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DEVELOPING STUDENTS' SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH ROLE-PLAY ACTIVITIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Taulean Micaela,
"Alecu Russo" Balti State University, Balti, Moldova ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0622-3654
E-mail: mtaulean@yahoo.com
Abstract. This paper aims to discuss the necessity of developing students' speaking skills using role-play activities in the process of teaching English as a foreign language. The author focuses on the learners' need while learning English and involving them into role-playing at the EFL lessons. Moreover, in the search for а coherent curricular framework between language and culture in EFL teaching, the concept of intercultural competence has grown in its importance.
Key words: didactic games, speaking instructions, speaking skills, role-playing, drama activities, TEFL.
Introduction
Speaking skills among the other foreign language skills (such as listening, reading and writing) is considered the most important one. As the process of learning a foreign language and applying the skills of oral English are so closely related, the EFL classroom should be a place where the use of spoken language is sensitively supported since it enables language students to make connections between what they know and what they are learning. According to P. Ur «many if not most foreign language learners are interested in learning to speak» (Ur, 1996, p.120).
At the English lessons when the teacher suggests them real classroom situations, the language learners find it difficult to communicate or interact using the target language. They think that speaking fluently a foreign language perfectly with good pronunciation is a difficult task to fulfil. In this article we are going to suggest how role-play activities contribute to developing students' speaking skills in the EFL classroom.
Speaking skills and teaching English as a foreign language
Speaking is probably a priority for most foreign English language learners. Speaking instructions are important because they help students acquire EFL speaking skills thus converse spontaneously and naturally with native speakers. Furthermore, if the right speaking activities are taught in the EFL classroom, speaking can raise learners' motivation and make the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place to be.
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Speaking is defined as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information. Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, the participants, and the purposes of speaking (Burns & Joyce, 1997).
Speaking is also defined as the students' ability to speak orally, coherently and fluently in a given meaningful context using correct pronunciation, English grammar and vocabulary; and adopting the pragmatic and discourse rules of the spoken language. The EFL students are required to show mastery of the following sub competencies or skills: linguistic competence, discourse competence, pragmatic competence and fluency.
Developing speaking skills is of vital importance in EFL programs. Researchers Nunan (1999) and Burkart & Sheppard (2004) argue that success in learning a foreign language is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the target language.
Competent English language learners need to use language for myriads functions so as to achieve a range of communication goals. The researchers Goh and Burns (2012) have grouped speaking skills into four sets or clusters of skills, each with many sub-skills respectively that are appropriate for the learning and communication needs of learners:
Pronunciation Skills. These skills that are articulatory and phonological in nature enable language learners to produce English sounds аt the segmental and suprasegmental levels. At the segmental level, learners need to articulate discrete sounds such аs vowels, consonants and diphthongs, and clusters of these sounds through movement with and inside of their mouths to produce intelligible sounds through the articulatory tract. The suprasegmental level concerns overall sound patterns оf utterances or parts of an utterance and are realized mainly but not exclusively through prominence (stress of selected syllables in key words) and tones (pitch movements in selected key words). Suprasegmental features are not mere reproduction оf sentence stress patterns to show attitudes or emotions, аs suggested bу some instructional guides for pronunciation.
Speech Function Skills. We use speech to perform speech acts, that is to say wе produce spoken language to get things done. ^ achieve this, speakers need to produce utterances that can convey desired communicative functions through а combination оf appropriate language use, vocabulary choice and grammar.
Discourse Organization Skills. Foreign language learners may have longer turns and are required to produce extended pieces of discourse, for example, when giving а presentation, explaining or describing procedures and narrating an event оr a short story or a novel. They will therefore need speaking skills to construct these texts in ways that are consistent with the sociocultural conventions for the respective genres in the language being learnt.
Interaction Management Skills. Some speech functions are directly related to the ability to manage an interaction or regulate the flow of conversations. Foreign language learners need to develop speaking skills to do sо in another language. Because оf cultural differences, language learners will also need to recognize their
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interlocutors' moves as well as creating moves and utterances in socioculturally appropriate ways themselves.
The implementation of an intercultural approach in some university courses helps future language teachers understand not only the multiple socio-cultural factors that are implied in the TFL, but also the importance of critical cultural awareness to be able to understand other cultures without losing perspective of the real life. Kramsch (1993) points out that many approaches to foreign language teaching have focused on linguistic features while the connections between discourse and culture have been insufficiently explored. In the search for a coherent curricular framework between language and culture in EFL teaching, the concept of intercultural competence has grown in its importance.
