Anna Kolmakova SkAn000046 2008

8/14/2019 Anna Kolmakova SkAn000046 2008

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UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND PSYCHOLOGY

TEACHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

USING ROLE-PLAY AS A METHOD OF DEVELOPING SPEAKING

SKILLS IN BASIC SCHOOL

RUNANAS PRASMJU

ATTSTBA AR LOMU SPU PALDZBU.

DIPLOMA PAPER

AUTHOR: ANNA KOLMAKOVA

ID. NO. SkAn000046

ADVISER: Mg.paed. SANDRA KALNIA

RIGA 2008


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DECLARATION OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

I hereby declare that this study is my own and does not contain any unacknowledged material

from any source.

Date: 4.01.2008

/Anna Kolmakova/_________________


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ABSTRACT

Speaking ability is regarded to be one of the basic measures of knowing a language,

and foreign language learners often find speaking as the most important skill they can acquire

in foreign language learning. The English language teachers task is to offer a wide variety of

communicative tasks including role-plays to facilitate their learners communicative

competence.

The aim of the present Diploma Paper is to examine the use of role-play as a method

of developing speaking skills in basic school. The present research is conducted on the basis

of a case study, which examines a case of teaching speaking skills through role-play in

Purvciems Secondary School in the period from September until October, 2007.The target population of the research is sixteen 12-13 years old learners of the seventh form whose

English language proficiency level is Pre-Intermediate. The research data are collected by

means of carrying out pedagogical observation, analyzing the interview with the teacher, and

by means of applying a questionnaire regarding the development of speaking skills through

role-play, which was spread among the learners who took part in the case study.

The results of the present research prove that speaking skills should be regarded as

central to foreign language learning. Role-play is one of the most effective communicative

tasks that facilitate the language learners communicative competence. When performing a

role-play, a fluent speaker should produce spoken language with ease, speak with a good but

not necessarily perfect command of intonation, vocabulary, and grammar, communicate ideas

effectively, as well as produce continuous speech without causing comprehension difficulties

or a breakdown of communication. Therefore, role-playing should be incorporated into the

English language syllabus in basic school.


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ANOTCIJA

Runanas prasme tiek uzskatta par valodas zinanas vienu no pamata vrtbm. Tie,

kas mcs rzemju valodu, biei uzskata runanu par vissvargko prasmi, kas nepiecieama,

lai mcoties to. Angu valodas skolot ja uzdevums ir piedvt dadus komunikatvos

vingrinjumus, kas ietver sevar lomu sples, td veid sekmjot skolnieku komunicans

spjas.

diplomdarba mris ir izvrtt lomu spu izmantoanu, k metodi, attstot

runanas prasmi pamatskol. is ptjums iepazstina ar mcbu pamatiem, kas tika izvrtti,

mcot runanas prasmi caur lomu splm, Purvciema vidusskol laika period no 2007. gada

septembra ldz 2007. gada oktobrim. Pt juma mrauditorija ir skolni vecum no 12 13

gadiem, kuru angu valodas zinanu lmenis ir A2 (pirms slieka lmenis) Ptjuma dati tika

apkopoti, veicot pedagoiskos novrojumus, analiz jot skolot ja interviju, un bez aubm

izmantojot anketas saistb ar runanas prasmes attstanu caur lomu splm, kas tika

izdaltas starp skolniem, kas piedaljs aj ptjum.

Pt juma rezultt tika pierdts, ka runanas prasme ir galven, mcot rzemju

valodu. Lomu sples ir viens no visefektvkajiem komunikatvajiem vingrin jumiem, kas

skolnos veicina valodu komunicans spju. Kad izpilda lomu sples, tas, kur run tekoi,

valodas sakmo saka ar vieglumu, run ar labu, bet ne prk idelu intonciju, izmanto

vrdncas, gramatikas un komunicans zinanas, t pat, k rada pastvgu sarunu, bez

sapraanas grtbm vai nejauas sarunas izbeiganos. Td veid lomu sples ir jiekauj

angu valodas mcbu programm pamatskolm.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Aspects of Teaching Speaking Skills in Basic School

1.1. Defining Conversational Competence in Language Teaching and Learning

1.2. Guidelines for Development of Speaking Skills

1.3. Techniques for Assessment of Spoken Language

2. Promoting Learners Speaking Skills through Role-play as a Communicative Task

2.1. Concept of Role-play

2.2. Structure and Stages of Role-play

2.3. Integrating Role-play into the Language Curriculum in Basic School

3. Research Case Study on Teaching Speaking Skills

3.1. Analyzing the Use of Role-play in the Language Classroom

3.2. Analyzing the Interview with the Teacher and Learners Questionnaires

Conclusions

Theses

Bibliography

Appendices


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INTRODUCTION

Speaking skills can be regarded as central to foreign language learning, because

language learners often tend to assess their progress in terms of their accomplishments in

spoken communication. The learners ability to communicate in a foreign language greatly

depends on their conversational competence. To communicate successfully, speakers should

be able to understand their own language abilities, skills, personal features, as well as their

ability to socialize and to convey the intended message to the person they are speaking to. A

wide variety of communicative tasks including role-plays which can be practiced in the

English language classroom serve the purpose of facilitating the learners communicative

competence. In basic school, language learners may be unaware of the complexity of the

communicative competence. Therefore, the English language teachers task is to explain to his

or her learners all aspect of the communication process so that they could employ this

knowledge further in their life.

Communicative competence is defined differently. Richards, Platt, and Weber (1985)

supposes that a fluent speaker should produce spoken language with ease, speak with a good

but not necessarily perfect command of intonation, vocabulary, and grammar, communicate

ideas effectively, as well as produce continuous speech without causing comprehension

difficulties or a breakdown of communication. McDonough and Shaw (2003) suggest that

speaking should involve such areas of knowledge as mechanics(pronunciation, grammar, and

vocabulary), functions (transaction and interaction), and social and cultural rules and norms

(turn-taking, rate of speech, length of pauses between speakers, relative roles of participants).

Cruz-Ferreira and Abraham (2005) stress that in order to realize communicative intentions,

speakers have to display relevant communicative competences, such as personal competence

(self-identification, role identification, creativity, flexibility), language competence (discourse

proficiency, language proficiency), and social competence (realized through cooperativenessand interactive capacity). Whereas Brown (2003) proposes that competent language speakers

should be able to use communicative language tools (pronunciation, grammar, and

vocabulary, paralinguistic features, kinesic language features, and pragmatics), select

communicative language choices (centring on the choices to be made due to differences in

settings, social, sexual, and psychological roles, as well as register and style), and apply

communicative language strategies (the abilities to use speed to their advantage, to use pauses

and hesitations efficiently, to give appropriate feedback, to repair competently, to clarifyeffectively, and to negotiate for meaning when necessary). The author of the paper gives an


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account of these various theoretical considerations for the English language teacher to take

into account when selecting and practicing speaking tasks in the classroom.

Role-playing is widely accepted to be one of the most effective methods of teaching

speaking skills. Role-play as a communicative task can be used not only for practicing

speaking skills, but also for their assessment. Language learners consider role-plays to be not

only purposeful and productive, but also motivating, because they feel that the outcome of

each activity depends on how effectively they will achieve the main goal, i.e. deliver the

message so that their partner(s) could understand them and give appropriate feedback.

Therefore, the author of the paper undertakes the present research to prove that role-playing

should be incorporated into the English language syllabus in basic school to facilitate the

development of the learners speaking skills.

The aim of the present Diploma Paper is to examine the use of role-play as a method ofdeveloping speaking skills in basic school.

In order to achieve the aim, the following enabling objectives are set:

1) to review resources on the development of the learners communicative competence inEnglish language teaching;

2) to study role-play as an effective communicative task which promotes the learnerscommunicative competence;

3) to observe teaching techniques and principles that help the learners improve theircommunicative competence in the English language classroom;

4) to pilot several role-plays in the classroom and analyze the results of the experiment;5) to analyze the data received from the interview with the school teacher and from the

learners questionnaires on the development of English speaking skills.

