角色扮演活動與英語教學：活動類型與學生程度如何影響學習過程與成效

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(1)國立臺灣師範大學英語學系碩. 士. 論. 文. Master’s Thesis Department of English National Taiwan Normal University. 角色扮演活動與英語教學：活動類型與學生程度如何影響學習過程與成效. Different Types of Role-play as an English Instruction Vehicle for Junior High School Students of Various Proficiency Levels. 指導教授：常紹如 Advisor: Dr. Shau-Ju Chang 研究生：顧吟吟. 中華民國一 ○ 四年六月 June, 2015.

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(3) 摘要提升學生溝通能力長久以來一直是英語教師共同努力的教學目標，有鑑於此，專家學者提出許多相關的創新教學理論與溝通式教學方法，而其中角色扮演被認為是最具代表性且成效性的教學活動；然而，很少有文獻關注學生對於角色扮演活動的想法與教師如何在課堂中有效進行角色扮演活動的過程。此外，相關文獻對於「角色扮演活動」的定義不盡相同，因此哪一種類型對學生最有助益、而不同語言程度的學生適用於何種類型，至今尚未有所定論。因此本研究旨在探討：(1)學生對於不同種類角色扮演活動的想法；(2)教師針對不同語言程度的學生進行不同種類的角色扮演活動時，應該注意的教學事項。本研究的實驗對象為桃園市某間國中一個隨機抽樣的八年級普通班級共 30 位學生，分為三種程度：初學者、中等生、進階生。本研究採用四大類型角色扮演教學活動，以教師為中心到以學生為中心的教學模式依序為：填空式、每句提示型、情境和句型引導式、自由發揮型。透過問卷調查、訪談、教師日誌蒐集研究資料，使用單因子變異數分析和 Scheffe 事後檢定研究方法分析問卷。研究結果顯示： (1)學生對於角色扮演活動的喜好和興趣，會影響他們對於該活動是否具有學習成效、是否應納入學校英語課程等認知。(2)學生對不同類型活動的不同教學階段(即準備、表演、回饋階段)皆提供類似的教學建議。(3) 從三個面向給予教師教學上實質的建議：角色扮演活動各個教學階段的注意事項、進行不同類型角色扮演活動的注意事項、指導不同程度學生角色扮演活動的注意事項。本研究不僅可以了解學生對於不同類型角色扮演活動的想法，更可以提供教師在角色扮演教學活動應用上有效的建議。關鍵詞：角色扮演、活動類型、學生程度、學生認知、教學建議. i.

(4) ABSTRACT Language teachers around the world have been pursuing the goal of promoting students’ communicative competence, and many innovative pedagogical theories and communicative approaches have thus emerged. Among them, role-play is considered the most typical one with considerable positive effects on language learning. However, few studies have paid attention to the process of how students perceive and prepare for and how teachers conduct role-play. Furthermore, as the previous researchers interpreted the term “role-play” differently, there is little consensus on which kind of role-play is the most beneficial to students of what proficiency level. To fill these gaps, the present study aimed at exploring how students perceive different types of role-play activities and what teachers should heed when conducting different role-plays to students of different language proficiency levels. One heterogeneous class of thirty eighth-graders in a junior high school in Taoyuan were grouped into basic, intermediate, and advanced levels. Four types of role-play, from the most structured to the most creative mode, were utilized, including skeleton dialogues, cued dialogues, role instructions, and free role-play. Data were collected through questionnaires, sub-sample interviews, and teaching journals. One-way ANOVA and post hoc tests with Scheffe’s method were utilized for quantitative data analysis. Results suggested that: 1) students’ preferences and interests in role-play influenced how helpful they thought of it and whether it should be incorporated into English class; 2) students showed similar suggestions on the conduction of different types at different stages; 3) pedagogical implications with common suggestions on the conduction of role-play were presented from the three viewpoints: different stages of role-play conduction, different types of role-play, and different proficiency levels of students. The study shed light on a better understanding of students’ perceptions of. ii.

(5) different types of role-play and suggestions for conducting role-play as an instructional means in an EFL classroom.. Keywords: role-play, types of role-play, language proficiency levels, students’ perceptions, pedagogical implications. iii.

(6) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The present study was accomplished with the great help from many people. Without their involvement, this thesis would not have been completed. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Shau-Ju Chang, who has been patient and considerate, always spending much time revising my drafts, allowing me to do research at my own pace, and brainstorming with me numerous times. Thanks to Dr. Chang’s intellectual guidance and insightful enlightenment, I have learned from her conscientious attitude toward research and experienced a valuable academic journey in my graduate school life. With her inspiring pep talk: Get your work done with vigorous effort, I confronted the difficulties confidently and hang on to the last moment. Owing to her precious advice and powerful support, I would have been able to systematically finish this sophisticated thesis paper. Next, my heartfelt appreciation goes to the committee members, Dr. Chia-Chien Chang from National Taiwan University and Dr. Angela Wu from National Taiwan Normal University, for carefully reviewing my thesis and giving me constructive comments. Without their professional guidance in the way of critical thinking, I could not have enriched the content of this thesis research. Then, my special thanks would go to the 30 participants in Class 830 in Taoyuan Junior High School. Because of their enthusiastic participation in class and creative ideas in every type of role-play activity, I could have collected so many surprising data that made considerable contributions to my study. Besides, this paper owes a sincere gratitude to my dear graduate classmates who have helped and encouraged me throughout my thesis writing process: Rae, Eric, Joyce, Jean, Joy, and Francis. Thanks for their great encouragement and timely assistance, especially the time when I felt anxious about my proposal hearing and oral iv.

(7) defense. Special thanks also go to my best colleague, Mr. Li-Chun Li, for always giving me spiritual support and sharing my duties to leave more time for me to accomplish this thesis study. Last but not the least, my sincere appreciation goes to my beloved family for their constant support and unconditional love. They have always had faith on me and kept encouraging me to fulfill my dream. Here I would also like to give special acknowledgement to my beloved brother, Jia-Yuan, for always sharing his valuable experience in doing his studies for master and doctor degrees, and to my beloved mom for always staying by my side and alleviating my worries. It would not have been possible to complete this MA thesis without them. In conclusion, I would like to show my highest honor again to those who have helped me during my thesis writing process. This thesis is dedicated to you all!. v.

