Nâng cao kỹ năng nói tiếng anh trôi chảy cho sinh viên năm nhất khoa ngôn ngữ anh tại trường đại học kinh tế quốc dân thông qua hoạt động đóng vai​

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

BÙI THỊ MỸ DUYÊN

ENHANCING ENGLISH SPEAKING FLUENCY FOR THE FIRST YEAR
STUDENTS OF FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN NATIONAL
ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY THROUGH ROLE PLAY ACTIVITY

(Nâng cao kỹ năng nói Tiếng Anh trôi chảy cho sinh viên năm nhất khoa
Ngôn Ngữ Anh tại Trường Đại học Kinh tế Quốc dân thông qua hoạt động
đóng vai)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi – 2020


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

BÙI THỊ MỸ DUYÊN

ENHANCING ENGLISH SPEAKING FLUENCY FOR THE FIRST YEAR
STUDENTS OF FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN NATIONAL

ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY THROUGH ROLE PLAY ACTIVITY

(Nâng cao kỹ năng nói Tiếng Anh trôi chảy cho sinh viên năm nhất khoa
Ngôn Ngữ Anh tại Trường Đại học Kinh tế Quốc dân thông qua hoạt động
đóng vai)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lê Văn Canh

Hanoi – 2020


DECLARATION

I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Enhancing English speaking
fluency for the first year students of Faculty of English Language in
National Economic University through role-play activity” is the result of
my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree
or diploma at any universities or other institutions.

Bui Thi My Duyen

Hanoi, 2020

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge my truthful gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof.
Dr. Le Van Canh, for his thorough reading, critical comments, invaluable
guidance and precious corrections of the thesis. It was his acute guidance that has
enabled me to find the right way to complete this study.
I also would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciate the assistance and
cooperation of the first-year students in classes from Faculty of English
Language in National Economic University, who have been willing to complete
my survey questionnaire and have given me useful opinions in the interviews to
support for my research
My special words of thanks are sent to my family, especially my husband and my
parents who have given me constant encouragement and support throughout my
research work.

Hanoi, 2020

ii


ABSTRACT
This is a micro-scale classroom action research conducted at the Faculty of
English Language of one university in the capital of Vietnam. Based on the
preliminary study, the researcher found that some first-year students have low
ability of speaking fluency, which motivated the researcher to decide to
implement role play technique in teaching speaking skill. The study aims at
shedding the light on improving oral fluency of learners by acting in role plays as
a good model for bringing real-life situations into the classroom. Both qualitative
and quantitative methods that consist of some instruments such as speaking test,
observation checklists, field notes along with questionnaires & interviews from
the learners were used. The procedure of the research consists of four main

stages: planning, implementation, observation and reflection. The findings of this
research showed that the teacher saw a significant improvement in their students‟
speaking fluency from one cycle to the following cycle and from both self-report
of students. The role-playing procedures implemented by the researcher in this
study consist of 7 major steps. Those are deciding on the teaching materials,
organizing the group ofthe students, providing the situation and dialogue to be
role played, teaching the dialogue for role plays, having the students practice the
role plays, having the students modify the situation and dialogue, and having the
students perform the dialogue in front of the class. The paper presents how roleplaying technique improve the speaking ability of the students

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ....................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................ iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................ vii
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................ viii
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ ix
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................1
1.1. Rationale ..........................................................................................................1
1.2. Aim and objective of the study ......................................................................2
1.3. Research questions..........................................................................................2
1.4. Scope of the study ...........................................................................................3
1.5. Methods of the study ......................................................................................3
1.6. Significance of the study .................................................................................3
1.7. Structure of the thesis .....................................................................................4
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................5

2.1. Previous studies ...............................................................................................5
2.2. Speaking skills .................................................................................................5
2.2.1. Definition of speaking skills ......................................................................5
2.2.2. Criteria of speaking skills ...........................................................................6
2.3. Speaking fluency .............................................................................................8
2.3.1. Definition of speaking fluency ...................................................................8
2.3.2. Criteria for speaking fluency ......................................................................9
2.4. Role-play as an instructional activity ..........................................................10
2.4.1. Definition of role-playing .........................................................................10
2.4.2. Advantages of role-play ...........................................................................10
iv


