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RUNĀŠANAS PRASMJU
ATTĪSTĪBA AR LOMU SPĒĻU PALĪDZĪBU.
DIPLOMA PAPER
RIGA 2008
DECLARATION OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
I hereby declare that this study is my own and does not contain any unacknowledged material
from any source.
Date: 4.01.2008
Runāšanas prasme tiek uzskatīta par valodas zināšanas vienu no pamata vērtībām. Tie,
kas mācās ārzemju valodu, bieži uzskata runāšanu par vissvarīgāko prasmi, kas nepieciešama,
lai mācoties to. Angļu valodas skolotāja uzdevums ir piedāvāt dažādus komunikatīvos
vingrinājumus, kas ietver sevī arī lomu spēles, tādā veidā sekmējot skolnieku komunicēšanās
spējas.
Šā diplomdarba mērķis ir izvērtēt lomu spēļu izmantošanu, kā metodi, attīstot
runāšanas prasmi pamatskolā. Šis pētījums iepazīstina ar mācību pamatiem, kas tika izvērtēti,
mācot runāšanas prasmi caur lomu spēlēm, Purvciema vidusskolā laika periodā no 2007. gada
septembra līdz 2007. gada oktobrim. Pētījuma mērķauditorija ir skolēni vecumā no 12 – 13
gadiem, kuru angļu valodas zināšanu līmenis ir A2 (pirms sliekšņa līmenis) Pētījuma dati tika
apkopoti, veicot pedagoģiskos novērojumus, analizējot skolotāja interviju, un bez šaubām
izmantojot anketas saistībā ar runāšanas prasmes attīstīšanu caur lomu spēlēm, kas tika
izdalītas starp skolēniem, kas piedalījās šajā pētījumā.
Pētījuma rezultātā tika pierādīts, ka runāšanas prasme ir galvenā, mācot ārzemju
valodu. Lomu spēles ir viens no visefektīvākajiem komunikatīvajiem vingrinājumiem, kas
skolēnos veicina valodu komunicēšanās spēju. Kad izpilda lomu spēles, tas, kurš runā tekoši,
valodas sakāmo saka ar vieglumu, runā ar labu, bet ne pārāk ideālu intonāciju, izmanto
vārdnīcas, gramatikas un komunicēšanās zināšanas, tāpat, kā rada pastāvīgu sarunu, bez
saprašanas grūtībām vai nejaušas sarunas izbeigšanos. Tādā veidā lomu spēles ir jāiekļauj
angļu valodas mācību programmā pamatskolām.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
1. Aspects of Teaching Speaking Skills in Basic School
1.1. Defining Conversational Competence in Language Teaching and Learning
1.2. Guidelines for Development of Speaking Skills
1.3. Techniques for Assessment of Spoken Language
2. Promoting Learner’s Speaking Skills through Role-play as a Communicative Task
2.1. Concept of Role-play
2.2. Structure and Stages of Role-play
2.3. Integrating Role-play into the Language Curriculum in Basic School
3. Research Case Study on Teaching Speaking Skills
3.1. Analyzing the Use of Role-play in the Language Classroom
3.2. Analyzing the Interview with the Teacher and Learners’ Questionnaires
Conclusions
Theses
Bibliography
Appendices
INTRODUCTION
The author of the paper proposes the following hypothesis: Role-plays practiced in the
English language classroom help language learners develop their speaking skills effectively
and become competent for carrying out communication not only in the classroom but also
outside school.
The present research is conducted on the basis of a case study, which examines a case
of teaching speaking skills through role-play in Purvciems Secondary School in the period
from September until October, 2007. The target population of the research is sixteen 12-13
years old learners of the seventh form whose English language proficiency level is Pre-
Intermediate. The research data are collected by means of carrying out pedagogical
observation, analyzing the interview with the teacher, and by means of applying a
questionnaire regarding the development of speaking skills through role-play, which was
spread among the learners who took part in the case study.
The present Diploma Paper consists of three chapters.
The first chapter investigates various aspects of teaching speaking skills in basic
school. In this chapter, the author of the paper defines conversational competence as discussed
in foreign language teaching and learning, provides guidelines for development of speaking
skills, and mentions techniques for assessment of learners’ spoken language.
The second chapter gives an account on the concept, structure and stages of role-play
as a communicative task, provides considerations for designing of role-plays, and presents a
way of integrating role-play into the language curriculum in basic school.
The third chapter presents an account on the findings of the present research. In the
practical part, the author of the paper describes the case study undertaken for the purpose of
implementing the theoretical considerations on the development of speaking skills through
role-play in practice and the analysis of the pedagogical observation, interview with the
teacher and learners’ questionnaires.
1. ASPECTS OF TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS IN BASIC SCHOOL
The first chapter investigates various aspects of teaching speaking skills in basic
school. In this chapter, the author of the paper defines conversational competence as discussed
in literature on foreign language teaching and learning, provides guidelines for development
of speaking skills, and analyzes techniques for assessment of learners’ spoken language.
McDonough and Shaw (2003) suggest that speaking should involve the following
areas of knowledge (McDonough and Shaw 2003: 134):
McDonough and Shaw (2003) propose that mastering speaking skills should imply,
firstly, using the right words in the right order with the correct pronunciation (McDonough
and Shaw 2003: 135). Secondly, they stress the importance of learners’ knowing when clarity
of message is essential, i.e. transaction/information exchange, as well as when precise
understanding is not required, i.e. interaction/relationship building. And finally, learners have
to take into account who is speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what, and for
what reason.
Thornbury (2005) advises that one should take into consideration two aspects of
speaking: what speakers do, and what speakers know (Thornbury 2005: 1, 11). This is
determined by a widely acknowledged proposition that speaking involves not only a command
of certain skills, but also several different types of knowledge. According to Thornbury
(2005), when speakers communicate, they display their skills in (Thornbury, 2005: 1-10):
speech production, conceptualization and formation, articulation, self-monitoring and repair,
automaticity, fluency, managing talk.
Thornbury (2005) maintains that effective communication also implies speakers’
extralinguistic and linguistic knowledge, and can be influenced by particular speech
conditions (Thornbury 2005: 11). Knowledge that is relevant to speaking can be categorized
either as knowledge of features of language (linguistic knowledge) or knowledge that is
independent of language (extralinguistic knowledge). The kinds of extralinguistic knowledge
that affect speaking include topic and cultural knowledge, knowledge of the context, as well
as familiarity with the other speakers (Hedge 2000: 261). Brown (2006) assumes that
sociocultural knowledge is an important aspect of communication, as this is the knowledge
about social values and the norms of behaviour in a given society, including the way these
values and norms are realized through language (Brown 2006: 177). However, it has to be
pointed out that sociocultural knowledge can be both extralinguistic and linguistic (Thornbury
2005: 12). Whereas linguistic knowledge comprises the following: genre knowledge,
discourse knowledge, pragmatic knowledge, grammar, vocabulary, phonology (Thornbury
2005: 13-26).
Moreover, Thornbury (2005) states that the conditions, in which speaking occurs, play
a crucial role in determining the degree of fluency that is achievable. Researchers have
divided the factors into three categories: cognitive factors, affective (i.e. emotional) factors,
and performance factors (Thornbury 2005: 25-26). To understand the function better, it is
necessary to consider each in detail, thus:
Cognitive factors:
• familiarity with the topic: the greater the familiarity, the easier the speaking task;
• familiarity with the genre: giving a lecture or a speech will be harder if you are
unfamiliar with those particular genres;
• familiarity with the interlocutors: the better one knows the people he or she is talking
to and the more shared knowledge one can assume, the easier it will be;
• processing demands: if the speech event involves complex mental processing, such as
that involved in describing a complicated procedure without resource to illustrations, it
will be more difficult than if not.
