199ROLE PLAY IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN
PRIMARY SCHOOLS
Olga Olegovna Pak
Chirchik State Pedagogical Institute of Tashkent region olga.pak1990@mail.ru
Diana Valeryevna Abduramanova
Scientific adviser, Chirchik State Pedagogical Institute of Tashkent region
diana1207saliyeva@gmail .com
The importance of the role-play method in teaching foreign language is apparent and has been proven by many scholars in the pedagogical field. This study examines the effect of using role-play on young students' abilities in language learning and their personal development and aims to find out the prior peculiarities of the preparation and utilization of role-playing to achieve greater results. By applying the quantitative method, the findings reveal the contribution of role-playing to improving communication skills and boosting children's confidence. Meanwhile, successful role-play requires taking into account several criteria, namely English level proficiency, linguistic content, needs and interests of students and the teacher's and the learner's attitudes towards role play application.
Keywords: technique, communication, young learners, role-play, primary schools
INTRODUCTION
Currently, the methodology of teaching English as a foreign language focuses more on the learning process rather than teaching grammar which was almost a synonym for teaching a second language in the recent past. The main factor contributing to this change is the urgent need to develop communication skills and use language as it is but not as it looks in textbooks. Therefore, role play has been introduced as one of the key aspects of productive language acquisition. This paper is based on the previous research in the pedagogical and methodological fields to clarify the significance of incorporating role-play into the curriculum of English learning programs in primary schools, identify distinctive
ABSTRACT
April, 2022
features to succeed in role-play preparation and how role play benefits language acquisition and children' personal development.
LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGY
The data for the research was accumulated by using the quantitative method. The theoretical part of the study is based on library research that has been applied for several reasons: to identify precise information related to the theme of the study, and to analyze the functions of the role play inside the classroom. Eventually, the findings have supported to carry out the impact of role-playing on young children and their performance. At the beginning of the collecting information, the importance of the age and the level of the young learners have been determined. The relevant data is based on Jeremy Harmer's and Penny Ur's works. In the next stage, the role-play structure and its components have been investigated in different sources (journals, manuals, books, articles, recent research). Having found and analyzed the information we make efforts to provide the main criteria of effective role-play.
RESULTS
'Roleplay is defined as the projection in real-life situations with social activities'1 The main aim of the role play is the use of the language orally in order to improve communication skills. Ladousse cited: 'The idea of 'play' is associated with a safe environment and encouraging creativity.'
According to the findings role-play activities can be incorporated into the classroom in order to encourage young learners to acquire English as a foreign language (EFL) and to allow learners to improve their language competence, specifically oral fluency. Furthermore, the majority of educators who have applied role-playing in different fields and for different audiences consider the role play as a valuable technique in creating 'reality' for students and giving an opportunity for learners to communicate in different social contexts and rehear for the future real-life communication. However, the survey has been directed on the implementation of the role play for pupils in primary classes. According to Harmer young learners acquire knowledge differently from older children, adolescents and adults
1 Qing 2011 (p. 37)
2 Ladousse (1987)
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in certain ways. Their understanding comes not just from explanation, but also from what they see, hear and crucially, have a chance to touch and interact with. They have a limited attention span; unless activities are extremely engaging they can easily get bored, losing interest after ten minutes or so. However, young children can be easily
"5
involved in role plays. Additionally, Penny Ur states: 'Children have a greater immediate need to be motivated by the teacher or the materials in order to learn effectively. The more effective element in learning is the interest in doing the activity itself.'4 Thus, children boost their confidence and improve their creativity and problem-solving abilities. Meanwhile, the educational value of the role play is represented in the active production of the language units by young learners. Moreover, during the role play children collaborate with each other. The role play activities involve an element of play that provides enjoyable contrast to the course book exercises and help to develop rapport between students5. Hence, with the help of role play children develop their social and life skills.
Peculiarities in preparing role play
The following criteria need to be taken into consideration in order to implement role play specifically in primary classes: the appropriateness of the role play in teaching young learners is a key aspect. 'Choose a situation for a role play, keeping in mind students' needs and interests' 6(Livingstone, 1983). Furthermore, when creating a role play as any other materials or activities in teaching EFL the linguistic content needs to be at the same level as that of young learners. As stated by M.Ments: 'By devising scenes of everyday life, in particular those situations which make use of the vocabulary to be learnt, the learners can be encouraged to use
n
language in free and interesting way. 'Students' level of language proficiency should
o
be taken into consideration' . Next criteria is related to the mentioned above as it is recommended that vocabulary should be presented before the role play9. In this regard, the risk of learners getting frustrated could be reduced and the intended path of the role play might not be distracted.