(8) TABLE OF CONTENTS CHINESE ABSTRACT…..………………………………………………….….i ENGLISH ABSTRACT…………………………………………………..….ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………...iv TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………..vi LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………..viii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION….……………………………………………....1 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW…...……………………………………...5 2.1 Definitions of Role-play……………………………………………………...5 2.2 Types of Role-play………………………………………………………...…7 2.3 Procedures in Using Role-play…………………………………...…………21 2.4 Potential Problems of Role-play and Recommended Solutions…………….25 2.5 Factors in Successful Use of Role-play……………………………………..28 2.6 Studies on Role-play in a Language Classroom…………………………….32 2.7 Research Gap………………………………………………………...……...38 2.8 Research Questions of the Present Study…………………………………...39 CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY…...………………………………………...40 3.1 Participants………………………………………………………………….40 3.2 Teaching Materials: Four Types of Role-play & Four Dialogues…………..42 3.3 Implementation……………………………………………………………...44 3.4 Instruments………………………………………………………………….52 3.5 Data Analysis………………………………………………………………..56 CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS & DISCUSSION…..………………………………...58 4.1 Students’ Learning Background Information……………………………….58 4.2 Students’ Perceptions of Role-play…………..………….………………….60 4.3 Students’ Suggestions for the Teacher…………………………...………….85 4.4 The Researcher’s Observations on the Conduction of Role-play………..…94 4.5 Pedagogical Implications…………………………………………..……….96 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION…..……………………………………………..104 5.1 Summary of Major Findings………………………………………………104 5.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research…………………………106 REFERENCES…………………………………………..………………………..108 APPENDIX A: Questionnaire for perceptions of skeleton dialogues (Type 1)…......111 APPENDIX APPENDIX APPENDIX APPENDIX APPENDIX. B: Questionnaire for perceptions of cued dialogues (Type 2). ……..114 C: Questionnaire for perceptions of role instructions (Type 3)….…..116 D: Questionnaire for perceptions of free role-play (Type 4)….....…..118 E: Questionnaire of preferences for four role-play activities…….....120 F: Sub-sample interview………………………………………..…….121 vi.

(9) APPENDIX G: Teaching journal form……………………………….……………..122 APPENDIX H: Teacher evaluation form for role-play………………….………...123 APPENDIX I: Student evaluation form for role-play………………….……..…...124 APPENDIX J-M: Worksheets………………………………………….……...125-128. vii.

(10) LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Five Classification Schemes of Role-play Proposed by Different Scholars….7 Table 2 Example of Role-playing Controlled through Cued Dialogues………..……..8 Table 3 Example of Role-playing Controlled through Cues and Information…...……8 Table 4 Example of Role-playing Controlled through Situation and Goals….……….9 Table 5 Example of Improvisation……………………………….….……………….10 Table 6 Example 1 (from Sturtridge, 1981, p.126)……..……………….……..……10 Table 7 Example of Role-playing with Skeleton Dialogues…..………………...…11 Table 8 Example 2 (from Sturtridge, 1981, p.127)….………………………………..11 Table 9 Example 3 (from Sturtridge, 1981, p.128)……….…………………………..12 Table 10 Example 4 & Example 5 (from Sturtridge, 1981, p.129-130).…………….12 Table 11 Examples of Open-ended Dialogues……………………………………….14 Table 12 Examples of Mapped Dialogues…………………………….……………...14 Table 13 Examples of Role Instructions…………………………….…….………...15 Table 14 Examples of Scenarios………………………………………….………….15 Table 15 Examples of Prescribed Role Play………………………………………....17 Table 16 Examples of Free Role Play………………………………………………..17 Table 17 Conclusion of Different Types of Role-play………………………………18 Table 18 Extended Role-play………….……………………………………………..20 Table 19 Participants………………….……………………………………………...41 Table 20 Comparisons of the Four Types of Role-play Activities…………………..43 Table 21 Syllabus for the Four Lessons………….…………………………………..44 Table 22 Implementation of Role-play Activities…….……………………………...49 Table 23 The Data Collection Techniques for the Research Questions……….……..57 Table 24 The Time When Students Started to Learn English……..………………….58 Table 25 Whether Go to Cram School…….…………………………………………58 Table 26 Frequency of Doing Outside English Reading….…………………………59 Table 27 Experience of Taking the GEPT at the Elementary Level.………………...59 Table 28 Preference for English…………..………………………………………….59 Table 29 Students’ Perceptions of Type 1……….…………………………………...64 Table 30 Students’ Perceptions of Type 2…………………………………………...68 Table 31 Students’ Perceptions of Type 3…………………………………………...72 Table 32 Students’ Perceptions of Type 4…………………………………………...77 Table 33 Comparisons of Students’ Perceptions of 4 Types……………………..…80 Table 34 Comparisons of Students’ Preferences for Four Types…….…………..…..81 Table 35 Students’ Own Comparisons of General Perceptions of Four Types………82 Table 36 Rankings of Different Types among Students of Different Proficiency Levels……………………………………………………………………………...…84 viii.

(11) Table 37 Expectations of Teacher’s Assistance during the Type 1 Preparation…...…86 Table 38 Expectations of Teacher’s Assistance during the Type 1 Enactment….…...86 Table 39 Expectations of Teacher’s Assistance during the Type 1 Debriefing……....87 Table 40 Expectations of Teacher’s Assistance during the Type 2 Preparation….…..88 Table 41 Expectations of Teacher’s Assistance during the Type 2 Enactment….…...88 Table 42 Expectations of Teacher’s Assistance during the Type 2 Debriefing.…...…89 Table 43 Expectations of Teacher’s Assistance during the Type 3 Preparation….…..90 Table 44 Expectations of Teacher’s Assistance during the Type 3 Enactment.……...90 Table 45 Expectations of Teacher’s Assistance during the Type 3 Debriefing.…...…91 Table 46 Expectations of Teacher’s Assistance during the Type 4 Preparation……...92 Table 47 Expectations of Teacher’s Assistance during the Type 4 Enactment….…...92 Table 48 Expectations of Teacher’s Assistance during the Type 4 Debriefing……....93. ix.

(12) Chapter One Introduction Since the twenty-first century, the field of language teaching has been emphasizing the importance of meaningful language use. Therefore, language teachers around the world have been pursuing the goal of promoting students’ communicative competence. With prevalent discussions of the term “communicative competence”, Canale and Swain (1980) firstly proposed a theoretical framework and defined it as a construct with three components—grammatical, sociolinguistic, and strategic. To polish this model, Canale (1983) added another component—discourse. Grammatical competence refers to the knowledge of lexical, morphological, syntactic, and phonological features of a language. Sociolinguistic competence means the ability of understanding the social context where language is used and the appropriateness of utterances for different situations. Strategic competence is concerned with the capability of dealing with communication breakdowns. Discourse competence involves the capability of interpreting the connection of a sequence of sentences to grasp the completing meaning or the gist. Therefore, the refined model of communicative competence with these four components is suggested to be a foundation of communicative curriculum design. To further pinpoint the relationship between communicative competence and language teaching, teachers’ mission is to equip students with the ability to not only deal with an authentic communicative situation but also keep communicative channels open. In order to respond to the goal of building students’ communicative competence, many innovative pedagogical theories and communicative approaches have emerged, such as communicative language teaching (CLT), task-based language teaching (TBLT), cooperative learning, interactive learning, and whole language education (Brown, 2007). In these communicative instructional settings, the language classroom 1.