Bailey and Savage (1994) emphasize the importance of fluency in the development of
learners’ speaking skills (Bailey, Savage, 1994: 22). Some methodologists define fluency in
contrast to accuracy (Fillmore, Kempler, Wang, 1979; Brumfit, 1984; Lennon, 1990).
Accuracy refers to the “ability to produce grammatically correct sentences, but it may not
include the ability to speak or write fluently” (Richards, Platt, and Weber 1985:109).
However, Brown (2003) argues that fluency can be best understood, not in contrast to
accuracy but rather as a compliment to it (Brown 2003: 2). Brown (2003) proposes to enlarge
and restructure methodological view of the components of language and the concept of what
fluency means. Before students can ever have any chance to improve their fluency in a second
or foreign language, teachers have to expand their traditional boundaries of accuracy to offer
rules of appropriacy, including the following (Brown 2003: 2):
Table 1.1. presents an expanded view of language fluency (Brown 2003: 3):
Communicative language tools are the components learners need in order to actually
use language (Brown 2003: 3). The teacher has to provide his or her students with all the
language tools available to successful language users. Native and non-native speakers exploit
a wide range of tools, which, apart from pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, also include
paralinguistic features, kinesic language features, and pragmatics. Bailey and Savage (1994)
underline that in order not to limit students’ linguistic options, the language teacher should
teach pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary in their full versions: in spoken discourse, the
rules of conversational grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary have to be taught and
practised (Bailey, Savage 1994: 34). Paralinguistic features, i.e. those features of spoken
language which are outside the actual sounds being made, are vital communication tools; thus,
facial expressions, head movements, hand gestures, eye movements, and eye gaze have to be
effectively employed by language learners (Clark, Clark 1977: 95). Kinesic language features,
including the communication facets of distance, touching, and posture, are also important,
because they can be used to communicate friendliness, concern, hostility, and many other
complex emotions (Clark, Clark 1977: 112). Pragmatics includes those facets of language that
are directly related to the particular contexts and social situations in which the language is
being used; learners have to be taught the pragmatic rules of different languages to avoid
problems in carrying out communication (Faerch, Kasper 1984: 223).
Communicative language choices are alternatives within sets of language tools that
students need to select due to the context in which communication is taking place (Brown
2003: 4). The choices that students make when they actually communicate in English have to
be based on expression rules, which centre on the choices to be made due to differences in
settings, social, sexual, and psychological roles, as well as register and style. According to
Folse (2006), settings are the places, in which communication takes place, e.g. in front of an
audience, in the street, at home, on the phone, at a doctor’s: there are certain differences in
language necessary in those various settings (Folse 2006: 51). Fillmore, Kempler, Wang
(1979) point at sexual, psychological, and social roles within different situations determining
the choices that people make when communicating (Fillmore, Kempler, Wang, 1979: 36-39).
The distinction in sexual roles determines differences in the ways women and men
communicate with others: the research indicates that the differences are expressed in the
amount of talk, interruption strategies, and coherence. Psychological roles differ in terms of
personality, aggressiveness, dominance, size; thus, various language choices may be based on
psychological roles, and students have to understand those differences, especially if those
roles are different in their own culture. The social roles that people play in life affect
communication to a great extent as well: when communicating, students make language
choices as they move from social role to social role. Finally, as McCarthy (1990) defines it,
register refers to differences in language choices based on membership in different
occupations, or areas of interest; whereas, style refers to differences in the level of formality:
the differences in style and register relate to the use of specialized grammar, and vocabulary
(McCarthy 1990: 84).
Communicative language strategies are abilities that students need in order to
maximize communication when they are less than a hundred percent accurate in their use of
language (Brown 2003: 7-8). Communicative language strategies can help learners
communicate fluently with whatever proficiency level they have at any given time. Brown
(2003) mentions six important strategies, including the abilities: to use speed to their
advantage, to use pauses and hesitations efficiently, to give appropriate feedback, to repair
competently, to clarify effectively, and to negotiate for meaning when necessary. Firstly,
students need understand that speaking fast does not mean speaking fluently; instead, the
appropriate speed is the speed at which speakers can think clearly and still succeed in getting
their message across. Secondly, students need understand that pauses and hesitations are
natural parts of spoken language to be employed: the reason for pausing and hesitating is that
people need time to think when they are talking, and native speakers use much pausing and
hesitating to give themselves that time. The use of fillers, e.g. okay, you know, well, so, also
gives them time to think. Thirdly, students have to be taught how to give feedback to indicate
that the message is or is not getting through. Feedback can express agreement or
disagreement, understanding or misunderstanding, comprehension or confusion; and the
signals used to express these meanings can include not only sounds and words, but also
gestures and facial expressions. Such feedback signals should be taught because they are clear
and obvious indicators of fluency that can make a person seem very foreign or very fluent
depending on how appropriately they are used. Furthermore, students need to be taught how to
correct their own errors, how to understand and accept corrections from others, and
eventually, how to correct errors that others make without creating offense. In addition,
students have to be able to exploit any strategies to clarify their message: rephrase, define
terms, summarize, use gestures, draw a picture, etc. Likewise, fluent speakers when failing to
understand something in a conversation will use whatever verbal signals, gestures, or facial
expressions to get the other speaker to clarify: this process of giving and taking in a
conversation, including various interactions of feedback, repair, and clarification, is called
negotiation. Typically, negotiation is focused on cooperating to get meaning across; in the
process, it sometimes centers on clarifying vocabulary, grammar, or even pronunciation
details.
To summarize, language instruction has to address the following oral skills and
knowledge (Brown 2000: 172):
a) producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and intonations of the
language;
b) using grammar structures accurately;
c) assessing characteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge or shared
points of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest levels, or
differences in perspectives;
d) selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the topic
being discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs;
e) applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words,
rephrasing, or checking for listener’s comprehension;
f) using gestures or body language;
g) paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of speech
such as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to maximize
the listener’s comprehensions and involvement.
The author of the paper suggests that learners’ conversational competence is based on
their accuracy and fluency in a foreign language. The author of the paper believes that in order
to help the learners develop their communicative skills, the language teacher has to
demonstrate them the complexity of the communicative competence, mentioned above,
starting from the very beginning of the language teaching and learning process. The learners’
understanding of all the aspects and factors of communicative competence will definitely
facilitate their learning of the foreign language.
In the following subchapter, the author of the paper provides guidelines for
development of speaking skills to be taken into account by the language teacher.
• practice at using native language strategies, which they do not automatically transfer;
• an awareness of formal/informal language and practice at choosing appropriate
language for different situations;
• the awareness that informal spoken language is less complex than written language, as
it uses shorter sentences, is less organized and uses more vague or non-specific
language;
• exposure to a variety of spoken text types;
• the ability to cope with different listening situations: though most communication is
done face-to-face, listening activities still involve students as ‘overhearers’;
• to be competent at both message-oriented or transactional language and interactional
language, language for maintaining social relationships;
• to be taught patterns of real interaction;
• to have intelligible pronunciation and be able to cope with streams of speech;
• rehearsal time: given guided preparation/rehearsal time, the students are more likely to
use a wider range of language in a spoken task.
Therefore, the author of the paper agrees with Donald (2004) who proposes the
following practical suggestions for teachers to take into consideration when preparing
speaking tasks:
• transferring L1 strategies:
When preparing for a spoken task, make students aware of any relevant L1 strategies
that might help them to perform the task successfully, e.g. rephrasing.