2.4.3. Disadvantages of role-play .......................................................................12
2.4.4. Types of role-play ....................................................................................13
2.4.5. How to use role-play in the language classroom......................................15
2.4.6. The organization of a role-play activity ...................................................16
2.4.7. Stages of the role playing activities ..........................................................16
2.4.8. The teacher‟s role in role-play .................................................................17
2.5. Summary........................................................................................................19
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...............................................20
3.1. Research approach .......................................................................................20
3.2. Setting of the study .......................................................................................21
3.3. The participants ............................................................................................21
3.4. Data collection instruments .........................................................................22
3.4.1. The questionnaire .....................................................................................22
3.4.2. Interviews .................................................................................................23
3.5. Methods of the study ....................................................................................23
3.6. The research Procedures ..............................................................................24
3.6.1. Identification of the problem ....................................................................24

3.6.2. Planning the action ...................................................................................24
3.6.3. Implementing the action ...........................................................................25
3.6.4. Observation ..............................................................................................27
3.6.5. Reflection .................................................................................................27
3.7. Summary........................................................................................................28
CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ........................................29
4.1. Findings from teacher’s assessment ............................................................29
4.1.1. Students‟ Speaking Performance in Cycle 1 ............................................29
4.1.2. Students‟ Speaking Performance in Cycle 2 ............................................30
4.2. Analysis of students’ questionnaires and interviews .................................32
4.2.1. Analysis of students‟ questionnaires ........................................................32
4.2.2. Interview data ...........................................................................................42
4.3. Discussion ......................................................................................................47
v


4.3.1. Students‟ attitudes toward speaking fluency ............................................47
4.3.2. Students‟ attitudes toward role play activity ............................................48
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ..............................................................................49
5.1. Summary of main findings ...........................................................................49
5.2. Limitations of the study................................................................................50
5.3. Suggestions for the further research ...........................................................50
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................52
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... I
APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................ I
SAMPLE LESSON PLAN ....................................................................................... I
APPENDIX B1 ....................................................................................................... IV
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS ................................................................ IV
APPENDIX B2 ..................................................................................................... VII
APPENDIX 2: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA CHO SINH VIÊN ..................................... VII

APPENDIX C ...........................................................................................................X
QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWING STUDENTS ............................................X

vi


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
FEL: Faculty of English Language
NEU: National Economic University

vii


LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 The Analytical Scoring Rubric for Speaking Performance ................... 6
Table 2.2 The Analytical Scoring Rubric for Speaking Fluency ......................... 10
Table 3.1 Observation checklist ........................................................................... 27
Table 4.1: Students' profiles (Total number of students: 27) ............................... 32
Table 4.2: Students‟ level at English speaking fluency ....................................... 33
Table 4.3: Students‟difficulties in speaking English ........................................... 34
Table 4.4: Activities used most by teachers in speaking lesson .......................... 36
Table 4.5: Activities students participate in most actively in speaking lesson .... 37
Table 4.6: Students‟ attitudes towards role play activity ..................................... 38
Table 4.7: Teachers‟ frequency of using role play activity.................................. 39
Table 4.8: Reasons why teachers use role play activity ....................................... 41

viii


LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1: The level of speaking fluency after cycle 1 ....................................... 29
Figure 4.2: The level of speaking fluency after cycle 2 ....................................... 31
Figure 4.3: Comparison the results between cycle 1 and cycle 2 ........................ 32
Figure 4.4: The level of students at English speaking fluency ............................ 33
Figure 4.5: The difficulties of students in speaking English ............................... 34
Figure 4.6: Activities used most by teachers in speaking lesson ......................... 36
Figure 4.7: Activities students participate in most actively in speaking lesson... 37
Figure 4.8: Students‟ attitudes towards role play activit ...................................... 38
Figure 4.9: Teachers‟ frequency of using role play activity ................................ 40

ix


CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
The process of modernization and industrialization makes English become
a global language with a large number of populations in the world using it for
different purposes. In globalization situation, people use English as a means of
communication with the partner in their work and study. In order to get this
communication target, people especially students should focus on studying
listening and speaking skills. However, it is the fact that high school students
often focus on grammar and vocabulary in order to pass the university entrance
exam more often than on developing their skills in using English for
communication. Therefore, although teaching program designed consists of four
skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) to help students to develop their
language competence in an effective way, a great number of high school students
do not pay attention to practice their speaking skill, especially speaking fluency.
This makes most of the first-year students at university; especially students from
the countryside have difficulties in improving their speaking skills in general and
their speaking fluency in particular when studying at university.

