Using Drama Activities with Diverse Levels of University Students: Roleplay

Amanda Gillis-Furutaka

Kyoto Sangyo University

gillisfurutaka.amanda@gmail.com

Introduction

Course aims and students

1. Increase confidence in being able to handle a variety of situations in English
2. Increase awareness of the importance and effectiveness of reading and using body language in communication with speakers of English (chance to demonstrate and discuss the importance of gesture as defined by Goldin-Meadow and other researchers when trying to perform a difficult spoken task, reasons behind inappropriate smiling e.g. when embarrassed or feeling stressed and the reasons why humans do this)
3. Reinforce basic language and structures in English that are needed in daily life transactions
4. Give attention to areas in need of improvement in pronunciation and the grammar of spoken English at an individual level
5. Provide opportunities for students to ask about correct usage on an individual basis
6. Allow students to let their creative juices flow and to have fun as they practice and perform the role plays

Students are 3^rd year English majors. This course is elective.

Course structure and evaluation method

1. First role play is an interview about themselves. Students write their own introduction and the interviewer reads this and prepares questions. The students practise before recording, but the interview is not scripted. They can speak and react spontaneously. They are paired up with students they don’t know well so they get a chance to make new friends. They can watch the interviews of their classmates and get to know each other quickly.
2. 2^nd role play is in groups. They prepare a menu in English for a restaurant in Kyoto where foreign customers will eat then take turns in groups to visit the different restaurants and order a meal as foreign customers and waiters/waitresses. They visit 3 different restaurants. This is spontaneous and sometimes they encounter a problem with the food or drinks they are served or in paying the bill, etc. The groups then write a scenario based on the practice situations. This scenario is checked by the teacher as they write and they practice hard to memorize then perform on camera.
3. They watch their video recording in the Language Lab or library and fill in evaluation sheets (see example.) They have to evaluate their body language as well as their spoken language. They must transcribe what they actually said and correct anything they think was wrong and ask/comment about any aspect of the recording they wish.
4. They are evaluated on the effort they put into the evaluation sheets as well as in their recordings. The emphasis is on effort and improvement rather than ability.
5. This process is repeated with different scenarios (e.g. booking an overseas trip) where the students take turns in playing travel agents and travelers in spontaneous role plays before writing and performing a scenario as a group.
6. There are other role play activities that are not filmed (e.g. tour guides and tourists) which are included as fillers to give groups time to catch up. When planning lessons of this kind, it is important to remember that groups will finish at different times and that the early birds need to be occupied in a constructive way! The last role play of the semester is a whole class simulation of taking a flight with students assigned roles as flight crew, passengers of a variety of types, including a terrorist or hijacker to introduce an element of the unpredictable.

Video examples (1):

1. Riyo and Tae (Interview–first recording)
2. Tae and Riyo (Interview–re-recording) Riyo on How I felt: “I think it changed in my heart. At the first time, I felt nervous because it was the first time. However, I could relaxed at this time.”
3. Tae and Mariko (Interview–re-recording) Tae felt pressure to improve her English when interviewed yet again by Mariko. “I think I couldn’t improve. I thought first video was better. This time I had pressure to care my English, so I couldn’t to be easy to speak like the first video. It was pity for me, but I think facial expression and eye contact got better than before.”

Task

Work with a partner and use the evaluation form you receive to either evaluate Mana (the interviewer) or Chikako (the guest). You don’t need to transcribe and correct what they say, but try to fill in the other sections with comments and suggestions. Compare sheets when you are ready and prepare to share feedback with us all.

4. Marina and Chikako (fill in evaluation sheet)

Technical and other matters to take into consideration:

1. Cameras: For the most effective recording, we need at least 2 cameras filming at the same time to catch everyone face on. This doubles the video footage time and the time needed for students to watch and evaluate the performance of the group. Editing the two video recordings into one would take far too much time out of a busy teacher’s schedule. I’ll be experimenting with using 2 cameras, though, next semester and reporting on the findings at a future date.
2. Rooms: With a group of more than a dozen students, 2 classrooms or recording places are needed to keep the pace of recording brisk and smooth. The teacher expends a lot of energy running from room to room to make sure all is well and all are on task!
3. Noise level: Recording more than one group/ pair at a time in a classroom is possible, but sometimes there is noise interference. It’s hard for students to keep their excited voices and laughter quiet!
4. Student autonomy: Letting the students control their own recordings gives a sense of independence and control (and frees up the teacher to troubleshoot elsewhere), but they often don’t check the camera position carefully enough and students are recorded off camera or turn their backs to the camera. They quickly learn when they see their mistakes, but it is a shame for the student who was out of the frame for that recording.
5. Activities: Have the next activity ready for groups as soon as they have finished, especially if you are going to be running from one room to another.
6. Students’ reactions: Most students are inevitably tense the first time they record. Some remain tense throughout the semester, others seem unbothered by the presence of a camera. Here are a few illustrations.

Video examples (2):

1. Extreme shyness/tension (Risa and Ami)
2. Minimal responses (Keiko and Tatsuya)
3. Spontaneity on camera (Yurie and Mutsumi)

Student evaluation of course:

21 out of 25 students enrolled in the class answered the end of semester survey. (1 student dropped out and 3 were absent that day.) There was clear agreement that the course helped them to improve their confidence in speaking English (95%), their grammar and vocabulary (81%), their pronunciation (100%), and their English communication skills (100% agreed, 71% of them agreed strongly). While 76% liked working in pairs, 24% didn’t. Working in large groups (of more than 5) was less popular and 90% liked working in groups of 3-4 students best. Most agreed that recording the role play on video was useful (86%). Almost the same number agreed that watching the video recording was useful (81%) and 86% found the evaluation sheets were useful. There was a division of opinion on doing role plays without recording. While 67% thought it was useful, 29% thought it was not useful and one student disagreed strongly. Two students who agreed that it is useful wrote the following comments: “It is good to record video, but it is better doing role plays in class member.” “Not recording, but doing role plays in person.” There was general agreement that 5 video recordings in one 15-week semester is the right number (81%). Suggestions for other topics for role plays included: at a station/in a cab/with gangs(shooting)/at a bar/zoo/amusement park/real party/home stay/hotel/doctor

Other comments included:

• I didn't think about pronunciation in this class, but I could improve my speaking skills. It was good experience for me.
• I want to watch the recording in my house.
• It's very exciting.
• I think this course was perfect!! Everyone enjoyed and very enjoyable class!! I love Amanda class.

Video examples (3):

1. Restaurant (Risa, Shan, Mariko, Ayaka and Kozue)

              Some of their comments on their evaluation sheets:

              Risa: This time I wasn’t nervous. But I must be careful in acting my role (especially               posture!)

              Shan: When I recorded this at first I felt a little nervous, but after that I felt good.

              Mariko: I think I enjoyed doing this conversation but I was sitting that not face on camera               so I couldn’t see my facial expression.

              Ayaka: When I recorded this, I felt very fun and relax. I had a good time!!

              Kozue: I enjoyed it!! This time I prepared (practiced?) a lot!! So, I think my recording was               better than before.

2. Problem situation (Tae (father) and Ayumi (teenage son who has come home late))

              Tae comments: I like playing role, but I felt a lot of pressure because I must not forget               scenario. So it was pity that I couldn’t play naturally, but it was               very interesting activity.

3. Ayaka (teenage daughter) and Yasuko (father)

              Ayaka comments: I felt that it was difficult but fun to pretend to be someone with strong               emotion.

Response to the role play critics

In his article “Role-play, real-play, and surreal-play in the ESOL classroom”. Al-Arishi outlines the common criticisms of role play as an effective ESOL activity.

1. Role play doesn’t match the experience of the participants outside the classroom (i.e. the infinite variety of situations they may encounter in real life cannot possibly be predicted and practiced in a classroom role play)
2. Shy or introverted students do not enjoy performing in front of classmates
3. Extrovert students overact
4. Students cannot focus on the cognitive and intellectual dimensions of language learning, especially when acting out a fantasy type of situation
5. Often students in a role play have to take on the role of someone they are unlikely ever to be in real life (e.g. a car sales person)
6. The students in the audience are passive and often not interested in the performance of others

Can we discount all of these criticisms?