• formal/informal language:
Give students one or more short dialogues where one speaker is either too formal or
too informal. Students first identify the inappropriate language, and then try to change
it. The teacher may also demonstrate how disorganized informal speech is.
• vague language:
Using tape scripts of informal speech, focus on examples of vague language.
• different types of spoken texts:
Draw up a list of spoken text types relevant to the level of your class. Teach the
language appropriate for each text type.
• interactive listening:
Develop interactive listening activities. Face-to-face listening is the most common and
the least practiced by course books. Any form of live listening, e.g. the teacher
speaking to the students, is suitable.
• transactional and interactional language:
Raise students’ awareness by using a dialogue that contains both. It could be two
friends chatting to each other (interactional) and ordering a meal (transactional).
• real interaction patterns:
Introduce the following basic interaction patterns: Initiate, Respond, Follow-up, as
seen in the example below:
A: What did you do last night? (Initiate)
B: Went to the cinema. (Respond)
A: Oh really? (Follow-up)
What did you see? (Initiate)
B: Lord of the Rings. (Respond)
Have you been yet? (Initiate)
A: No it’s difficult for kids. (Respond)
B: Yeah of course. (Follow-up)
• understanding spoken English:
After a listening exercise, give students the tapescript. Using part of it, students mark
the stressed words, and put them into groups (tone units). You can use phone numbers
to introduce the concept of tone units. The length of a tone unit depends on the type of
spoken text. Compare a speech with an informal conversation. In the same lesson or
subsequent listening lessons, you can focus on reduction in spoken speech, e.g.
linking, elision, and assimilation.
• preparation and rehearsal:
Before a spoken task, give students some preparation and rehearsal time. Students will
need guidance on how to use it. A sheet with simple guidelines is effective.
• real-life tasks:
Try to use real-life tasks as part of your teaching.
• dialogues,
• information gap activities,
• jigsaw activities,
• surveys,
• guessing games,
• presentations,
• talks,
• story-telling,
• drama,
• role-plays,
• simulations,
• discussions,
• debates,
• conversation,
• chat,
• outside-class speaking tasks.
1) Student resistance:
Some learners are not enthusiastic about pair and group work, particularly in mono-
lingual classes in which it is a little unnatural to communicate to someone who speaks
the same language in a language they are both less proficient in. The learners may also
be reluctant to speak in pairs because they do not wish to learn mistakes from their
partners.
2) Self-consciousness:
There are many learners who become very nervous and embarrassed when asked to
speak English.
3) Large classes:
While theoretically the more students there are in a class, the more possibilities for
interaction there should be, this is not the case in practice. The more learners there are,
the more difficult developing interaction can be since there are more people to
monitor, and therefore, more chances of problems. In addition, there can be excessive
noise which can mask bad behavior and use of the native language.
4) Mixed abilities:
Pairing and grouping students appropriately in classes that have a wide variety of
levels is much more difficult than in small classes of a homogenous level.
5) Lack of motivation:
If learners have no need to interact or if they do not want to do it, they probably will
not communicate in class.
6) Insufficient language:
Students may not have the language they need to interact, and therefore, they will feel
unable to complete a task successfully.
7) Peer pressure:
Even native speakers take years to master their language; a foreign language learner
also makes a lot of mistakes before even managing to produce anything approaching
good English. The spontaneous nature of speaking means that the learners are likely to
make more mistakes than they would do otherwise. The teacher has to be sensitive
about the learners’ self-consciousness regarding speaking out in front of the class.
8) Lack of support:
There are two kinds of support: classroom atmosphere and linguistic support. It may
not be realistic to expect teenagers to provide the generous and patient atmosphere
ideal for language practice, but it is possible to encourage them to support each other,
for example, by working in teams. However, it is possible to provide linguistic support
in terms of words and phrases that are required for classroom interaction.
In order to overcome interaction problems in the classroom, the following solutions are
provided (Brown, 2003; Donald, 2004; Howarth, 2006; Skeffington, 2007):
Providing students with feedback and correction, as well as assessing their spoken
language is an important part of teaching speaking skills syllabus. The following subchapter
discusses several techniques for assessment of learners’ spoken language.
Fulcher (2003) states that testing speaking skills, both formally and informally, takes
place at the beginning and at the end of most language courses, as well as at various times
during the course itself (Fulcher 2003: 4). A placement test with a spoken component provides
assessment of speaking skills in the beginning of a course. A progress test evaluates the
learners’ progress in the development of speaking skills during the course. And an
achievement test assesses overall spoken language proficiency at the end of the course.
However, Luoma (2004) notes that the inclusion of an oral component in a test
considerably complicates the testing procedure, both in terms of its practicality and the way
assessment criteria can be reliably applied (Luoma 2004: 113). If all students in the class are
to be interviewed individually, the disruption caused, and the time taken, may seem to
outweigh the benefits. In addition, different testers may have very different criteria for judging
speaking, such differences being not so acute when it comes to judging writing or grammar
knowledge, for instance. Nevertheless, where teachers or students are reluctant to engage in
much classroom speaking, the effect of an oral component in the final examination can be a
powerful incentive to practice more speaking in class. This is known as the washback effect of
testing: the oral nature of the test ‘washes back’ into the coursework that precedes it.
The most commonly used spoken tests are the following (O’Loughlin, 2001; Fulcher,
2003; Luoma, 2004; Taylor, Falvey, 2007):
- interviews,
- live monologues,
- recorded monologues,
- role-plays,
- collaborative tasks and discussions.
Taylor and Falvey admit that there are two main ways of assessing the learner’s
speaking ability (Taylor, Falvey 2007: 81):
Taylor and Falvey (2007) note that holistic scoring has the advantage of being quicker;
therefore, it seems to be more appropriate for informal testing of progress (Taylor, Falvey
2007: 81). Analytic scoring takes longer, but it compels testers to take into consideration a
variety of factors, and if these factors are well chosen, it appears to be both fairer and more
reliable. Nonetheless, one disadvantage of analytical scoring is that the scorer may be
distracted by all the categories and lose sight of the overall picture. Thus, Thornbury (2005)
advises that four or five categories should be the maximum that scorers can handle at one
time, and these may include: grammar and vocabulary, discourse management, pronunciation,
and interactive communication (Thornbury, 2005: 127-129).
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages offers useful
descriptors for different skills competences at each of the following proficiency levels: A
Basic User, A1 Breakthrough, A2 Waystage, B Independent User, B1 Threshold, B2 Vantage,
C Proficient User, C1 Effective Operational Proficiency, and C2 Mastery. Thornbury (2005)
proposes that these descriptors could provide language teachers with handy criteria for
assessing their learners’ speaking abilities (Thornbury 2005: 129). Table 1.2., based on the
guidelines of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, displays the
descriptors for oral production at all levels:
The author of the paper is assured that role-play is the most effective way of
developing speaking skills in basic school. Therefore, the following chapter is devoted to the
issue of promoting learner’s speaking skills through role-play as a communicative task.
2. PROMOTING LEARNER’S SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH
ROLE-PLAY AS A COMMUNICATIVE TASK
The present chapter gives an account on the concept, structure and stages of role-play
as a communicative task, provides considerations for designing of role-plays, and presents a
way of integrating role-play into the language curriculum in basic school.
However, Burkart (1998) supposes that even a seemingly predictable transactional type
of role-play can be transformed into an interactional by an introduction of an element of
surprise which obliges learners to use various strategies to cope with the unexpected
development (Burkart 1998: 23).