(13) is characterized by meaningful communication, purposeful negotiation, authentic tasks, and collaboration among learners. The acknowledged objective of a communication-oriented language course highlights the ample provision of information, practice, and experience for learners to meet their communicative needs (Canale & Swain, 1980). Under these communicative approaches are many kinds of feasible communicative activities suggested by scholars. For example, Olsen and Gosak (1978) indicated five techniques to help adult learners and high-school students begin communication: class interview (i.e. one student as an interviewee and others ask him/her questions), mutual interview (i.e. pairs of students interview each other), the class story (i.e. every student contributes to one line of the story), journal (i.e. students write down opinions in English), role-playing and problem-solving. Littlewood (1981) displayed two kinds of communicative activities: functional communication activities (e.g. discovering missing information, discovering differences, and reconstructing story-sequences) and social interaction activities (e.g. simulations, role-playing). Savignon (1997) also recommended two—Show and Tell, which offers preschool children good opportunities to give a report, and Group discussions, which leave young learners with plentiful practices in sharing viewpoints, taking turns, and disagreeing with others. Cross (1999) proposed several communication provoking activities to incorporate into everyday teaching: discussions and debate, project presentations, topic talks, drama activities, and information gap activities. Lightbown and Spade (2006) also asserted that role-play, stories, and use of real-life materials (e.g. newspapers, TV broadcasts) are popular CLT activities in class. Likewise, Shi (2006) provided four important techniques to create social situations and interactions: simulation, role-playing, discussion, and pictures. Besides, J.I. Su (2008) suggested incorporating the activity of “a small talk” 2.

(14) with students in the target language into teaching, like talking about weather, sports events, vocations and even personal experiences. No matter which CLT activity is applied to language teaching, the common contributions above are arousing natural learning, offering “whole-task practice”, creating a supportive context, and enhancing learning motivation (Littlewood, 1981). Of all the communicative activities above, “role-play” is considered the most typical (Horwitz, 1985; Raz, 1985; P.C. Su, 1991; Liu, 2010). Role-play with authentic situations is even recommended as a successful technique in both EFL and ESL classrooms (Maxwell, 1997). In the procedure of implementing a role-play activity in class, it is usually begun by providing a specific context and different roles for students to prepare. When one group moves into role-play, others need to watch it and have a discussion about its strengths and weaknesses later (Wilkins, 1976, from Liu & Ding, 2009). Despite this widely-accepted procedure, the researchers in this field still have had different interpretations of the term “role-play activities”. For instance, Robinson (1981) asserted that role-plays can range from telling a story to acting out a situation. To be more specific, Ladousse (1987) mentioned five primary examples of role-play activities—role playing famous people for practicing in comments, picture role-play for practicing in simple past tense, role-playing borrowing things from neighbors for making polite requests, group improvisation for practicing unstructured models, and role switching for practicing expressing emotions in different cultures. Still some scholars classified role-play into different groups. Littlewood(1981) presented five types—cued dialogues, cues and information, situation and goals, debate and discussion, and improvisation. Likewise, Bryne (1986) proposed five kinds as well—open-ended dialogues, mapped dialogues, role instruction, scenarios, and scripted role-play. To make the classifications of role-play more concise, Savignon (1997) claimed only two categories—scripted role-playing 3.

(15) and non-scripted role-playing. Cross (1999) also proposed two— prescribed role play and free role play. Despite different types of role-play activities, a considerable number of researchers have agreed on the positive effects of using role-play. For example, it can break the ice and encourage interaction (Robinson, 1981), animate the classroom atmosphere (Liu & Ding, 2009), encourage creative language use (Horwitz, 1985; Byrne, 1986), promote personal growth (Raz, 1985), arouse learning motivation (Stern, 1980; Littlewood, 1981; H.C. Su, 2007; J.I. Su, 2008; Liu, 2010), boost self-confidence in speaking and lower affective filter (Salies, 1995; Maxwell, 1997; J.I. Su, 2008), improve oral performance (Klippel, 1985; H.C. Su, 2007), stimulate diverse skills (Maxwell, 1997), and encourage peer learning (Raz, 1985; Lee,1991). Obviously, there is no denying that “role-play” has been recognized as an influential vehicle of learning a language. While many studies have confirmed the positive effects of role-play on ESL/EFL students’ learning, few have paid attention to the process of how students prepare for role-play or provided detailed procedures of how teachers conduct role-play. In addition, since researchers in this field have used different types of role-play in their studies, there is no consensus on which type, among a variety of role-play activities, is the most beneficial to EFL students of what proficiency level. Therefore, the present study aims to explore role-play as an instructional means in an EFL classroom in the following two aspects: (1) how students perceive different types of role-play activities; (2) What teachers should heed when conducting different role-plays to students of different language proficiency levels.. 4.

(16) Chapter Two Literature Review 2.1 Definitions of Role-play The definition of “role-play” can be first analyzed by respectively examining the two words. According to Richard and Rodgers (2001), the word “role” connotes two meanings: one refers to the role which learners and teachers play during the process of carrying out learning tasks; the other means the social relationship between participants. On the other hand, the word “play” implies a safe and pleasant learning environment (Ladousse, 1987). In terms of the phrase “role-play”, researchers have agreed that role-play is an educational technique to involve students in imaginary situations where they may play the role of themselves or someone else (Byrne, 1986; Lee, 1991; Kaur, 2002; Shi, 2006). The situations in role-play are usually given to students beforehand and predefined around daily life or topical problems (Klippel, 1983; Lee, 1991). In short, role-play involves an element of “let’s pretend” (Byrne, 1986). The purpose of conducting role-play activities in language teaching is to help students with their preparation for the real-life language use (Liu, 2010). In terms of the features of role-play activities, Sturtridge (1981) pointed out that role-play usually empowers students to have freedom of deciding the words to say or developing the situations which they prefer. Richards (1985) also proposed several features of role-play: it requires information sharing and exchange, meaningful input and output, the practice of conversational strategies, the use of turn-taking rules, and a great amount of learner participation. Whenever the topic of role-play is discussed, another similar term “simulation” is usually compared with it. In fact, some researchers claimed that it is challenging to distinguish from these two terms because they possess certain features in 5.