The present research is carried out to answer the following questions:

1) What does conversational competence comprise?2) What are the techniques and principles of teaching English in basic school to develop

the learners speaking skills?

3) In which way should assessment of oral skills be carried out?4) What is the nature of role-playing? What are the stages of role-playing tasks?5) How can role-plays be integrated into the English language curriculum in basic

school?

The author of the paper proposes the following hypothesis: Role-plays practiced in theEnglish language classroom help language learners develop their speaking skills effectively


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and become competent for carrying out communication not only in the classroom but also

outside school.

The present research is conducted on the basis of a case study, which examines a case

of teaching speaking skills through role-play in Purvciems Secondary School in the period

from September until October, 2007.The target population of the research is sixteen 12-13years old learners of the seventh form whose English language proficiency level is Pre-

Intermediate. The research data are collected by means of carrying out pedagogical

observation, analyzing the interview with the teacher, and by means of applying a

questionnaire regarding the development of speaking skills through role-play, which was

spread among the learners who took part in the case study.

The present Diploma Paper consists of three chapters.

The first chapter investigates various aspects of teaching speaking skills in basicschool. In this chapter, the author of the paper defines conversational competence as discussed

in foreign language teaching and learning, provides guidelines for development of speaking

skills, and mentions techniques for assessment of learners spoken language.

The second chapter gives an account on the concept, structure and stages of role-play

as a communicative task, provides considerations for designing of role-plays, and presents a

way of integrating role-play into the language curriculum in basic school.

The third chapter presents an account on the findings of the present research. In thepractical part, the author of the paper describes the case study undertaken for the purpose of

implementing the theoretical considerations on the development of speaking skills through

role-play in practice and the analysis of the pedagogical observation, interview with the

teacher and learners questionnaires.


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1. ASPECTS OF TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS IN BASIC SCHOOL

The first chapter investigates various aspects of teaching speaking skills in basic

school. In this chapter, the author of the paper defines conversational competence as discussed

in literature on foreign language teaching and learning, provides guidelines for development

of speaking skills, and analyzes techniques for assessment of learners spoken language.

It is widely recognized that communicative and whole language instructional

approaches promote integration of all language skills, namely, speaking, listening, reading,

and writing, in ways that reflect natural language use (Brumfit, 1984; Bailey and Savage,

1994; Brown, 2000). Speaking ability is regarded to be one of the basic measures of knowing

a language. Foreign language learners often consider speaking to be the most important skill

they can acquire in foreign language learning. Therefore, they tend to assess their progress in

terms of their accomplishments in spoken communication.

The author of the paper perceives speaking as one of the most important skills to be

acquired by language learners, because the learners ability to communicate in a foreign

language greatly depends on their conversational competence. Thus, the author of the paper

suggests that speaking skills should be a central point in foreign language curriculum in basic

schools of Latvia and comply with the national educational standards of this country.

The first subchapter deals with the definition of conversational competence, within

which the author of the paper discusses communicative language tools, choices and strategies

to be exploited by learners when wishing to effectively communicate in a foreign language.

1.1.DEFINING CONVERSATIONAL COMPETENCE IN LANGUAGE TEACHINGAND LEARNING

Speaking is considered to be an interactive process of constructing meaning that

involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown 2006: 4). Its form and

meaning depend on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their

collective experiences, physical environment, and the purposes of speaking. It is often

spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving; however, it cannot be claimed to be always

unpredictable. As Gold (2003) points out, speaking requires that learners not only know how

to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary(linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to


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determined by a widely acknowledged proposition that speaking involves not only a command

of certain skills, but also several different types of knowledge. According to Thornbury

(2005), when speakers communicate, they display their skills in (Thornbury, 2005: 1-10):

speech production, conceptualization and formation, articulation, self-monitoring and repair,

automaticity, fluency, managing talk.

Thornbury (2005) maintains that effective communication also implies speakers

extralinguistic and linguistic knowledge, and can be influenced by particular speech

conditions (Thornbury 2005: 11). Knowledge that is relevant to speaking can be categorized

either as knowledge of features of language (linguistic knowledge) or knowledge that is

independent of language (extralinguistic knowledge). The kinds of extralinguistic knowledge

that affect speaking include topic and cultural knowledge, knowledge of the context, as well

as familiarity with the other speakers (Hedge 2000: 261). Brown (2006) assumes thatsociocultural knowledge is an important aspect of communication, as this is the knowledge

about social values and the norms of behaviour in a given society, including the way these

values and norms are realized through language (Brown 2006: 177). However, it has to be

pointed out that sociocultural knowledge can be both extralinguistic and linguistic (Thornbury

2005: 12). Whereas linguistic knowledge comprises the following: genre knowledge,

discourse knowledge, pragmatic knowledge, grammar, vocabulary, phonology (Thornbury

2005: 13-26).Moreover, Thornbury (2005) states that the conditions, in which speaking occurs, play

a crucial role in determining the degree of fluency that is achievable. Researchers have

divided the factors into three categories: cognitive factors, affective (i.e. emotional) factors,

and performance factors (Thornbury 2005: 25-26). To understand the function better, it is

necessary to consider each in detail, thus:

Cognitive factors:

familiarity with the topic: the greater the familiarity, the easier the speaking task; familiarity with the genre: giving a lecture or a speech will be harder if you are

unfamiliar with those particular genres;

familiarity with the interlocutors: the better one knows the people he or she is talkingto and the more shared knowledge one can assume, the easier it will be;

processing demands: if the speech event involves complex mental processing, such asthat involved in describing a complicated procedure without resource to illustrations, it

will be more difficult than if not.

Affective factors deal with:


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feelings towards the topics and/or participants: if one is well disposed to the topic heor she is talking about, and/or to the other participants, the easier it is likely to be;

self-consciousness: being put on the spot can cause anxiety which will have anegative effect on performance; likewise, knowing or believing that one is being

evaluated can be prejudicial.

Performance factors include:

mode: speaking face-to-face, where one can closely monitor his or her interlocutorsresponses and where one can use gesture and eye-contact, is generally easier than

speaking over the telephone, for example;

degree of collaboration: giving a presentation on your own is harder than doing it withcolleagues because in the former case, one cannot count on peer support;

discourse control: it is often easier if one can control the direction of events, ratherthan being subject to someone elses control;

planning and rehearsal time: the more time to prepare, the easier the task will be; time pressure: if there is a degree of urgency, it is likely to increase the difficulty for

the speaker;

environmental conditions: trying to speak against a background of loud music or inpoor acoustic conditions is difficult.

Furthermore, Cruz-Ferreira and Abraham (2005) stress that in order to realize

communicative intentions, speakers have to display relevant communicative competences

(Cruz-Ferreira, Abraham 2005: 46):

personal competence (self-identification, role identification, creativity, flexibility); language competence (discourse proficiency, language proficiency); social competence (realized through cooperativeness and interactive capacity).

Bailey and Savage (1994) emphasize the importance of fluency in the development of

learners speaking skills (Bailey, Savage, 1994: 22). Some methodologists define fluency in

contrast to accuracy (Fillmore, Kempler, Wang, 1979; Brumfit, 1984; Lennon, 1990).

Accuracy refers to the ability to produce grammatically correct sentences, but it may not

include the ability to speak or write fluently (Richards, Platt, and Weber 1985:109).

However, Brown (2003) argues that fluency can be best understood, not in contrast to

accuracy but rather as a compliment to it (Brown 2003: 2). Brown (2003) proposes to enlarge

and restructure methodological view of the components of language and the concept of what

fluency means. Before students can ever have any chance to improve their fluency in a second


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or foreign language, teachers have to expand their traditional boundaries of accuracy to offer

rules of appropriacy, including the following (Brown 2003: 2):

- knowledge of the communicative language tools students have to be able to use;- the communicative language choices they should be able to make;- the communicative language strategies they have to use to compensate for the fact that

they, like all users of the language including native speakers, lack 100% knowledge of

the language.