Although the above mentioned authors accentuate that role-plays are practiced to
resemble communication in real life settings, Kramiņa (2000) indicates that “role-play
requires learners to project themselves into an imaginary situation where they may play
themselves or where they are required to play a character role” (Kramiņa 2000: 79). A
situation or scenario may be realistic (e.g. getting through to the right person on the phone and
having the planned conversation), but it might also be unrealistic for learners, appealing to
their sense of fantasy (e.g. you are a caterpillar about to become a butterfly…). According to
the studies carried out by the Council of Europe (1993), “all kinds of role-play are useful and
it is essentially a question of maintaining a balance between realistic activities and other
imaginative and interesting situations which provide motivation, enjoyment, and satisfaction
in the here-and-now of the classroom” (Council of Europe 1993: 158). Role-play, thus, is not
simply a rehearsal for future real-life transactions. It is a means of going beyond the valuable,
but necessarily limited, discourse of classroom socializing and activities such as surveys,
games, and discussions. It provides learners with opportunities to practice correct and
appropriate use of numerous functions, notions, and structures in a variety of contexts
(Kramiņa 2000: 79).
Language teachers advocate the use of role-play in the classroom for the following
reasons (Ladousse, 1988; Harmer, 1991; Burkart,1998; Thornbury 2006; Budden, 2007):
Role-play requires careful planning to ensure that it is carried out properly (Ladousse
1988; Harmer, 1991). Table 2.1. illustrates the following structure and stages of role-play
(Kramiņa 2000: 81):
The purpose and type of role-play influence the necessity of the above mentioned
stages (Ladousse, 1988; Harmer, 1991; Kramiņa, 2000). Where the emphasis is on practicing
role-play at an elementary level, most of the stages could be useful but with less emphasis on
the use of observers and a more active monitoring role of the teacher (Kramiņa 2000: 81).
James (1998) reminds that error correction should be confined to the main points not to
discourage learners from communication in a foreign language (James 1998: 103).
Ladousse (1988) emphasizes the importance of post-play analysis, in which learners
assess their performance and evaluate the accomplished activity (Ladousse 1988: 139).
Ladousse suggests the following aspects of the performed role-play to be discussed:
The following subchapter presents a way of integrating role-play into the language
curriculum in basic school.
Burkart (1998) proposes the following procedure of conducting a role-play during the
English lesson, described in detail in Appendix 2 (Burkart 1998: 26):
1) preparation,
2) performance,
3) evaluation,
4) follow-up.
As regards feedback, Budden (2007) suggests the following ways of error correction
when using role-play:
• Self-correction:
If the teacher has the equipment to record the role-plays either on audiocassettes or on
video, students can be given the opportunity to listen to the conversations again and
reflect on the language used. They may find it easy to spot their own mistakes.
• Peer-correction:
Fellow students may be able to correct some mistakes made by their peers. The teacher
needs to be careful to keep peer-correction a positive and profitable experience for all
involved.
• Teacher correction:
Making a note of common mistakes and dealing with them in future classes helps the
teacher ensure that the students do not lose motivation by being corrected on the spot
or straight after the role-play. The teacher should negotiate with students by asking
them how they would like to be corrected.
In addition, Thornbury (2006) offers the language teacher role-play for not only
practicing, but also testing learners’ speaking skills (Thornbury 2006: 126). Role-plays can be
a spoken component of a placement test in the beginning of the course, of a progress test
during the course, and of an achievement test in the end of a course. Since the students will be
used to doing role-plays in class, the same format can be effectively used for testing. The
other role can then be played either by the tester or another student. The role-play selected for
the purpose of testing the learners’ speaking skills should not require sophisticated
performance skills or a lot of imagination. Situations grounded in everyday reality are
considered to be the best during a test. Such role-plays might involve using data that has been
provided in advance, e.g. the student could use the information in a travel brochure to make a
booking at a travel agency. This kind of test is particularly valid if it closely matches the
learner’s needs.
As it has been mentioned earlier, the main aim of role-play is to develop learners’
autonomy in communication by applying various skills. Rivers and Temperley (1978) regard
role-play to be a communicative activity which bridges the gap between skill-getting and skill-
using (Rivers, Temperley, 1978: 5). Rivers and Temperley, however, assume that this process
is not automatic, as role-play serves to provide pseudo-communication that will lead naturally
into spontaneous communication activities. Appendix 3 demonstrates Rivers and Temperley’s
scheme of the processes involved in learning to communicate, which should be taken into
account by the language teacher when presenting and practicing role-plays in his or her
classroom. As these authors argue, all that the teacher can teach students in a foreign language
is how to construct the appropriate framework for the expression of meaning. The teacher
cannot teach students to express their own meaning, but he or she can provide opportunities
that stimulate motivation for a certain activity and help the students to improve the framework
so that it really carry the message intended. Role-plays should be integrated into the language
curriculum so that the students could construct various types of frameworks and see if they
can carry effectively the meanings they intend.
Moreover, as students need situations where they are on their own trying to use the
foreign language to exchange with others messages of real interest to them, methodologists
intend that role-plays should be conducted in the following natural interactional contexts
(Rivers, Temperley, 1978; Brumfit, 1984):
1) Prepare carefully: Introduce the activity by describing the situation and making sure
that all of the students understand it.
2) Set a goal or outcome: Be sure the students understand what the product of the role
play should be, whether a plan, a schedule, a group opinion, or some other product.
3) Use role cards: Give each student a card that describes the person or role to be played.
For lower-level students, the cards can include words or expressions that that person
might use.
4) Brainstorm: Before you start the role play, have students brainstorm as a class to
predict what vocabulary, grammar, and idiomatic expressions they might use.
5) Keep groups small: Less-confident students will feel more able to participate if they do
not have to compete with many voices.
6) Give students time to prepare: Let them work individually to outline their ideas and the
language they will need to express them.
7) Be present as a resource, not a monitor: Stay in communicative mode to answer
students’ questions. Do not correct their pronunciation or grammar unless they
specifically ask you about it.
8) Allow students to work at their own levels: Each student has individual language
skills, an individual approach to working in groups, and a specific role to play in the
activity. Do not expect all students to contribute equally to the discussion, or to use
every grammar point you have taught.
9) Do topical follow-up: Have students report to the class on the outcome of their role
plays.
10) Do linguistic follow-up: After the role play is over, give feedback on grammar or
pronunciation problems you have heard. This can wait until another class period when
you plan to review pronunciation or grammar anyway.
• Before class, think what language and vocabulary students will need to do the role play
successfully and make a list.
• Ask lead-in questions to engage students’ interest in the situation and to set the context
of the role play. Never go into role plays “cold”.
• Build up the atmosphere and encourage the suspension of disbelief by using props
available in the classroom or by bringing them in, e.g. wine glasses, knives, forks,
spoons and plates for a restaurant role play.
• Explain the task clearly. Say who the students are and what they have to do. Get them
to think about the outcome by asking: What happens in the end? How does the
conversation/role play end?
• Assign roles or ask students to choose who they want to be. Ask a few quick questions
to check that everyone is clear about the activity, e.g. who are you? Who’s your
husband/wife?
• Pre-teach or check students know the language and vocabulary that you listed before
class. If it is a complicated role play, consider giving students prompt sheets with key
vocabulary/questions for their characters.
• Students who are playing the same character can prepare together in pairs or small
groups, e.g. “husbands” together and “wives” together. They can then help each other
with ideas and have extra speaking practice. Monitor this stage carefully and help with
ideas and language. If you feel your class needs more support in the way of ideas,
make cards for each character, e.g. you’re the wife. You and your husband both work.
Your husband spends a lot of money on clothes, going out to restaurants with
colleagues etc. He never spends any money on you or your home. How do you feel
about this? Do you ever have rows about it? What happens in the rows? Students then
pair up for the actual role play, e.g. a “husband” with a “wife”.
