The effect of role play on enhancing speaking skill for first year english majors at nong lam university in ho chi minh city m a 60 14 10

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE



THE EFFECT OF ROLE-PLAY ON ENHANCING
SPEAKING SKILL FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS
AT NONG LAM UNIVERSITY IN HO CHI MINH CITY

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Department of English Linguistics & Literature in partial
fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL

By

DUONG MY THAM

Supervised by

DANG THI HUONG, Ed.D.

HO CHI MINH CITY, MARCH 2011


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby certify that this thesis entitled “The effect of role-play on enhancing
speaking skill for first-year English majors at Nong Lam University in Ho Chi
Minh City” is my own work.

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any

other institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, March 3rd, 2011

DUONG MY THAM


RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS
I hereby state that I, DUONG MY THAM, being the candidate for the degree of
Master of TESOL at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, accept the
requirements of the University relating to the retention and the use of Master’s
Theses deposited in Library.

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the
Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by Library for the care, loan or
reproduction of theses.

Ho Chi Minh City, March 3rd, 2011

DUONG MY THAM


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr.
DANG THI HUONG, who offered me valuable comments and guidance to the
completion of this thesis. Without her encouragement and assistance, this work
would not have been done.

I am grateful to all my teachers for their helpful instructions during the M.A

course.

I would like to send my sincere thanks to all teachers at the Faculty of Foreign
Languages of Nong Lam University for their help with the data collection for this
study and all my students who were willing to answer the questionnaire as well as
to take part in the interview.

Last but not least, my special thanks go to my family, especially my parents, who
have sacrificed their whole life for the happiness of their children, for their great
support.


ABSTRACT
This thesis aims at (1) investigating the problems of the first-year English majors
at Nong Lam University – Ho Chi Minh City in learning English speaking skill;
(2) examining the advantages and disadvantages of role-play with a focus on the
effect of role-play in teaching and learning English speaking skill; and (3)
suggesting some possible ways to improve the teaching and learning of English
speaking skill through role-play. Both qualitative and quantitative research
methods were employed in this study. Thirty-three questionnaires were delivered
to the first-year English majors who took a 15-week English speaking course with
role-play for the experiment; and ten questionnaires were delivered to Vietnamese
teachers of English to get their ideas about learning and teaching English speaking
skill through role-play. Interviews were also conducted with fifteen students in the
experimental group to know their attitudes towards role-play used for studying
spoken English. Furthermore, in order to confirm the results of the study, the
scores of diagnostic and achievement tests for the experimental and the control
groups were analysed. The study discovered that (1) in addition to poor
pronunciation and vocabulary, some psychological factors such as shyness,
anxiety, and fear of making mistakes prevent them from using the target language

and (2) role-play gives students many opportunities to practise spoken English
effectively in real life situations and promote students’ interaction. As a result,
students can speak English confidently, naturally, and fluently with English native
speakers or those who use English as a means of communications in any
circumstances.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Certificate of originality

i

Retention and use of the thesis

ii

Acknowledgement

iii

Abstract

iv

Table of contents

v

List of tables

viii

List of figures

ix

Abbreviations

x

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

1

1.1 Background to the study

1

1.2 Aims of the study

4

1.3 Organization of the study

4

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

5

2.1 The nature of speaking

5

2.2 The effect of role-play on teaching spoken English

10

2.2.1 What is role-play?

10

2.2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of role-play

14

2.3 Brief introduction of teaching methods relating to speaking

17

2.3.1 The Direct Method

17

2.3.2 The Audio-Lingual Method

18

2.3.3 Communicative Language Teaching

18

2.4 The roles of teachers and learners in CLT

20

2.5 Communicative competence

21

2.6 Nonverbal communication

24

2.7 Factors affecting EFL learners’ speaking

25

2.8 Fluency and accuracy

30

2.9 Speaking assessment

31


2.10 Classroom management

34

Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY

37

3.1 Research questions

37

3.2 Research design

37

3.2.1 Characteristics of subjects

39

3.2.2 The experimental teaching

41

3.2.3 Instruments

42

3.2.4 Data collection procedures

46

Chapter 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

48

4.1 Teachers’ responses to the questionnaire

48

4.2 Students’ responses to the questionnaire

55

4.3 Students’ responses to interview

64

4.4 Students’ test score

68

Chapter 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

74

5.1 Conclusions

74

5.2 Recommendations

76

5.2.1 To students

76

5.2.2 To teachers

77

5.2.3 To administrators

79

5.2.4 Materials

79

BIBLIOGRAPHY

81

APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for teachers

88

APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire for students (in Vietnamese)