(17) common—defined scenarios, an element of “let’s pretend”, reflection of real-life situations, and language practicing in different situations (Klippel, 1985; Byrne, 1986; Lee, 1991). In addition, they have an identical goal—training students to deal with the unpredictable nature of language (Ladousse, 1987). Despite these similarities, there are still differences between them. One difference is that simulation includes role-play (Byrne, 1986; Crookall & Oxford, 1990; Lee, 1991; Tompkins, 1998); that is, role-play is one component of simulation. Nevertheless, the term “role-play” tends to be used more often than simulation because most teachers think it less aggressive (Crookall & Oxford, 1990). Another difference is that simulation is more like a problem-solving activity, where the problem must be defined in the beginning and be discussed in the end (Livingstone, 1983; Byrne, 1986). Still another disparity between the two is that simulations are lengthy, complex, and inflexible techniques with more elements of data analysis, whereas role-play is brief, simple, and highly flexible with more exercises of imagination (Ladousse, 1987). In addition to the principles above, Sturtridge (1981) also concluded that simulation is more than an activity with fun or an evaluative means of examining students’ communicative competence; it can not only provide a rehearsal for life but also develop empathy between learners. As can be seen, simulation is more complicated than role-play. Simulation is thus suggested for the students at intermediate level (Byrne, 1986) while role-play, especially around the themes of school life, is more applicable to young learners (Littlewood, 1981).. 6.

(18) 2.2 Types of Role-play The researchers in the field of language teaching have further categorized “role-play” into various types. Following are five classification schemes proposed by different scholars, including Littlewood (1981), Sturtridge (1981), Bryne (1986), Savignon (1997), and Cross (1999) (See Table 1). Table 1. Five Classification Schemes of Role-play Proposed by Different Scholars Chapter. 2.2.1. 2.2.2. 2.2.3. 2.2.4. 2.2.5. Scholars. Littlewood (1981). Sturtridge (1981). Bryne (1986). Savignon (1997). Cross (1999). 1. Cued. 1. Example 1. 1. Open-ended 1. Scripted. dialogues 2. Cues &. dialogues 2. Example 2. 2. Mapped. information Types of Role-play. 3. Situation &. dialogues 3. Example 3. role-playing 2. Unscripted. role play 2. Free role. role-playing. 3. Role. goals 4. Debate &. 1. Prescribed. instructions 4. Example 4. 4. Scenarios. 5. Example 5. 5. Scripted. discussion 5. Large-scale simulation. roleplay. activities 6. Improvisation. 2.2.1 Littlewood’s (1981) role-play framework with six types Role-playing controlled through cued dialogues. It is considered a simple role-play activity, with separate role cards and a semi-communicative context. The cues on the cards can give learners chances to predict what others will say and to prepare responses beforehand. It involves learners in a “real” communication. Teachers are suggested to first equip learners with useful forms and give feedback about the forms used by learners after the activity (See Table 2). 7. play.

(19) Table 2. Example of Role-playing Controlled through Cued Dialogues (from Littlewood, 1981, p.51) Partner A You meet B in the street. A: Greet B. B: A: Ask B where he is going. B:. Partner B You meet A in the street. A: B: Greet A. A: B: Say you are going for a walk.. A: Suggest somewhere to go together. B:. A: B: Reject A’s suggestion. Make a different suggestion. A: B: Express pleasure.. A: Accept B’ suggestion. B:. Role-playing controlled through cues and information. This role-play activity is considered more flexible, with separate role cards given to participants--one with detailed cues and the other with the hints of things to say. Teachers can thus control the interaction and assure that participants express specific meanings (See Table 3). Table 3. Example of Role-playing Controlled through Cues and Information (from Littlewood, 1981, p.52) Student A: You arrive at a small hotel one evening. In the hotel, you meet the manager and: Ask if there is a room vacant…………………………………………………………………… Ask the price, including breakfast…………………………………………………………….. Say how many nights you would like to stay………………………………………………… Ask where you can park your car for the night……………………………………………… Say what time you would like to have breakfast…………………………………………….. Student B: You are the manager of a small hotel that prides itself on its friendly, homely atmosphere. You have a single and a double room vacant for tonight. The prices are: $8.50 for the single room, $15.00 for the double room. Breakfast is $1.50 extra per person. In the street behind the hotel, there is a free car park. Guests can have tea in bed in the morning, for 50p.. 8.

(20) Role-playing controlled through situation and goals. In this activity, only the overall situation and its goals for both of the participants are given. Participants take more responsibility to create their interaction through the limited “shared information” (See Table 4). Table 4. Example of Role-playing Controlled through Situation and Goals (from Littlewood, 1981, p.55) Student A: You wish to buy a car. You are in a showroom, looking at a second-hand car that might be suitable. You decide to find out more about it, for example how old it is, who the previous owner was, how expensive it is to run and whether there is a guarantee. You can pay up to about $10,000 in cash. Student B: You are a car salesman. You see a customer looking at a car in the showroom. The car is two years old and belonged previously to the leader of a local pop group. It does about twenty miles to the gallon. Your firm offers a three-month guarantee and can arrange hire purchase. The price you are asking for the car is $13,000. Role-playing in the form of debate and discussion. The situation in this role-play activity is a debate or a discussion on an issue. After understanding the relevant information about the issue, participants have to listen to talks and express their different opinions to defend. Finally, they have to make a conclusion or vote for the issue. Teachers could ask participants to re-organize all the ideas and write a report after the activity. Therefore, different language skills can be integrated in this activity. Large-scale simulation activities. This activity is considered an extended role-play (i.e. a longer role-play), which is mostly used in other fields, like geography and decision-making. With much time and many resources employed, it can be quite long and complicated. Improvisation. Learners can be the most creative in this role-play activity because they are given 9.

(21) only a starting situation which may be relevant to daily life without specific communicative purposes. They interpret the situation themselves and use the target language to express their imagination (See Table 5). Table 5. Example of Improvisation (from Littlewood, 1981, p.59) You are travelling on an underground train. Suddenly it stops between two stations. At first you take no notice, but soon you all begin to wonder what is happening. It gets warmer and warmer. You become more and more nervous. After 10 minutes, to your relief, the train begins to move again.. 2.2.2 Sturtridge’s (1981) role-play framework with five examples Despite the differences among the five examples, Sturtridge suggested that it is simple to discover one apparent feature of role-play: students are free to choose the words which they are going to use or to develop the situation which they prefer. Table 6. Example 1. (from Sturtridge, 1981, p.126) At the Post Office A: I’d like to post this ________________, please. B: Put it on the scales. Where to? A: To ______________. B: That’ll be ____________________. A: _________________________. B: _________________________. The first example is much easier for teachers to conduct because it can be found in textbooks or written on the blackboard. This dialogue with slots looks like a controlled practice (See Table 6). However, it still leaves freedom for learners to develop a new or even surprising dialogue. In order to select an appropriate setting and roles, teachers are suggested to take a close look at what learners are familiar with and what they need. Those should not be remote from their experiences; otherwise, 10.