• Before students act out their role plays, encourage them not to stick too rigidly to the
materials they have prepared. They should not read out their notes. If something
interesting or funny comes up, they should react to it naturally and ask questions about
it, e.g. Oh, really?
• Whether or not everyone acts out their role play in front of the whole class will depend
on the size of your class and the time available. If you have a big class, you could ask
groups to rehearse acting out their role plays to each other before they face the class.
When students act out their role play to the class, make sure the class listens. Give
students questions to answer as they watch, e.g. what was the man complaining about?
Was he successful in the end? Or give students a task, e.g. the class is the audience for
a TV interview and can applaud, heckle, etc.
• Do not interrupt while students are acting out their role plays. If they have done their
preparation thoroughly, it should go smoothly.
• When you feedback, highlight the good things as well as the errors. Where possible,
avoid making students self-conscious. You could make a note of the grammatical
errors you hear during the role play and deal with these in a subsequent lesson. Your
immediate feedback can then be about the positive aspects of the language, the
students’ ideas, fluency, stress and intonation, facial expressions etc. The aim is to
boost students’ confidence so that they will be keen to do more role plays in the future.
The final chapter presents an account on the findings of the present research.
3. RESEARCH CASE STUDY
The final chapter presents an account on the findings of the present research. In the
practical part, the author of the paper describes the case study undertaken for the purpose of
implementing the theoretical considerations on the development of speaking skills through
role-play in practice and the analysis of the pedagogical observation, interview with the
teacher and learners’ questionnaires.
The present research has been conducted on the basis of a case study, which examined
a case of teaching speaking skills through role-play in Purvciems Secondary School in the
period from September until October, 2007. The target population of the research was sixteen
12-13 years old learners of the seventh form whose English language proficiency level was
Pre-Intermediate. The research data were collected by means of carrying out pedagogical
observation, analyzing the interview with the teacher, and by means of applying a
questionnaire regarding the development of speaking skills through role-play, which was
spread among the learners who took part in the case study.
The aim of the case study was as follows:
During the pedagogical observation, the author of the paper observed eight lessons
taught by the English language teacher in the selected class, and demonstrated her own three
lessons where the focus was on role-play as a method of developing the learners’ speaking
skills. The aim of the pedagogical observation was:
1) to observe the English teacher’s lessons in order to gain teaching experience in the
development of language learners’ speaking skills;
2) to mark the teacher’s techniques that help the learners improve their communicative
competence.
Furthermore, the author of the paper aimed at piloting several role-plays in the
classroom and analyzing the results of the experiment.
The teacher spent approximately half of the classroom time on communicative tasks
which were aimed at integrating grammar and vocabulary into their speaking skills. The
communicative tasks involved dialogues, information gap activities, role-plays, presentations,
story-telling, and jigsaw activities among others. The selected activities promoted the learners’
interaction were maximally language productive, purposeful, and interactive, as well as
facilitated collaboration and socializing in the classroom. Moreover, several tasks were quite
challenging; the teacher managed to raise the learners’ motivation to such a degree that the
whole class was eager to participate in the solution of the problems offered by the teacher.
Several tasks also promoted the learners’ autonomy in a way that the learners had an
opportunity to experience a quality of communication in the classroom that would be
essentially the same as communication outside the classroom: the learners had to perform in
real operating conditions, e.g. spontaneously, unassisted, with minimal preparation, and
having to do with their existing resources.
The main focus of the role-plays which the teacher practiced in the classroom was on
developing the learners’ knowledge of the language mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and
vocabulary), functions (transaction and interaction), and social and cultural rules and norms
(turn-taking, rate of speech, length of pauses between speakers, relative roles of participants).
Before the learners were engaged into a role-play planned for a particular lesson, the teacher
reminded the learners of the social and cultural rules and norms so that they had an
opportunity to revise these skills which, to a certain extent, would help them conform to the
expectations of the native speakers living in the English-speaking countries. The author of the
paper suggests that the teacher’s focus on the social norms and rules was determined by the
fact that in contrast to language mechanics and functions that are similar to Russian and
English languages, the social and cultural norms had to be demonstrated to the learners several
times until they got used to the cross-cultural differences between their mother tongue and the
foreign language.
The teacher did not attract the learners’ attention to all the skills necessary to perform
the role-plays and other speaking activities, offered in the course book, but she stressed the
importance of self-monitoring and repair by giving appropriate feedback on the learners’
speech errors. Other ways of speech error corrections were teacher’s remarks in relation to the
most common mistakes, and peer correction when the communicative tasks were carried out
in pairs or small groups.
What regards fluency and accuracy, the teacher promoted both fluency and accuracy in
the learners’ speech. When practicing role-plays and other speaking activities, the teacher
employed several techniques to promote fluency including:
a) raising the learners’ awareness that spoken language was easier than written language
in terms of grammar;
b) practicing communicative language strategies which would not automatically transfer
from their mother tongue into English;
c) accomplishing different types of speaking tasks so that the learners could get used to
the wide exposure of spoken text types;
d) teaching patterns of real interaction;
e) promoting the learners’ competence in relation to their language for delivering the
message and maintaining social relationships;
f) drilling pronunciation to help the learners cope with streams of speech;
g) providing sufficient rehearsal time.
The author of the paper can conclude that role-plays together with other
communicative tasks offered by the teacher promoted the learners’ personal, language, and
social skills, and taught them how to produce English spoken language with ease, speak with a
good command of intonation, vocabulary, and grammar, communicate ideas effectively, as
well as produce continuous speech without causing comprehension difficulties or a breakdown
of communication.
After the observation of the teacher’s lessons, the author of the paper demonstrated her
own lessons which focused on the development of the learners’ speaking tasks through role-
play. The learners practiced the following role-plays:
a) presentation,
b) performance,
c) analysis of the performance,
d) evaluation of the activity by the learners,
e) a follow-up activity.
After performing the role-plays, there were class discussions about the relevance,
productivity, and effectiveness of the role-plays as it appeared for the learners. The majority
of the learners admitted that they liked carrying out these activities, in spite of the difficulties
which the learners had encountered in performing them. The learners also considered the tasks
to be motivating, because they felt that the outcome of each activity depended on how
effectively they would achieve the main goal, i.e. deliver the message so that their partner(s)
could understand them and give appropriate feedback. The author of the paper concludes that
role-plays practiced in the language classroom do help language learners develop their
speaking skills effectively and become competent for carrying out communication in the
foreign language not only in the classroom but also outside school.
The interview with the teacher was held prior to the lessons observed in the English
language classroom. The aim of the interview was as follows:
1) to find out why speaking skills development is important in the English language
classroom in basic school;
2) to discuss the learners’ communicative competence;
3) to discuss speaking activities, including role-play, which can be appropriate for the use
in the English language classroom in basic school;
4) to consider the issue of accuracy and fluency in language learners’ speech;
5) to deliberate the reasons of the learners’ unwillingness to participate in speaking
activities and the ways to cope with the problem;
6) to analyze the ways of assessing the learners’ speaking skills.
The interviewee had to answer eight questions (see Appendix 7). The results of the
interview are presented below.
The first question concerned the widely held learners’ belief that speaking ability
could be one of the basic measures of knowing English language. The teacher considered this
belief to be wide-spread because in real-life communication, when people meet, they talk with
one another. The teacher believed that the same pattern of communication should be in the
language classroom. Writing, listening, and reading could be considered to be important as
well, but these skills should not be developed at the expense of speaking. The teacher noticed
that at all English language proficiency levels, learners would need to be given plenty of
opportunities to improve their speaking skills so that they could use the foreign language not
only in the classroom, but also outside school.