Table 1.1. presents an expanded view of language fluency (Brown 2003: 3):

Table 1.1. Components of fluency

Communicative Language

Tools


Choices


Strategies

paralinguistic features settings using speed to advantage

kinesic language features social roles using pauses and hesitations

pragmatics sexual roles giving appropriate feedback

pronunciation (expanded) psychological roles repairing competently

grammar (expanded) register clarifying effectively

vocabulary (expanded) style negotiating for meaning

Communicative language toolsare the components learners need in order to actually

use language (Brown 2003: 3). The teacher has to provide his or her students with all the

language tools available to successful language users. Native and non-native speakers exploit

a wide range of tools, which, apart from pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, also include

paralinguistic features, kinesic language features, and pragmatics. Bailey and Savage (1994)

underline that in order not to limit students linguistic options, the language teacher should

teach pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary in their full versions: in spoken discourse, the

rules of conversational grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary have to be taught and

practised (Bailey, Savage 1994: 34). Paralinguistic features, i.e. those features of spoken

language which are outside the actual sounds being made, are vital communication tools; thus,

facial expressions, head movements, hand gestures, eye movements, and eye gaze have to be

effectively employed by language learners (Clark, Clark 1977: 95). Kinesic language features,

including the communication facets of distance, touching, and posture, are also important,

because they can be used to communicate friendliness, concern, hostility, and many other

complex emotions (Clark, Clark 1977: 112). Pragmatics includes those facets of language that

are directly related to the particular contexts and social situations in which the language is


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being used; learners have to be taught the pragmatic rules of different languages to avoid

problems in carrying out communication (Faerch, Kasper 1984: 223).

Communicative language choices are alternatives within sets of language tools that

students need to select due to the context in which communication is taking place (Brown

2003: 4). The choices that students make when they actually communicate in English have to

be based on expression rules, which centre on the choices to be made due to differences in

settings, social, sexual, and psychological roles, as well as register and style. According to

Folse (2006), settings are the places, in which communication takes place, e.g. in front of an

audience, in the street, at home, on the phone, at a doctors: there are certain differences in

language necessary in those various settings (Folse 2006: 51). Fillmore, Kempler, Wang

(1979) point at sexual, psychological, and social roles within different situations determining

the choices that people make when communicating (Fillmore, Kempler, Wang, 1979: 36-39).The distinction in sexual roles determines differences in the ways women and men

communicate with others: the research indicates that the differences are expressed in the

amount of talk, interruption strategies, and coherence. Psychological roles differ in terms of

personality, aggressiveness, dominance, size; thus, various language choices may be based on

psychological roles, and students have to understand those differences, especially if those

roles are different in their own culture. The social roles that people play in life affect

communication to a great extent as well: when communicating, students make languagechoices as they move from social role to social role. Finally, as McCarthy (1990) defines it,

register refers to differences in language choices based on membership in different

occupations, or areas of interest; whereas, style refers to differences in the level of formality:

the differences in style and register relate to the use of specialized grammar, and vocabulary

(McCarthy 1990: 84).

Communicative language strategies are abilities that students need in order to

maximize communication when they are less than a hundred percent accurate in their use of

language (Brown 2003: 7-8). Communicative language strategies can help learners

communicate fluently with whatever proficiency level they have at any given time. Brown

(2003) mentions six important strategies, including the abilities: to use speed to their

advantage, to use pauses and hesitations efficiently, to give appropriate feedback, to repair

competently, to clarify effectively, and to negotiate for meaning when necessary. Firstly,

students need understand that speaking fast does not mean speaking fluently; instead, the

appropriate speed is the speed at which speakers can think clearly and still succeed in getting

their message across. Secondly, students need understand that pauses and hesitations are


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natural parts of spoken language to be employed: the reason for pausing and hesitating is that

people need time to think when they are talking, and native speakers use much pausing and

hesitating to give themselves that time. The use of fillers, e.g. okay, you know, well, so, also

gives them time to think. Thirdly, students have to be taught how to give feedback to indicate

that the message is or is not getting through. Feedback can express agreement or

disagreement, understanding or misunderstanding, comprehension or confusion; and the

signals used to express these meanings can include not only sounds and words, but also

gestures and facial expressions. Such feedback signals should be taught because they are clear

and obvious indicators of fluency that can make a person seem very foreign or very fluent

depending on how appropriately they are used. Furthermore, students need to be taught how to

correct their own errors, how to understand and accept corrections from others, and

eventually, how to correct errors that others make without creating offense. In addition,students have to be able to exploit any strategies to clarify their message: rephrase, define

terms, summarize, use gestures, draw a picture, etc. Likewise, fluent speakers when failing to

understand something in a conversation will use whatever verbal signals, gestures, or facial

expressions to get the other speaker to clarify: this process of giving and taking in a

conversation, including various interactions of feedback, repair, and clarification, is called

negotiation. Typically, negotiation is focused on cooperating to get meaning across; in the

process, it sometimes centers on clarifying vocabulary, grammar, or even pronunciationdetails.

To summarize, language instruction has to address the following oral skills and

knowledge (Brown 2000: 172):

a) producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and intonations of thelanguage;

b) using grammar structures accurately;c) assessing characteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge or shared

points of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest levels, or

differences in perspectives;

d) selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the topicbeing discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs;

e) applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words,rephrasing, or checking for listeners comprehension;

f) using gestures or body language;


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g) paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of speechsuch as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to maximize

the listeners comprehensions and involvement.

The author of the paper suggests that learners conversational competence is based on

their accuracy and fluency in a foreign language. The author of the paper believes that in order

to help the learners develop their communicative skills, the language teacher has to

demonstrate them the complexity of the communicative competence, mentioned above,

starting from the very beginning of the language teaching and learning process. The learners

understanding of all the aspects and factors of communicative competence will definitely

facilitate their learning of the foreign language.

In the following subchapter, the author of the paper provides guidelines for

development of speaking skills to be taken into account by the language teacher.

1.2. GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SPEAKING SKILLS

Various resources on developing speaking skills in English language teaching list

possible difficulties for foreign language learners in relation to developing their speaking

skills. The outline of the proposed ideas on the strategies to be applied by the learners and the

techniques to be employed by the teacher is presented below.

Donald (2004) marks that students often highlight speaking to be their biggest problem

in language learning. Donald suggests that the teachers should include patterns of real

interaction in their language syllabi to meet the students needs in communication. According

to Donald, the students may need:

practice at using native language strategies, which they do not automatically transfer; an awareness of formal/informal language and practice at choosing appropriate

language for different situations;

the awareness that informal spoken language is less complex than written language, asit uses shorter sentences, is less organized and uses more vague or non-specific

language;

exposure to a variety of spoken text types; the ability to cope with different listening situations: though most communication is

done face-to-face, listening activities still involve students as overhearers;

to be competent at both message-oriented or transactional language and interactionallanguage, language for maintaining social relationships;


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B: Lord of the Rings. (Respond)

Have you been yet? (Initiate)

A: No its difficult for kids. (Respond)

B: Yeah of course. (Follow-up)

understanding spoken English:After a listening exercise, give students the tapescript. Using part of it, students mark

the stressed words, and put them into groups (tone units). You can use phone numbers

to introduce the concept of tone units. The length of a tone unit depends on the type of

spoken text. Compare a speech with an informal conversation. In the same lesson or

subsequent listening lessons, you can focus on reduction in spoken speech, e.g.

linking, elision, and assimilation.

preparation and rehearsal:Before a spoken task, give students some preparation and rehearsal time. Students will

need guidance on how to use it. A sheet with simple guidelines is effective.

real-life tasks:Try to use real-life tasks as part of your teaching.