93

APPENDIX 3: Interview for students (in Vietnamese)

97

APPENDIX 4: Course description

98

APPENDIX 5: A communication task

99

APPENDIX 6: A role-play

100


APPENDIX 7: Procedures of a role-play

101

APPENDIX 8: The sample of a speaking lesson plan

102

APPENDIX 9: Criteria to assess students’ speaking ability

104

APPENDIX 10: Anova figures on students’ achievement scores

106

APPENDIX 11: Anova figures on students’ diagnostic and achievement scores
108
APPENDIX 12: The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) 109


LIST OF TABLES
Page
3.1: Personal information of the teachers

40

3.2: Personal information of the students

41

4.1: Teachers’ ideas about students’ weaknesses in English speaking

49

4.2: Teachers’ ideas about students’ attitudes towards speaking English

49

4.3: Teachers’ ideas about students’ frequency of practising
English speaking

50

4.4: Teachers’ ideas about students’ favourite classroom activities

52

4.5: Teachers’ ideas about the advantages of role-play

52

4.6: Teachers’ ideas about the disadvantages of role-play

53

4.7: To what extent does role-play improve students’ speaking ability?

54

4.8: Students’ weaknesses in speaking English

56

4.9: Students’ frequency of practising English speaking

58

4.10: Students’ favourite classroom activities

59

4.11: Students’ ideas about the advantages of role-play

59

4.12: Students’ ideas about the disadvantages of role-play

61

4.13: Do you like to practise English speaking skill through role-play?

63

4.14: Students’ opinions about the textbook

64

4.15: Results of the diagnostic and achievement tests

69

4.16: Interactive communication scores

71

4.17: Task completion scores

72

4.18: Fluency scores

73

LIST OF FIGURES
Page
4.1: Teachers’ ideas about students’ favourite types of interaction

51

4.2: Students’ ideas about the importance of speaking skill

56

4.3: Students’ attitudes towards speaking English

57

4.4: Students’ favourite types of interaction

58

4.5: Speaking scores frequency distribution

70


ABBREVIATIONS

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
CFS: Center for Foreign Studies
CUP: Cambridge University Press

EFL: English as a Foreign Language
ESP: English for Specific Purposes
FFL: Faculty of Foreign Languages
HCMC: Ho Chi Minh City
NLU: Nong Lam University
OUP: Oxford University Press


1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study

Nowadays, English is spoken all over the world, especially it has been an
international language in recent years. English has also been taught in Vietnam for
a long time; however, only after the “Open Door” policy (Renovation) was
implemented in 1986, English has become a very important language for Vietnam
in many aspects such as politics, economy, culture, foreign affairs, education, and
so on. The need to master the language has been increasing rapidly. Hence, many
foreign language centres as well as faculties of foreign languages in which English
language teaching has always been a great attention have been opened to meet this
high demand.

People of all ages in the world learn English with different reasons. According to
Harmer (1998), students learn English because it is a compulsory subject in the
curriculum at school. Students also need English for a specific purpose such as
tourism, banking, or business. In Vietnam, students also learn English because it is
a required subject at school and for other purposes such as improving knowledge,
getting good jobs, communicating, travelling, reading, and studying overseas. Yet,
now their focuses are to get good marks at school, to confidently take part in

international academic events if possible, and especially to have good jobs after
graduation. In reality, Vietnamese students often find it difficult to communicate
with English native speakers. One of the major reasons affecting students’ oral
communication is that the chance of using the target language is not much. In fact,
English speaking environment for EFL students in Vietnam is mainly classroom.
“Even learners majoring in English at the University of Social Sciences and
Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City used 80% English and 20% Vietnamese inside the
classroom while they likely to use only 20% or 30% English and 80% or 70%
Vietnamese outside the classroom” (Dang Thi Huong, cited in Vo Thi Phuong


2

Oanh, 2005: 2). Besides, students have few opportunities to participate in English
speaking clubs, English song contests, or international events such as the program
of exchanging students with foreign universities, study tour, etc. It is because not
all faculties or centres of foreign languages have English speaking clubs; and very
few students can get a chance to participate in international events or contests in
which English is the language for communication.

