The results of the current study shed light on what teachers should take heed of when implementing different types of role-play activities in class. Through the researcher’s observations as well as students’ perceptions of different types of role-play, common suggestions on the conduction of role-play were presented in the following three aspects: different stages of role-play conduction, different types of role-play, and different proficiency levels of students.
4.5.1 Suggestions on the Conduction of Role-play at Different Stages
The results of the present study corroborated that a three-stage implementation of role-play (i.e. preparation, enactment, debriefing) in class is an efficacious model for teachers, which was also suggested in the previous studies (H.C. Su, 2007; Aliakbari
& Jamalvandi, 2010). Among the three stages, the debriefing session plays an extraordinarily important part because students can have one more opportunity to learn about appropriate language use and to explore what they can improve in their language learning (Ladousse, 1987; Lee, 1991; Scarcella and Oxford, 1992). The following are the suggestions on the conduction of role-play at different stages.
Preparation stage. First, it was found in the results of questionnaires that students regardless of their proficiency levels generally held positive attitude toward the teacher’s example worksheet with a dialogue modeling as well as reward rules no matter which role-play type. The result about the example worksheet coincides with the findings of Richard (1985), Ladousse (1987), Lee (1991), and Kaur (2002). They stated that a dialogue modeling can alleviate students’ anxiety, offer them related language resources, and help them clearly know what teachers expect them to do. In
addition, the reason why students agreed with reward rules may be that they can be thus motivated to finish the task. Therefore, teachers are recommended to prepare an example worksheet with a dialogue modeling and make good use of reward rules to facilitate students’ learning. Second, the data in the teaching journal showed that the advanced learners requested for making their own slides. The possible reason is that they can show their favorite pictures related to the topic in the slides and mark out important information in different colors by themselves. Hence, it is suggested that students can be allowed to make their own PowerPoint slides, and thus become more familiar with their own dialogues. Meanwhile, it helps teachers reduce the burden of preparatory work. Most importantly, pairs’ slides with different styles may make other students more concentrated in class. Third, the data in the teaching journal also showed that those of high language proficiency tended to prepare props and background music. The possible reason is that they enjoy such learning tasks and want to make their shows interesting and impressive. Therefore, teachers are suggested to encourage students to prepare props and background music, which will add fun to their presentations and help the class get more involved in others’ role-play.
Fourth, according to the results of the open-ended questions about students’
suggestions on the conduction of role-play at the preparation stage, it was found that the top two types of assistance students needed were vocabulary and ideas no matter which type, which strongly supports Ramos’ (2002) finding that words and lack of ideas sometimes stopped students from learning in role-play activities. The possible reason is that role-play requires learners to draw out words, phrasing, or even expressions from their prior knowledge to fit specific social contexts. Therefore, teachers are suggested to walk around the classroom to offer help with vocabulary and generate ideas with students, so that students will not easily feel discouraged or lose their learning motivation.
Enactment stage. First, it was found in the results of the questionnaires that the PowerPoint slides as prompts in every type of role-play enhanced students’
comprehension of peers’ presentations. The possible reason is that some pairs may have unclear speaking voice or some audience has difficulty in listening comprehension. Teachers can show the PowerPoint slides of each group’s role-play as prompts to avoid students’ confusion with the content of role-play. Second, the data in the teaching journal showed that the time length of each group presentation was different with students’ proficiency levels. Students at the advanced and the intermediate proficiency levels could finish their presentations within two minutes while beginners needed more than two minutes. The possible reason is that the average students and high achievers, generally with good speaking fluency, have little difficulty in pronunciation while those of low proficiency levels may need more time to speak out each word. Therefore, teachers are suggested to give the average students approximately two minutes for group presentation while four or five minutes for low achievers. In this way, teachers can allocate sufficient time for the following-up session, such as evaluation pair work, error picking activities, and remedial work.
Debriefing stage. First, it was found in the results of the questionnaires that students regardless of language proficiency levels all benefited from peer feedback at the end of the implementation of role-play activities. The possible reason is that students can gain a sense of achievement and get insight on the potential improvement in language learning from others’ feedback. Also, peer feedback can increase students’
participation in role-play, which concurs with H.C. Su’s (2007) suggestion.