Accordingly, teachers, learners and their attitudes towards role play are also of great value. The teacher can act differently as a facilitator, a spectator or even as a participant. Even though these teachers' roles have distinctive features. The basis of
3 J.Harmer
4 Penny Ur
5 Jason Andrson
6 Livingstone, 1983
7 Morry van Ments
8 Livingstone, 1983
9 Scott W.A., & Ytreberg
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success in role play running is teacher's willingness and properly explained scenario of the role playing. A preliminary rehearsal by the teacher and a student volunteer can be very helpful.10
And the last but not least factors that are worth to be mentioned are time and the number of participants. A typical lesson in a primary school is limited to 40-45 minutes while the role play can be run differently and this often depends on the number of pupils and the theme. This prompts certain actions to manage and always complete on time. According to several scholars, role play can be divided into three stages. The preparation session comes first. The preparation is time-consuming and needs both teachers' and learners' efforts out of the classroom. In primary classes, it seems to be quite challenging since children are too young and not able to create scenarios or plan any activity themselves but they can learn a piece of information provided by their teacher. Roleplay per se for the whole class is likely to be short for about 10-15minutes as an approach to generate language in real-life settings because once the role play is completed debriefing session comes including comments, feedback from the teacher and the players themselves which are always an important part in the debriefing11. Here children can figure out what was well and what should they cope with.
DISCUSSION
In terms of age, the technique of role-play can be used over a very wide age range. The only problems that are likely to present themselves with the very young
1 9
children are those due to a lack of life experience. Role play can be helpful as a source for new experiences. The urge for roleplay integration into the classroom lies in its effectiveness in teaching in an entertaining and motivating manner. Roleplay is virtually the only way to practice real-life spoken English language including paradigmatic and sociolinguistic aspects. In other words, role play is the opportunity for pupils to produce language in different contexts and situations, so learners can imitate sellers and buyers in the store, tourists registering in the hotel and play, for example, professional related roles. However, there are still issues that need to be taken into consideration and solved. One of them is that learners should be informed and taught about the topic from a general view and not only by the English teacher's experience. It means that knowledge obtained in other subjects can be helpful when learning languages. Nowadays, technological aids can also be
1 Penny Ur (p. 133) Morry van Ments(10. p) ; Morry van Ments (21)
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used to simplify the preparation of the role play and consequently minimize the amount of time to be spent on it. To demonstrate instructions and possible ways of role-play performance the presentations via digital devices can be presented allowing students to spend more time on producing language rather than listening to explanations.
CONCLUSION
Our data provide a more comprehensive view of the efficiency of role-play to not only achieve language acquisition but also to enable learners in primary schools to improve their personalities. We, being teachers and facilitators, are responsible for both the educational and individual growth of learners even if they do not aware of this. From a methodological point of view, there is no common method that fits all circumstances and teachers' expectations. However, role play activities are truly useful mediums to make a safe environment, teach creatively and achieve great results in teaching EFL in primary schools.
REFERENCES
1. Penny Ur. A Course In Language Teaching: practice and theory. Camridge University Press, P. 113, 2009
2. Jason Andrson. Role Plays For Today.Delta Publishing, P. 201, 2006
3. Scott W.A., & Ytreberg, L.H. Teaching English to children. New York: Longman, P. 187, 2000
4. Penny Ur A course in English language teaching p. 133, 2001
5. Abduramanova, D. V. (2021). Важность эффективного внедрения инновационных технологий в практику обучения иностранным языковым компетенциям. Innovative Technologies in Teaching Foreign Languages and Learner Assessment in Online Education, 2(CSPI Conference 2), Узбекистан, С. 340-344
6. Kenjali, E.R, Abduramanova, D. V. (2021). Важность внедрения инновационных технологий в обучении чтению и письму как один из актуальных методов преподавания иностранного языка в современном мир. Innovative Technologies in Teaching Foreign Languages and Learner Assessment in Online Education, 2(CSPI Conference 2), Узбекистан, С. 332-339
7. Abduramanova, D. V. (2021). Teaching foreign language using information and communication technology in pedagogical aspects. "Экономика и социум" №11(90), Россия.
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8. Abduramanova, D. V. (2021). METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES, 2(8), 260-263.
9. Abduramanova, D., Aliyev, D., & Rasulmetova, S. (2021). STUDENT AUTONOMY AS A PRINCIPLE OF ORGANIZATION OF LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES. ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES, 2(5), 1588-1593
10. Abduramanova, D. V. (2021). TEACHING HETEROGENEOUS CLASSES. ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES, 2(3), 966-970. DOI: 10.24411/2181-1385-2021-00494
11. Abduramanova, D., & Rasulmetova, S. (2020). UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP OF LANGUAGE CULTURE AND SOCIETY. Academic Research in Educational Sciences, 1 (3), 1262-1265.
12. Abduramanova, D. V. (2020). SIGNIFICAT FEATURES OF ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES. Academic Research in Educational Sciences, 1 (3), 718-722.
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