Speaking II Class Definition of Terms

11 Another definition comes from Joyce and Weil 2000, in which they state that Role-playing is a teaching strategy that emphasizes the social nature of learning, and see cooperative behavior as stimulating students both socially and intellectually that fits within the social family of models.Joyce and Weil, 2000. Mcguire and Priestly 1981 divide Role play into three types; simple role play, modeling exercise, and structurer role play. The first type is simple role play; is a role play that can be used on fairly simple level, concentrates and begins with the situation that will be familiar to the students, and involving only two or four people at the same time. The second type of role play is modeling exercise. This type consists of the role-played demonstrations of social skill or response by someone who is competent in its executions for someone who is not. It can be directly or recorded video. The third type of role play is structurer role play. In this type, it is possible to run role play in which individuals are given more elaborate instruction about who they are supposed to be and what would happen in the play. The principle behind role-playing is that the student assumes a particular personality of a different person, such as a historical character. According to Jones 1982, the students must accept the duties and responsibilities of their roles and functions, and do their best in the situation in which they find themselves. Role play can be used to introduce a topic, using the students’ background knowledge schema to introduce and interest them in a new unit of study Lloyd, 1998. Furthermore, role play can be used as a strategy in which the students use 12 their background knowledge in addition to acquiring new information about the character in order to better play the role Lloyd, 1998. In role-playing, the student is representing and experiencing a character which is known in everyday life Scarcella and Oxford, 1992. The use of role- playing emphasizes personal concerns, problems, behavior, and active participation. It improves interpersonal skills Teahan, 1975, improves communication skills Huyack, 1975, and enhances communication Ettkin Snyder, 1972. In role play, the students need to imagine a role, context, and improvise a conversation. One of the benefits of role play is that it allowsthe students to express who they are, their sense of humor, and their personal communication style Doff, 1992. According to Hawley 1975 the benefits of role play can be derived in terms of five general and overlapping categories: problem solving, rehearsing, reporting, developing empathy, and managing the class. Furthermore, Poorman 2002 claims that role play as a teaching strategy offers several advantages for both the teacher and the students. Firstly, student’s interest in the topic is raised. Integrating experiential learning activities in the classroom increases the interest in the subject matter and the understanding of the content. Secondly, it is increasingthe involvement on the part of the students in a role playing lesson. The students are not passive recipients. The third advantage is that role play can built the students ’ empathy and understanding of different perspectives.