(22) the language may become “unreal”. In this activity, learners usually feel safe because they play the roles of others, not themselves. It is similar to Livingstone’s (1983) role-playing with skeleton dialogues (See Table 7). Table 7. Example of Role-playing with Skeleton Dialogues (from Livingstone, 1983, p.16) Go into the grocer’s and buy some things. A: Good ______________, can ______________? B: __________ like ____________ and _____________. (etc.). Table 8. Example 2 (from Sturtridge, 1981, p.127) The Invitation You meet your friend B at school. You are having a party on Saturday and you would like B to come. The party is informal. Tell B what time to come. Say how glad you are that he is coming. Cues: - We are having a party… Are you doing anything on Saturday? - It’s very informal… Come as you are. - That’s great. That’ll be lovely. In the second example, learners play the roles as themselves and are given a role-card with a social situation and various potential expressions (See Table 8). Although cues are provided, learners have to select proper ones which suit their setting and personalities. In other words, learners can realize that not all of the formula can be utilized in every situation. 11.

(23) Table 9. Example 3 (from Sturtridge, 1981, p.128) Borrowing something A 2 Friends Ask B to lend you something. ------------------------------------------Give reason. ------------------------------------------Agree.. B 2 Friends ------------------------------------------Ask reason. ------------------------------------------Agree: add a condition. -------------------------------------------. ------------------------------------------Thank B. End conversation.. Give object to A (words or action). ------------------------------------------End conversation.. The third example with pair cards is a kind of information gap activity. The roles’ relationship and sequential moves are clearly given. Learners can use the wording which they prefer to complete the instructions on the cards (See Table 9). Compared with Example 1 and 2, this activity is more like a real-life communication where information is exchanged. The advantage of this design is that paired learners can exchange cards after they complete the first practice. Advanced learners are encouraged to exchange cards with other pairs. Teachers can even give them more challenging pair cards. It can easily cater to individual’s proficiency level and learning pace. On the other hand, the disadvantage of this work is that teachers have to teach learners specific language functions beforehand, such as “agree: add a condition”. Table 10. Example 4 & Example 5 (from Sturtridge, 1981, p.129-130) Example 4 The Canbian Educational Aid Project S. Dawson A Language Inspector You are on good terms with your superior, Mr. Green, the Chief Language Inspector, although you often disagree with him. However, you are ready to argue against anything Mr. K. Brown, the Teacher Trainer, says as you are old opponents. You want the money to be spent on tapes and tape recorders. ─ Point out that the country needs equipment. ─ Argue that tape recorders would be easier for inexperienced staff and technicians than language laboratories. 12.

(24) Example 5 What are they going to do when they leave school? In this simulation a group of secondary school teachers learning English have the task of finding careers of four school leavers. They have details of the careers and openings available and the qualifications, training and characteristics needed for the job. They have to match this information with what they know of the boys and girls from school reports and references. They have to be ready to suggest careers that might suit and interest the school-leavers. The information they receive is both in print and on tape and so they practice both reading and listening skills as they collect the information. No role-cards are given because the teachers are aware of the problems of school-leavers deciding on careers and can give their advice both as people and teachers.. The first three examples are designed with the practice of specific language functions and limited information exchange in a narrow situation. Conversely, the fourth and fifth examples are designed with a simulation to provide learners with extended interaction outside the classroom and opportunities to solve simulated problems. The distinguishing difference between the last two examples is that Example 4 is conducted with a role card while Example 5 without. A role card can help learners know more about what personality or opinions their roles have and how they can respond to certain situations (See Table 10).. 2.2.3 Bryne’s (1986) role-play framework with five types Open-ended dialogues. This role-play activity establishes a starting dialogue for learners. Teachers can write it on the blackboard. What learners have to do is to use creativity to develop it. In most cases, this role-play is simple and suitable for those at elementary or intermediate levels. Learners may easily feel curious about others’ dialogues (See Table 11).. 13.

(25) Table 11. Examples of Open-ended Dialogues (from Bryne, 1986, p.119) A= assistant in a bookshop B= customer A: Hello. Can I help you? B: Well, I’m looking for a copy of… A: Do you know the author’s name? B: … A: Hm. I’m pretty sure we haven’t got a copy. Would you like me to order one for you? B: … A: … B: …. Mapped dialogues. Separate cards, with different “functional cues” on them, are used in this role-play activity. Participants have different information on their own cards and need to exchange unknown information with each other. Hence, this role-play can be considered a kind of information gap activity. Even though participants’ moves are almost controlled throughout this mini-dialogue practice, some learners still think it is difficult to work out this kind of role-play (See Table 12). Table 12. Examples of Mapped Dialogues (from Bryne, 1986, p.120) 1. Invite B to go out with you.. 1. Decline.. 2. Suggest another possibility.. 2. Accept.. 3. Confirm arrangements.. 3. Agree.. Role instructions. This role-play activity provides not only the overall setting and steps of how participants should interact but also some examples of useful phrasing for participants to choose. Since the instructions are usually simple, this activity seems as effective as open-ended dialogues to set up a role-play situation (See Table 13). 14.

(26) Table 13. Examples of Role Instructions (from Bryne, 1986, p.120) You go into a bookshop to buy a book. (Describe author and title.) Ask the bookseller if he has the book. If the book is not available, decide whether to order it. I’m looking for… Have you got…? I wonder if you have… Scenarios. The role-play activity based on scenarios usually displays the sequence of events either in a written form or through pictures, without providing the exact words for participants. The situation in this activity can be a real-life event or a fantasy. During the preparation for a scenario, groups of participants have to undergo plentiful discussion on where it occurs, what personalities the characters have, what they will say, who will play the parts, what props they will use, and how the scenario can be modified (See Table 14). Table 14. Examples of Scenarios (from Byrne, 1986, p.121) A went into a café. There was rather a long queue. A wanted to look at the menu, but B was standing in front of it. So A asked B to read the menu to him. A made various comments as B did this. A decided to have a salad. The salad section was located further along the counter. A asked a number of people for permission to pass. A picked up his salad and went towards the cash desk. On the way, he passed C, who was carrying a tray of food. A bumped into C and knocked the tray out of his hand. Scripted roleplay. The exact words which participants are going to say are provided in this kind of activity. The typical examples are textbook dialogues and a scene from a play. This role-play activity seems to provide a safe and risk-free way for participants, but it is actually far from easy. Participants have to not only read the words aloud but also act out their interpretations that should be consistent with the text. When conducting a scripted roleplay, teachers are suggested to emphasize more on getting students to 15.

