Role-plays and simulations as ways
of encouraging students to speak.

The awareness of the need for improving oral skills, which are the most important part of an effective communication, encourages me, as a teacher, to seek extraordinary activities for my students. Role-plays and simulations turn out to be effective and enjoyable methods which enable students to use the foreign language freely and in a creative way.

A conversation requires imagination, confidence and co-operation from the students and all these abilities can be practised by means of role-plays and simulations. A role-play is an activity in which students play certain roles of imaginary characters in a certain imaginary situation. They have their roles stated on role cards so they use fictional ideas and not their own opinions. Learners are also told things that are unknown to the others so they are not supposed to show their role cards to anyone. They can forget about the real world and are taken to a safe learning environment.

A role-play as an oral communicative activity gives students a great opportunity to talk and use their creativity while playing imaginary characters. The learners are anonymous and, in a sense, hidden behind a kind of a mask. This is very important for shy students who find it difficult to talk – they feel more confident and safe playing unreal people because there is no risk of revealing their own personalities, feelings and thoughts. Role-plays have another very important function – the learners are trained to deal with the unpredictable nature of the language, which can be helpful in their future lives. The friendly environment of the classroom is good for practising and experimenting with their knowledge of English.

A crucial factor in using role-plays is fun. A relaxed atmosphere helps students learn more efficiently and willingly. Shy pupils feel more confident and become talkative, they use the language spontaneously without even realizing it.

Another way of encouraging students to speak is using simulations. While role-plays involve learners in acting as unreal characters, simulations require from them to be themselves. Although the activity is very similar to a role-play, it is more complex and encourages students to make their own context by means of their ideas, opinions and thoughts. They have to decide on their own what to say and how to say it. The real world is simulated during this activity and learners’ natural language is produced. A simulation helps students to interact and co-operate with each other in a context resembling a real life situation. As well as a role-play, a simulation provides a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom which builds up learners’ confidence and helps to overcome shyness.
To make these activities attractive, a teacher should use various topics – controversial, interesting, enjoyable and dealing with different issues. A teacher can use role-plays and simulations to introduce new vocabulary as well as to revise the material from the lessons. The cards for the learners can be written in English or in their native language – it depends on the students’ level of English and on what we want to achieve: teach or revise.

Students should be divided into groups, however, the number of people is not strictly stated. It is advisable for the teacher to have some emergency cards in case there are more learners in the group than roles in the activity. Such cards are great help and can read: ‘Agree with the person on your left’, or ‘Disagree with everyone.’

The teacher’s role during the role-plays or simulations is to monitor, encourage and, if necessary, help the activities to play along. However, the teacher should be certain that the students cannot manage with the task themselves.

The mistakes that appear, should be corrected after the activity, since the role-plays and simulations focus more on fluency, rather than accuracy. Immediate correction could make the students confused and might discourage them from speaking.

To sum up, role-plays and simulations are efficient methods to improve oral skills as they give the opportunity to use English in a creative way. In my experience, students appreciate such activities since they are a source of confidence and enjoyment.

Bibliography:
1. Gołębiowska A. 1990. ‘Getting Students to Talk’, Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd 1990
2. Porter-Ladousse, G. 1987. ‘Role-Play. Resource Book for Teachers’, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. Palioura, I. 1996. ‘Using Simulations to Enhance Oral Competence’ English Teaching Forum, April, 1996, 40-43
4. Dangerfield, L. 1991, ‘Role-play’ ‘At the Chalkface: Practical Techniques in Language Teaching, A. Matthews, M. Spratt, L. Dangerfield
5. Harmer, J. 1991. ‘The Practice of English Language Teaching’ Longman Group Limited, ‘Longman Handbook for Language Teachers, London and New York

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