The second question regarded the amount of time devoted to practicing speaking skills
at the interviewee’s English language lessons. As speaking could be the most important
component of one’s language ability, the teacher would spend approximately half of the time
on speaking activities in her classes.
The third question touched upon speaking activities the interviewee offered to her
language learners, and the main criteria for selecting such activities. The interviewee also had
to list speaking activities which, in her opinion, the learners would enjoy doing most. As the
teacher marked, there could be found various interesting speaking activities to be practiced at
English lessons: dialogues, jigsaw activities, presentations, drama, role-plays, debates, and
conversations among others. The interviewee supposed that any teacher might consult the
course book, different printed teaching materials, or the internet resources to find speaking
activities that would be appropriate for different levels of learners’ language proficiency. For
the interviewee, the main criteria for selecting such activities were productivity,
purposefulness, and interactivity. Moreover, the teacher reminded that speaking activities
should be challenging in order to motivate students to actively participate in them. On the
whole, her learners appeared to enjoy almost all speaking activities because they really liked
speaking out, especially if they knew language quite well for their level. Role-plays were
practiced in the classroom as well.
The fourth question discussed communicative competence and the importance of
teaching all the aspect of communicative competence to language learners in basic school.
The interviewee reckoned that the notion of speaking skills would not imply mere speaking.
The teacher pointed out that to be a successful speaker meant to be able to understand one’s
own language abilities, skills, personal features, as well as the ability to socialize and to
convey the intended message to the person one was speaking to. Therefore, the teacher
confessed that she tried to teach her learners all aspect of the communication process so that
they could employ this knowledge further in their life.
The fifth question compared the importance of fluency with the importance of
accuracy as aspects of speaking skills to be emphasized in the learners’ speech when they
role-played. The interviewee found both aspects to be equally important. The teacher
complained that nowadays, it could be considered enough if learners left school with the
ability of speaking a foreign language fast, regardless of the numerous mistakes they might
make in their speech. The teacher did not agree to this state of affairs and insisted on the
proposition that literacy should stand in the basis of all skills, be it reading, writing, listening,
or speaking. Thus, the teacher would focus on both fluency and accuracy in her learners’
speech when they performed role-plays or other speaking activites.
The sixth question mentioned Brown’s view of language fluency comprising
communicative language tools, choices, and strategies. The interviewee had to answer if she
agreed to approach language fluency from such a perspective, in case it helped her learners
improve their communicative competence through role-play. The interviewee found this idea
to be worth considering and added that although it might be difficult for the language teacher
to pay attention to all these aspects, the learners would only benefit if they were explained
these communicative language tools, choices, and strategies and were taught to apply this
knowledge in real life.
The next question asked if the interviewee encountered any problems in her classroom
regarding the learners’ unwillingness to participate in speaking activities, in general, and in
role-plays, in particular. If the answer was positive, then the interviewee had to explain how
she coped with such problems. The teacher said that like many other teachers, she came across
teaching situations when learners were not eager to take part in activities she offered. The
reasons could range from the lack of confidence in one’s speaking ability to unhealthy
atmosphere in the class. In every separate case, the teacher tried to solve the problem by
rearranging the tasks for participants, or by doing more thorough preparation for certain
speaking activities, which, as she anticipated, could be rather difficult for completion for a
particular group of learners. However, the teacher noted that she would never refuse from
implementing an activity if it seemed discouraging for some learners; instead, she would work
with these learners more closely to help them cope with the task eventually. The interviewee
underlined that she had seen how many positive feelings could be brought by the successful
completion of a task which had seemed to be difficult in the beginning, as the learners realized
that they had gone through it and managed to do it well.
The final question asked the interviewee to comment on the ways she assessed her
learners’ speaking skills in role-playing, and how she treated speech error correction. The
teacher shared her opinion about role-play as a suitable way of assessing learners’ speaking
skills. At the practice stage, the teacher would exploit several wide-spread techniques for
correcting the learners’ speech mistakes. But at the assessment stage, role-play could be
performed by two learners, while the teacher first of all noted down their performance
according to accuracy, appropriacy, range, size of language, as well as according to their
flexibility in response. In the end of the role-play, the teacher would give a separate score for
different aspects of the task, including the learners’ social and personal expression.
On the basis of the interviewee’s responses, the author of the paper has made the
following conclusions. At all English language proficiency levels, learners need to be given
plenty of opportunities to improve their speaking skills so that they could use the foreign
language not only in the classroom, but also outside school. There are various interesting
speaking activities including role-play that can be practiced at English lessons: the teacher can
consult the coursebook, different printed teaching materials, or the internet resources to find
speaking activities that will be appropriate for different levels of learners’ language
proficiency. Role-play as a communicative task can be used not only for practicing speaking
skills, but also for their assessment. The main criteria for selecting such activities can be
productivity, purposefulness, and interactivity. Moreover, speaking activities should be
challenging in order to motivate students to actively participate in them. If learners are
uneager to participate in a speaking activity, the teacher may rearrange the tasks for
participants, or do more thorough preparation for certain speaking activities, which, as he or
she anticipates, can be rather difficult for completion for a particular group of learners.
Furthermore, to communicate successfully, speaker should be able to understand their own
language abilities, skills, personal features, as well as the ability to socialize and to convey the
intended message to the person they are speaking to. That is why the teacher may explain to
his or her learners all aspect of the communication process so that they could employ this
knowledge further in their life. What regards the question of fluency and accuracy, both
fluency and accuracy should be taken into account by the English language teacher because
literacy should stand in the basis of all skills, whether it might be reading, writing, listening,
or speaking.
The aim of building the learners’ questionnaires was as follows:
The learners had to answer sixteen questions (see Appendix 8). The results of the
survey are presented below.
When answering the first question about the language skill which would form the basis
for the learning process in the English language classroom, the majority of the respondents
(44% of the learners) selected speaking, 10% of the respondents selected listening or writing,
and 14% of the respondents selected reading. However, 22% of the respondents admitted that
all the components, i.e. reading, writing, speaking, and listening were equally important for
the learning process. Figure 3.1. demonstrates the result of Question 1 graphically:
50
40
30
20
10
0
reading speaking listening writing all skills
Question 1
% 14 44 10 10 22
Figure 3.1. Language skills to form the basis for the learning process
When answering the second question, the learners had to evaluate their speaking skills.
Only 12% of the respondents regarded their speaking skills as excellent, while 38% of the
respondents considered their speaking skills to be very good. In addition, 36% of the
respondents admitted that their speaking skills were at the average level, and 14% of the
respondents marked their speaking skills as poor. The result of Question 2 is presented in
Figure 3.2.:
%
40
30
20
10
0
excellent very good average poor
Question 2
% 12 38 36 14
The third question focused on the learners’ opportunities to speak English in the
classroom or outside school. 37% of the respondents answered that they spoke English a lot, at
every opportunity, and 25% of the respondents declared that they spoke English quite often.
11% of the respondents mentioned that they seldom had the chance to speak English, whereas
27% of the respondents marked that they almost never communicated in English because of
their poor knowledge of the language. The results of Question 3 are displayed in Figure 3.3.:
40
30
20
10
0
a lot quite often seldom almost never
Question 3
% 37 25 11 27
When answering the fourth question, the learners had to recall with whom they
communicate in English most: with native speakers, with foreigners for whom English is a
foreign language, or with classmates. The overwhelming majority of the respondents (88% of
the learners) marked that they spoke English with classmates most, while only 12% of the
respondents noted that they spoke English with foreigners most. No respondents chose the
first variant of the answer, i.e. no one dealt with native speakers. The results of Question 4 are
illustrated in Figure 3.4.:
100
80
60
40
20
0
with native speakerwoth foreigners with classmates
Question 4
% 0 12 88
The fifth question examined if the learners liked speaking English in the classroom or
outside school. Again, the majority of the respondents (75% of the learners) answered in the
affirmative, while only 25% of the respondents denied that they would like to communicate in
English.
