2.4 Role Play Technique
Role Play is a type of drama activities where the students can play dramatization
of real life situation and the researcher used this technique because it is very enjoyable for the students’. Harmer stated that 1998: 92, offers this definition,
“Role-play activities are those where students are asked to imagine that they are in different situations and act accordingly. Role Play as a vehicle by which students
can more easily learn the fundamentals of English conversation in a specific situation, requiring the use of key words which act as signifiers for that particular
situation, Stocker 2006: 1. Role-play has been notoriously difficult to define. The introduction in one
manuscript on the topic cites the fable of the blind man and the elephant, explaining that role-
play “takes on different meanings for different people”, Ladousse 1987: 7. Imaginary situation is that student can become anyone they
like to be for a short time. Moreover, they love acting and playing. For example, students can be a teacher, actor or animals. Students can also use a script if only
the students are unfamiliar with Role Play by giving the explanation and instruction. Student can also take on the opinions of someone else in imaginary
situations. From those explanations, the researcher find out that Role Play is a technique
which involves fantasy or imagination to be someone else or to be ourselves in specific situation for a moment with improvising dialogue and creating a real
word in scenario. Not only have more opport unities to “act” and “interact” with
their peers trying to use English language, but also students’ English speaking,
listening and understanding will be improved. It aims at the students to encourage thinking and creative, lets students develop and practice new language and
behavioral skill in more realistic and more practical way using Role Play.
2.5 Role Play in Teaching Speaking
The use of English in speaking is not simple. The speaker should master the element of speaking, such as: grammar, vocabulary, fluency, pronunciation, and
comprehension. In this case, English teacher have responbilities to improve students’ speaking ability, so the teachers are demanded to have teaching methode
in order to solve the problem faced by the students in learning English. The teacher also needs the appropiate technique in order to improve the students’
speaking a bility. To improve students’ speaking ability many techniques can be
implemeted, one of them is Role Play. Role Play is considered as a way to develop interactional uses of English. According to Oberle 2004: 199, Role
Playing activities help introduce students to “real-world” situation. Role Play is also a technique that can make the students work in pairs or group, support one
another and make the class more interesting. It is supported by Wilkins’ theory in
Liu and Ding 2009 that Role Play is an affective technique to animate the teaching and learning athmosphere, arouse the interest of learners, and make the
language acquisition impressive. Moreover, Role Play can be used to train students’ fluency and pronunciation in spesific situation as a guide and tourist.