Reasons for using role play in a course like this:

1. Encourages students to use the non-verbal as well as verbal means of communication they have at their disposal
2. When playing another character, students can lose inhibitions. Gillian Porter Ladousse (2001:5) makes the point that when students are engrossed in a role play activity “there are no spectators and the occasional eavesdropper … may not even be noticed. None of the risks of communication and behaviour in the real world are present. The activity is enjoyable and does not threaten the students’ personality.”
3. Students needn’t perform live in front of an audience. They can use the video camera and then be their own audience.
4. Student audiences can be given tasks and check lists to carry out so that they are observing in an active way and are able to provide constructive feedback.
5. Students can gain practice to deal with real-life situations outside the classroom, and role pay situations that students are unlikely to encounter can be avoided.

              Charlyn Wessels (1987: 8) points out that “in so much of our teaching, we fail to realize the               importance of providing our students with direct experience. We present them with only the               surface reality and then wonder why they forget the lessons so easily. But the direct               experience               that drama offers can encompass both realities.”

6. Students love to use their imaginations “It was interesting to make story ourself.” (Tae)

Video examples (4):

1. Travel agency: Megumi, Chikako, Ami (letting the creative and thespian juices flow)
2. Travel agency: Mariko, Marina, Mana (great job)

The underlying task-based approach

Why is role-play in this course considered to be ‘task-based’?

1. For each role play situation, the students have a goal. Their task is to achieve that goal (e.g. to take a meal order from foreigners in a Japanese restaurant/ to deal with a complaint from foreign customers in a restaurant.)
2. They work towards this as a team, first acting out the situation spontaneously several times in different roles and with unexpected variations, then developing a scenario and writing a dialog together.
3. The teacher troubleshoots during the writing stage, answering questions about vocabulary, grammar that arise from the spontaneous role paying and as they write and pointing out unnatural English and other mistakes.
4. Students practice then record their performance on video.
5. Students watch their performance and fill out a self-evaluation form.
6. Part of the self-evaluation is to listen carefully and transcribe everything they actually said, then correct or ask the teacher for guidance in how to correct.
7. They have the chance to re-record and improve on their first performance.
8. The main difference between task-based problem-solving group work and role play group work is that the public (polished) performance is performed for the camera and the participants themselves rather than as a class presentation.

I hope to have demonstrated to you that I believe this course embraces Dave Willis’s defining characteristics of a task (TLT Vol. 33 No. 3):

1. Does it engage the learners’ interest?
2. Is there a primary focus on meaning?
3. Is success measured in terms of non-linguistic outcome rather than accurate use of language forms?
4. Does it relate to real world activities?

N.B. Willis has said in the past that “role play activities in which the learner is expected to display forms of the language which have just been presented and practiced” are not true acts of communication, but their “real purpose is to display control of form.” (Willis, 1990:58) This kind of role play activity is not a display activity, I hope you agree!

References

Al-Arishi, A.Y. (1994) Role-play, real-play, and surreal-play in the ESOL classroom. ELT Journal,               48 (4), pp. 337 – 345.

Goldin-Meadow, S. (2003) Hearing Gesture: How Our Hands Help Us Think. Harvard: Belknap               Press of Harvard University Press.

Porter Ladousse, G. (2001). Role Play. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wessels, C. (1987). Drama. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Willis, D. (1990) The Lexical Syllabus. London: Collins

Willis, D. (2009) Task-based language teaching: Some questions and answers. The Language               Teacher, 33 (3), pp. 3- 8.

Some other books with drama and role play activities ready made

Gammidge, M. (2004). Speaking Extra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hadfield, J. (2000). Classroom Dynamics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jones, K. (1982). Simulations in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jones, L. (1983). Eight Simulations (For upper-intermediate and more advanced students of English.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Keller, E. and Warner, S.T. (1988). Conversation Gambits. Hove: Language Teaching Publications.

Klippel, F. (1984). Keep Talking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

MacAndrew, R. (2003). Instant Discussions. London & Boston: Thomson/Heinle.

Nolasco, R. and Arthur, L. (1987). Conversation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rooks, G. (1990). Can’t Stop Talking, Second Edition. London & Boston: Thomson/Heinle.

Rooks, G. (1988). The Non-stop Discussion Workbook, Second Edition. Boston MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Watcyn-Jones, P. (2000). Group Work. Harlow: Penguin.

Watcyn-Jones, P. and Howard-Williams, D. (2002). Pair Work 1. Harlow: Penguin.