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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
Communicative Language
Choices
Communicative Language
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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