The development of communicative ability is widely accepted to require a range of

suitable classroom activities (Brumfit, 1984; Bailey, Savage, 1994; Hedge, 2000; Folse,

2006). Klippel (1987) notes that activities selected for the classroom use should provide

learners with a degree of communicative urgency so that they have something interesting to

say and a reason to communicate with their partner (Klippel 1987: 3). Sadow (1982) adds that

an activity has to be purposeful: this can be achieved by involving learners in an exchange

which bridges an information, opinion, interest or solidarity gap (Sadow 1982: 13). Hedge

(2000) emphasizes that when carrying out a communicative task, learners have to be

motivated to communicate by the enjoyment of playing a game, the challenge and satisfaction

in solving a problem or completing a project (Hedge 2000: 183).It is also necessary to think about the criteria for speaking tasks. Several authors have

treated this issue and the author of the paper has tried to compose an extensive list of these

criteria based on the literature studied, thus (Thornbury, 2005; Howarth, 2006; Skeffington,

2007):

1) Participation given that language primarily exists to facilitatecommunication, interaction in that language must have an important role to

play in developing a learners ability in that language. In other words, teachers


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need to offer communicative tasks that promote learner interaction in order to

help the learners succeed.

2) Productivity a speaking activity needs to be maximally language productivein order to provide the best conditions for autonomous language use. If students

can do an information gap task by simply exchanging isolated words, or if only

a couple of students participate in a group discussion, or if learners are

speaking mainly in their native language, the tasks may hardly justify the time

spent setting them up.

3) Purposefulness often language productivity can be increased by making surethat the speaking activity has a clear outcome, especially one which requires

learners to work together to achieve a common purpose. For example, the aim

of having to reach a jointly agreed decision can give a discussion more pointand encourage the participation of all members. Requiring learners to report to

the class on their discussion is also an effective way of ensuring a greater

degree of commitment to the task. A competitive element such as turning the

task into a competition can also help.

4) Interactivity activities should require learners to take into account the effectthey are having on their audience. If not, they can hardly be regarded to be

good preparation for real-life language use. Even formal, monologic speakingtasks such as talks and presentations should be performed in situations where

there is at least the possibility of interaction, e.g. where there is an audience

present, one which can demonstrate interest, understanding, and even ask

questions or make comments at the end.

5) Collaboration collaborative learning, particularly through the use ofcollaborative tasks, fosters language development since learners can see a

reason to use language in order to interact.

6) Socialization the concept of socialization is similar to the concept ofcollaboration. Interaction does not only promote language development but it

also fosters the development of social skills, e.g. politeness, or respect for

others, that people need to operate successfully in any culture.

7) Challenge the task should strain the learners so that they are forced to drawon their available communicative resources to achieve the outcome. This will

help them experience the sense of achievement, even excitement that is part of

autonomous language use. However, if the degree of challenge is too high, this


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can be counterproductive, inhibiting learners or reducing them to speaking in

their native language. The teacher needs to be sensitive to the degree of

difficulty a task presents individual learners and to adjust the task accordingly.

8) Motivation motivation is a fundamental aspect of successful learning;therefore, tasks need to motivate learners to a great extent. Interaction gives

learners the opportunity to use language successfully and to measure their

progress which in turn should lead to an increase in motivation.

9) Safety while learners should be challenged, they also need to feel confidentthat, when meeting those challenges and attempting autonomous language use,

they can do so without too much risk. The classroom has to provide the right

conditions for experimentation, including a supportive classroom dynamic and

a non-judgmental attitude towards error on the part of the teacher. The learnersalso need to be secure in the knowledge that the teacher will always be there to

take over if things get seriously out of hand.

10)Authenticity speaking tasks should have some relation to real-life languageuse; otherwise, they are poor preparation for autonomy. Many classroom

activities, such as drills and language games, can be justified on the grounds

that they serve the needs of awareness-raising or appropriation. But learners

also need to experience a quality of communication in the classroom that isessentially the same as communication outside the classroom. This means that

they will have to perform in real operating conditions, e.g. spontaneously,

unassisted, with minimal preparation, and having to do with their existing

resources. It also means that the kinds of topics, genres, and situations that are

selected for speaking tasks should bear some relation to the learners perceived

needs and interests.

11)Maximizing practice time learners need to practice as much as possible ifthey are to be successful in language. Interaction through pair and group work

maximizes the opportunities to practice for more of the time in class.

There is a variety of activities used to promote the development of spoken skills

(Sadow, 1982; Klippel, 1987; Bailey, Savage, 1994; Thornbury, 2005):

dialogues, information gap activities, jigsaw activities, surveys,


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guessing games, presentations, talks, story-telling, drama, role-plays, simulations, discussions, debates, conversation, chat, outside-class speaking tasks.

Howarth (2006) admits that although student interaction is recognized to be desirable

and sensible in theory, language teachers all know that actually promoting and increasing

interaction in the classroom can be an uphill struggle. Several methodologists consider the

following reasons for students unwillingness to participate in speaking tasks in class (Donald,

2004; Howarth, 2006; Skeffington, 2007):

1) Student resistance:Some learners are not enthusiastic about pair and group work, particularly in mono-

lingual classes in which it is a little unnatural to communicate to someone who speaks

the same language in a language they are both less proficient in. The learners may also

be reluctant to speak in pairs because they do not wish to learn mistakes from their

partners.

2) Self-consciousness:There are many learners who become very nervous and embarrassed when asked tospeak English.

3) Large classes:While theoretically the more students there are in a class, the more possibilities for

interaction there should be, this is not the case in practice. The more learners there are,

the more difficult developing interaction can be since there are more people to

monitor, and therefore, more chances of problems. In addition, there can be excessive

noise which can mask bad behavior and use of the native language.

4) Mixed abilities:


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Pairing and grouping students appropriately in classes that have a wide variety of

levels is much more difficult than in small classes of a homogenous level.

5) Lack of motivation:If learners have no need to interact or if they do not want to do it, they probably will

not communicate in class.

6) Insufficient language:Students may not have the language they need to interact, and therefore, they will feel

unable to complete a task successfully.

7) Peer pressure:Even native speakers take years to master their language; a foreign language learner

also makes a lot of mistakes before even managing to produce anything approaching

good English. The spontaneous nature of speaking means that the learners are likely tomake more mistakes than they would do otherwise. The teacher has to be sensitive

about the learners self-consciousness regarding speaking out in front of the class.

8) Lack of support:There are two kinds of support: classroom atmosphere and linguistic support. It may

not be realistic to expect teenagers to provide the generous and patient atmosphere

ideal for language practice, but it is possible to encourage them to support each other,

for example, by working in teams. However, it is possible to provide linguistic supportin terms of words and phrases that are required for classroom interaction.

In order to overcome interaction problems in the classroom, the following solutions are

provided (Brown, 2003; Donald, 2004; Howarth, 2006; Skeffington, 2007):

Explaining why interaction is important:The teacher may expect how well the class will respond to the rationale behind his or

her teaching methods. It is essential to explain to the group of students what the

teacher is trying to achieve. However, it is accepted that not all students will react in

the same way: the underlying theory may motivate smaller groups within the class,

even though it might not appeal to the class as the whole.

Setting attainable goals:For very low proficiency levels, the aim may be to spend only ten minutes speaking

English per class. Initially, this may be spent presenting and practicing classroom

language, which then allows them to extend the time spent on English for themselves.

For higher levels, it is still worth identifying when it is worth using only English and

when it is possible to use their native language.


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Teaching process language:This is similar to classroom language but it refers to the language that students need to

interact, e.g. Do you want to start?, Sorry, can you say that again, please? The

teacher may introduce and revise such phrases before starting tasks and leave them on

the board so that the learners could refer to them while speaking.

