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90УДК 373.1.02:372.8
Ц
ROLE PLAYING AS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILLS
Ацдатпа
Мацалада релдш ойындар туралы айтылады. Рeлдiлi ойындар сейлеуге Yйретуде ете манызды, себебi ол студенттерге эр тYрлi элеуметтiк кон-тексттерде жэне эртYрлi элеуметтiк релдерде сей-лесуге машыцтануга мYмкiндiк бередь Сонымен цатар, б^л студенттерге шыгармашылыцпен ай-налысуга жэне eзiн басца адамнын орнына цоюга мYмкiндiк береди Сонымен цатар, олар ете ынта-ландырады жэне кещл кeтередi. Ричард-Амато-нын, сeзiн келтiргенде, олар «эдеттеп сынып ж^-мыстарына эртараптандыруды цосады». Стивен Д.Хэттингс энгiмелесу сабагындагы бацылаула-рына CYЙене отырып, рeлдiк ойын студенттерге агылшын тiлiн шыгармашылыцпен цолдана ала-тын идеалды iс-эрекет болып кeрiнуi мYмкiн жэне б^л студенттер eздерiн таба алатын жэне оларга энгiмелесу жагдайын ынталандыруга багыт-талган, царым-цатынас дагдыларын дамыту жэне дамыту мYмкiндiгi.
Аннотация
В данной статье представлена ролевая игра, т.к. она очень важна в обучении устной речи, потому что она дает учащимся возможность практиковаться в общении в разных социальных контекстах и в разных социальных ролях. Кроме того, это позволяет учащимся проявить творческий подход и поставить себя на место другого человека. Кроме того, игры очень мотивируют и интересны. По словам Ричарда-Амато, они «добавляют развлечения к обычной классной деятельности». Согласно мнения Стивена Д. Хэттингсу, основанному на его наблюдениях в классе разговорной речи, ролевая игра, по-видимому, является идеальным занятием, в котором учащиеся могут творчески использовать английский, и она направлена на стимулирование разговорной ситуации, в которой учащиеся могут оказаться, и дать им возможность практиковать и развивать свои коммуникативные навыки.
Kalieva D.B.,
English teacher, teacher-expert, school № 29, Kostanay City
Нег1зг1 свздер: рвлдж ойын, сы-ныптагы ic-шаралар, оцыту, свй-леу
Ключевые слова: ролевая игра, классная деятельность, обучение и преподавание, говорение.
Keywords: role play, classroom activities, learning and teaching, speaking.
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Annotation
The article considers role playing as very important in tdeveloping speaking skills because it gives students an opportunity to communicate in different social contexts and to play different social roles. In addition, it allows students to be creative and to put themselves in the place of another. Furthermore, role plays are highly motivating and entertaining. To quote Richard - Amato, they "add diversion to regular classroom activities". According to Stephen D. Hattings (his view is based on his observation in the conversation class), role playing would seem to be an ideal activity in which students could use English creatively, and it aims to stimulate a conversation situation for students to practice and develop their communication skills.
Speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching. In Oxford Advanced learner's dictionary the definition of speaking is "to express or communicate opinions, feelings, ideas, etc, by or as talking and it involves the activities in the part of the speaker as psychological, physiological (articulator) and physical (acoustic) stages'" [3, p.1467].
According to Chaney, speaking is "the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts" [4, p.13].
Despite its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued, and English language teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues. However, today's world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students' communicative skills, because, only in that g way, students can express themselves and K learn how to follow the social and cultural g rules appropriate in each communicative ^ circumstance.
g What is meant by teaching speaking is to t^ teach English language learners to: £ 1)Produce the English speech sounds and g sounds patterns.
K 2)Use words and sentence stress, intonation w patterns, and the rhythm of the second S language.
§ 3)Select appropriate words and sentence ces according to the proper social setting,
w
h audience, situation and subject matter.
4)Organize their thoughts in a meaningful
and logical sequence.
5)Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments.
6)Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called fluency [5, p.1-2].
Now many linguistics and English as second language (ESL) teachers agree on that students learn to speak in the second language by "interacting". Communicative language teaching and collaborative learning serve best for this aim. Communicative language teaching is based on real life situations that require communication. By using this method in ESL classes, students will have the opportunity of communicating with each other in the target language. In brief, ESL teachers should create a classroom environment where students have real-life communication, authentic activities, and meaningful tasks that promote oral language. This can occur when students collaborate in groups to achieve a goal or to complete a task [6, p.1].