Nong Lam University (NLU) (formerly the University of Agriculture and
Forestry) of Ho Chi Minh City was founded in 1955. It consists of 12 faculties
with 69 departments and 5 independent departments. It has been offering
educational programmes for obtaining Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees in
Agronomy, Forestry, Aquaculture, Agricultural Engineering and Technology Food
Technology, Animal Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Business Administration, and
Land Management. The focus of NLU is to train experts with high qualification
and to transmit advanced knowledge and technology to communities. Moreover, in
order to build up a reputation for the university, the Board of Rectors often hold
seminars or workshops to discuss technical topics with local scientists and

specialists or sometimes give short training courses to farmers. NLU also has a
good relationship with many foreign universities and research institutes such as
Florida University (The United States), Australian Centre for International
Agricultural Research, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia),
University of Aarhus (Denmark), Central University of Forestry & Technology
University (China), Chong Nam University, Sungkyunkwan University, Konkuk
University (Korea), Chiang Mai University (Thailand), etc., and international nongovernment organizations such as World Fish Center, INSA-ETEA (Spain), The
Livestock Improvement Association of Japan, and so on.

In 2001, the Faculty of Foreign Languages (FFL) was officially founded because
NLU has aimed at transforming into a comprehensive university with a broad
range of educational programmes. FFL is quite young, but NLU has the Center for


3

Foreign Studies (CFS), which was established in 1990. It is known as one of the
popular English language centres in Ho Chi Minh City as well as in Vietnam.
Therefore, FFL could inherit qualified teaching staff from CFS because most of
the teachers at FFL have been teaching at CFS for a long time. The Faculty
comprises departments of Language Practice, Foreign Literature, Translation and
Interpretation, TESOL Methodology, Linguistics, ESP, Management, and French.
The Bachelor of Art training programme lasts four academic years. There are three
speaking courses which are taught in the first three semesters. All teachers in
charge of speaking courses at FFL have at least five-year experience of teaching
spoken English, and most of them have M.A degrees.

In order to study at FFL, students have to pass the university entrance exams
which consist of three subjects: Mathematics, Literature, and English. Therefore,
the expected level of English is pre-intermediate. However, the majority of

students have difficulties with English speaking and listening skills because they
are from provinces where teacher-centred methods, especially the GrammarTranslation one is mostly emphasised. In fact, students seem to be afraid of spoken
English and tend to translate every English exercise into Vietnamese though they
can read, comprehend and write English documents pretty well. Nowadays,
students can get more and more opportunities to have direct interaction with
foreigners, mainly English native speakers; therefore they often use English for
communication. To meet students’ needs, the faculty has paid more attention to the
communicative approach in order to make students use the target language
naturally and confidently in different social contexts. Communicative activities
such as role-plays, problem-solving tasks, or games are used in the classroom so as
to encourage students’ participation in speaking activities. In this study, I would
like to investigate the effect of role-play in which students can use English in
different contexts to improve English speaking skill for first-year English majors
at NLU.


4

Furthermore, school facilities have considerably contributed a great deal to the
development of the training quality. The school facilities at the FFL have been
relatively good in recent years, for example, there are thirty-five students for a
classroom, and each desk is for only two students and movable. Therefore, it is
convenient for them to work in pairs or groups. Inside the classroom, there are
pathways so that teachers can move around to help students. The Faculty has had a
computer lab and a language lab to support the learning and teaching process, and
teachers have also been equipped with overhead projectors and laptops when
needed.

1.2 Aims of the study

The aims of this study are:

(1) To investigate the problems of the first-year English majors at NLU-HCMC
in learning English speaking skill;
(2) To examine the advantages and disadvantages of role-play with a focus on
the effect of role play in teaching and learning English speaking skill;
(3) To give recommendations on how to use role-play to improve the teaching
and learning of English speaking skill.

1.3 Organization of the study

This study is divided into five chapters. Chapter One is the introduction of the
study, which includes the background to the study, the aims, and the organization
of the study. Chapter Two is the theoretical framework for the study. Chapter
Three is methodology. Chapter Four is data analysis and discussion of the
findings. Chapter Five presents conclusions and recommendations. This chapter
presents the introduction, and the relevant literature review which supports the
study will be in the next chapter.