Pre-teaching tasklanguage:The teacher may try to analyze tasks before using them in order to predict what

language is critical to task achievement. If some of this language may be unfamiliar, it

should be pre-taught before the students set to the task. If there is too much language

for pre-teaching, the teacher may find another task.

Giving preparation time:Interaction may fail because the learners have not had time to think about what they

want to say and how to say it. The teacher should plan to give some thinking time

before starting a task during which the students can ask the teacher or peers for

support.

Creating many opportunities for students to practice:The teacher should provide ample opportunities for students to practice fluency

development. The teacher should avoid doing much of the talking and getting the

students to respond to him or her one at a time. Instead, the teacher has to offerstudent-centered activities like pair work, group work, role plays, etc. to simply let the

students communicate with one another. Creating a relaxed classroom atmosphere, by

using humour, songs, personal interactions, smiles, cartoons, etc., helps promote

fluency as well.

Creating activities that force students to get a message across:Whether selecting fluency activities from sources or creating communicative activities

for a specific situation, the teacher should insure that all fluency activities focus thestudents attention on getting their meaning across. A meaning focus can be achieved

by selecting or creating activities wherein students have a specific task to perform, a

particular problem to solve, or a clearly defined goal to reach.

Providing a supportive atmosphere:As well as providing language for tasks, where appropriate, the teacher may provide

ideas too. These can be brainstormed before the task and put on the board so that the

learners have plenty of things to talk about. Varying the interaction and repeating tasks:


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When teaching large classes, the teacher may plan to move students around so that

they are not always talking to the same partner. Asking the learners to perform the

same task a number of times but each time with a different partner maximizes practice

of the language being worked on.

Having different levels of task:With mixed ability classes, the teacher may prepare an easy, medium, difficult version

of the same task so that students of different levels can interact together at a level

appropriate to their language level.

Providing a reason to interact:The teacher has to use tasks that actively provide the learners with a reason to speak

and listen. Working on information gap activities and carrying out project work are

good examples of a motivating and collaborative approach that promotes both realisticlanguage use and interaction.

Encouraging students to go ahead and make constructive errors:The teacher has to explain to his or her students native speaker error patterns,

minimize error correction, and treat error making as a skill that students need to

master.

Accessing students fluency not accuracy:In teaching fluency, the teacher may let go of some of the control in the classroom, letthe students do some work in situations in which fluency can develop to encourage

them to actually communicate.

Providing students with feedback and correction, as well as assessing their spoken

language is an important part of teaching speaking skills syllabus. The following subchapter

discusses several techniques for assessment of learners spoken language.

1.3. TECHNIQUES FOR ASSESSMENT OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE

Fulcher (2003) states that testing speaking skills, both formally and informally, takes

place at the beginning and at the end of most language courses, as well as at various times

during the course itself (Fulcher 2003: 4). A placement test with a spoken component provides

assessment of speaking skills in the beginning of a course. A progress test evaluates the

learners progress in the development of speaking skills during the course. And an

achievement test assesses overall spoken language proficiency at the end of the course.


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However, Luoma (2004) notes that the inclusion of an oral component in a test

considerably complicates the testing procedure, both in terms of its practicality and the way

assessment criteria can be reliably applied (Luoma 2004: 113). If all students in the class are

to be interviewed individually, the disruption caused, and the time taken, may seem to

outweigh the benefits. In addition, different testers may have very different criteria for judging

speaking, such differences being not so acute when it comes to judging writing or grammar

knowledge, for instance. Nevertheless, where teachers or students are reluctant to engage in

much classroom speaking, the effect of an oral component in the final examination can be a

powerful incentive to practice more speaking in class. This is known as the washback effect of

testing: the oral nature of the test washes back into the coursework that precedes it.

The most commonly used spoken tests are the following (OLoughlin, 2001; Fulcher,

2003; Luoma, 2004; Taylor, Falvey, 2007):

- interviews,- live monologues,- recorded monologues,- role-plays,- collaborative tasks and discussions.

Taylor and Falvey admit that there are two main ways of assessing the learners

speaking ability (Taylor, Falvey 2007: 81):

- holistic scoring (giving a single score on the basis of an overall impression);- analytical scoring (giving a separate score for different aspects of the task).

Taylor and Falvey (2007) note that holistic scoring has the advantage of being quicker;

therefore, it seems to be more appropriate for informal testing of progress (Taylor, Falvey

2007: 81). Analytic scoring takes longer, but it compels testers to take into consideration a

variety of factors, and if these factors are well chosen, it appears to be both fairer and morereliable. Nonetheless, one disadvantage of analytical scoring is that the scorer may be

distracted by all the categories and lose sight of the overall picture. Thus, Thornbury (2005)

advises that four or five categories should be the maximum that scorers can handle at one

time, and these may include: grammar and vocabulary, discourse management, pronunciation,

and interactive communication (Thornbury, 2005: 127-129).

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages offers useful

descriptors for different skills competences at each of the following proficiency levels: ABasic User, A1 Breakthrough, A2 Waystage, B Independent User, B1 Threshold, B2 Vantage,


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C Proficient User, C1 Effective Operational Proficiency, and C2 Mastery. Thornbury (2005)

proposes that these descriptors could provide language teachers with handy criteria for

assessing their learners speaking abilities (Thornbury 2005: 129). Table 1.2., based on the

guidelines of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, displays the

descriptors for oral production at all levels:

Table 1.2. Overall oral production

C2 Can produce clear, smoothly flowing well-structured speech with an

effective logical structure which helps the recipient notice and remember

sinificant point.

C1 Can give clear, detailed descriptions and presentations on comple

subjects, integrating sub-themes, developing particular points and

rounding off with an appropriate conclusion.

B2 Can give clear, systematically developed descriptions and presentations,

with appropriate highlighting of significant points and relevant

supporting detail.

Can give clear, detailed descriptions and presentations on a wide range of

subjects related to his/her field of interest, expanding and supporting

ideas with subsidiary points and relevant examples.

B1 Can reasonably fluently sustain a straightforward description of one of a

variety of subjects within his/her field of interest, presenting it as a linear

sequence of points.

A2 Can give a simple description or presentation of people, living or

working conditions, daily routines, likes/dislikes, etc. as a short series of

simple phrases and sentences linked to a list.

A1 Can produce simple mainly isolated phrases about people and places.

Moreover, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages also

distinguishes descriptors for spoken interaction, as opposed to one-way oral production, which

include such factors as turn-taking skills, communication strategies, spontaneity, asking for

clarification, information exchange, and politeness strategies.

Finally, students themselves should be encouraged to take responsibility for their own

assessment (OLoughlin 2001: 94). One way of doing self-assessment is asking students to

record and assess themselves, using the criteria mentioned above. As more course books

incorporate the assessment guidelines, provided by the Common European Framework of


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Reference for Languages, these guidelines are likely to become a familiar tool in testing

speaking abilities in future.

However, the author of the paper agrees with Brown (2003) who argues that students

need to be encouraged to go ahead and make constructive errors (Brown 2003: 7). Many

students ferociously concentrate on producing accurate grammar (Mendelsohn, 1992; James,

1998; Brown, 2003). In doing so, they may lose the chance of ever becoming fluent in a

foreign language. Brown (2003) proposes three strategies for the teacher to deal with the

problem of errors in speaking a foreign language (Brown 2003: 7-8):

(a)explain native speaker error patterns;(b)minimize error correction;(c) treat error making as a skill that students have to master.

One key to encouraging students to make constructive errors is to explain native

speaker error patterns, which involves at least four steps. Firstly, the students should be told

that native speakers of English make errors in pronunciation, word choice, grammar, even

logic. Secondly, since learners may not be close enough observers to recognize that native

speakers make errors, the teacher may have to illustrate that fact by pointing out errors in his

or her own speech or in tapes of other native speakers. Thirdly, the teacher has to do whatever

is necessary to help students recognize that it is acceptable for them to make production

errors, as it is a natural part of all communication, even among native speakers. Fourthly, the

students need to be told that if they remain unwilling to make errors, they will probably never

be able to become fluent, i.e., that sometimes they need to focus on accuracy but other times

they have to relax and practice the automaticity that is necessary for fluency development.