There are various activities as well as methods in ESL classroom to
contribute improving speaking English skill for freshmen. One of the popular
activities applied by English teachers in their lessons to help students to enhance
their speaking fluency is role-play activity. Barkley (2014, p. 150) says that
“Role Play is a created situation in which students deliberately act out or assume
characters or identities they would not normally assume in order to accomplish
learning goal”. As language is acquired through social interaction, role-playing
seems to be promising to the development of the students‟ oral skills.
Role play is regarded as a helpful activity for students in learning
communication language because it provides students with a chance to practice
speaking English in different social situations and in different social roles. It also
allows students to be more creative and to express their feelings or emotions
naturally when they have to put themselves in another person‟s place for a while.
Students are not only as passive learners but they become active learners since
1


there are various activities that put them in an active process. Therefore, using
role-play in communicative language teaching (CLT) approach is very
appropriate because this approach is learner-centered and emphasizes
communication in real life situation (Fauziati, 2009, p.143)
In this research, the level of improvements of speaking fluency achieved
by students when using role-play in a certain period of time would be found out
and discussed. Therefore, this action research project was conducted with the
aim of examining the influence of role-playing on students‟ fluency in speaking
English.
1.2. Aim and objective of the study
This action research, as stated in the preceeding section, was conducted
with the aim of finding out the usefulness of role-play activities to the
enhancement of the first-year undergraduates‟ fluency in speaking English in the

context of the classroom at the Faculty of English Language of National
Economic University.
The objectives of the study include gaining understanding of whether roleplay helps to reduce the students‟ difficulties in speaking English fluently in the
English speaking lessons and assessing the students‟ improvements in their
speaking fluency through role play activity from the first cycle to the following
cycles of the teaching procedure
1.3. Research questions
In order to reach the above aims, the research is expected to answer the
following questions:
1. What are the difficulties do the students report they encounter in
speaking English fluency?
2. To what extent do role-play activities help to reduce the students‟
difficulties in speaking English fluently, thereby enhancing their oral
fluency in English according to their self-report?
3. What do the students report about their likes and dislikes regarding
role-play activities in practicing English oral fluency?

2


1.4. Scope of the study
This action research is carried out with participation of 27 first-year
students at Faculty of English Language of National Economic University in
second semester of 2018/2019 academic year, including 23 female students and 4
male students. The researcher does not analyze improvements of students in all
aspects of speaking skill but only focusing on measuring oral fluency in speaking
English lessons using role-play technique
1.5. Methods of the study
This action research employed both quantitative and qualitative methods
to find the answer for the research questions. Data was collected through a survey

questionnaire which was delivered to 27 first-year students at Faculty of English
Language of National Economic University. Besides, informal interviews with
eights students were carried out to collect more information and to reinforce the
findings found from the survey questionnaire. The study was designed as a
collaborative classroom action research. The reseacher implemented the action in
the form of cycles following Kember (2000) namely, including planning, action,
observation and reflection.
1.6. Significance of the study
Conducting this research, the researcher expected to help their students to
enhance their speaking skill in general and speaking fluency in particular.
Theoreotically, the research is hoped to serve as a useful material for
learning and teaching speaking English for university students. Students aware of
the importance and necessity of English speaking fluency and can choose the
best method for their English communication learning. Teachers can use this
research as a reference to have a deep understanding about the types of role-play
and other activities in English speaking lessons, so they have much experience in
designing the proper curriculum for students. In addition, the findings of the
paper can be used as a reference material for further studies on related topics to
role-play activity in the classroom.