Consequently, teachers are suggested to invite the class to offer peer feedback. Second, the data also showed that reviewing the video clips of group presentation can help students better understand peers’ presentations and what to improve no matter which type of role-play. Hence, teachers are suggested to show the video clips of group
presentations at the debriefing stage. Third, it was found that students could learn correct usage of English during error picking activities either in the way of self-correction or peer-correction, as suggested in Liu and Ding’s (2009) finding. The possible reason is that some common grammatical errors that cut across different types of role-play are repeatedly identified and students can thus quickly come up with correct forms. Therefore, it is suggested that teachers can incorporate error picking activities to heighten students’ awareness of grammatical errors.
4.5.2 Suggestions on the Conduction of Different Types of Role-play
Since the four types of role-play emphasize different practices of language skills, teachers’ guidance and instruction should change with each type.
Skeleton dialogues─preparation for a word bank. The data in the teaching journal showed that students, especially the advanced learners, tended to ask the teacher about a great number of words in this role-play type. The possible reason is that a controlled practice with several slots, known as the nature of skeleton dialogues, is to give students freedom of choosing the words which they prefer, as suggested in Sturtridge’s (1981) role-play framework. Therefore, students tend to spare much time in working out many possible words rather than sentences to make their dialogues interesting. In order to cope with students’ unlimited popping questions about a wide vocabulary, teachers had better prepare a word bank for the unit beforehand so that they are more capable of helping students solve problems during the preparation stage.
Cued dialogues─clear explanation of the cues in the worksheet. The data in the teaching journal showed that students were easily confused with the cues in the worksheet, especially those of the basic and intermediate proficiency levels, which echoes back on Sturtridge’s (1981) claim that teachers need to teach learners specific language function in the cues beforehand. The possible reason why students easily get
perplexed in this type is that the mode of cued dialogues with sequential moves is quite different from that of skeleton dialogues, and some function words which students have never learned before often appear in the cues. As a consequence, it is suggested that teachers should carefully check if students understand what to do with the cues before group discussion. In this way, students can avoid spending much time on figuring out what the cues are and quickly move on to discuss about the wording they prefer to complete their worksheets.
Role instructions─specific expressions for students to use. According to Sturtridge’s (1981) and Bryne’s (1986) statements, role instructions provide several potential phrasing or expressions for students to select to cater to their setting and personalities. The data in the teaching journal proved that useful expressions are indeed essential in role instructions, for the reason that certain expressions serve a purpose in specific contexts. Hence, teachers should list related phrasing or expressions in the worksheet of role instructions so that the repetitive use of related phrasing among pair presentations can further strengthen students’ language learning.
Free role-play ─ encouragement for creativity and variety. Based on Littlewood’s (1981) and Cross’ (1999) statements, students are given the beginning situation and asked to develop the following plots on their own in free role-play. The data of the teaching journal showed that some students, especially those of intermediate and basic levels, tended to copy the dialogue structure of teachers’
example worksheet in this type. The possible reason is that they can quickly finish their group work without extra efforts in composing the structure of their role-play.
Hence, teachers need to encourage students to exercise their creativity and make new dialogues. Without this encouragement, the worksheets from different groups may be overflowing with repetitions, which would easily bore the whole class.
4.5.3 Suggestions on Guiding Students of Different Proficiency Levels
Beginners. The current study showed that the beginners’ favorite role-play is skeleton dialogues and they are apparently the easiest for them, which coincides with Livingstone’s (1983) and Maxwell’s (1997) findings, stating that ineffective learners can get extra support from skeleton dialogues and usually feel safe in structured activities. Also, filling in the blanks is much easier than making sentences for those of basic proficiency levels. Therefore, teachers can frequently incorporate this type into English teaching if the class is mostly composed of beginners. In this way, beginners can gain confidence instead of feeling overwhelmed by difficult tasks. One thing that needs to be kept in mind when engaging students of beginner proficiency level in role-play is that they may be easily interrupted by the noise from other groups in this type, so teachers need to take measures to tackle the problem about space beforehand.