Another key to encouraging students to make constructive errors is to minimize error

correction. If teachers seriously want to foster fluency, they absolutely must limit error

correction to those errors that hinder communication. In a sense, the students responsibility in

fluency development is to bring the level of their English production in speaking up to the

level of their knowledge of grammar. During periods of fluency development, teachers should

therefore avoid yanking the students back to a focus on accuracy (which is what happens if

they correct trivial errors) because that might bring the whole fluency development process to

a halt.

A third key to encouraging students to make constructive errors is to treat error making

as a skill. Firstly, students need to understand that they can only learn fluency by making

errors and learning how to deal with those errors. Secondly, they need to understand that


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errors are a natural component of language development, not an indication of their lack of

worth as human beings. Finally, they need to develop a willingness to make errors.

The author of the paper is assured that role-play is the most effective way of

developing speaking skills in basic school. Therefore, the following chapter is devoted to the

issue of promoting learners speaking skills through role-play as a communicative task.


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2. PROMOTING LEARNERS SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGHROLE-PLAY AS A COMMUNICATIVE TASK

The present chapter gives an account on the concept, structure and stages of role-playas a communicative task, provides considerations for designing of role-plays, and presents a

way of integrating role-play into the language curriculum in basic school.

The overwhelming majority of methodologists admit that learning to communicate in

another language takes a long time (Rivers, Temperley, 1978; Savignon, 1983;Brumfit, 1984;

Celce-Murcia, 1991; Hadley, 1993). Burkart (1998) regards learning to communicate to be

one of the most challenging tasks that students are likely to undertake (Burkart 1998: 2).

However, as students set about communicative tasks, they can both employ the knowledge of

learning their own language and the language teachers help in learning the new language.

Since students have already learnt how to use their cognitive skills to analyze unfamiliar ideas

and experiences and integrate them into their existing knowledge, the language teacher can

help them use these cognitive abilities to build a road map through the uncharted territory of

the new language.

When selecting speaking activities, the English language teacher has to take into

consideration two factors (Rivers, Temperley 1978: 6). On the one hand, the students need

controlled practice with new language forms, but they also need opportunities to create and

innovate with the language, opportunities to express their thoughts. On the other hand, the

teacher has to explore the ways how innovative communicative activities can be incorporated

into their language curriculum to help the students succeed in the development of their

speaking skills.

Riggenbach and Lazaraton (1991) propose that the teacher might offer his or her

students such oral skills activities as drills, or linguistically structured activities (e.g.

structured interviews, and language games), performance activities (e.g. speeches, role-plays,

dramas, and debates), participation activities (e.g. guided discussions, conversations,

interviews, and oral dialogue journals), and observation activities (e.g. observation of a certain

situation) (Riggenbach, Lazaraton 1991: 127-132). The author of the paper considers that role-

play is one of the most effective ways of developing speaking skills in basic school.

Therefore, the following subchapter is devoted to the description of the concept of the role-

play.


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2.1. CONCEPT OF ROLE-PLAY

As a performance-oriented activity, role-play allows students to refine their

communicative competence, which entails not only grammatical accuracy but also the

knowledge of sociocultural rules of appropriateness, discourse norms, and strategies for

ensuring that communication is understood (Savignon 1983: 169). Harmer (1991) stresses that

when performing role-plays, students strive to avoid confusion in the message (due to faulty

pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary) and to avoid confusion in the message (due to

socially inappropriate style) (Harmer 1991: 66). The precise language that is used is often

unpredictable, and the participants have to listen to one another and shape their contributions

to suit the evolving communication information (Burkart 1998: 23).

Rivers and Temperley (1978) underline that many language teachers concentrate on promoting communicative competence in language learners by using role-play as a

communicative activity which, in contrast to activities focusing strictly on accuracy (e.g.

memorization, repetition, and uncontextualized drills), rely more on the learners ability to

understand and communicate real information (Rivers, Temperley 1978: 47). Brumfit (1984)

reminds that the aim of role-play as a fluency activity is to develop a pattern of language

interaction within the classroom which is as close as possible to that used by competent

performers in normal life (Brumfit 1984: 69). When practicing role-plays, learners areencouraged to use informal and unrehearsed language by taking turns to exchange information

in a relaxed classroom atmosphere; in other words, communication in the classroom through

role-playing mirrors the authentic communication that occurs in the real world (Ladousse

1988: 5).

According to Burkart (1998), role-plays are mini-dramas, usually based on real life

situations (Burkart 1998: 25). Students are assigned roles and put into situations that they

may eventually encounter outside the classroom. As role-plays imitate life, the range of

language functions that may be used expands considerably. The role relationships among the

students when they play their parts call for them to practice and develop their sociolinguistic

competence: they have to use language that is appropriate to the situation and to the

characters. Riggenbach and Lazaraton (1991) add that in some cases, students can write the

role-plays or dramas themselves, which may be especially appropriate in a course that is

organized around speech functions or conversational strategies, such as complimenting and

thanking behaviour, greetings, and closings (Riggenbach, Lazaraton 1991: 129). More

guidance should be provided for beginning learners if they are allowed to perform their roles-


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plays from scripts they have at hand. While reading from the script is not encouraged, as long

as the teacher ensures that the content of the role-play is authentic, the activity can be

approached as another variation on the contextualized drill. Moreover, role-play as a

performance activity can use the techniques of peer evaluation, audiotaping, transcription,

sharing/ exchanging information, self-evaluation, and use of auxiliary techniques and devices

(e.g. mime, sound, objects, pictures, realistic documents, or information files) (Riggenbach,

Lazaraton, 1991; Kramia, 2000).

Ladousse (1988) marks that role-plays are also an ideal vehicle for practicing

pronunciation (Ladousse 1988: 122). Role-plays are fully contextualized, include gestures and

body language, and provide a multitude of opportunities for practicing natural speech.

Ladousse suggests that the taking on of a new identity might release some students from their

inhibitions and allow them to overcome constraints that might affect their pronunciation.According to the studies carried out by the Council of Europe (1993), role-play

activities may vary in the degree of control over how learners act and speak: the interaction

may be controlled by cues or guided by a description of a situation and a task to be

accomplished (Council of Europe 1993: 158). As a result, role-play can be of two types:

a) predicable (pre-planned by the teacher);b) negotiated by the learners (an open-ended scenario may allow learners to negotiate the

outcome in the course of the activity).

However, Burkart (1998) supposes that even a seemingly predictable transactional type

of role-play can be transformed into an interactional by an introduction of an element of

surprise which obliges learners to use various strategies to cope with the unexpected

development (Burkart 1998: 23).

Although the above mentioned authors accentuate that role-plays are practiced to

resemble communication in real life settings, Kramia (2000) indicates that role-play

requires learners to project themselves into an imaginary situation where they may play

themselves or where they are required to play a character role (Kramia 2000: 79). A

situation or scenario may be realistic (e.g. getting through to the right person on the phone and

having the planned conversation), but it might also be unrealistic for learners, appealing to

their sense of fantasy (e.g. you are a caterpillar about to become a butterfly). According to

the studies carried out by the Council of Europe (1993), all kinds of role-play are useful and

it is essentially a question of maintaining a balance between realistic activities and other

imaginative and interesting situations which provide motivation, enjoyment, and satisfaction

in the here-and-now of the classroom (Council of Europe 1993: 158). Role-play, thus, is not


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simply a rehearsal for future real-life transactions. It is a means of going beyond the valuable,

but necessarily limited, discourse of classroom socializing and activities such as surveys,

games, and discussions. It provides learners with opportunities to practice correct and

appropriate use of numerous functions, notions, and structures in a variety of contexts

(Kramia 2000: 79).