According to Jensen, intercultural competence involves the capacity to establish intercultural relationships emotional and cognitive levels, as well as "the ability to stabilize one's self-identity while mediating between cultures" (Jensen& Finley, 1995, p. 148). An intercultural dimension helps students attain a "linguistic competence" while facilitating a shared understanding among diverse individuals and acknowledging the complexity of dealing with other identities as well as our own.
The ability to teach a foreign language and to develop communicative and/or cognitive students' needs, to organize effective training fellowship or to bring the students to the specified standard and the program of proficiency with all kinds of speech activity - all this is available only to language teachers who possess a sufficient level of development and methodological competence. It is not enough merely to provide students with opportunities to speak in English, as teachers we need to encourage them to speak in a variety of different situations, and hence help them to learn to speak with confidence.
Role-play activities in the EFL classroom
Role play is a practice-oriented approach in which students are introduced to a real or fictional environment, confronted with a specific case or situation and need to demonstrate this in a role-playing way. Role play is very important when teaching English because it gives students the opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and in different social roles.
The term «didactic» associated with the game emphasizes the instructive component of the activity and highlights the fact that it is organized in order to achieve some informative and formative purposes specific to the learning process. The didactic game presents as a defining note the harmonious combination of the instructive element with the fun element, ensuring a complete unity between the didactic task and the game action. This combination of the instructive-educational element with the fun one makes children experience complex affective states during the game, which trigger, stimulate, intensify participation in the activity, increase its efficiency and contribute to the development of different components of the personality of those involved in the game.
For developing and improving students' speech abilities the teacher needs a variety of activities such as role-playing games that we consider the most effective in the EFL classroom. Many language teachers and students in an EFL classroom dread the words "role-play". Even though there is little consensus on the terms used in role-
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playing literature. There are a few of the terms which are used nowadays in methodological books as «simulation,» «game,» «role-play,» «simulation-game,» «role-play simulation,» and «role-playing game», "drama" (Crookall and Oxford, 1990).
Adrian Doff in his book "Teach English: A Training Course for Teachers" highlighted the idea that role play is "a way of bringing situations from real life into the classroom" (Doff 1990, p.232). Role play may also include dramas, sociodramas, and simulation. We agree to use the general term "role play" for all of these types of activities. As Doff states in the role-play students need to imagine their roles, the context, or both and make up a conversation. The context is usually determined, but students create the dialogue as they proceed (Doff, 1990, p.232). Relevance of the use of role-playing games in learning a foreign language is that it increases motivation and cognitive activity of EFL students. Role-playing is a real practical activity and creates the conditions for real communication (Maley and Duff, 2005). The effectiveness of such training is due primarily to the explosion of motivation, increased interest in the subject matter, the motive for speaking and playing situations.
According to Taylor, Morgan, Saxton, Livingstone etc., this is one of the most active teaching methods because these games develop the ability to argue and to convince the interlocutor using the studied words and grammatical constructions. The process students go through when they are doing a role play activity (creating or learning the dialogue, practicing, presenting) will help solidify the new information they are learning. In the EFL classes, role play is very common with language teachers and it encourages them to explore the different types of role play, such as dramatic plays, storytelling and interviews.
Drama activities in the EFL classroom
Drama activities provide "some of the richest and most memorable experiences (students) have in their struggle with the second language" (Celce-Murcia, 1998, p.71). Drama as an effective application is based on Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory. There are eight independent intelligences presenting naturally as a part of all people. Many inherent human intelligences can't be explored or neglected by the traditional pedagogy while drama activities develop all of the Gardner's intelligences which can stimulate student's potentials (Armstrong, 1994).
As David Farmer states drama activities create the atmosphere of a real world and the EFL learners who are challenged by reading and writing "often respond more positively to the imaginative and multisensory learning offered by drama" (Farmer, 2015, p.13). Farmer mentions that even the elements of drama are "ideal for cross-curricular learning and is a valuable tool for many subject areas. In particular, drama develops literacy skills - supporting speaking and listening, extending vocabulary and encouraging pupils to understand and express different points of view" (Farmer, 2015,
p.14).
A review of the work by Schiller (2008) also gave further insight into the relationship between drama activities and multiple intelligences: "Drama activities and productions develop all of Gardner's intelligence, while other methods might neglect one or more of the different modes of learning" (Schiller, 2008). Role-play situations
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at EFL classes are necessary activities for developing students' variety of abilities: communication skills, physical development, and emotional intelligence.
Steps for successful role-playing
In today's EFL classrooms, we often see language learners sitting in pairs and groups talking or working together on a task given by the teacher. Such kinds of activities are aimed at helping learners gain confidence and fluency in speech and are particularly necessary in our country. This practice is based on the assumption that through frequent practice with their peers, language learners will transfer speaking skills from the classroom to real-life communication.