In Cambridge International Dictionary of English, role defined as "the person whom an actor represents in a film or play ", while role play is a method of acting out particular ways of behaving or pretending to be other people who deal with new situations. It is used in training courses language learning and psychotherapy [7, p.123].
In this case, Gillian Porter Ladousse illustrated that when students assume a "Role", they play a part (either their own or somebody else's) in specific situation. "Play" means that is taken on in a safe environment
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in which students are as inventive and playful as possible.
In defining role play, Donn Byrne gave comments that role play is a part of drama activity. Another definition is stated by Joanna Budden in British Council Teaching English (BBC) on her article with the title "Role Play". She said that role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself into somebody else's shoe or when you stay in your own shoes but put yourself into an imaginary situation.
It has been mentioned before in the above discussion that role play is one of the activities to promote speaking. Through role play activities the students learn how to express ideas, opinions, or feeling to others by using words or sounds of articulation.
Larsen Freeman explained that role plays are important in the communicative approach because they give learners an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and different social roles. A role play is a highly flexible learning activity which has a wide scope for variation and imagination.
According to Ladousse, role play uses different communicative techniques and develops fluency in the language, promotes interaction in the classroom and increases motivation. Here peer learning is encouraged and sharing of responsibility between the teacher and the learner in the learning process takes place.
Several reasons for using role play in teaching speaking quoted from Ladousse as follows:
a.A very wide variety of experience can be brought into the classroom and we can train our students in speaking skill in any situations through role play.
b.Role play puts students in situation in which they are required to use and develop those phatic forms of language which are so necessary in oiling the works of social relationships, but which are so often neglected by our language teaching syllabuses.
c.Some people are learning English to
prepare for specific roles in their lives. It is helpful for these students to have tried out and experimented with the language they will require in the friendly and safe environment of a classroom.
d.Role play helps many shy students by providing them with a mask.
e.Perhaps the most important reason for using role play is that it is fun [8, p.5].
In conclusion, role play is a technique which develops students' fluency in target language, promotes students to speak or interact with others in the classroom, increases motivation and makes the teaching and learning process more enjoyable.
High results can be benefited from the usage of role plays as they are good for:
• Communication skills and grammar: According to Celce-Murcia, "these techniques facilitate a match between structure and social functions and can be used for both communicative and focused grammar practice".
• Fluency: Practicing dialogues using realistic scenarios and role playing will help a student become more fluent with the language. Using role playing will allow them to practice words, phrases, and sentences in a realistic setting -using appropriate response time, inflection, etc.
• Reaching the "spontaneity state": Using role playing often encourages and inspires the students to access resources and language that he or she may not even know they possess. It § also allows the students to take on a identity ® different from their own which may give them §
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a greater sense of freedom and allow them to ^
open up. Celce-Murcia notes: "The experience §
is really quite remarkable for students and ^
teachers alike, and the fluency and accuracy q
exhibited are often amazing". §
• Assessment tool: Role playing can be ® used as an effective assessment tool. When h the students are presenting their role play, it ® will be easy to know if they have grasped the ® grammar point, content, vocabulary, or other § new information presented to them. They will H display what they have learned and present
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that knowledge to the class.
• Cultural factors: Role play is a great way to teach cultural factors or etiquette. If you are trying to teach invitations, excuses, or anything that might be cultural sensitive or different, role playing will help illustrate an appropriate procedure. The students will be able to observe a model and practice for themselves. In this way, when they encounter a similar scenario on their own, they will be prepared and culturally aware of the appropriate responses. Christina Maxwell notes : "Language learners can gain a deeper awareness of the target culture by means of experiences in which they role play authentic situations" [8, p.13].
Summarizing the points mentioned above, the following advantages of using role plays at the lessons of foreign language can be emphasized:
• Empathy: When students are participating in role play activities, they are likely to be supportive of their classmates as they understand that putting yourself out there in these types of activities makes you vulnerable. This type of supportive and understanding atmosphere increases empathy among the students.
• Authentic language experiences: Role play activities give students practice communicating in authentic ways and situations. This will give them more confidence when presented with those scenarios when
§ they are outside of class. ® • Memorable learning experience: The § process students go through when they are
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^ doing a role play activity (creating or learning
O the dialogue, practicing, presenting) will
§ help solidify the new information they are
g learning. Dramatic activities provide "some of
§ the richest and most memorable experiences
® (students) have in their struggle with the
h second language".
® • Adaptable for multiple levels: Role
K play activities can be modified to fit upper
§ and lower level students within the same
H activity. Lower level students can stick to the previously generated script and upper level
students can modify the dialogue or improvise on their own. Students can take on as much or as little spontaneity as they feel comfortable.