Language teachers advocate the use of role-play in the classroom for the following

reasons (Ladousse, 1988; Harmer, 1991; Burkart,1998; Thornbury 2006; Budden, 2007):

- role-plays are potentially highly language productive;- they can be adapted to different topics;- these activities allow learners to experience autonomy in the speaking skill;- role-plays have the added advantage of requiring few or no materials, and hence can be

set up spontaneously and in most teaching contexts;

- such activities are usually highly motivating;- quieter students get the chance to express themselves in a more forthright way;- the world of the classroom is broadened to include the outside world, thus, offering a

much wider range of language opportunities;

- students are given a chance to rehearse their English in a safe environment wheremistakes can be made without drastic consequences;

- role-plays can be designed to be performed by students in pairs or in larger groups;- the activities can be only a few exchanges in length, or they may run on for fifteen or

twenty minutes;

- they are a valuable addition to language learning activities at any proficiency level.The ultimate aim of role-play, as of all speaking activities, is to involve learners in

fluent and creative expression in a way which can and should be enjoyable (Kramia 2000:

79). This requires a supportive classroom atmosphere where learners are not afraid to have a

go and where the role-play mask can provide some relief, particularly for shy learners, from

the intensity of I-centered activities. Thornbury (2006) also considers that artifice may suit

the temperament of certain learners who may feel uncomfortable being themselves in a

foreign language (Thornbury 2006: 96). On the other hand, there are also learners who feel

self-conscious performing in front of their peers, especially if this involves a degree of

improvisation: care has to be exercised in choosing and setting up such activities so as not to

make even more demands on the learners than speaking in another language normally

requires. Just as in the real theatre, a preparation stage, including rehearsal, is generally

recommended in advance of public performance.


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Table 2.1. Structure and stages of role-play

The purpose and type of role-play influence the necessity of the above mentioned

stages (Ladousse, 1988; Harmer, 1991; Kramia, 2000). Where the emphasis is on practicing

role-play at an elementary level, most of the stages could be useful but with less emphasis on

the use of observers and a more active monitoring role of the teacher (Kramia 2000: 81).

James (1998) reminds that error correction should be confined to the main points not to

discourage learners from communication in a foreign language (James 1998: 103).

Ladousse (1988) emphasizes the importance of post-play analysis, in which learners

assess their performance and evaluate the accomplished activity (Ladousse 1988: 139).

Ladousse suggests the following aspects of the performed role-play to be discussed:

the relevance of the activity to the learning goals;

the effectiveness of the learners efforts in communication: appropriacy, accuracy,fluency, use of communication strategies;

the learners impressions on how they and their group mates interpreted their roles; the learners general feelings about the activity: its complexity, procedure, problems,

outcome, enjoyment, satisfaction;

the productivity of cooperation;

the teachers interventions.The following subchapter presents a way of integrating role-play into the language

curriculum in basic school.

2.3. INTEGRATING ROLE-PLAY INTO THE LANGUAGE CURRICULUM IN

BASIC SCHOOL

Harmer (1991) recommends balanced-activities approach to teaching speaking skillsin the language classroom (Harmer 1991: 40-42). The approach focuses on language input,

language output, and communicative output as essential components in the language

curriculum. Language input (in such forms as teacher talk, listening activities, reading

passages, as well as the language heard and read outside the class) gives learners the raw

material they need to begin producing language on their own. Language output forces learners

to select and use the appropriate language items from their total existing store. Their ability to

use the language improves as the teacher or other communication partners provide feedbackon the success of the learners attempts to communicate. In a balanced-activities approach, the


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teacher ensures that learners get a variety of activities from these different categories of input

and output. This variety is not only more motivating for learners of all proficiency levels: it is

also more likely to result in effective language learning.

Brown (2000) suggests that speaking lessons should follow the usual pattern of

preparation, practice, evaluation, and extension (Brown 2000: 58-59). The teacher can use the

preparation step to establish a context for the speaking task (where, when, why, and with

whom it will occur) and to initiate awareness of the speaking skill to be targeted (asking for

clarification, stressing key words, using reduced forms of words). In presentation, the teacher

can provide learners with a preproduction model that furthers learner comprehension and

helps them become more attentive observers of language use. Practice involves learners in

reproducing the targeted structure, usually in a controlled or highly supported manner.

Evaluation involves directing attention to the skill being examined and asking learners tomonitor and assess their own progress. Finally, extension consists of activities that ask

learners to use the strategy or skill in a different context or authentic communicative situation,

or to integrate use of the new skill or strategy with previously acquired ones.

Incorporating role-play into the classroom adds variety, a change of pace, and

opportunities for language production and motivation (Budden 2007). Budden supposes that

the teachers roles in presenting and practicing role-plays can be as follows:

1) Facilitator students may need new language to provided by the teacher;2) Spectator the teacher watches the role-play and offers comments and advice at the

end;

3) Participant it is sometimes appropriate for the teacher to get involved and take partin the role-play him or herself.

Burkart (1998) proposes the following procedure of conducting a role-play during the

English lesson, described in detail in Appendix 2 (Burkart 1998: 26):

1) preparation,2) performance,3) evaluation,4) follow-up.

As regards feedback, Budden (2007) suggests the following ways of error correction

when using role-play:

Self-correction:


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If the teacher has the equipment to record the role-plays either on audiocassettes or on

video, students can be given the opportunity to listen to the conversations again and

reflect on the language used. They may find it easy to spot their own mistakes.

Peer-correction:Fellow students may be able to correct some mistakes made by their peers. The teacher

needs to be careful to keep peer-correction a positive and profitable experience for all

involved.

Teacher correction:Making a note of common mistakes and dealing with them in future classes helps the

teacher ensure that the students do not lose motivation by being corrected on the spot

or straight after the role-play. The teacher should negotiate with students by asking

them how they would like to be corrected.

In addition, Thornbury (2006) offers the language teacher role-play for not only

practicing, but also testing learners speaking skills (Thornbury 2006: 126). Role-plays can be

a spoken component of a placement test in the beginning of the course, of a progress test

during the course, and of an achievement test in the end of a course. Since the students will be

used to doing role-plays in class, the same format can be effectively used for testing. The

other role can then be played either by the tester or another student. The role-play selected for

the purpose of testing the learners speaking skills should not require sophisticated

performance skills or a lot of imagination. Situations grounded in everyday reality are

considered to be the best during a test. Such role-plays might involve using data that has been

provided in advance, e.g. the student could use the information in a travel brochure to make a

booking at a travel agency. This kind of test is particularly valid if it closely matches the

learners needs.

As it has been mentioned earlier, the main aim of role-play is to develop learners

autonomy in communication by applying various skills. Rivers and Temperley (1978) regardrole-play to be a communicative activity which bridges the gap between skill-getting and skill-

using (Rivers, Temperley, 1978: 5). Rivers and Temperley, however, assume that this process

is not automatic, as role-play serves to provide pseudo-communication that will lead naturally

into spontaneous communication activities. Appendix 3 demonstrates Rivers and Temperleys

scheme of the processes involved in learning to communicate, which should be taken into

account by the language teacher when presenting and practicing role-plays in his or her

classroom. As these authors argue, all that the teacher can teach students in a foreign languageis how to construct the appropriate framework for the expression of meaning. The teacher


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to suit the activities. The diagrams below, provided by Savignon, suggest ways of arranging a

communicative classroom:

Figure 2.1. Ways of arranging a communicative classroom

Savignon (1983) also underlines that some experimentation has to be undertaken to

determine which activities work best with a particular groups, and how to how to incorporate

role-play properly into the classroom language programme (Savignon 1983: 216). If the

teacher is enthusiastic and open to suggestions, the learners will understand their involvement

and may prove to be the best source of creative ideas. Livingstone (1983) provides the

valuable suggestions for the English language teacher to succeed with role-plays in the

classroom (Livingstone 1983: 72-73):

1) Prepare carefully: Introduce the activity by describing the situation and making surethat all of the students understand it.