Role-playing activities can be a very successful tool if the teachers follow the correct organization of the role plays. The teachers should incorporate such a speaking activity to reflect learners' theoretical knowledge of a language in practice.
We can distinguish three basic stages in the process of role-playing:
a. Preparatory stage. This stage needs some special psychological and physical preparation of the teacher and students. The students need to have enough knowledge in a specific area or topic of discussion. For instance, discussing intercultural differences the students should be aware of the ways of greetings in a certain country, the table-manners, celebrating holidays, etc.
b. Role-playing a real-life situation. At this stage the place for the action must be arranged in such a way as to accommodate the requirements of the role-play activity (necessary equipment, furniture, clothes, etc.).
c. Discussion and debates. At this stage students who participated in the play start expressing their feelings and thoughts in group discussion. The teacher's role now is to coordinate the procedure of discussion and to focus the attention on how the students have changed their attitudes and what they have learned from the role-play, the demands of their roles, the contradiction of their attitudes and their problems.
At the practical lessons of the EFL course we often practice role-playing as a powerful methodological tool that can contribute to the management of social problems, to change students' attitudes towards discrimination, stereotypes, and prejudices; and to enhance students' mental resilience and awareness of social conditions, behaviors, and attitudes. As it was mentioned at Taulean M. (2016) there is a whole range of role-play activities that can enhance the intercultural competence of our language students: from the simple to the complex, from the structured to the unstructured; some role-play activities consist of socio-dramas, sketches; others stick to story dramatization, mock interviews, business meetings and even debates (Taulean, 2016, p.91-105).
For example, the role-play "First Impression" (adapted from "Education Pack. All different, all equal", 2016) the teacher explains that what first meets the eye can be very misleading. First impressions are so important; it's so easy to make false assumptions about people who you don't know. The aims of the activity are:
- to compare how people differ in their initial impressions of others;
- to explore how our past experiences color our first impressions;
- to become more aware of how our impressions affect our behavior to-wards others.
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At the preparatory stage we selected several texts with information about some countries of the world. We studied the vocabulary referring to "personal characteristics" of different nations, cultural stereotypes, national clothes, customs and traditions. Our students selected several pictures with culturally diverse people dressed in national clothes. The pictures were taken from different magazines and from internet.
Role-plays can be developed as a problem-solving tool or as a sociodrama to aid understanding of emotional expression, social interactions, and values of the target culture.
The next stage was divided into some steps:
1) Reading and rendering the content of the informative texts about different cultures.
2) Choosing the holiday destination to a certain country.
3) Making up dialogues (pair-work) "At the travel agency" dramatizing them.
For example, T- travel agent C- customer.
T: Good afternoon. How can I help you?
C: Hello! I would like to go on a trip to a Scottish city.
T: Great! Where would you like to go?
C: I don't know... What can you recommend me?
T: I recommend ....
C: What is . famous for?
4) Choosing some magazine pictures of Scots, Spaniards, French, Germans dressing in national clothes describing them (appearance, national character, etc.).
5) Selecting the elements of the national costumes of a nation (German, Spanish, French, etc.) and describing one of the elements of the national clothes.
6) Reducing cultural stereotypes dramatizing 7 minutes real-life situations. The teacher suggested the following statements:
1. The Spanish are lazy and love to sleep the siesta.
2. Spain is the land of sunshine and beaches.
3. Spain is the land of bullfights.
4. Spain is the land of flamenco.
5. All Spanish people have dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin.
6. Spain is the land of paella and sangria.
7. Spain is the land of fiestas.
8. The Spanish love their ham.
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At the stage of debriefing and evaluation we talked about what happened and what they had learnt. The possible questions can be: What surprised much? What did you base your first impressions on? Describe and share instances when you have had a completely wrong first impression of someone. What happened as a result? What did this activity reveal about us?
The most common situations for role-plays are those in which the students may need to function in English. They include everyday topics (such as ordering food in a restaurant, greetings, asking for directions, booking holiday tickets at a travel agency, shopping, etc.) or unreal situations (simulations). Thanks to that kind of role-playing, learners have a possibility to rehearse these activities and then, in the future, they may have fewer problems because they have practiced in the classroom.
Summing up, finding solutions to situations described above and making decisions are rather difficult processes. Students need to have good communication language skills, to be sensitive to the needs of others and to show imagination and trust so that they can explore the issues honestly. It is easier when students argue about their interests and try to find some common ground or consensus for mutual gain so that each person has some of their needs met and a stake in the outcome. Role-play is a technique that allows the EFL students to explore realistic situation by interacting in pairs or in small groups in a managed way in order to develop their experience and improving speaking skills. Role-plays provide students with the opportunity to practice the language in different real-life situations at the same time they promote confidence among the EFL learners by reducing the anxiety and fear of speak in public.
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