• Decreases inhibitions: Parrish states that "because learners are taking on a different persona to a degree, they sometimes are less inhibited than they might be with other fluency activities".
• Increases motivation and self-esteem: Stern notes that role playing activities are "a curative for the frustration and lagging interest which can often occur during second language learning" and "provides strong instrumental motivation" for learning the language. He concludes that role playing "raises self-esteem by demonstrating to second language learners that they are indeed capable of expressing themselves in communicative situations".
• Builds confidence: Raising students' self-esteem and showing them that they can be successful in communicative scenarios by using role-playing activities will help build their confidence when they need to communicate in real-life situations [9, p.115].
A role play cannot be successful unless it has been chosen in accordance with the students' level, needs, and interests. Thus, before embarking on the role playing in class, it is essential to consider all the aspects of the activity:
• The level of knowledge. A role play should form an integral part of the class's course plan. If there is a great gap between students' present competence and what the role play requires, then the role play should be left until the class in nearer the level required. So the role play should suit the level of the class and be connected with the work immediately preceding it.
• The students' needs and interests. The role play which does not interest the students will not be successful. One of the ways to solve this problem is to allow the students to choose the situations they are interested in, and, with the teacher's guidance, select how they might work with these. It is very important that the age of the students should be considered. Pre-teenage children are not
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likely to be interested in a formal dinner party role play, while adults are hardly likely to be interested in planning a school discotheque evening. Daily life and free-time interests of students are also relevant [9, p.122-123].
The use of role play makes the speaking and learning activity more enjoyable and interesting. Experienced language teachers know that individual learners have distinct sets of personality characteristics which determine their talents, abilities, and preferences in language learning: some learners are «quick», some are thoughtful, some love to work independently, others require explanations, guidance, and constant attention from the teacher. That's why we must use the most effective teaching methods and aids at our disposal. Role-plays, projects, video situations can greatly widen our horizons of creativity within the suggested methods.
Nowadays, the whole ELT community is entering a new stage of interactive learning by means of new technologies. We give the preference to using ESP educational role-plays and projects. The system of role plays is a valuable approach because it is very motivating and integrates all the language skills. It encourages the students to work independently and together and involves genuine communication. It takes language learning out of the classroom into the real world. More over ESP role-plays take an opportunity of using performances in the learning process. This method encourages cooperation and sharing of the ideas and skills within the group.
Regarding to the teaching speaking by using role play, we would like to give some suggestions for the teacher and students as follow:
The teacher should:
• choose the materials that are appropriate and not too difficult for the students;
• make sure that the students have fully understood and have the information they need before assigning the role play to the students;
• keep control the students' activities;
• present the language in an enjoyable, relaxed, and understandable way.
The students are hoped:
• not to be shy in acting out their role;
• to be active and creative in enriching their vocabulary;
• use English when they practice role play activities although it is hard for them;
• to take part much in acting out role play;
• to ask to the teacher if there is something that they do not understand regarding to the role play activities.
REFERENCES:
1.http://www.freecopy.ru (downloaded 02.03.2010)
2.Jo MC. Donough and Christopher Show, Material and Method in ELT: Apllied Language Studies, (Cambridge:Blackwell,1993), p.165.
3.A.S. Hornby, Oxford advanced learner's dictionary, 7th edition, (Oxford University press, 2005), p.1467.
4.A.L. Chaney and T.L. Burke, Teaching Oral Communication in Grades K-8, (Boston: Allyn and Bacon,2008), p.13.
5.Hayriye Kayi, Teaching Speaking: Activities to Promote Speaking in a Second Language, The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XII,No.11,November2006. http://iteslj./ Articles/Kayi-Teaching Speaking. Html.p.1-2 (downloaded 02.06.2020)
6.Natasha Intihar Klancar, Developing Speaking Skills in the Young Learners Classroom, Internet TESL Journal,Vol. § XII,No.11,November 2006. http://iteslj.org./ ^ Tecniques/ Klancar-Speaking Skills. Ytml.p.1 §
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(downloaded 02.06.2020) ^
7.Paul Procter (Ed.),Cambridge § International Dictionary of English, (New ^ York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), [3 p.123. §
8.Gillianporter Ladusse Role Play: ® Resources Books for Teacher Series, (New h York: Oxford University Press,2006), p.5,13. ®
9.Donn Byrne, Teaching Oral English: ® Longman Handbooks for English Teacher, § (Singapore: Logman Group, 1986),p.115.122-123.