(27) look beyond the words than asking them to perform in front of the audience. For instance, teachers can get students to explore different perspectives, such as how the setting can be made as real as possible, what the relationships between characters are, how they could move when talking, and what facial expressions they could have.. 2.2.4 Savignon’s (1997) role-play framework with two main types Scripted role-playing. This activity requires the use of the written dialogues for role-play, such as poetry reading and three-act plays. The prepared scripts usually give participants opportunities to think about the intention of the dialogues. This role-play practice can be used to prepare a formal stage performance with lights, props, and costumes. Unscripted role-playing. A setting and specific roles with brief descriptions are first given to groups of learners. Learners need time to think about how their roles might act and what they can say. When this kind of activity is conducted in a language classroom, learners are suggested to enact their role-play in different ways, such as audience participation, characters in a novel, or hand puppets to replace actors. A discussion can be held for sharing reflections after group presentations.. 2.2.5 Cross’ (1999) role-play framework with two main types Prescribed role play. Teachers usually firstly utilize a traditional presentation-practice method to teach participants a range of useful formulaic expressions and vocabulary which are relevant to the setting of the role-play. Then a talk card with successive tasks is given to each group. Participants have to use their limited linguistic resources to express the specific meanings (See Table 15). Some scholars argued that it is another practice 16.

(28) activity rather than a real communicative activity. However, Cross believes that prescribed role-play is helpful especially when students are low-achievers and the language is new. On the other hand, it can be challenging to high-achievers if the information on the card is written in their mother tongue. Table 15. Examples of Prescribed Role Play (from Cross, 1999, p.286) AT THE HOTEL A. Check if there are any vacancies. B. Ask what sort of room the traveler needs. A. Explain that there are four of you, so you want two rooms. B. What facilities do they need? A. Shower, W.C., preferably a nice view. B. You have one room only with shower. There is another large double with bathroom. A. Accept. Check on view from each room. Balcony? B. Describe. Ask how long they will stay. A. Two days. Price? B. Give price. A. Check if tax and extras are included. B. Reply. Offer breakfast as option. A. Accept. Does hotel offer main meals? B. Affirm. Give prices. Free role play. Only a context is orally given to students, and they have to develop what will happen in the following. Their preparation for this activity is allowed to be done after school. Props can even be brought in to make the play interesting. Although this task is more demanding, there are still some advantages in this activity. For instance, beginners can be responsible for simple lines while advanced learners can freely develop their role-plays with creativity and knowledge (See Table 16). Table 16. Examples of Free Role Play (from Cross, 1999, p.287) -You are going to talk to a landlord about an apartment which you may want to rent. -You are in a post office in the USA and want to send a parcel home. -You are in a job center, looking for summer work.. 17.

(29) 2.2.6 Conclusion of Different Types of Role-play Although there have been up to twenty types of role-play activities proposed by different scholars, they still share some similarities (see Table 17). In the following, these types of role-play are compared in terms of five degrees of language control: with exact words provided, with slots hinted by contextual cues, with specific sequential moves provided, with a whole setting and useful expressions provided, and with only an overall/initial situation provided. Table 17. Conclusion of Different Types of Role-play Degrees of CONTROLLED CREATIVE Language Control. Scholars. Types Cued Dialogues Cues & Littlewood information (1981) Situation & goals Improvisation Example 1 Sturtridge Example 2 (1981) Example 3 Livingstone Skeleton (1983) dialogues Scripted roleplay Mapped dialogues Bryne (1986) Role instructions Scenarios Open-ended dialogues Scripted role-playing Savignon (1997) Unscripted role-playing Cross (1999). With With slots With With a With an exact hinted by specific whole overall/initial words contextual sequential setting and situation provided cues moves useful only (memorized provided expressions provided dialogues) (Information provided gap) ○ ○ (more flexible). ○ (overall) ○ (initial) ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ (mini dialogues). ○ ○ (overall) ○ (initial) ○ ○ (initial) ○. Prescribed role play. (with structure teaching). ○ (initial). Free role play. 18.

(30) As can be seen in the table above, those twenty role-play activities can be divided into five categories in terms of different levels of language control: Category 1 ─With exact words provided, or memorized dialogues (i.e. Bryne’s Scripted roleplay, Savignon’s Scripted role-playing), Category 2 ─ with slots hinted by contextual cues (i.e. Sturtridge’s Example 1, Livingstone’s Skeleton dialogues), Category 3 ─ with specific sequential moves provided (i.e. Littlewood’s Cued dialogues, Littlewood’s Cues & information, Sturtridge’s Example 3, Bryne’s Mapped dialogues, Cross’ Prescribed role play), Category 4─with a whole setting and useful expressions provided (i.e. Sturtridge’s Example 2, Bryne’s Role instructions), Category 5─with only an overall/initial situation provided (i.e. Littlewood’s Situation & goals, Littlewood’s Improvisation, Bryne’s Scenarios, Bryne’s Open-ended dialogues, Savignon’s Unscripted role-playing, Cross’ Free role play). Role-play’s with exact words provided is the most controlled type. Bryne’s “scripted roleplay” and Savignon’s “scripted role-playing” belong to this category because both of them require the written dialogues for role-play. Students need to not only memorize lines but also learn to look beyond the words. With slots hinted by contextual cues is the second most controlled role-play’s. Sturtridge’s example 1 and Livingstone’s “skeleton dialogues” are of this type. Although both of them tend to be teacher-centered, students are still given the latitude to choose their own words. Littlewood’s “cued dialogues”, “cues & information”, Sturtridge’s example 3, Bryne’s “mapped dialogues”, and Cross’ “prescribed role play” all have the feature of providing students with specific sequential moves. Although students’ moves seem controlled throughout these practices, they can still make sentences with the wording they prefer to complete the task. Among these five types, “mapped dialogues”, with concise functional cues, seem the shortest. “Cues & information” , for giving learners more freedom to create the interaction and making teachers less able to predict in 19.

(31) detail what learners will say, tends to be more flexible than “cued dialogues”. Sturtridge’s example 3 is considered the most similar to “cued dialogues” because the ways in which the sequential moves of these two types provided are almost the same. Slightly different from the other four types, “prescribed role-play” usually incorporates the traditional grammar presentation-practice instruction into the beginning of the activity for the purpose of equipping learners with target formulaic expressions. Sturtridge’s example 2 and Bryne’s “role instructions” both allow participants to practice role-play in a more creative way. Instead of being given specific sequential moves, participants are provided with a couple of sentences about the setting and potential expressions. What they have to do is make their own dialogues according to the instructions provided. Finally, the least controlled or the most creative type of role-play activities is to give participants only a very brief description of the setting. Participants are allowed to make their own dialogues or even their own stories. Littlewood’s “situation & goals” and Bryne’s “scenarios” offer a description of an overall situation, while Littlewood’s. “improvisation”,. Bryne’s. “open-ended. dialogues”,. Savignon’s. “unscripted role-playing, and Cross’ “free role play” only describe the beginning of a situation. Table 18. Extended Role-play. Scholars. Littlewood (1981) Sturtridge (1981). Features Types. An extended role-play (long & complicated). Debate & discussion. ○ (a debate or a discussion on an. Large-scale simulation activities. issue) ○ (simulation mostly used in other fields). Example 4 & 5. ○ (simulation outside the classroom). 20.