The sixth question was supposed for the respondents to mention how much time they
spent on speaking at an English lesson on the average. The results show that the class spent
25-50 percent of the learning process on performing speaking tasks.
In the seventh question, the learners were asked what kind of speaking activities they
were engaged more often in their English language classroom. According to the data received
from the completed questionnaires, the most common speaking activities in their classroom
are as follows (where 1=the most common speaking activity, and 16=the least common
speaking activity):
1) dialogues,
2) role-plays,
3) simulations,
4) information gap activities,
5) story-telling,
6) jigsaw activities,
7) conversation,
8) guessing games,
9) discussions,
10) drama,
11) presentations,
12) debates,
13) surveys,
14) talks,
15) chat,
16) outside-class speaking activities.
The eighth and ninth questions on communicative competence are interrelated. In the
eighth question, the learners were asked if their English language teacher helps them develop
their communicative competence of English language as the whole of personal, language, and
social competence. And the ninth question asked the learners if they needed communicative
competence to be developed as a combination of these three aspects. The class discussion
revealed that the learners were at a loss when trying to understand what communicative
competence comprised. Therefore, the learners had to be given situations to exemplify what
communicative competence means in all its aspects. After the discussion, the learners were
able to answer the questions. The eighth question was answered positively by 30% of the
respondents, while 70% of the respondents did not recognize that their English language
teacher helped them develop their speaking skills in this way. The ninth question, however,
was answered positively by 60% of the respondents, while 40% of the students answered in
the negative.
The tenth question studied the difficulties which the learners might encounter when
performing speaking tasks. The learners’ responses are demonstrated in Figure 3.5.:
35
30
25
20 %
15
10
5
0
self-monitoring
fluency
production
conceptualization
articulation
automaticity
managing talk
speech
and formation
and repair
Question 10
Figure 3.5. Language skills which may cause difficulty when performing speaking tasks
As it can be seen from the figure above, the learners’ responses regarding possible
difficulties in performing speaking tasks were divided as follows: speech production (30%),
conceptualization and formation (12%), articulation (8%), self-monitoring and repair (18%),
automaticity (5%), fluency (16%), and managing talk (11%).
Questions 11 and 12 related to the importance of accuracy and fluency in speech
production. The learners noted that their English language teacher emphasized both fluency
and accuracy, which coincided with their preferences: 64% of the respondents underlined that
both accuracy and fluency should be emphasized by the language teacher, while 22% of the
respondents marked the importance of fluency, and 14% of the respondents marked the
importance of accuracy. The learners’ preferences of accuracy or fluency as the most essential
aspects of speaking (question 12) are illustrated in Figure 3.6.:
70
60
50
40
%
30
20
10
0
accuracy fluency both accuracy and fluency
Question 12
Figure 3.6. The learners’ preferences of accuracy or fluency as the most essential aspects of
speaking
Before the learners had to answer questions 13, 14, and 15 about the communicative
language tools, choices, and strategies, the author of the paper discussed the notions with the
learners and presented them examples of situations where the tools, choices, and strategies
could be applied. As regards the rating of the most important communicative language tools
(question 13), the learners selected vocabulary (38%), grammar (28%), and pragmatics (14%)
to be the most important communicative language tools. The data also revealed that
pronunciation (8%), paralinguistic features (6%), and kinesic language features (6%) were not
considered to be difficult by the learners. The results of the learners’ responses are presented
in Figure 3.7.:
%
40
35
30
25
20 %
15
10
5
0
paralinguistic kinesic pragmatics pronunciation grammar vocabulary
features language
features
Question 13
40
35
30
25
20 %
15
10
5
0
settings social roles sexual roles psychological register style
roles
Question 14
50
45
40
35
30
25 %
20
15
10
5
0
using speed using pauses giving repairing clarifying negotiating for
to advantage and appropriate competently effectively meaning
hesitations feedback
Question 15
The final question was aimed at the identification of oral skills and knowledge
necessary for the development and maintenance of speaking fluency. According to the data
received from the completed questionnaires, the most commonly applied oral skills and
knowledge are as follows (where 1=the most commonly applied oral skill and knowledge, and
7=the least commonly applied oral skill and knowledge):
1) paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of speech
such as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to maximize
the listener’s comprehensions and involvement;
2) selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the topic
being discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs;
3) using grammar structures accurately;
4) applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words,
rephrasing, or checking for listener’s comprehension;
5) producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and intonations of the
language;
6) assessing characteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge or shared
points of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest levels, or
differences in perspectives;
7) using gestures or body language.
On the basis of the learners’ responses, the author of the paper has made the following
conclusions. The majority of the learners agree that speaking forms the basis for the learning
process in the English language classroom. However, only 12% of the learners evaluate their
speaking skills as excellent, while the majority of the learners assume that their speaking skills
are at the average or very good level. Such a good level of speaking skills can be explained
with the fact that the majority of the learners (62% of the learners altogether) speak English a
lot or quite often, although they have a chance to speak English mainly with their classmates.
At the same time, 75% of the learners confess that they like communicating in English either
in the classroom or outside school.
What regards practicing speaking skills during the learning process, the class admits
that they spend 25-50 percent of the learning process on performing speaking tasks. The most
common speaking activities performed in the English language classroom are dialogues, role-
plays, simulations, information gap activities, and story-telling. Although the majority of the
learners do not recognize that their English language teacher helps them develop their
communicative competence of English language as the whole of personal, language, and
social competence, 60% of the learners emphasize that they need to develop their
communicative competence in this way.
Furthermore, among the most possible difficulties in performing speaking tasks the
learners name speech production, conceptualization and formation, articulation, self-
monitoring and repair; whereas automaticity, fluency, and managing talk are not perceived to
be difficult communicative language strategies to be applied. In addition, the learners hold an
opinion that both accuracy and fluency need to be emphasized by the English language
teacher, and this specific learners’ need is met by their teacher. What concerns communicative
language tools, the learners select vocabulary, grammar, and pragmatics to be the most
important communicative language tools. When rating communicative language choices in
order of importance, the learners, first of all, pay attention to settings, style, and register. Such
communicative language strategies as the ability to repair competently, use speed to
advantage, and negotiate for meaning appear to be the most difficult strategies according to
their degree of difficulty. When identifying oral skills and knowledge necessary for the
development and maintenance of speaking fluency, the learners mark the necessity of paying
attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of speech such as
vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to maximize the listener’s
comprehensions and involvement, selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate
for the audience, the topic being discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs, as
well as using grammar structures accurately.
The results of the present research prove that speaking skills should be regarded as
central to foreign language learning. In order to facilitate his or her learners’ communicative
competence, the English language teacher has to offer a variety of communicative tasks in the
classroom. Role-play has proved to be one of the most effective methods of teaching speaking
skills, and therefore, it should be incorporated into the English language syllabus in basic
school. The research has verified the hypothesis by proving that role-plays practiced in the
English language classroom help language learners develop their speaking skills effectively
and become competent for carrying out communication not only in the classroom but also
outside school.
CONCLUSIONS
The results of the present research prove that speaking skills should be regarded as
central to foreign language learning. At all English language proficiency levels, learners need
to be given plenty of opportunities to improve their speaking skills so that they could use the
foreign language not only in the classroom, but also outside school. There are various
interesting speaking activities including role-play that can be practiced at English lessons: the
teacher can consult the course book, different printed teaching materials, or the internet
resources to find speaking activities that will be appropriate for different levels of learners’
language proficiency. The main criteria for selecting such activities can be productivity,
purposefulness, and interactivity. Moreover, speaking activities should be challenging in order
to motivate students to actively participate in them.
