at all the same as it would be for a controlled practice drill.
After a brief introduction, the students plunge into an activity in which accomplishing the
task is more important than using the exact word, in which fluency predominates over
accuracy. Obviously, the language the students use may not necessarily have been acquired
at an earlier stage.
In fact, there are two ways of looking at language work in role play. Either students
manage with the language they know, or they practice structures and functions that have
been presented to them at an earlier stage of the lesson or the course, in a free and
uncontrolled way. In the first situation, when the students just cope as best they can, the
teacher’s aim is to bring them to the point of awareness at which the necessity of acquiring
certain structures is evident, as these structures are of immediate relevance. Students can
see how they could have put them to good use. They will retain them all the more easily

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because they are rooted in a meaningful context. In the second situation, role play is the

active phase of learning and offers an opportunity for students to make personal use of
language and offers an opportunity for students to make personal to make personal use of
language. Role play can be used in this way right from the start in elementary classes.
Suggestions for precise language work are made under the heading Language in each role
play, but it will be up to you to decide exactly how you go about this, and how you link it
to the rest of your course work. As for the kind of language work to be done, role play
lends itself to almost every type: structure, lexis, functions, intonation pattern, and so on.
You will find most of the role plays particularly suitable for familiarizing students with
registers, an aspect of language-learning which is neglected in many course books.
Ultimately, we want our students to be both fluent and accurate in the way they speak.
Being accurate does not just mean using the right thing in the right place, at the right time.
The appropriacy of the message to the given social (professional) situation is a matter of
cultural context as well as the choice of linguistic terms. The more different the students’
culture is, the more difficult it will be to cope with the concept of register. The way
formality or informality of social relationships govern the choice of language can usefully
be discussed before or after many of the role plays.
1.3.3. Role play is language learning, not a theory
The common association of the role play with the therapeutic professions means some
students are reticent because they think they will in some way lose their own identity. It
should by now be clear to the reader that role play is far more akin to child’s play than to
deeply disturbing psychological experiences. We are teachers, not therapists, and any one
of us who ventures into highly charged emotional role plays without suitable training may
well cause a great deal of distress. Choosing subjects that are safe though not boring or
trivial and placing the emphasis on “play” rather than “role” will reduce this resistance on
the part of anxious students.
A related problem is psychological problem that many people feel when they are asked to
be someone else. Paradoxically, other people excel in this very situation. I have often
asked a group of students, who have carried out a role play for the first time, to evaluate

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their feelings during the activity. They use this five point scale: very embarrassed, slightly
embarrassed, uneasy, natural, very natural.
The variety of responses never fails to astonish the students who usually imagine that other
people react in the same way they themselves do. The more extrovert students often
manage to convince the anxious ones that students in any class are more or less inhibited
during the first few role-play activities. This can be done very simply by providing role
plays that are task-based. For example, an information transfer exercise can be placed
within the context of a role play. The inhibited students will carry it out just as an
information transfer exercise. Then they will start looking around the class and learn form
the bustle going on in other groups how they can get more out of the activity.
1.4. Teachers prepare students for role play
1.4.1. Different roles for different students
The teacher assigns roles to students in classroom. There are different types of role that
students may take during role playing process. Students may take roles in which they do
have experience or they may take others in which they do not have experience. In the first
type, students find it easy to play roles as a real need. In the second type, students find it
motivating if the situations are relevant.
Many teachers feel that students will not see the point of this type of role because it has
nothing to do with real life. This sad fact may explain the dull and prosaic nature of most
published collection of role plays. Therefore, teachers should have a thorough
understanding about characteristics of students in order to assign students with appropriate
roles. Once students understand what they are trying to do in role, their imagination is
often liberated and the fantasy becomes a very enriching and useful linguistic experience.
Imagination, which is surely as real as the rest of us, has been banished from the classroom
for far too long.

1.4.2. Role card
Teachers complain that role play has no life in it because students are glued to the role
card. This can only be because the information on the card is too complex to grasp rapidly,

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or because it has not been made plain to the students that they should have mastered the
information on the card before they began the activity. Role cards should be concise and
contain only essentials. If linguistic structures are suggested for use they should be ones
that the students are already familiar with. When the students have read their role card they
can either return it to the teacher or turn it over and refer to it only when completely stuck.
Then they are free to explore the possibilities of the role in a more spontaneous manner.
Some role cards say things like: “You are Mrs. Smith. You are angry.” Imposing emotional
states in this way can be very inhibiting for students. If you wish them to learn how to
express strong emotions, it is much better to ensure that these stem naturally out of the
situation you have set up.
It is often difficult to decide how to distribute the role cards. You can decide who is who,
the students can choose, or the distribution can be done at random. In a class in which the
teacher is attempting to shift some of the responsibility for learning from her own
shoulders to those of the students, the second and third solutions are infinitely better than
the first. In the second, the negotiation about who will play which role may well give rise
to an opportunity for authentic communication, which is a too rare occurrence in the
classroom. However, it may also mean that a very weak student gets a key role, and the
role play falls apart. Teachers soon acquire the necessary judgment to which is the best
solution on each occasion.
1.4.3. Doing about mistakes
More and more teachers are adhering to the view that, mistakes are integral part of the
language-learning process, and that an opportunity to make them in a free phase in any
lesson ultimately enhances learning, rather than hinders it. Some mistakes do “fossilize”,
but most of them just seem to indicate certain stages in the acquisition of the language.
They disappear gradually as the students become more competent and confident.
Although you may be convinced of the validity of these recent theories on errors, your
students may still worry about the mistakes they make as they carry out a role play. They
are likely to question the usefulness of the exercise, or beg you to stay close to them and
correct them every time they make a mistake. It is essential to explain to these students that

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errors will be dealt with, that you are aware of the ones they are making, and that you will
not forget about them.
Students at a given level make similar kinds of mistakes in role play as they do with any
other teaching material, and will soon be able to predict which will be the most obvious
ones by considering which functions, structures, and lexical items are likely to crop up in
the role play you have chosen. The Language section in each role play in the book suggests
areas in which error will probably occur. A second solution, which should be considered as
an additional method, rather than as an alternative, is to walk round the classroom listening
to the students talking, and noting down the mistakes you would like to deal with. After the
role play, you can correct the mistakes immediately by eliciting the correct forms from the
students, by writing them on the blackboard, or by providing some kind of remedial
exercise that you had predicted would be necessary. You can also simply incorporate
remedial work into a later lesson, but in this case it is a good idea to let the students know
how and when you intend to do this, as many of them believe correction to be a vital issue.
Whatever the procedure you adopt, do not let the consideration of errors stifle the role play
while it is in progress.
1.4.4. Debriefing
Debriefing is the term used to refer to the analytical discussion which may take place after
a role play or simulation. The kinds of questions that are raised are:
a. Who participated?
b. Who did not?
c. Why not?
d. Who was very good?
e. Who could have done better?
In many areas of education where these techniques are used, this interrogative phase is as
important as the main activity. In language learning, intermediate or advanced students
who are self-confident and used to role play will benefit from a debriefing session which
will offer an opportunity for authentic and spontaneous communication. The teacher