As suggested by Lee (1991), teachers can use the school hall or larger rooms, or provide students with a more open area in the front of the classroom for discussion by pushing chairs and desks to the back. In contrast, free role-play seems too difficult for beginners and thus should be avoided for this particular group. If teachers still want them to practice free role-play, in order not to overwhelm them, it is suggested to give them a hard copy of the example worksheet to follow in the very beginning of the class and offer immediate help during their discussion of the plot.
The intermediate. First, the data from the questionnaires showed a surprising result which has never been found in the previous studies─the intermediate had apparently the least desire for the incorporation of every type of role-play into English class, known as a role-play resistance syndrome suggested by Surplus (1983). It is quite different from Lee’s (1991) findings that some high achievers think role-play is childish while quiet learners feel it is a tough task. The possible reason is that those of intermediate proficiency levels care much about their classroom learning and thus
may resist role-play activities if they think they are irrelevant to learning. In contrast, the possible reasons why the advanced and basic learners had more desire for the incorporation of each type of role-play are that high achievers can thus have opportunities to flaunt their foreign language skills while the various types of role-play can arouse beginners’ learning motivation to some extent. Therefore, if the class is mostly composed of the students of the intermediate proficiency level, the important mission for teachers is to try to enhance their students’ learning motivation by utilizing the role-play topics more relevant to their life experience (Sturtridge, 1981; Liu & Ding, 2009) and telling them that role-play can help them promote their language skills and thus get better grades on English tests. Second, the data from the questionnaires also showed that the intermediate learners seemed to need more time to finish their worksheets in the preparation stage of role-play. The possible reason is that the intermediate, who do not master English so well as the advanced learners, may spend more time brainstorming ideas for their worksheets. On the other hand, the possible reason why basic learners needed less time than the intermediate is that basic learners have limited literacy and thus tend to directly utilize easy words and sentences they know to complete the role-play fairly quickly. Hence, it is suggested that teachers should give more time for the intermediate to finish their worksheets so that the intermediate can avoid feeling frustrated with the role-play tasks.
The advanced. First, it was found that skeleton dialogues were almost too easy for the advanced learners, and thus they showed preference for other more challenging role-play tasks. Free role-play may be their favorite type because this role-play type allows them to show not only their language proficiency but also their creativity, which affirms Cross’ (1999) and Kumaran’s (2010) findings that advanced learners can freely develop their role-plays with creativity and knowledge and that structured role-play is easy for high achievers to do but free role-play is much more
interesting for them. Therefore, teachers can give their advanced learners more freedom to add variety to their presentations, such as making props or even giving a dance show, to enrich their learning experience. Second, the present study also showed that students with advanced proficiency level had apparently stronger desire for the incorporation of each type of role-play into English class. A possible reason is that role-play activities can dispel the boredom they experienced in didactic learning based on textbooks. Hence, if the class is at the advanced level, teachers can allocate more class time to implement different types of role-play activities to create a positive and dynamic learning atmosphere.
In addition, since no other studies had been conducted prior to this study on different types of role-play as an English instruction vehicle for junior high school students of different proficiency levels, the results of the present study can enlighten teachers on deciding which type of role-play activity suits students of what proficiency level ─ skeleton dialogues can especially intrigue beginners, which supports Livingstone’s (1983) claim; cued dialogues are especially helpful in motivating students of intermediate language proficiency, which concurs with Kumaran (2010) ; free role-play are the best choice for students of advanced language proficiency, which again coincides with Cross’ (1999) and Kumaran’s (2010) findings.
Last but not least, the results of the present study confirmed Ramos’ finding (2002), showing that students’ interests in each type of role-play tend to influence their belief in whether they can benefit from it and their desire for its incorporation into English class. In view of this, teachers can decide whether or not to carry out certain type of role-play in class according to students’ interests and belief in role-play.
Chapter 5 Conclusion
In this chapter, a summary of the major findings of the current study is first presented in response to the research questions, i.e., (1) what junior high school students’ perceptions of different types of role-play activities are, (2) what teachers should heed when conducting different role-plays to students of different language proficiency levels. Then limitations of the present study and suggestions for the future studies are discussed at the end.