Furthermore, to communicate successfully, speakers should be able to understand their
own language abilities, skills, personal features, as well as their ability to socialize and to
convey the intended message to the person they are speaking to. A wide variety of
communicative tasks which can be practiced in the language classroom serve the purpose of
facilitating the learners’ communicative competence. However, the results of the research
show that language learners may be unaware of the complexity of the communicative
competence. In such a case, the English language teacher may explain to his or her learners all
aspect of the communication process so that they could employ this knowledge further in their
life.
Role-play has proved to be one of the most effective methods of teaching speaking
skills, and therefore, it should be incorporated into the English language syllabus in basic
school. Role-play as a communicative task can be used not only for practicing speaking skills,
but also for their assessment. As a rule, the learners assume productivity and effectiveness of
the role-plays, and like carrying out these activities, in spite of the difficulties which they may
encounter when performing role-plays. The learners also consider role-plays to be motivating,
because they feel that the outcome of each activity depends on how effectively they will
achieve the main goal, i.e. deliver the message so that their partner(s) could understand them
and give appropriate feedback.
The author of the paper concludes that role-plays practiced in the language classroom
do help language learners develop their speaking skills effectively and become competent for
carrying out communication in the foreign language not only in the classroom but also outside
school.
THESES
APPENDIX 1
Overall Oral Production
The first few times the teacher does a role-play with his or her students, it may be a
good idea to provide them with a script: not a script for a play, with all the lines already
written out, but a script as a general description of how the scene will be played out. The
students may brainstorm the scenario themselves, with a little help from the teacher. At the
same time, they can think of the language they may need. For closely guided role-plays,
students can be given role cards. One can consider the following example of role-play:
As a class, the students may discuss the details of the situation. Consider the
proposed ideas below:
This discussion should be conducted in the target language. If the students lack any
language units necessary for the discussion, the teacher may make suggestions, or he or she
may allow time later for the students to fill in the gaps.
An alternative to this group exploration of language is to give the students role cards
and put them to work in pairs to prepare their roles, as in the example below:
Role 1
You are parents of children at the old school. Decide whether you are for or
against the move, and list your arguments. Be prepared to put your opinion
clearly and politely, and to counter any arguments against it.
Role 2
You are teachers at the old school. Decide whether you are for or against
the move, and list your arguments. Be prepared to put your opinion clearly
and politely, and to counter any arguments against it.
Role 3
You are the school superintendent. You have to chair the meeting. You
have to make sure that everyone’s views are heard. You yourself are for the
move but you have to appear to remain neutral. Remember to “open” and
“close” the meeting.
The students may make notes during their preparation, but they do not write out a
dialogue or series of planned speeches. The two students who prepare for the role of the
school superintendent may need extra help from the teacher on he language formulas used to
preside over a meeting.
When the role-play begins, the class splits into two groups, each group composed of
parents and teachers and presided over by a superintendent. The two groups run their role-
plays concurrently, with the teacher standing apart and discreetly eavesdropping on the
proceedings. The teacher does not interrupt the students, but if either of the groups gets
stalled, the teacher may provide a comment or ask a question as if taking the part of a parent
or teacher. At the end of an agreed period of time, the groups wind up their meeting,
regardless of whether they have reached a natural disclosure.
There can be two kinds of follow-up on the role-play, topical or linguistic. After the
given role-play it could be interesting for each group to report to the other on how its meeting
went. The groups could also discuss the arguments, proposed and reached. The linguistic
follow-up would depend on what the teacher ad noted in the way of language problems as he
or she eavesdropped on the proceedings. For example, the teacher might need to make
suggestions on appropriate ways of offering an opinion, or of agreeing or disagreeing with an
opinion offered by another speaker. The teacher also might choose no to say anything about
linguistic features for the moment waiting instead until a later session of practice output
activities to work on the relevant forms.
1. Why do you think students often evaluate speaking ability as one of the basic measures
of knowing English language?
2. On average, how much time do you devote to practicing speaking skills at your
English language lessons?
3. What kinds of speaking activities do you offer to your language learners? What are the
main criteria for selecting such activities? What kinds of speaking activities do you
think they enjoy doing most? Do you often practice role-plays?
4. What does communicative competence comprise? Is it important to teach all aspect of
communicative competence to language learners in basic school?
5. Fluency or accuracy: which of these aspects do you emphasize in your learners’ speech
when they do role-playing?
6. Brown offers an expanded view of language fluency which considers the necessity for
language learners to exploit communicative language tools (pronunciation, grammar,
vocabulary, paralinguistic features, kinesic language features, and pragmatics), to
select communicative language choices (centering on the choices to be made due to
differences in settings, social, sexual, and psychological roles, as well as register and
style), and to employ communicative language strategies (using speed, pauses and
hesitations efficiently, giving appropriate feedback, repairing competently, clarifying
effectively, and negotiating for meaning when necessary). Do you agree to approach
language fluency from such a perspective? Do you think it might help your learners
improve their communicative competence through role-play?
7. Do you encounter any problems in your classroom regarding the learners’
unwillingness to participate in speaking activities, in general, and in role-plays, in
particular? How do you cope with such problems?
8. In which ways do you assess your learners’ speaking skills in role-playing? How do
you treat speech error correction?
APPENDIX 8
Learner’s Questionnaire
1. Which of the following skills do you believe form the basis for the learning
process in the English language classroom:
reading
speaking
listening
writing
all the components, mentioned above, are equally important
excellent
very good
average
poor
yes
no
6. On the average, how much time do you spend on speaking at an English lesson
(i.e. how much time is devoted to practicing speaking skills in your English
language classroom)?
dialogues
information gap activities
jigsaw activities
surveys
guessing games
presentations
talks
story-telling
drama
role-plays
simulations
discussions
debates
conversation
chat
outside-class speaking tasks
8. Does your English language teacher help you develop your communicative
competence of English language as the whole of personal competence (self-
identification, role identification, creativity, flexibility), language competence
(discourse proficiency, language proficiency), and social competence (realized
through cooperativeness and interactive capacity)?
yes
no
yes
no
10. Which of the following skills may cause difficulty for you when performing
speaking activities in your English language classroom? (You may tick several
options.)
speech production
conceptualization and formation
articulation
self-monitoring and repair
automaticity
fluency
managing talk
11. Which aspects of speaking skills does your English language teacher emphasize?
accuracy
fluency
both accuracy and fluency
12. Which aspects of speaking skills do you need to develop more, in your opinion?
accuracy
fluency
both accuracy and fluency
13. Rate the following communicative language tools in order of importance (1=the
most important communicative language tool, 6=the least important
communicative language tool):
paralinguistic features
kinesic language features
pragmatics
pronunciation
grammar
vocabulary
14. Rate the following communicative language choices in order of importance (1=the
most important communicative language choice, 6=the least important
communicative language choice):
settings
social roles
sexual roles
psychological roles
register
style
15. Which of the following communicative language strategies seems to be the most
difficult for you when you perform a speaking activity at an English lesson?
16. Which of the following oral skills and knowledge do you apply in order to develop
or maintain speaking fluency? (You may tick several options.)
producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and intonations of the
language
using grammar structures accurately
assessing characteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge or
shared points of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest
levels, or differences in perspectives
selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the
topic being discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs
applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words,
rephrasing, or checking for listener’s comprehension
using gestures or body language
paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of
speech such as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures
to maximize the listener’s comprehensions and involvement