(32) Littlewood’s “debate & discussion”, “large-scale simulation activities”, and Stutridge’s exmaple 4 & 5 are extended role-plays as they are of a longer length (see Table 18). Thus they require more time and organizing skills to complete. Among them, large-scale simulation activities and Sturtridge’s example 4 & 5 share more similarities because all of them are designed with a simulation, whereas “debate & discussion” is established in a debate situation on an issue and requires participants to make a joint conclusion at the end of the activity. As can be seen, different role-play activities can be categorized into five main types in terms of different levels of language control. Since Sturtridge (1981) suggested that learners should be given freedom to choose words in a role-play, the most controlled type (i.e. Bryne’s Scripted roleplay) will be discarded in this study. To make the target types of role-play much clearer, the researcher will focus on the following four, from the most controlled to the most creative─Type 1: Skeleton dialogues (Livingstone, 1983), Type 2: Cued dialogues (Littlewood, 1981), Type 3: Role instructions (Bryne, 1986), Type 4: Free role play (Cross, 1999).. 2.3 Procedures in Using Role-play When teachers plan to incorporate a role-play activity into their teaching, how to systematically guide students to it is another important issue to pay attention to. Different procedures in using role-play are proposed by different scholars, including Richards’ (1985) six-step, Lee’s (1991) four-element, Aliakbari and Jamalvandi’s (2010) three-stage, and Maxwell’s (1997) procedure of listening, reading and videotaping. 2.3.1 Richards’ (1985) six-step procedure Richards. (1985). recommended. a. six-step. procedure. for. role-play:. Organization/preliminary activity (deciding on the activity is pair or group work), a 21.

(33) model dialogue, learning to perform the role play with the help of role cards, listening to recordings of native speakers performing the role play with role cards, follow-up, and repeating the sequence. However, Tompkins (1998) claimed that not every step needs to be taken when teachers conduct their role-play. 2.3.2 Lee’s (1991) four-element procedure Compared with Richards’ framework, Lee’s four elements in the procedure of role-play seem more concise, including preparation (a guide to possible use of language), selection of activity (according to students’ levels and needs), organization (an organized lesson plan), and follow-up (a discussion on students’ presentations). Firstly, before role-play activities are performed, teachers are suggested to incorporate both “linguistic preparation” and “factual preparation” into lessons. Linguistic preparation means that students are exposed to the possible use of the language, such as related reading materials or dialogue modeling. In this way, they may have language resources to draw on. Factual preparation, on the other hand, refers to the discussion of role cards with information relevant to the task. With these preparations, students can have enough confidence in performing the tasks. The second element is to select an appropriate role-play activity based on learners’ levels, needs, and interests, so that learners can get much benefit from the practice. The third element organization means that teachers need to spend time making a careful plan for their instructions, grouping, and even the arrangement of time. Finally, in the follow-up session, teachers are recommended to hold a class discussion on the content of role-plays, students’ learning attitude, or their use of language. This session is considered valuable due to its insight on the potential improvement in language learning and teaching. 2.3.3 Aliakbari and Jamalvandi’s (2010) three-stage procedure Aliakbari and Jamalvandi’s framework may be the most straight-forward when 22.

(34) compared with other procedures. They asserted that role-play, one of the most recommended task-based language teaching techniques, goes through three major stages: pre-task, during task, and post-task. The pre-task stage involves different activities before the task is started. Those activities are utilized to provide support for learners either in linguistic or factual ways, such as relevant vocabulary, sentence patterns, or background information about the task. In the second stage, students are assigned roles to play, repeatedly practice, and give presentations. The third stage provides both teachers and learners with opportunities to reflect on the task performances. 2.3.4 Maxwell’s (1997) procedures of incorporating role-play into listening, reading and video clips According to Maxwell (1997), the procedures of role-play activities can also be clarified through listening, reading, and video clips respectively. To incorporate role-play into listening practice, teachers ask students to listen to a 45-second listening passage, answer comprehension questions, and then complete a cloze dialogue for more precise listening practice. Groups of students then practice the dialogue which they listened to at the beginning of the class; they can either memorize the dialogue or improvise the situation. Students’ mastery of linguistic competence can be thus accentuated through such practice as pronunciation, grammatical structures, and even nonverbal communication (e.g. body languages and facial expressions). At last, teachers videotape group performances and get all students to evaluate. In combining role play with reading, groups of three or four students are given different sections of an assigned novel. Each group has to decide on two main events which they are going to perform, write a paragraph about each event, and make a list of ten new words with synonyms, antonyms, different word forms, and sentences. 23.

(35) When playing role-plays, students are asked to offer an introductory overview and give a presentation of new words in the very beginning. At the end of their role-plays, they have to stay in the roles of the characters and answer the questions from the audience for approximately five to ten minutes. To incorporate role-play into teaching English with authentic video clips, teachers can have students watch a part of video about a target language situation. Students are then asked to make a comparison between their own culture and the target culture. After that, students can watch the clip again, this time with the actual script. Meanwhile, teachers discuss linguistic elements in the script with students. In the end, students are made to practice the dialogue and give a role-play. 2.3.5 Other suggestions about procedures of role-play In addition to the four procedures mentioned above, Raz (1985) especially emphasized that teachers can move around the class to offer timely help during role-play practices. Moreover, error corrections can be anonymously pointed out in another lesson so that students can receive opportunities for improvement and avoid the feelings of embarrassment at being corrected at the same time. Besides, confident students usually take the lead in a role-play activity. In order to give shy students more chances to practice speaking, teachers are suggested to encourage them to have a brief talk about what happened in their own groups. Although there are different kinds of procedures of role-play proposed by scholars, Aliakbari and Jamalvandi’s (2010) three-stage procedure─pre-task, during task, and post-task, will be used in this study because it is considered a concise and complete framework.. 24.