5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Chapter One has presented the background information of the study. This chapter
reviews the literature which consists of the following: (1) The nature of speaking,
(2) The effect of role-play on teaching spoken English, (3) Brief introduction of
teaching methods relating to the speaking skill, (4) The roles of teachers and
learners in CLT, (5) Communicative competence, (6) Nonverbal communication,
(7) Factors affecting EFL learners’ speaking ability, (8) Fluency and accuracy, (9)
Speaking assessment, and (10) Classroom management.

2.1 The nature of speaking

Speaking is “The process of building and sharing meaning through the use of
verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” (Chaney & Burk, 1998:
13).

Burns & Joyce (1997) define that speaking is an interactive process of constructing
meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information.

Celce-Murcia & Olshtain (2000) claim that speaking can be considered the most
difficult skill to acquire because it requires the command of both listening
comprehension and speech production sub-skills in unplanned situations. On the
other hand, it can be viewed as the easiest skill since one can use nonverbal
communication, repetition, and various other strategies to produce comprehensible
utterances.

By giving students speaking practice and oral exams, teachers can realise that
there is a difference between knowledge about a language and how to use it. This
distinction is very important in the teaching of the four language skills, especially


6

the speaking skill because one of the basic problems in foreign language teaching
is to prepare students to be able to use the language.

Speaking ability involves the productive skills of speaking and the receptive skills
of understanding. Byrne (1991: 8) illustrates the relation of the four language skills
in the following diagram:

Spoken language

Receptive

Listening/understanding

Speaking

Reading

Writing

skills

Productive
skills

Written language

Widdowson (1990: 57) also makes a table that states how all the four skills are
closely related:

Productive/active

Receptive/passive

Aural medium

Speaking

Listening

Visual medium

Writing

Reading

As described in the above table, speaking and listening are said to relate to
language expressed through the aural medium, and speaking and writing are said
to be active or productive skills.

Then Widdowson (1990) provides evidence to prove that the act of speaking
involves not only the production of sounds but also the use of gestures, the
movements of the muscles of the face, and indeed the whole body; he concludes:


7

If one thinks of speaking as a way in which the language system is manifested
through the use of the organs of speech, then it is true that speaking is productive
rather than receptive and operates through the aural rather than the visual
medium. But if one thinks of speaking as exemplifying use rather than usage, as
being a communicative activity, then it is both productive and receptive, both
aural and visual.

(Widdowson, 1990: 59)
Brown & Yule (1989) begin their discussion on the nature of spoken language by
distinguishing the differences in form between spoken and written language. They

say that for most its history, language teaching has been concerned with the
teaching of written language since written language does not vary greatly and is
the language of literature and of scholarship. It is characterised by well-formed
sentences which are integrated into highly structured paragraphs. Meanwhile, the
spoken language packs in less dense information and less highly structured
information. Therefore, most people think that spoken language is easier than
written language because phrases which can be used in speech would be
unacceptable in written communication (Taylor, 1999). However, it is not easy to
give a complete definition of spoken language because it is “a vast subject, and
little is known in hard statistical terms of the distribution of different types of
speech in people’s everyday lives” (McCarthy, 1991: 118).
The fundamental function which is common to most uses of the written language
is the transmission of information. This information-transferring function of
language is called the transactional function of language. Spoken language may
also have a primarily transactional function, but the overriding function of spoken
language is interactional function, which is to maintain social relationships.


8

One major difference between spoken language and written language is the density
of packing of information; Brown & Yule (1989: 7) state:

Information may be packed densely in the written language, using heavily
premodified noun phrases with accompanying post-modification, heavy adverbial
modification and complex subordinating syntax. It is rare to find spoken language
produced like this, with this dense packing of information…

Furthermore, Brown & Yule (1989) point out that one of the most difficult aspects
of language learning when learning to talk in the foreign language is spoken

language production. In written production, each writer can get on by himself,
without disturbing the rest of the class. On the contrary, as one speaks
individually, he/she needs someone to listen to him/her and then respond to
him/her.

When talking about the differences between spoken language and written
language, Byrne (1991: 8) claims:

In contrast to the written language, where sentences are usually structured and
linked together, speech is often characterized by in-complete and sometimes
ungrammatical utterances, and by frequent false starts and repetitions.