3


Practically, the research is expected to help the researcher-teacher to find
out the effective methods and techniques to improve their students‟ speaking
fluency.
1.7. Structure of the thesis
The thesis consists of three parts.
Chapter I: INTRODUCTION, presents the rationale, aim of the study,
significance of the study, scope of the study, method of the study and design of

the study.
Chapter II: LITERATURE REVIEW, displays the theoretical background
on speaking fluency and role play activities. Definition of key terms and
constructs together with a critical literature review of related studies are also
covered in this chapter.
Chapter III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, illustrates the elaboration on
the setting of the study, the participants, data collection method and instruments
as well as the procedure of data collection and data analysis.
Chapter IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS, gives a detailed
presentation of data and detailed description of data analysis. This focuses on
presenting, analyzing and discussing the results obtained from the study based on
the survey questionnaire and interview questions. Besides, the chapter also
presents some discussion and interpretations of the findings of the study, and
then gives suggestions for the teachers and the students in enhancing speaking
fluency in NEU. The implications of the study are also given in this chapter.
Chapter V: CONCLUSION, is a review of the study, and points out
implications for the improvement, its limitations and suggestions for future
research.

4


CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is a literature review on speaking skills and the benefits of
role play activities to the development of students‟ speaking skills. To begin
with, the researcher attempted to clarify some issues related to speaking skill
such as its definitions, components of speaking skill including speaking fluency.
Then the researcher represented the definitions of role playing, types of role play
activities, advantages as well as disadvantages of role playing and Finally, I will
give brief information on some stages of role play activities and overview of

previous studies related to speaking fluency and role playing
2.1. Previous studies
A large number of researches about applying role play activities in
teaching English to enhance speaking skills was conducted in many different
countries all over the world, including both experimental research and action
research.
Some followings examples can become an evidence for this claim. For
example, Chothibul Umam had carried out a micro-scale classroom action
research about improving the students‟ speaking ability through role playing
technique. One another researcher in Indonesia also mentioned the use of role
play to improve students‟ speaking skill. While both of the above studies
analysed enhancemnent of different factors of students‟ speaking skill, this study
concentrated on improving speaking fluency of students (one of the criteria of
speaking skill).
This study was new when the author carried out basing on the reseach
setting of a certain university in Vietnam, where the researcher has been working
with the purposes of improving speaking fluency of the students who the
researcher-teacher was teaching directly.
2.2. Speaking skills
2.2.1. Definition of speaking skills
Speaking capacity plays a crucial part in learning and understanding any
language. The term of speaking has several meanings
5


According to Chaney “speaking is the process of building and sharing
meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of
contexts.”
Widdowson (1978) specifies that speaking has two meanings including
how language is used to convey meanings and how effective the language use is

regarding the achievement of the purpose of communication.
Richards (2009, p. 19) states that “in speaking we tend to be getting
something done, exploring ideas, working out some aspects of the world, or
simply being together.”
From the above definition of speaking, it can be concluded that speaking
is a verbal skill in which the speaker uses language and other semiotic resources
(e.g. non-verbal language) to express opinions, ideas, feelings, emotions, etc. .
The speaking behaviour is thus interactive

2.2.2. Criteria of speaking skills
In order to communicate with the others in English naturally, students
have to pay attention to practice all the aspects of speaking skill, including
pronunciation, fluency, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy. These
factors were evaluated basing on analytical scoring rubric for speaking
performance, which was attached in Table 2.1

Table 2.1 The Analytical Scoring Rubric for Speaking Performance
No

Language
elements

Score

Description

5

Able to speak without any hesitation or break in a sentence

4

1

Fluency

3

2
1

Hesitates or pauses at a few places in a few sentences but
fluency is not seriously affected
Hesitation is shown in almost every sentence. Ends
sentence half-way and then repeats it
Hesitates a lot that message is not very clear. A lot of
repetition of sentences
Shows a lot of hesitations that speech is not clear
6


5
4

2

Pronunciation

3

2

3

Lexical
Resource

Grammatical
4

Range and
Accuracy

All words are clearly and correctly pronounced
One or two words are incorrectly pronounced but meaning
is not affected
A few words are incorrectly pronounced but meaning is
not affected
One or two words which are mispronounced cause
meaning to be affected

1

Most of the words are incorrectly pronounced

5

Uses extensive vocabulary

4

Uses varied vocabulary

3

Uses adequate vocabulary; some word usage irregularities

2

Uses limited vocabulary

1

Uses not understandable vocabulary

5

Grammar is correct

4

A few grammatical errors. Meaning is not affected

3

One or two major errors which affect the meaning

2

Almost every sentence contains grammatical error

1

A lot of grammatical errors are made that meaning of
messages is not clear

Basing on the table above, the students‟ score ranged from 1 to 5. The
researcher organized the students‟ score into five categories. Those were 1) grade
1 to 1.9 was categorized as poor speaking performance, 2) grade 2 to 2.9 was
categorized as fair speaking performance, 3) grade 3 to 3.9 was categorized as
good speaking performance, 4) grade 4 to 4.9 was categorized as very good
speaking performance, and 5) grade 5 was categorized as excellent speaking
performance.
One of the most crucial factors which students need to enhance in the
process of learning to speak English is speaking fluency. Mastering speaking
skill in general and developing oral fluency in particular are regarded as the goals
of university students because these advantages help them become more
confident in communication and gain better job opportunity after graduation.
7


Accordingly, the researcher focused on exploring the most effective techniques
applied in classroom to help freshmen in university to improve their speaking
fluency.
2.3. Speaking fluency
2.3.1. Definition of speaking fluency
The term “speaking fluency” is linked to the meaning of “communication”
(Harmer, 2007, p. 142). For example, in a conversation, a learner can make a
grammatical error, but the s/he can still speak the sentence with some fluency
(Crowther et al.,2015). The learner can speak without searching for words, so

that his or her speech is quickly understood. In fact, speaking fluency has been
defined as the “automaticity and speed of speech production” (Brand & Götz,
2011, p. 256). However, automaticity and speed of speech production may not
always make a speech comprehensible, comprehensibility being “a measure of
listeners‟ perceived ease or difficulty of understanding L2 speech” (Crowther et
al., 2015, p. 81)
Richards (2009, p.14) mentioned brave definition about fluency, “natural
language use occurring when a speaker engages in meaningful interaction and
maintains comprehensible and ongoing communication despite limitations in his
or her communicative competence”. The definition of fluency has the Latin
origin meaning as “flow”. It can be the same as other language define about
fluency as flow or fluidity as stated by Kopponen and Riggenbach (2000, cited in
Jamatlou, 2011). And nowadays, the definition of fluency itself closer to simple
definition of the term in applied linguistics also seem to share at least one feature
resembling “fluidity”.
Fillmore (cited in Richards, 1990) identifies four abilities that might be
subsumed under the term fluency as follows“the ability to fill time with talk, the
ability to talk in coherent, reasoned and semantically dense sentences” showing
“a mastery of these mantic and syntactic resources of the language”; “the ability
to have appropriate things to say in a wide range of contexts” (p. 75) and the
ability to be creative and imaginative in language use.
The more recent study about fluency (Jamatlou, 2011) showed that
fluency might be rapid, smooth, accurate, lucid, and efficient translation of
8


thought or communicative intention into language under the temporal constraints
of on-line processing. This earlier concept of fluency was acceptable by most of
the teachers and researchers since they have to realize that fluency is different in
nature from other components of oral proficiency such as range of vocabulary

and complexity of syntax which are associated with linguistic knowledge of
accuracy
In simple words, according to Riddel (2001, p. 118) "fluency is the ability
to talk freely without too much stopping or hesitating". The good English speaker
should be able to use English language fluently with no difficulties. Brown
(1994) stated that “fluent speakers can participate in any conversation with a high
degree of fluency” (407). He explained that their speech should be accepted and
well understood by native speakers. Students who do not care about making
mistakes/errors and who have an idea in their minds of what they want to
communicate, and they say it with whatever words and language feel the most
natural. They make frequent mistakes, sometimes in every sentence; their
grammar can be a mixture of English and their native language. They either do
not know or do not care if they are making errors or mistakes these learners have
high fluency, but low accuracy.
In the context of language teaching and learning, fluency is defined as the
ability to speak communicatively, fluently and accurately. Fluency usually refers
to express oral language freely without interruption. In teaching and learning
process, if the teacher wants to check students‟ fluency, the teacher allows
students to express themselves freely without interruption. The aim is to help
students speak fluently and with ease. The teacher does not correct immediately
whereas the idea being that too much correction interferes with the flow of
conversation (Pollard, 2008, p. 16)
2.3.2. Criteria for speaking fluency
Fluency is one of the most important factors to make the learner to speak
more naturally and make an impression in communication. Accordingly, the
author choose fluency to assess the students‟ improvement in communication
skill. Like other aspects of speaking skill (mentioned in previous part), the
researcher used analytical scoring rubric for speaking performance to evaluate
9

the level of speaking fluency of students more exactly. Fluency was divided into
five standards of score and was shown in detail in the following table (Table 2.2)
Table 2.2 The Analytical Scoring Rubric for Speaking Fluency
Levels for
speaking

Score

Description

fluency
Very fluently

5

Fuently

4

Fair

3

Not fluently

2

Not very
fluently

1

Able to speak without any hesitation or break in a sentence
Hesitates or pauses at a few places in a few sentences but
fluency is not seriously affected
Hesitation is shown in almost every sentence. Ends sentence
half-way and then repeats it
Hesitates a lot that message is not very clear. A lot of
repetition of sentences
Shows a lot of hesitations that speech is not clear

2.4. Role-play as an instructional activity
2.4.1. Definition of role-playing
Role-playing has long been recognized as an activity that is critical to
language students‟ language learning in general and to the development of
students‟ speaking fluency in particular. For example, Ladousse (cited in Allan
Makey (1987, p. 7) states, “role-play is one of a whole gamut of communication
techniques which develops fluency in language, which promotes interaction in
the classroom, and which increases motivation. Not only in peer learning
encouraged by it, but also the sharing between teacher and students‟
responsibility for the learning process.”Similarly, Nunan (2001) maintains that
“Role play is approved to be a communicative language learning since students
are actively get involved in conversations.” Role-play is a kind of technique
involving conversation in classroom to help students develop fluency in speaking
skill.
2.4.2. Advantages of role-play
10

Some teachers are unaware of the possibilities of role-play. They may feel
that such an activity is not appropriate for classes which cause discipline
problems and that conducting role-play would create chaos. In addition, they
claim that students may be reluctant to be someone else, or, that their level of
language is too low. The section below attempts to present rationale for using
role-play activities in English foreign language classrooms.
Kowalska (1991, p. 113) believes that role-playing develops learners‟
fluency in speaking. The wide range of language functions, for example
apologizing, greetings, etc., is exercised more than in any other activities.
Learners‟ focus is put on the communication of meaning rather than on the
appropriate use of language. Therefore, through role-playing teachers may train
students‟ speaking skills in any social situations. It means that learners are put in
conditions which require speech that is used to communicate socially more than
the language necessitated by teaching syllabuses (Porter-Ladousse 1987, p. 6).
The author takes the view that thanks to role-playing learners have the possibility
to develop the language which is necessary in social relationships, but which is
neglected in teaching syllabuses. He also notices that a lot of students believe
that the language in foreign language classes is only used to pass on particular
information from one person to another.
The next reason for incorporating role-playing in EFL classes is that some
people learn for specific roles in life. They may want to work or travel in
worldwide context. It is very advantageous for these students to have tried out in
pleasant and safe environment of a classroom with the language they will
presumably use. For such learners, role-play is a helpful rehearsal and what is
more, it allows them not just to acquire phrases, but to learn how to interact in a
variety of circumstances (Porter-Ladousse 1987, p. 7).
Kowalska (1991, p. 113) remarks that role-playing develops learners‟
imagination. For the roles given to learners may require creative thinking,
players‟ imagination is in high demand. In addition, being able to think
insensitively might occur a useful skill in the future. Some jobs demand

imaginative thinking and the best way to practice it is just through role-playing
and also by reading books.
11


