Старший викладач кафедри іноземних мов Бартіш Г.В.

Львівський інститут банківської справи

Університету банківської справи

Національного банку України

ROLE-PLAY: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Among the advantages maximum student activity occupies the first place. For role play to be fully successful, each student should be active almost 100% of the time.

Much confusion has been caused by the arbitrary division of language skills into ‘active skills’ (speaking and writing) and 'passive skills' (listening and reading), as though activity were measured by bodily activity and sound alone.

Coherent speech requires a great deal of mental activity, both in its formulation, in the monitoring of other's reception of it, and in its possible subsequent adaptation in the light of that monitoring. The listener must show understanding or otherwise of the speaker, relate what is being said to his own opinions and needs in order to be able, when he has judged that his turn to speak has come, to formulate an appropriate, acceptable and understandable message.

Relevance, Interest and Discipline are another set of advantages. The relevance of a role play which has been chosen to suit the student's interests, experience and needs is obvious. It also gives the student a chance to use the language himself, without the direct control of the teacher. No student who is interested in what he is doing will misbehave. Activity and discipline are also closely linked. An exercise which is not only seen to be relevant, but also requires mental and bodily activity, will freshen concentration and interest thus increasing the possibility of effective learning. A feeling that what one is doing is relevant and useful is a powerful factor in increasing the motivation to learn; increased motivation leads to increased student involvement in the learning process."

As no learning group is homogeneous, teachers are always in need of activities that can be graded to suit a wide range of abilities. Role play is an excellent exercise for dealing with this problem and can be graded in a number of ways:

Roles can be designed with 'faster¹ or 'slower' students in mind. The type of 'responsible' role is also good for a student who is very dominant in odier class activities, the type who knows all the answers and talks whenever he gets the chance. Giving such a student a major role will often satisfy his need to make his presence felt, and he will use much of his energy in fulfilling the role as well as possible, becoming, as a result, less obtrusive. The shyer student can also be catered for. The task of the teacher is to improve performance in the foreign language, not alter personality. Roles, then, can be created to fit not only the linguistic ability, but also the personality of the individual student. Role descriptions can be altered to suit varying abilities. In a role play where the roles require more or less the same type and amount of activity from each student, the students can be given guidance according to ability.

Another possibility is have students of mixed abilities prepare roles together. Students are often willing to help each other in this way, especially in smaller groups, and should be encouraged to do so. Alternately, students of similar abilities can prepare roles together, and the amount of time given to the groups for role preparation can vary.

If the main aim of the class is oral proficiency, then it is difficult, from a pedagogical point of view, to find any disadvantages in using role play as a teaching and learning technique. But there is no doubt that in certain classes, and in certain teaching situations, there may well be some disadvantages.

The problem of organization. Few teachers operate in ideal circumstances. The majority work in| classrooms which are too small, and with classes which are, numerically, too large. Often the furniture is bolted to the floor, and equipment other than books and a blackboard almost non-existent. Role play may therefore be difficult from a purely practical point of view.

If the time taken for preparation and follow-up work is included, then role play will take up a lot of classroom time. Neither is it possible to predict how much time will be needed, especially for the role play itself. Some activities can last for more than an hour. Some teachers, especially those who teach classes which lead up to examinations, and therefore have a set syllabus to keep in mind, will argue that it is not possible to spend that amount of time on one activity. Their classes will fall behind with the syllabus, and thus fail their examinations.