In terms of discourse analysis, spoken language is concerned with turns, adjacency
pairs, exchanges, turn-taking, and topics. A turn is considered as everything a
speaker says before another speaker begins to speak (Sacks et al., cited in Tsui,
1995). Two turns made by two different speakers form an adjacency pair which
seems to be a fundamental unit of conversational organization (Levinson, 1995).
Pairs of utterances such as greeting-greeting, apology-acceptance, informacknowledge and congratulation-thanks are examples of adjacency pairs
(McCarthy, 1991). Different roles and settings will create different structures for
such adjacency pairs. To prove this, Scarcella & Brunak (cited in McCarthy, 1991:
121) compare native speakers’ and non-native speakers’ invitations. The native


9

speakers preface their invitations (e.g. “I was wondering, uh, we’re having a
party…”), while the non-natives are sometimes too formal or too blunt (e.g. “I
would like to invite you to a party”; “I want you to come in a party”). In short, Mc
Carthy (1991: 122) claims:

We have seen once again that the structure and elaboration of the adjacency pair
is determined by role and setting, and that the functions of its component
utterances depend on the co-presence of both parts.

According to Sinclair & Coulthard (cited in Tsui, 1995: 9), a typical exchange is
made up of three moves: an initiating move, a responding move and a follow-up
move. After borrowing Halliday’s concept of structure, they propose three
elements of structure: an initiation, a response, and a follow-up.

Unlike an

adjacency pair, an exchange is a unit of interaction which consists of three parts
rather than two.

As Mc Carthy (1991) states, in any piece of natural English discourse, turns will
occur smoothly, with only little overlap and interpretation, and only very brief
silences between turns. Sometimes, the desire of taking a turn of a speaker is
indicated by head movement, eye contact, or gestures. There are also linguistic
means of not taking the turn when one has the opportunity. They are referred to as
back-channel responses such as ah-ha, yeah, no, right, sure, and so on (Mc Carthy,
1991). While taking a turn seems to be easy and natural for native speakers, it is
really a problem of second language learners. Cameron (2002) says that people
who do not live in an exclusively English-speaking society may wonder about the
issue of cultural differences. Mc Carthy (1991) concludes that turn-taking is
something may not need to be taught, but specific linguistic can be presented and
practised, and significant cultural differences can at least be pointed out to
learners.


10

“Topic” is one of the factors of spoken language, yet it is not easily defined.
According to Wardhaugh (1991), a conversation usually covers a number of topics
and involves shifts from one topic to another, and sometimes also a mix of topic.
A topic is something talked about, but it is almost impossible to provide a narrow,
technical definition for the term “topic”. Mc Carthy (1991: 132) defines:

Topics could be defined, on the formal level, as stretches of talk bounded by
certain topic and/or transactional markers ... We could equally take an overall
pragmatic approach and say that topics are strings of utterances perceived as
relevant to one another by participants in talk. Or we could take a purely surface
cohesional view, and say that topics end where chains of lexical cohesion peter
out.

2.2 The effect of role-play on teaching spoken English
2.2.1 What is role-play?

Role-play is “drama-like classroom activities in which students take the roles of
different participants in a situation and act out what might typically happen in that
situation” (Richards & Platt, J. & Platt, H., 1993: 318).

According to Harmer (1998), role-plays stimulate the real world in the same way,
but students are given different roles. Students are told who they are and what they
think about a certain subject. They have to talk and act with their new characters.

Ladousse (1992: 5) defines role-play in the following way:
When students assume a “role”, they play a part (in either their own or somebody
else’s) a specific situation. “Play” means that the role is taken on in a safe
environment in which students are as inventive and playful as possible.

He continues to present the distinction between role-plays and simulations.
According to him, simulations are “complex, lengthy and relatively inflexible


11

events”; while role-plays can be a quite simple and brief technique to organise.
With regards to this distinction, Klippel (1991: 121) points out:
As a rule simulations are more highly structured and contain more diverse
elements in their content and procedure. … In contrast to simulations, role-plays
often consist of short scenes, which can be realistic –as in acting out shopping
situation – or pure fantasy – as in pretending to interview a Martian on TV.

Meanwhile, Thornbury (2005: 98) thinks that role-plays involve the adoption of
another “persona” when students play a role. For example, students pretend to be
an employer interviewing a job applicant or a customer complaining about a
company’s products. In a simulation, on the other hand, students play themselves
in a simulated situation such as phoning to arrange an appointment or asking for
permission.

In spite of their difference, both these types of activity have the same overall aim.
It is that students can be trained to deal with the unpredictable nature of language.
Ladousse (1992: 6) adds:

Whether they are playing themselves in a highly constraining situation (as in
simulations), or playing imaginary characters in more open-ended situations (as
in role plays), they need to think on their feet and handle the skein of language as
it unravels.

