TEACHING SPEAKING USING ROLE PLAY METHOD

Kristanto Gunawan
17.1.01.08.0036
Universitas Nusantara PGRI Kediri

Role play as one of the interesting activities is also help many shy students to speak with
various topic and situation. The students may also create their own dialogue based on the topic
given. The steps of collecting the data used in investigating were by observing the students
activities in the class, interviewing the teacher and giving questionnaires based on the qualitative
approach. It is hoped that the result of investigating the students speaking skills can be an
overview and consideration of setting up good teaching and learning process in EFL speaking
class. Besides mastering speaking skill, students must study three components of it, such as
pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. Lacking of these components often cause some
problems, moreover for foreign language students; they do not know how to express the
sentences grammatically and the most common problem is they do not know how to pronounce
the words correctly. This study aims to investigate the best methodology in teaching Speaking
using Role Play technique with regards to Communicative Language Teaching.

Basically, English teaching materials deal with grammar as knowledge of the rules and
four English language skills: speaking, writing, reading and listening. Teaching speaking is one
of the interesting subjects in learning a language because by speaking students are able to interact
and communicate with both student and teacher.

As one of the language skills, speaking is also aimed at enabling the students to use their
English to communicate in real life situation. Pearsal (1999:1377) says that “Speaking is the
action of expressing oneself in speech or giving speeches, used for or engaged in speech, able to
communicate in a specified language and/or conveying meaning as though in words.” Richard
and Renandya (2002:210) state:

“Speaking is one of the central elements of communication. In EFL (English for

Foreign Language) teaching, it is an aspect that needs special attention and
 instruction. In order to provide effective instruction, it is necessary for teachers of
EFL to carefully examine the factors, conditions, and components that underlie
speaking effectiveness”.

From the statements above, it can be assumed that people who are learning a language
know well that speaking is the key in communication and it is also an aspect that needs special
attention and instruction. In other words, speaking is the way of expressing ideas or opinion,
transferring information and telling about something by using words in a language. In doing this,
a student has to use correct grammar to meet accuracy and has to be fluent in expressing ideas.

Role play is one of the best techniques to make students speak. This technique is very
useful for developing the interpersonal skills of learners, for example, in role play activities a
teacher gives a role to students and invites them to act as a police, hotel reception, doctor, etc by
giving them a scenario. Perhaps, in other session, the teacher also could give an opportunity to
the students to create another narration, ideas for dialogue or scenario. in role play activities
students pretend that they are in a various social contexts and have a variety of social roles.

The definition of Role play may vary from one expert to another.

Brown (2004:174) defines:

“Role playing is a popular pedagogical activity in communicative

languageteaching classes”. In some version, role play allows some rehearsal time
so that students can map out what they are going to say. And it has the effect of
lowering anxieties as students can, even for a few moments, take on the persona of
someone other than themselves”.

Whereas, Harmer (2007:125), points out:

“Role-Plays simulate the real world in the same kind of way, but the students are
given particular roles – they are told who they are and often what they think about
a certain subject. They have to speak and act from their new character’s point of
view”.
In teaching and learning process, the right and suitable material for student have to be chosen by
the teacher to make the classroom interesting. Some of the teachers usually use authentic
materials for teaching speaking.

According to Gower et al (2005:82):

“Authentic materials are anything a native speaker of English would hear or read or
use can be described as authentic: theatre programmes, newspapers, magazines,
poems, songs, brochures, information leaflets, menus, news broadcasts, films on
video – the list is endless. Because authentic materials are not designed for the EFL
student they are not graded for level, although some are obviously more difficult to
understand than others”.

Regarding to the statements above, some teachers often use authentic materials in
teaching speaking activities because it makes students more active to explore their ideas or
opinions. Moreover, Gower et al (2005:83) also define the reasons of using authentic materials in
the classroom as follows:

• For most students authentic materials, because they are ‘real’, are intrinsically
more interesting and motivating and they give students confidence when they
understand them.

• They provide examples of language as it is really used. By being exposed to

authentic materials students have the opportunity to acquire or ‘pick up’
language.

• The real cultural content of many authentic materials encourages involvement

and comparisons (especially in a multicultural group)

• Authentic materials lend themselves to authentic tasks: for example, getting

information students may really need if they are planning a trip; listening to
songs for pleasure; reading the menu of restaurant they are going to eat; etc.

• The use of authentic materials can be effectively linked with ways of helping
students be more independent learners: making predictions and guesses, using
reference books (grammar and vocabulary books, dictionaries).
 The explanations above show us that using authentic material is very interesting for both
teacher and students. Not only can teachers explore their creativity but also raise and acquire
students’ opinions.

In teaching speaking using role play, there are several materials which can be used while
doing this activity such as: a script or dialogue that refers to the relevant topic or ideas and the
player or student who act as a character upon the topic including the supporting materials for this
activity. Planning the role play activity is also one aspect that should be taken care of the
teacher. The scenarios are best provided on paper. Teachers may give players time to study the
scenarios before they perform.

The problems faced by the students in practicing speaking English are a few students
were ashamed to speak because they have lack of vocabularies and they still do not have the
awareness of how important speaking English is. That is why the teacher always tried to find an
interesting topic in every meeting and tried to encourage his students by brainstorming in
expressing students’ ideas. These ways make students enjoy studying with their peers and enjoy
creating their own dialogues and scenarios in various vocabularies regarding to the topic given
by the teacher. However, some students enjoy doing these activities and many of them were
fluent enough in producing the language through role play activities and they were able to
communicate with others. So with teaching speaking using role play method is good for students
to boost their will and motivation to learn English more.

References

Brown, H.Douglas. 2004. Language Assessment. Principles and Classroom Practice. Pearson
Education inc: Longman.

Gower, Roger, Diane Phillips, and Steve Walters. 1995. Teaching Practice. A handbook for
teachers in training. Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Limited.

Harmer, Jeremy. 2007. How to Teach English. Pearson:Longman.

Richards, Jack. C, 1991. Interchange English for international communication, Student’s book 2,
Oakleigh: Cambridge University