2) Set a goal or outcome: Be sure the students understand what the product of the roleplay should be, whether a plan, a schedule, a group opinion, or some other product.

3) Use role cards: Give each student a card that describes the person or role to be played.For lower-level students, the cards can include words or expressions that that person

might use.


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4) Brainstorm: Before you start the role play, have students brainstorm as a class topredict what vocabulary, grammar, and idiomatic expressions they might use.

5) Keep groups small: Less-confident students will feel more able to participate if they donot have to compete with many voices.

6) Give students time to prepare: Let them work individually to outline their ideas and thelanguage they will need to express them.

7) Be present as a resource, not a monitor: Stay in communicative mode to answerstudents questions. Do not correct their pronunciation or grammar unless they

specifically ask you about it.

8) Allow students to work at their own levels: Each student has individual languageskills, an individual approach to working in groups, and a specific role to play in the

activity. Do not expect all students to contribute equally to the discussion, or to useevery grammar point you have taught.

9) Do topical follow-up: Have students report to the class on the outcome of their roleplays.

10)Do linguistic follow-up: After the role play is over, give feedback on grammar orpronunciation problems you have heard. This can wait until another class period when

you plan to review pronunciation or grammar anyway.

Furthermore, guidelines for successful role-plays can be found in the Teachers

Resource Book Pre-Intermediate of the Wavelength series (Longman 2005):

Before class, think what language and vocabulary students will need to do the role playsuccessfully and make a list.

Ask lead-in questions to engage students interest in the situation and to set the contextof the role play. Never go into role plays cold.

Build up the atmosphere and encourage the suspension of disbelief by using propsavailable in the classroom or by bringing them in, e.g. wine glasses, knives, forks,

spoons and plates for a restaurant role play.

Explain the task clearly. Say who the students are and what they have to do. Get themto think about the outcome by asking: What happens in the end? How does the

conversation/role play end?

Assign roles or ask students to choose who they want to be. Ask a few quick questionsto check that everyone is clear about the activity, e.g. who are you? Whos your

husband/wife?


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Pre-teach or check students know the language and vocabulary that you listed beforeclass. If it is a complicated role play, consider giving students prompt sheets with key

vocabulary/questions for their characters.

Students who are playing the same character can prepare together in pairs or smallgroups, e.g. husbands together and wives together. They can then help each other

with ideas and have extra speaking practice. Monitor this stage carefully and help with

ideas and language. If you feel your class needs more support in the way of ideas,

make cards for each character, e.g. youre the wife. You and your husband both work.

Your husband spends a lot of money on clothes, going out to restaurants with

colleagues etc. He never spends any money on you or your home. How do you feel

about this? Do you ever have rows about it? What happens in the rows? Students then

pair up for the actual role play, e.g. a husband with a wife.

Before students act out their role plays, encourage them not to stick too rigidly to thematerials they have prepared. They should not read out their notes. If something

interesting or funny comes up, they should react to it naturally and ask questions about

it, e.g. Oh, really?

Whether or not everyone acts out their role play in front of the whole class will dependon the size of your class and the time available. If you have a big class, you could ask

groups to rehearse acting out their role plays to each other before they face the class.When students act out their role play to the class, make sure the class listens. Give

students questions to answer as they watch, e.g. what was the man complaining about?

Was he successful in the end? Or give students a task, e.g. the class is the audience for

a TV interview and can applaud, heckle, etc.

Do not interrupt while students are acting out their role plays. If they have done theirpreparation thoroughly, it should go smoothly.

When you feedback, highlight the good things as well as the errors. Where possible,avoid making students self-conscious. You could make a note of the grammatical

errors you hear during the role play and deal with these in a subsequent lesson. Your

immediate feedback can then be about the positive aspects of the language, the

students ideas, fluency, stress and intonation, facial expressions etc. The aim is to

boost students confidence so that they will be keen to do more role plays in the future.

The final chapter presents an account on the findings of the present research.


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3. RESEARCH CASE STUDY

The final chapter presents an account on the findings of the present research. In the

practical part, the author of the paper describes the case study undertaken for the purpose of

implementing the theoretical considerations on the development of speaking skills through

role-play in practice and the analysis of the pedagogical observation, interview with the

teacher and learners questionnaires.

The present research has been conducted on the basis of a case study, which examined

a case of teaching speaking skills through role-play in Purvciems Secondary School in the

period from September until October, 2007.The target population of the research was sixteen12-13 years old learners of the seventh form whose English language proficiency level was

Pre-Intermediate. The research data were collected by means of carrying out pedagogical

observation, analyzing the interview with the teacher, and by means of applying a

questionnaire regarding the development of speaking skills through role-play, which was

spread among the learners who took part in the case study.

The aim of the case study was as follows:

1) to observe a number of English language lessons in order to examine the ways ofdeveloping the learners speaking skills at Pre-Intermediate level in basic school;

2) to interview the English language teacher about the development of communicativecompetence in the language learners of basic school;

3) to teach several English language lessons to the learners of the given group in order toimplement theoretical considerations about the use of role-play in the development of

speaking skills in practice;

4) to ask the learners to complete questionnaires on the development of speaking skills inEnglish language;

5) to analyze the interview with the teacher and learners questionnaires and to drawrelevant conclusions.

3.1. ANALYZING THE USE OF ROLE-PLAY IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

During the pedagogical observation, the author of the paper observed eight lessons

taught by the English language teacher in the selected class, and demonstrated her own three


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lessons where the focus was on role-play as a method of developing the learners speaking

skills. The aim of the pedagogical observation was:

1) to observe the English teachers lessons in order to gain teaching experience in thedevelopment of language learners speaking skills;

2) to mark the teachers techniques that help the learners improve their communicativecompetence.

Furthermore, the author of the paper aimed at piloting several role-plays in the

classroom and analyzing the results of the experiment.

The teacher spent approximately half of the classroom time on communicative tasks

which were aimed at integrating grammar and vocabulary into their speaking skills. The

communicative tasks involved dialogues, information gap activities, role-plays, presentations,story-telling, and jigsaw activities among others. The selected activities promoted the learners

interaction were maximally language productive, purposeful, and interactive, as well as

facilitated collaboration and socializing in the classroom. Moreover, several tasks were quite

challenging; the teacher managed to raise the learners motivation to such a degree that the

whole class was eager to participate in the solution of the problems offered by the teacher.

Several tasks also promoted the learners autonomy in a way that the learners had an

opportunity to experience a quality of communication in the classroom that would be

essentially the same as communication outside the classroom: the learners had to perform in

real operating conditions, e.g. spontaneously, unassisted, with minimal preparation, and

having to do with their existing resources.

The main focus of the role-plays which the teacher practiced in the classroom was on

developing the learners knowledge of the language mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and

vocabulary), functions (transaction and interaction), and social and cultural rules and norms

(turn-taking, rate of speech, length of pauses between speakers, relative roles of participants).

Before the learners were engaged into a role-play planned for a particular lesson, the teacher

reminded the learners of the social and cultural rules and norms so that they had an

opportunity to revise these skills which, to a certain extent, would help them conform to the

expectations of the native speakers living in the English-speaking countries. The author of the

paper suggests that the teachers focus on the social norms and rules was determined by the

fact that in contrast to language mechanics and functions that are similar to Russian and

English languages, the social and cultural norms had to be demonstrated to the learners several

times until they got used to the cross-cultural differences between their mother tongue and the

foreign language.


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The teacher did not attract the learners attention to all the skills necessary to perform

the role-plays and other speaking activities, offered in the course book, but she stressed the

importance of

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