(36) 2.4 Potential Problems of Role-play and Recommended Solutions Although role-play activities seem exceedingly helpful in learning (Littlewood, 1981; Robinson, 1981; Sturtridge, 1981; Klippel, 1983; Horwitz, 1985; Raz, 1985; Bryne, 1986; Doff, 1988; Nunan, 1988; Lee, 1991; Maxwell, 1997; Kaur, 2002; Liu & Ding, 2009; Aliakbari and Jamalvandi, 2010; Clapper, 2010; Liu, 2010), potential problems do exist that may reduce its effectiveness, including students’ resistances syndrome, use of the mother tongue, classroom management, error correction, and lack of space and time constraints. The recommended solutions are suggested at the end of each section. 2.4.1 Students’ resistance syndrome Surplus (1983) discovered her students had a role-play resistance syndrome. Lee (1991) also pinpointed that learners may resist role-play activities because they think role-play is irrelevant to their learning. Some high achievers may think it is childish, whereas quiet learners may feel it is a tough task. In order to minimize the resistance syndrome, teachers are advised to firstly convince students of the purpose and the values of using role-play activities and to positively comment on group presentations at the end of class (Lee, 1991). 2.4.2 Use of the mother tongue Since learners are more familiar with their mother tongue than their target language, they may be easily found to use their first language when communication does not go smoothly. Without teachers’ reminding them to use the target language, learners may lose many valuable chances to practice and improve it. To tackle this problem, Lee (1991) suggested that the mother tongue can be flexibly used during the process, but students should still be asked to give their presentation in the target language. Dickinson (1981) submitted that students are allowed to occasionally slip into their first language when they intend to make the activity close to the audience or 25.

(37) fail in thinking of the proper expressions in the target language. 2.4.3 Classroom management Since role-play activities usually involve many groups of learners in a class, teachers may inevitably have to face perplexing problems about class management during the process of implementation. These problems may be categorized into three kinds─monitoring different groups, involving the rest of the class, and lowering noise level. With regard to the problem of helping only one group at a time and thus having extremely limited time to monitor the practice of every single group and offering help in time, Dickinson (1981) believed that learners need freedom to communicate. That is, their communication should be allowed to be sometimes out of teachers’ control or direction. The reason for his argument is that learning can work best when learners take over the responsibility for their own learning. Therefore, teachers can still take their time to concentrate on one group’s practice at a time and occasionally empower other groups to handle their own tasks. Second, as only one group has the chance to talk during presentation, it is hard to get the other groups equally involved. At different language proficiency levels, some audience may feel confused with the content of role-play, get distracted from the scene, and even talk among themselves. To solve this problem, Horwitz (1985) proposed eight audience participation strategies which can successfully involve the rest of the class, including audience feedback (i.e. asking the audience to retell the role-play scene), role switch (i.e. assigning the audience to take over the roles), voting (i.e. asking the audience to vote for the conflict situations), instant replay (i.e. inviting the next group to repeat the scene with slight variation), cultural discussion, audience direction (i.e. allowing the audience to choose the ending of the play), press conference (i.e. one student as a celebrity while the remaining class as reporters), and class soap opera (i.e. every student with a new identity, acting out the prompt scene 26.

(38) and developing the plot). Finally, in terms of lowering noise level, role-play activities indeed take learners much time and effort to discuss and practice. Consequently, it is unavoidable that the noise may last for a period of time in class. Teachers and participants may get used to it. However, it may disturb the nearby classes if teachers forget to keep it under control. Lee (1991) suggested that teachers may minimize this risk by informing the teachers in the nearby classes of the possible noise level beforehand. 2.4.4 Error correction Since role-play is a communicative activity which emphasizes more fluency than accuracy, when and how to correct learners’ utterance errors is usually a perplexing problem and even a dilemma for teachers. Immediate correction may be inhibiting while totally ignoring errors may be harmful for learning. Additionally, handling every single error may also discourage students from producing language. Dickinson (1981) responded to the problem by giving the following suggestions. In order not to interrupt students’ practice in fluency, teachers can take notes or use recording equipment to record language errors. Students’ errors can be partially selected for improvement according to the number of times they occur (i.e. frequency), the level at which they affect communication (i.e. significance), and the possibility for students to correct with their own effort (i.e. correctability). These significant errors can be dealt with in the follow-up debriefing session. 2.4.5 Lack of space and time constraints When many groups of students participate in role-play activities, the limited space in a classroom may be a problem for both teachers and students. The reason is that groups that are discussing and practicing may interfere with one another. In addition, role-play may take much time if it contains preparation and follow-up work. Without a careful plan for time arrangement, teachers may easily feel that class time 27.

(39) is insufficient or their teaching schedules are to be postponed. To cope with the problem of space, Lee (1991) suggested that teachers can still use a normal classroom if they have no chances to use the school hall, larger rooms, or shady spots in the sports field. Just pushing chairs and desks to the back of the classroom can give students a more open area in the front. As to the problem of time constraints, Dickinson (1981) recommended that teachers can allocate time very precisely for the following four activities and follow the timeline which they make beforehand strictly—language preparation, administrative instructions, the event, and follow-up with discussion about the event, language errors, or remedial work. As can be seen above, most of the previous research has revealed the potential problems of role-play from the broad perspectives (i.e. students’ resistance syndrome, their use of their mother tongue; teachers’ classroom management, their error correction, time constraints). However, few studies have further tapped into the detail-oriented problems of role-play, such as how teachers implement a role-play activity in class, how teachers offer assistance when students have questions during the discussion, how teachers guide students to the plot of their dialogue when they lack ideas, how teachers can effectively make students understand other groups’ role-plays, how much time students need to master their dialogues, and whether students tend to memorize their dialogues.. 2.5 Factors in Successful Use of Role-play Since role-play is a valuable technique for L2 learning, knowing how to successfully use it becomes important. Ladousse (1987) firstly proposed eleven main factors in a successful role-play, and other scholars also suggested six factors from different perspectives: considerations of students’ needs and levels, heterogeneous grouping, authentic topics and purposeful tasks, linguistic and factual preparation, 28.

(40) teachers’ roles as facilitators and spectators, and appropriate error correction. 2.5.1 Eleven factors in Ladousse’s study (1987) Ladousse (1987) presented eleven factors in a successful use of role-play, including level (i.e. considering students’ level), time (i.e. providing students enough time to carry out the task), aim (i.e. deciding on the objective of the activity), language (i.e. providing the language structures or functions students need), organization (i.e. deciding on the use of pair or group work), preparation (i.e. selections of role-play situations, pre-role-play preparation, and role assignments), warm-up (i.e. catching students’ attention and arousing their learning motivation), procedure (i.e. a step-by-step guide to activity implementation), follow-up, remarks (i.e. marking out difficulties), and variation (i.e. marking out possible applications on students of different language proficiency levels or different types of classes). At the first stage of designing role-play activities, teachers need to take into consideration students’ level and the amount of time for them to read assigned materials. Next, teachers have to make a clear decision on the broader objective of the activity (e.g. Is it used to break the ice or develop skills in cooperation?). The language that students will need to learn should be also determined beforehand, such as language structures or functions. After deciding on aim and language, teachers can choose to use either pair work or group work in the activities, and this refers to organization. Then, at the stage of starting role-play activities, necessary preparation should be firstly given to students. Then teachers utilize warm-up activities to create a non-threatening atmosphere and alleviate students’ anxiety. Procedures with successive steps should be also carefully planned for both teachers and learners to follow. Finally, a successful role-play is suggested to have follow-up, either for the 29.