Role Play Strategy

Role Play Concept

What is role-play?
Role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself into somebody else’s shoes, or when you stay in your own shoes but put yourself into an imaginary situation!

Imaginary people – The joy of role-play is that students can ‘become’ anyone they like for a short time! The President, the Queen, a millionaire, a pop star …….. the choice is endless! Students can also take on the opinions of someone else. ‘For and Against’ debates can be used and the class can be split into those who are expressing views in favour and those who are against the theme.

Imaginary situations – Functional language for a multitude of scenarios can be activated and practiced through role-play. ‘At the restaurant’, ‘Checking in at the airport’, ‘Looking for lost property’ are all possible role-plays.

Why use role-play?
It is widely agreed that learning takes place when activities are engaging and memorable. Jeremy Harmer advocates the use of role-play for the following reasons:

o    It’s fun and motivating

o    Quieter students get the chance to express themselves in a more forthright way

o    The world of the classroom is broadened to include the outside world – thus offering a much wider range of language opportunities

o    Help students to understand that there are casual relationships between prople’s behavior and the outcomes of events (Drake & Corbin, 1993). This understanding is enhanced because the consequences of behaviors can be immediately observed and self-image.

o    Enables students to explore their values and appreciate the consequences of their values based actions (Downing, 1994)

o    Enables students to identify options and solutions.

o    Enables students to manage conflict.

o    Students who will at some point travel to an English-speaking country are given a chance to rehearse their English in a safe environment.

Values of Role Playing

Role playing can be used with students of most ages. The complexity of the role situations must be minimized in using the method with children. But if we keep it simple for their limited attention spans, role playing can be used even in teaching preschoolers.

Role playing allows people to make mistakes in a nonthreatening environment. They can test several solutions to very realistic problems, and the application is immediate. It also fulfills some of the very basic principles of the teaching-learning process such as learner involvement and intrinsic motivation. A positive climate often results in which one can see himself as others see him.

The involvement of the role playing participants can create both an emotional and intellectual attachment to the subject matter at hand. If a skillful teacher has accurately matched the problem situation to the needs of his group, the solving of realistic life problems can be expected.

Principles for Effective Role Playing

As a teaching technique, role playing is based on the philosophy that meanings are in people, not in words or symbols. If that philosophy is accurate, we must first of all share the meanings, then clarify our understandings of each other’s meanings, and finally, if necessary, change our meanings.

In the language of phenomenological psychology, this has to do with changing the self concept. The self concept is best changed through direct involvement in a realistic and life-related problem situation rather than through hearing about such situations from others.

Creating a teaching situation which can lead to the change of self concepts requires a distinct organizational pattern. One helpful structure for role playing follows:

1. Preparation

a. Define the problem

b. Create a readiness for the role(s)

c. Establish the situation

d. Cast the characters

e. Brief and warm up

f. Consider the training

2. Playing

g. Acting

h. Stopping

i. Involving the audience

j. Analyzing the discussion

k. Evaluating

Although we do not have time to explore each of these in detail, it is important to note that all of them focus on group experiences rather than on unilateral behavior of the teacher. The group should share in the defining of the problem, carrying out the role playing situation, discussing the results, and evaluating the whole experience.

The teacher must identify the situation clearly so that both the characters and the audience understand the problem at hand. In casting the characters, the wise teacher will try to accept volunteers rather than assign roles. Students must realize that acting ability is not at stake here but rather the spontaneous discharge of how one thinks the character of his role would react in the defined situation.

Players may be instructed publicly so that the audience knows what to expect or privately so that the audience can interpret the meaning of their behavior. Be sure to allow for creativity of the actors within their character roles and do not overstructure the situation.

The discussion and analysis of the role playing situation depends upon how well we involve the audience. Key questions may be asked by the leader and/or buzz groups may be formed. All members of the group (actors and the audience) should participate, and the reactions of the actors may be profitably compared to those of the audience.

The audience is just as much involved in the learning situation as the actors are. In the analysis and discussion time, the audience should provide possible solutions to the realistic problem situations which surface.

It is important to evaluate role playing in the light of the prescribed goals. Categorizing behavior is often overdone and gets in the way of the learning process. Evaluation should proceed on both group and personal levels, raising questions concerning the validity of the original purpose.

Throughout the entire process it will be necessary to deal with certain problems which arise in role playing situations. The backward, silent member must be encouraged to contribute. Create an atmosphere in which he is unafraid to share ideas, confident that no one will laugh at his contributions or harshly criticize his conclusions.

The overbearing monopolizer must be curtailed in the discussion phase of role playing lest he dominate the group and thereby quash the dynamic, Solving this problem may require some personal counseling outside of class. Tension and conflict in the group may not always be bad. Sometimes these elements act as a stimulant to thinking. There is such a thing as “creative tension,” and it is frequently found in a role playing situation as group dynamic emerges.

At the end of the discussion time the group should collectively measure its effectiveness in reaching biblical solutions to the role problem posed at the beginning. The techniques of role playing afford another approach to involving students in their own learning process toward the clarification of self concepts, evaluation of behavior, and aligning of that behavior with reality.. You can see why this is a desirable approach to classroom procedure for the Christian teacher. Prayerfully used under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, role playing can be an effective instrument in the Christian classroom.

Procedure of the Role Play

 1.   Prepare class for role-play

• Present an artificial problem, situation or event that represents some aspect of reality.
• Define the problem, situation and roles clearly.

 2.   Give clear instructions

• Determine whether role-plays will be carried out using student volunteers in front of the class (the teacher may or may not play a role), in partnerships/small groups with every student playing a role, or in small groups with role-players and observers.
• Divide students into groups, if appropriate.
• Model the skill with a scripted role-play.

 3.   Act out role-plays

• Students follow the procedure outlined by the teacher to act out role-plays.
• Unless the teacher is playing a role, it is helpful to walk around the room and observe how students are experiencing the role-play and offer coaching to students who are stuck.

Discussion (small group and whole class)

• Begin by allowing players to communicate feelings experienced during the role-play.
• Have students identify sexual health skills that were demonstrated during the role-play.
• Determine actions that strengthen or weaken these skills (i.e. body language).
• Discuss how this role-play is or isn’t similar to real life. 
• Identify ways of using identified sexual health skills in real life situations. 

ALTERNATIVES TO TRADITIONAL PROCEDURE

• Have students write role-plays as scripts.
• Have students write down responses and then role-play in front of the class.
• Have students generate a list of challenging “lines”, then have a student read the lines to the class and have each student give a response.
• Have students develop and act out plays. 

TIPS FOR USING ROLE-PLAY

• Begin with fairly easy situations and work up to more challenging ones.
• Be aware that some students may feel threatened or self-conscious. Using humor can help dispel embarrassment. Using role-plays that exaggerate weak responses might break the ice.
• Reduce the level of abstraction or complexity so that the students may become directly involved with underlying concepts.
• If students find it difficult to determine skills which model sexual health, they could observe successful role models or ask experts to suggest approaches. 

 

Merits of Role-play Strategy

1.     Student interest in the topic is raised.

2.    Active Participation.

3.    Long-term retention.

4.    It enhances communication and interpersonal skills.

5.    It can be used with individuals or in group situations.

6.    It teaches empathy and understanding of different perspectives.

7.    It help individuals to learn to accept both their own feelings and those of others.

8.    It develops confidence and self-efficacy.

9.    Provides teacher immediate feedback about the learner’s understanding and ability to apply concepts.

10.  It develops competence.

11.   It is useful for a range of topics, including interviewing, counseling skills, personal relationships, and team  working.

12. They require mental and physical activity e.g. gesturing to put forward a point.

13. Reduces discipline problems which often arise from boredom and lack of motivation.

Demerits of Role-play Strategy

1. Role play may awaken previously subdued or suppressed emotions.
2. Less effective in large groups (Chaos).
3. Teacher must accept her new role where she/he does not dominate the class anymore.
4. Embarrassment for some students.
5. Can lack focus unless well planned and monitored.
6. Can be unpredictable in terms of outcomes.
7. Can be time-consuming.