Another advantage of role-playing is that learners are given a chance to
pretend someone else. Such a technique may help timid students to overcome
their shyness of speaking. Reticent students often have difficulty talking about
their experiences or about themselves. The fact that they are someone else makes
them feel that their own personality is not implicated (Porter-Ladousse, 1987, p.
7).
Finally, there is no doubt that the element of fun advocates using roleplaying in foreign language classes (Budden, 2004). Apart from being involved
in language production, players enjoy themselves and have a really great time.
2.4.3. Disadvantages of role-play
However, role-play may have disadvantages, too. Thornbury (2005, p. 9698) indicates that “learners who feel self-conscious performing in front of their
peers, especially if this involves a degree of improvisation, and care has to be
exercised in choosing and setting up such activities so as not to make even more
demands on them than speaking in another language normally requires”. To put it
in other words, the author notes that a public performance itself may cause a big
problem for some students. Then, he adds that the preparation stage may be
helpful to overcome the fear of speaking. Teachers must be careful during roleplaying not to make any learners feel awkward.
Rogers (2007) pointed out that there is no method suitable for all
situations. This means that sometimes role play is not appropriate to be used. He
added that role play has some disadvantages. First, many students avoid
performing because they hate it. Another disadvantage is that teachers are
sometimes incapable to enhance their students to discuss a specific situation.
Further disadvantage is that when students pay a little attention in preparing a
role play on real life, in which there is a huge number of information, this may
make them fail in discussing the case without more information. Although some
teachers think that students should leave out the confusing and conflicting details

on complex role play. The most important disadvantage is that role play is never
been similar to the real things that include the state of mind and the emotions
because you can be realistic the setting, the problem even the unimportant details
but you never forget that you are in classroom especially, when teacher told them
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that the roles are not their own but other people's role. There is always some
distance between action and thought (Rogers, 2007, p. 210).
All the above positive factors were indicated with the purpose of making
full use of the strengths and minimize the disadvantages of role play technique to
implement this activity in the classroom to help students to improve their
speaking fluency.
2.4.4. Types of role-play
Role play activity is a drama like classroom activity in which students take
the role of different participants in a given situation and act out what might
happen such takes can be grouped into two forms, scripted and unscripted role
play (Byrne, 1986). In details, those types of role play activities described as
follows:
2.4.4.1. Scripted role-play
According to Byrne (1986), this type involves interpreting either the
textbook dialogue or reading text in the form of speech. The importance
functions of the text after all in to convey the meaning of language items in a
memorable way. In order to clarify more this type, (Doff, 1998) gives the
following example of scripted role- play dialogue and reading text and how the
process is:
Example:
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 will send it by 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 to 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 is over there, by the door. (Doff: 1988)
Doff provides the following procedures to demonstrate a role activity
based on the dialogue:

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First of all, 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.
Then, if necessary, go through the prompts one by one, and get students to
give sentences or question for each one.
After that, call two students to the front: one play the role as 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 textbook, but not exactly the same; the conversation can be shorter than the
presentation dialogue.
Finally: call out a few other pairs of students in turn, and ask them to have
other convert based on the prompts
2.4.4.2. Unscripted role-play

In contrast to scripted role-play; the situations of unscripted role-play do
not depend on textbooks. It is famous as a free role-Play or improvisation. The
learners themselves have to decide what language to use and how the
conversation should develop. In order to do this activity the teacher and the

students should be well prepared.
Doff (1988) provides an example of this type in his book:
- One student has lost a bag, he/ she is at the police station.
- The other student is the police officer, and asks for details. In order to bring out
this ideas the teacher could prepare the whole class by :
a - Discussing what the speakers might say (the police officer asks the students
how he / she lost the bag).
b - Writing prompt on the board to guide the Role-play and any key vocabulary.
The teacher could divide the class into pairs and let them discuss together what
they may say. The teacher should let them all try out the role-play privately,
before calling on one or two pairs to act out in front of the class.
For these reasons mentioned above, the author of the study decided to use
a combination of both types of role play activities, including scripted and
unscripted ones for each stages during the process of teaching, which is
dependable on the students‟ improvement.
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