A new dimension to Role-plays: Real-world activities for EFL/ESL learners
For my master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), I conducted an empirical study with a group of Thai undergraduate students who study different subject majors at Prince of Songkla University, Hatyai Campus, Thailand in 2010 (June-September). This study investigates the effects of authentic materials and contextually-developed role-playing activities on the oral proficiency of Thai undergraduate students. The study consisted of four research instruments and the data were analyzed using Independent Samples t-test to determine whether the authentic materials and contextually-developed role-playing activities had improved the students’ oral fluency and accuracy in the target language. The findings indicated statistically significant differences between the two groups wherein the experimental group performed better on both fluency and accuracy than the control group. Therefore, based on the findings of the current study, it can be concluded that authentic materials and contextually-developed role-playing activities involving a series of sequential events are effective in enhancing learners’ oral proficiency in programs of English as a foreign language in the context of Thailand English education.
My research has been
published as a book by Lambert Academic Publishing and more details about the
book can be obtained by accessing the web link below.
A new dimension to role-plays: Real-world activities for EFL/ESL learners is not
only a report of my study but also it includes a material which can be used as
an independent text or as a supplement to an existing textbook in order to
enhance oral proficiency of tertiary level students who study English as a
foreign or a second language in contexts where English is not socially used for
communicative purposes. Moreover, the material included in the book explores
new dimensions inherent in role-playing activities which EFL/ESL teachers
sometimes forget to exploit. In other words, the material introduces how several
events associated with a given situation are combined in a sequential manner as
if they were happening in real life so that learners feel that what they do in
the class are similar to what they encounter beyond the class.
In
role-playing activities involving a series of sequential events, the students
have to engage simultaneously in all the series of sequential events involved
in the situation given. It can be
assumed that students who are exposed to role-playing activities involving a
series of sequential events receive more opportunities to repeat and recycle
the language in different contexts than those who are likely to engage in
role-playing activities with single speech situations. In other words, a
role-playing activity with a single event (buying something from a shop) will
generally limit the opportunities for the learners to repeat and recycle the language.
Therefore, given the context in which my students study oral English, to
maximize the opportunities to repeat and recycle the language,
contextually-developed role-playing activities involving a series of sequential
events based on real-world situations were applied in the classroom instruction
on the assumption, as Jenkins et al. (1984) and Honig (1996) suggest that
students do not learn a new language that is heard, seen, or used only once.
Furthermore, advocating what Jenkins et al and Honig suggest above, Bygate
(2005) maintains that meaningful recurrence seems to help other types of human
learning while Peters (1983) suggests that both other-repetition and
self-repetition are important strategies for the formation and automatization
of production routines.
1.
Role-playing activities involving a
series of sequential events (RAISSEs) keep the students interactive and engaged
throughout the lesson.
2.
RAISSEs provide students with more
opportunities to repeat and recycle the language than role-playing activities
involving single events (RAISEs).
3.
In RAISSEs, students get an
opportunity to role-play more than one event. E.g. Visiting a doctor (a situation). A situation
can have one or more than one event.
Event 1: A patient makes an appointment with a clinic to see
a doctor on the phone
Event 2: The patient visits the clinic and meets the
receptionist with whom he/she made the appointment.
Event 3: The patient meets the doctor
Event 4: The patient receives medications from the
pharmacy/drug store.
1.
No scripted conversation is given
for students to rote-memorize instead students are provided with the language
they may need to accomplish the activity. Students work of their own with the guidance
of the teacher (group work/pair work).
2.
In RAISSEs, students do not feel
bored since they are not required to repeat the same role over and again.
(For more information, please read: A new dimension to Role-plays: Real-world activities for EFL learners)