In role-plays, students work in pairs or small groups to agree on the solution to a

task or a problem. Nunan & Lamb (cited in Vo Thi Kim Thuy, 2004: 16) states,
“One of the major changes to the dynamics of classroom interaction wrought by
student-centered teaching. Pair and group work can greatly increase the amount of
active speaking and listening undertaken by all the students in the language class.”
Besides, the benefits of pair and group work are pointed out in Davies & Pearse,
including:


12

 Variety and dynamism.
 An enormous increase in individual practice.
 Low-stress private practice.
 Opportunity to develop learner autonomy.
 Interaction with peers.
(cited in Vo Thi Kim Thuy, 2004: 16)

According to Le Pham Hoai Huong (2004), group work and pair work provide
opportunities for learners to express and understand messages as well as to transfer
information. Group work and pair work improve peer interaction and promote peer
learning. They also help avoid teacher talk all the time. Dangerfield (1991) also
believes that role-play is one method of maximising student’s talking time,
ensuring that students get an optimum level of practice during their limited class
time. However, as students work in small groups, they may use their mother
tongue in monolingual classes and may get out of topics more easily than when
they work in pairs. Hence, it is a good idea to train the class with pair work and
task-based activities before introducing role-plays (Ladousse, 1992).

Underhill (1998) presents twenty elicitation techniques and states that the key aim
of all techniques is to encourage learners to speak by giving them something to

speak about. However, not all are used at once in English speaking teaching; roleplay is one of the most common techniques as well as language practice activities.
Through role-plays, students can share life experiences with each other. Also, it is
easier to discuss complex social issues in non-threatening environment.

Role-play may be used in a variety of ways. Firstly, a small group enacts a roleplay about a situation while other students observe, and the discussion follows that


13

enactment. Secondly, role-play is used to stimulate discussion on complex issues.
This method of learning essentially is group discussion where role-play acts as a
stimulant for the discussion that follows. Thirdly, role-play is used to practise
some skills in certain situations such as arguing, questioning, or persuading skill.
Finally, a role play is a re-enactment of past experiences. That means all students
are asked to enact an issue or a situation with which they are familiar in the past
(adapted from www.unesco.org).

According to Ladousse (1992: 9), “Role-play belongs to that category of language
learning techniques sometimes referred to as low input – high output.” It means
that the teacher-centered presentation of the lesson is very short. After a brief
instruction, students take part in an activity in which accomplishing the task is
more important than using the exact word and in which fluency predominates over
accuracy.

With the hope that role-play could be used easily, Dangerfield provides the
standard procedure for role-playing which is laid out systematically and clarified
as the following:

(1) Language input means the presentation and practice stages in the
teaching of a language item and the pre-teaching of vocabulary

which is useful for the context of the role-play.
(2) Setting of context should be done in order to help students to
appreciate fully the situation in which they will role-play.
(3) Allocation of roles can be decided by teachers or else students
choose roles for their own.
(4) Statement of aim(s) gives students a concrete result to aim for in
the role-play and thus provides motivation. It also provides a
clear-cut result to discuss in report-back phase.


14

(5) Familiarisation with roles can take the form of reading role cards
or student discussion.
(6) Demonstration is an optional phase. However, if students are
unfamiliar with this kind of practice or unsure of what to do, this
phase is useful.
(7) Role-play and achievement of aim(s): one point needs to be noted
here is that, if some groups finish earlier than others, teachers
should prepare one or two ideas for an activity in advance to keep
them occupied while they wait.
(8) Report-back will concern how the different groups reached their
aims. This is an important phase because students are often
interested in comparing their decisions with those of other
groups. It also gives the students opportunities to talk about their
problems they had during the activity.
(9) Follow-up can have two forms: firstly, written work based on the
role-play and secondly remedial work based on mistakes noted
by the teacher while monitoring student performance.
(Dangerfield, 1991: 37)

In brief, role-play is not an isolated activity, but an integrated part of the lesson in
which it is used. Through role-plays, students can explore language as it works in
the real world. They “can see through the myth that language is a package deal, a
terminal performance acquired once and for all, and discover that it is something
much richer, which is endlessly shifting and generating new, fresh meaning in
every situation” (Ladousse, 1992: 17).

2.2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of role-play
Lynne Hand (cited on www. learnenglish.de) gives some advantages as below: