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ROLEPLAYING IN LEARNING SPEAKING

  THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of SarjanaPendidikan

  Carolina Ika Arnandasari NIM: 112013013 ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA SALATIGA 2017

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

  This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.

  Copyright 2017: Carolina Ika Arnandasari and Gita Hastuti, M.A.

  All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the prior written permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English

  Universitas Kristen

  SatyaWacanaSalatiga.

  Carolina Ika Arnandasari:

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF ROLE PLAYING IN LEARNING SPEAKING

  Carolina Ika Arnandasari

ABSTRACT

  Speaking is an importat skill that should be mastered by the students. Since speaking take a big role in many aspects that related with the students’ (Ahamed, 2013, p. 274). However, for some students, there are many problems that obstruct them to improve their speaking skill. Since learning speaking is considered more difficult than learning other skills, teachers need to find appropriate teaching strategies to facilitate the students in learning speaking. Role play happens to be one of the strategiesmostly used by the teachers to facilitate the students to learn to speak English as a foreign language. It is believed that role play might help the students to learn English as a foreign language effectively (Dorathy Mahalaksmi, 2011, p.1). That is why this study aims to investigate junior high school students’ perceptions of role play in learning speaking. To gather deep information from the participants, who are the second graders of a private junior high school in Wonosobo, four times observations and focus group discussion were used. This study found five main benefits of role play that help the students to improve their speaking skill:role play helps the students to understand the materials easily, helps them to be more confident to speak English, provides many experiences that can be applied in the real life, and builds good atmosphere in the classroom and also encouraged the students to be more creative.

  Keywords: role play, speaking, confident

INTRODUCTION

  For some English teachers, teaching English as a foreign language is challenging. According to Yulia (2013, p.2), the reasons why teaching English especially in Indonesia is challenging include the use of the language in some cases, the different teachers’ knowledge, the size of the class and time management in the classroom. Another reason comes from students’ side; according to Zheng (2008), “second foreign language learning can be a traumatic For some English teachers, teaching English as a foreign language is challenging. According to Yulia (2013, p.2), the reasons why teaching English especially in Indonesia is challenging include the use of the language in some cases, the different teachers’ knowledge, the size of the class and time management in the classroom. Another reason comes from students’ side; according to Zheng (2008), “second foreign language learning can be a traumatic

  In learningEnglish, students need to learn some major skills, including listening, writing, speaking, and reading. In this globalization era, speaking appears to be the most important skill that should be mastered by the learners if they wish to communicate well enough with other various people. According to Ahamed (2013) “English speaking people are leading and playing major roles in different spheres of life like trade, commerce and geopolitical issues” (p.274). Like writing; speaking is known as a productive-active skill since the students need to produce some spoken texts in the process of learning and communication.

  In addition, according to Brown (2007) as cited in Derakhshan, Khalili Baheshti (2016)“speaking focuses not only on the vocabularies but also on fluency, accuracy, and pronunciation” (p.18) . Therefore, speaking is considered to be a complex process that needs much practice and exposure (Kuṥnierek, 2005, p.29)

  Teachers may find teaching speaking as a foreign language is challenging for some teachers because the target language is not used by the students to communicate in their daily life (Febriyanti, 2011). Since speaking is a difficult skill, there are some problems that may appear in the learning process. To deal with the problems , students often need a golden bridge to help them to be able to Teachers may find teaching speaking as a foreign language is challenging for some teachers because the target language is not used by the students to communicate in their daily life (Febriyanti, 2011). Since speaking is a difficult skill, there are some problems that may appear in the learning process. To deal with the problems , students often need a golden bridge to help them to be able to

  This study was conducted to reveal junior high school students’ perceptions of the use of role play in learning English, especially in learning the speaking skill. The research question that guides this study is ‘What are the students’ perceptions of the use of role-play in learning the English speaking skill?’

  The result of the study may give insights to the teachers about the students’ perceptions of the use of role play so that teachers may improve the practice of using role play to help students learn the speaking skill. The findings may provide some practical considerations for the use of role play in teaching speaking.

LITERATURE REVIEW

  Teaching Speaking

  English is a global language that can be used for oral

  communication with a lot of people. Being able to speak English is a must to face the communicative challenges in the globalization era (Hosni, 2014, p.22). Building students’ competence in speaking is indeed a challenge in Indonesia, where English is still a foreign language (Sulistyo, 2015), which means that in Indonesia, English is not used as a tool of communication in their daily activities. Therefore, the target language is very rarely used outside the classroom, and so “input and language use in the classroom are essential (Suryati, 2013, as cited in Sulistyo, 2015, p.13)

  In speaking classes, the students need to produce some products during the lesson. In regard to the communicative challenges in the globalization era, commanding the students to use English to communicate with others in classrooms seems more important than asking them to learn the structure of the sentences because “there is no point knowing a lot about language if you can’t use it”(Scrivener,2005,p.146).

Students’ Problems in Learning Speaking

  Since there are several aspects that need to be learned, students may find problems in learning spoken English as a foreign language. According to Ur (1996) as cited in Hosni (2014) some problems in the learning a foreign language include inhibition,lack of topical knowledge,low or uneven participation, and mother tongue use.

  Just as Ur (1996) in Hosni (2014)explained, the first and the most common problem is inhibition. Some of the students feel nervous and shy in front of many people. They are sometimes afraid of making mistakes. The second one is lack of topical knowledge. Some of the students find it hard to find ideas and topics to speak English. When they do find a topic, they might not know much about it. The third one is low or uneven participation. This situation often happens in some classes, where the active students usually speak a lot, and some of the non-active students sometimes do not speak at all. Thus, the last problem is mother tongue use. In speaking classes, some of the students prefer using their first language rather than using the target language because they feel more comfortable when communicating with their first language.

  Strategies in Teaching Speaking

  Every teacher has their teaching strategies to encourage their students to

  be good at using English in communication.In teaching speaking; there are some strategies that help the teacher to encourage the students to improve their speaking skill, such as cooperative activities, role play, creative tasks and drilling (Anjaniputra, 2013, p.2). According to Sonthara Vanna (2009) “teaching be good at using English in communication.In teaching speaking; there are some strategies that help the teacher to encourage the students to improve their speaking skill, such as cooperative activities, role play, creative tasks and drilling (Anjaniputra, 2013, p.2). According to Sonthara Vanna (2009) “teaching

  Besides, according to Solcova (2011) as cited in Anjaniputra (2013, p.2) creative tasks resemble real-life tasks, that students develop their fluency best, if engaged in tasks where all their concentration focuses on producing something, rather than on the language itself. Creative task also force the students to be creative in the real-world task. Drilling is a strategy to improve pronunciation by imitating and repeating words, phrases and even whole utterances (Thomburry, 2005). Since this study focuses on the use of role play, this strategy will be discussed further.

Role play

  Role play is definedby Cohen and Manion (1989), as cited in Tyers (2002), as “participation in simulated social situations that are intended to throw light upon the rolerule context governing ‘real’ life social episodes”(p.164).

  Moreover, role play is one of the most common teaching strategies which is used by the teachers frequently in some situations. According to Joyce and Weil (2000) as cited in Bharaty (2013)“Role play is a teaching strategy that fits within the social family of models” (p. 18). Besides, using role play in the language learning process might help the students to improve their English creatively, and give an opportunity for the students to habituate themselves to communication skills through conversations (Hattings a s cited in Dorothy Mahalakhsmi 2011).

  Teaching English using role play is very important since it provides real world tasks that encourage the students to learn speaking through communication in different social contexts and roles. It might help the students to learn English as

  a foreign language effectively (Dorothy Mahalakhsmi, 2011, p.1). Another benefit of role play is that it can build good interaction among the students during the teaching and learning process (Kuśnierek, 2015). Therefore, role play also conducts collaborated learning for the learner about how to solve a real-life problems and negotiating meaning while working together in groups (Bhatathy,2013, p.18)

  Meanwhile, according to Gower, Philips Walters (2005, p.105) role play is an opportunity for the students to be a particular person other than themselves such as a customer, a manager, and a shop assistant. They are given a chance to act through conversations in suitable situations. Therefore, through role play every student has various kinds of roles that have been studied and it can be good experiences for them to build good conversations in their real life. Moreover, according to Dorothy Mahalakhsmi (2011) “As for the shy learners, Meanwhile, according to Gower, Philips Walters (2005, p.105) role play is an opportunity for the students to be a particular person other than themselves such as a customer, a manager, and a shop assistant. They are given a chance to act through conversations in suitable situations. Therefore, through role play every student has various kinds of roles that have been studied and it can be good experiences for them to build good conversations in their real life. Moreover, according to Dorothy Mahalakhsmi (2011) “As for the shy learners,

  Kinds of Role Play

  Littlewood (1981) as cited in Wibawa (2014) proposed four kinds of role plays that can be used by the teacher :

  Role Play controlled through cue dialogues. In this model, the students will be given a cue on a piece of paper. The content of the cue talks about what the students should talk about in the role play. Every student will get a role from the cue. For example, on a piece of paper there is the word ‘farmer’. Therefore, the student who gets that piece of paper should take a part and act like a real farmer. Therefore, on the paper there are some cues for the students to do. For instance, Student A meets the farmer, and greets the farmer. Then student B greets the farmer and then ask another question that has already been provided on the cue. This model provides some directions for the students and theymight help the students to practice the conversation easily.

  Role play controlled through cues and information. Not too different from the previous model, in this role play the students will be given a cue and the cue will contain deeper information about the role the student needs to play. The paper provides what roles should be done by the students, such as teacher and Role play controlled through cues and information. Not too different from the previous model, in this role play the students will be given a cue and the cue will contain deeper information about the role the student needs to play. The paper provides what roles should be done by the students, such as teacher and

  1. Teacher opens the lesson by greeting the students.

  2. Student asks questions about the previous materials.

  3. Teacher explains the new materials using students’ worksheet.

  4. Teacher asks the students to do the exercise, and etc.

  Role play controlled through situations and goals. In this model, the teacher provides situations and goals, so the students should play the role based on the provided situations and goals. Before starting the role play, at first the teachers should give the situation to each group. Second, the teachers should also explain what the students should do during the role play. All of the students have to follow the teacher’s instructions and run the role play based on the situation they get. For example, the situation and goal for the students A : You want to eat the most delicious food in the restaurant. You want to know about the ingredient and how to cook it. Meanwhile, the situation and goal for student B: You are a waiter. You help the customer to know about the food. Then explain about how to cook the food.

  Role play controlled in the form of a debate or discussion. This model is the most difficult one, because the students should play a part to agree or disagree with an opinion and to defend their stance. After introducing a case, the teacher will divide students into two groups; the agree and disagree groups Later, the teacher will give a chance for both groups to defend their stances.

Previous studies on the use of role play

  In 2007, Susanti conducted a study about using role play in teaching speaking in Islamic Junior High School Soebono Mantofani Jombang-Ciputat. The study aimed to investigate whether the scores of speaking taught by using role play was better or not by comparing the students’ scores before and after being taught by using the role play technique. The participants of the study were thirty students of Grade 9 chosen by using cluster random sampling. For the research instrument she used an oral test as a pre-test for the students and divided the assessment into five criteria (pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension ). Then the students were given role play treatment. After that, the researcher gave an oral test again as the post-test to check the students’ progress. The research found that the use of role play in the second language helped the students to get better scores. Also, the teaching and learning processwas more interesting and enjoyable since in the role play provided some situations and roles to be acted out by the students. Besides that, the use of role play made the materials understood by the students easily. (p. 41).

  In 2016, Lavanya, Kalpana, Veena and Kumar conducted a descriptive study on role-play as an educational tool in medication communication skills: Students’ perspectives.A questionnaire is used to gather information from122 students in second professional MBBS. This study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology during the 2015 – 2016 academic years. The aim of the study was to explore students’ perceptions of roleplay as an educational tool in In 2016, Lavanya, Kalpana, Veena and Kumar conducted a descriptive study on role-play as an educational tool in medication communication skills: Students’ perspectives.A questionnaire is used to gather information from122 students in second professional MBBS. This study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology during the 2015 – 2016 academic years. The aim of the study was to explore students’ perceptions of roleplay as an educational tool in

  helped them to encourage the communicating therapy details.

  Dawood in 2013 conducted a descriptive study about Nursing Students’ Perspective about Role – Play as a Teaching Strategy in Psychiatric Nursing. The study was conducted in the College of Nursing (CON – R), King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences – Riyadh (KSAU – HS), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The participants of the study were one hundred and fifty three nursing students enrolled in the PsychiatricMental Health Nursing course in the 2011 – 2012 and 2012 – 2013academic years. The objectives of the study were to identify nursing students’ preference of teaching strategies in psychiatric nursing and investigate nursing students’ perspective about role – play as a teaching strategy in psychiatric nursing.The study concluded that role – play was proven to

  be an effective tool for the teaching psychiatric nursing. Although it initially creates anxiety and fear, psychiatric nursing students judged the use of role – play in the teaching – learning process as very positive, improving their communication, and helping them to integrate the theory and practice of psychiatric nursing.

  Those previous studies explained about the use of role play in the teaching and learning process. The result of those previous studies showed that role play has a several benefits for the students during the learning process. Those benefits helped the students to get better scores becauseit was easier for the students to understand the materials, helped the student to encourage their communicating Those previous studies explained about the use of role play in the teaching and learning process. The result of those previous studies showed that role play has a several benefits for the students during the learning process. Those benefits helped the students to get better scores becauseit was easier for the students to understand the materials, helped the student to encourage their communicating

THE STUDY

Method of the Study

  This study was a descriptive study . The aim of the study was to describe the students’ perceptions of the use of role play in speaking class. The setting of the study was a private Junior high school located in Wonosobo, Central Java, Indonesia.

  Participants of the Study

  The participants in this study were nineteen students in the second grade of

  a private junior high school in Wonosobo. All of the students learned in the same class. To choose the participants, the researcher used purposive sampling. Palinkas, Horwitz, Green, Wisdom, Duan, Hoagwood (2013) agreed that “purposeful sampling is widely used in qualitative research for the identification and selection of information-rich cases related to the phenomenon of interest” (n.p). The participants were chosenby the researcher based on the requirements needed,that is the students wereretaught using role play.

Data Collection Instruments

  This study used observations and focus group discussions to collect the information from the participants. To get the whole information in the teaching and learning process I observed in the class four times. In the observation process,

  I used video-recorder to record everything that happened in the classroom as authentic evidence. Also, I used field notes to write the important things for this study. For this study I used nonparticipant observation, which means that I did not take part in the teaching and learning process, I only observed the class’s situations and students’ behaviour. This method helped me get much information and see everything that was happening in the classroom.

  Meanwhile, to gather the information from the participants, I used focus group discussions (FGD). I divided the students into five groups and each group consisted of four students. In every group, we had a 20 minutes’ discussion about the difficulties in learning speaking and the use of role play in Speaking class using the Indonesian language. The FGD question included the following:

  Focus Group Discussion’s questions(in English)

  1. Does your teacher often use role play to teach you?

  2. What materials were taught using role play?

  3. How did your teacher assign you to do a role play?

  4. How did you feel when you were assigned to do a role play?

  5. Do you prefer to be taught using role play or other techniques? Why ?

  6. Does role play help you understand the materials better? How ?

  7. What difficulties did you find when you did a role play?

  Focus Group Discussion’s questions (in Indonesian)

  1. Apakah bapakibu guru di sini sering menggunakan role play sebagai teknik didalam proses pembelajaran?

  2. Materi apa saya yang biasanya menggunakan role play?

  3. Bagaimana cara bapak ibu guru menyuruh kalian untuk melaksanakan role play?

  4. Bagaimana perasaanmu saat mengetahui bahwa kalian diminta untuk melaksanakan role play ?

  5. Kalian lebih tertarik saat belajar menggunakan role play atau tanpa roleplay?

  6. Apakan roleplay membantu kalian dalam menguasai materia yamg diajarkan oleh bapak ibu guru?

  7. Apa saja kesulitan kalian dalam belajar bahasa inggris menggunakan role play?

Data Collection Procedure

  The first step was observation and was conducted four times by the researcher.In the first and second observations, the researcher observed the teacher when explaining the material without using role play. Then, the researcher did two more observations in the same classroom when the teacher used role play to deliver the materials. The last step is focus group discussion (FGD). As explained earlier, the researcher divided twenty students into five groups The first step was observation and was conducted four times by the researcher.In the first and second observations, the researcher observed the teacher when explaining the material without using role play. Then, the researcher did two more observations in the same classroom when the teacher used role play to deliver the materials. The last step is focus group discussion (FGD). As explained earlier, the researcher divided twenty students into five groups

Data Analysis Procedure

  The data from observations and focus group discussions were analyzed in several steps. The first one was transcribing. In this study, the researcher used clean transcription methodto transcribe the information from observation and FGD. According to Zacharias (2011), clean transcription method focuses on the content of the interview. The information was used to describe the students’ perceptions toward role play in the speaking class. Afterwards,the researcher categorized the same information from the discussion to the same group. The last step was making a conclusion based on the data that the researcher got from the observations and FGD.

Findings and Discussion

  This research aims to describe ‘What are the students’ perceptions of the use of role play in learning the English speaking skill?’. According to the data analysis, the researcher found four benefits of role play that affected the students’ performance in learning English. The benefits were that it waseasier for the students to understand the materials, that role playswashelpful to build self- confidence, that role play provided many experiences and that it also made the classroom’s atmosphere comfortable. In this part, the researcher will explain more details about the findings.

Teaching without Role Play

  As I explained before, I did the observations twice for teaching without role play. The first observation was done on Wednesday, April 26, 2017, and the second was on Thursday, April 27, 2017. The topic of the lesson was how to make

  a telephone call, the first and second teaching sessions which were observedhave the same topic. In the first observation, the teacher focusedon what is telephone call and practice the pronunciation. During the lesson, the teacher asked the students to read the dialogue provided by the teacher. The teacher also gave feedback to correct the students’ pronunciation. When they tried to read the dialogue, most of them looked shy and unconfident. During the lesson, the teacher gave many examples of a telephone call in order to make the students understand the expressions that are commonly used in a telephone call.

  In the second observation, the teacher focused on the language and content of a telephone call. The teacher explained about the structure of the sentences. Moreover, the teacher also gave the guidelines about having a telephone call. In this case, the teacher gave an example regarding telephone call through a video. Most students in the classroom paid attention to the teacher’s explanation, and some of them took notes when they found some important things. After that, students were asked to apply their knowledge into a telephone call conversation . During the process of making the dialogue, some of the students asked about some difficult word such as konser musik. Then the teacher asked to the other students about the meaning of konser musik , and some of the students In the second observation, the teacher focused on the language and content of a telephone call. The teacher explained about the structure of the sentences. Moreover, the teacher also gave the guidelines about having a telephone call. In this case, the teacher gave an example regarding telephone call through a video. Most students in the classroom paid attention to the teacher’s explanation, and some of them took notes when they found some important things. After that, students were asked to apply their knowledge into a telephone call conversation . During the process of making the dialogue, some of the students asked about some difficult word such as konser musik. Then the teacher asked to the other students about the meaning of konser musik , and some of the students

  In this case, the students had to make the dialogue by themselves, then memorize it and performit in front of the class. During the observations, I found some problems that influenced the students’ ability to speak English. Ur (1996) in According to Hosni (2014) stated that some problems in the learning a foreign language include inhibition, lack of topical knowledge, low or uneven participation, and mother tongue use. In this study, the most common problem that happened in the classroom is inhibition. Most of the students still looked shy when they had to speak English in front of the class. They also seemed unconfident to communicate using English. Moreover, the second problem observed was lack of topical knowledge. Some students found it difficult to find English terms of some Indonesian words or phrases related to the topic. These problems might be a big obstacle that affects the students’ performance while In this case, the students had to make the dialogue by themselves, then memorize it and performit in front of the class. During the observations, I found some problems that influenced the students’ ability to speak English. Ur (1996) in According to Hosni (2014) stated that some problems in the learning a foreign language include inhibition, lack of topical knowledge, low or uneven participation, and mother tongue use. In this study, the most common problem that happened in the classroom is inhibition. Most of the students still looked shy when they had to speak English in front of the class. They also seemed unconfident to communicate using English. Moreover, the second problem observed was lack of topical knowledge. Some students found it difficult to find English terms of some Indonesian words or phrases related to the topic. These problems might be a big obstacle that affects the students’ performance while

Teaching with Role Play

  In this study to gather important information about role play, the researcher conducted the observations twice againin the same class, but these times, the teacher used role playto share the materials. The first observation was done on Tuesday, May 9 2017 and the second was on Thursday, May 18, 2017.

  On the first observation, the teacher focused on the students’ performance of telephone call and explained about word stress. At the beginning of the class, the teacher gave an example about how to use correct word stress. The students were very excited since the teacher used a game. Each student came forward to try the word stress checker on the teacher’s computer. Most of the students still looked shy because they were afraid to make mistakes although for some students, usingword stress was easy and it made them more confident when speaking English. In this partby an informal interview withthe teacher,the teacher used a game in order to make the students enjoy the lesson.

  After the game on word stress, the students were asked to perform the role play about telephone call in front of the class.In this case, the students had already prepared the role play since the teacher had already informed the students in the previous meeting.

  By the observation, the researcher found that most of the students were enjoyed to speak English in their role play; only a few students still looked shy and unconfident.Meanwhile, students who were active in the class; gave a good performance such as using a loud voice and good pronunciation, and they were confident. Moreover, in this role play the teacher provided feedback after each groupperformed their performance in order to make the students get better in the next role play.

  On the last lesson observed, the teacher focused ona new material; giving and asking for recommendation. At first, the teacher explained about giving and asking for recommendations. While the teacher was explaining the materials, most of the students were listening to the teacher and taking notes when they found important words. After that, the students were asked to give some recommendations. Most of the students could give some examples of recommendations, and the students enjoyed sharing their ideas. Meanwhile, the teacher also gave detailed examples which consisted of the requirements regarding asking and giving recommendations as the following:

  Cantika : Good morning Mr. Daniel. (greetings) Mr. Daniel : Hello, good morning Cantika. (greetings) Cantika : Mr. Daniel, can you help me to find the best restaurant in

  Jakarta? (asking recommendation) Mr. Daniel : I ever visit Jakarta before, but I know few restaurant there. There are

  Koinonia, biztro and black pepper best restaurant there. (giving the recommendation, more than 2 places )

  Cantika : where is the most delicious restaurant? (asking recommendation) Mr. Danie : I think Koinonia (giving recommendation)

  Cantika : why koinonia is the best restaurant rather than biztro and black paper?

  (asking for reason) Mr. Daniel : Because koinonia provide delicious western food (giving reason) Cantika : Okay thank you Mr. Daniel for your recommendation (say thank you) Mr. Daniel : Okay, you’re welcome (Observation on May 18, 2017)

  In order to make the students easy to understand with the materials, the teacher gave a role play guide for each student through an example. At first, the teacher wrote the example of the dialogue on the white board, and wrote the requirenments of the dialogue. Then, the students were asked to note down the dialogue create a similar dialogue by themselves. The teacher also asked the students to practice the role play in ten minutes and then the students should perform their role play. Suddenly some of the students were shocked and got nervous. In this situation, I found that some of the students had already felt dazed while waiting for the teacher to call the students to perform. Some of the students had the same problems. They were still afraid and shy in front of the class. Meanwhile, most of the students could give good performance in the role play. Mostly, the students had already used a loud voice and good pronunciation. Moreover some students had good confidence while they do role playing in front of the class.

  In addition to the observation results above, according to the participants’ answer in the focus group discussions, the teacher in this school mostly used role In addition to the observation results above, according to the participants’ answer in the focus group discussions, the teacher in this school mostly used role

  Disini memang banyak kaya gitu jadi guru memang biasanya bikin role play gitu sih di setiap ngajar.

  In this school, the teacher usually uses role play during the teaching and learning process. (Student 1, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Iya, sering sih tapi gak terlalu sering juga hampir semua materi. Yes, heoften uses role play almost in every material. (Student 2, on FGD,

  May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher.) Based on the participants’ explanation, from the beginning of the semester,

  the teacher has already used role play to teach about directions, appointment, telephone calls and recommendations. The teacher would provide some time for the students to prepare their role play a few days earlier. At first, the teacher would ask the students to make their own dialogue. Second, the teacher wouldlead the students to practice the dialogue in pairs. Last, the students were chosen by the teacher randomly to perform. This point was stated by Student 8 and Student 9

  Membuat itu membuat percakapannya dulu di buku, menghafalkan, terus suruh perform maju kedepan.

  We would need to make the dialogue on the book first, then memorize it and perform in front of the class. (Student 8, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Pertama pilih topik, terus bikin percakapan, terus ngafalin dan nunggu dipilih aja terus maju

  At first, we should choose the theme of our dialogue, then make the dialogue, and memorized it. Then we would wait to be chosen by the teacher to perform. (Student 9, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Based on the observations and students’ explanation, the researcher found that the teacher thereoften used role play in class and he mostly used cue and information dialogue. This kind of role play can be identified by the teacher’s model when he gave a guideline for the students on Thursday, May 18, 2017 (second observation). While the teacher explained the materials and gave the example of the dialogue, he also gave the cue and information about what the students should say during the role play.

Students’ Perceptions of Role Play in Learning Speaking

  In this study, students’ perceptions of role play in learning speaking were investigated through focus group discussions. The participants of the study were twenty students of a private junior high school in Wonosobo. During the focus group discussion, it was revealed that almost all of thestudents prefered English lesson with role play rather than traditional teaching strategy, which is usually done without a role play.The students also mentioned five main reasons why they preferred a lesson with role play; role play helped the students to understand the materials easily, made the students be more confident to speak English, provided many experiences that can be applied in the real life, and built positive atmosphere in the classroom, and also encouraged the students’ creativity. More detailed explanation will be provided below.

Role play helped the students to understand the materials easily

  In the focus group discussion, seventeen students in this private school explained that role play helped them to understand the material more easily. They In the focus group discussion, seventeen students in this private school explained that role play helped them to understand the material more easily. They

  Seneng tapi kadang – kadang gak seneng sih. Tp lebih gampang mudeng nek role play.

  Sometimes I like it, but sometimes I don’t. But it is easier for me to understand the materials through role play. (Student 4, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Kalau udah role play nanti pas ulangan terus keinget dialognya kan jadi gampang.

  Doing a quiz is easier if I can remember the dialogue that I have made for the role play (Student 15, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  As shown in the excerpt above, Students 15 even mentioned that getting

  involved in role play could help him do the quiz given by the teacher. He could do the quiz more easily by recalling the dialogue he made for the role play.

  Furthermore, during the focus group discussion, some students added some detailed information related to this benefit of role play by Student 20 and Student 18 explained :

  Ya nek aku lebih suka pakai play sih lebih cepet mudeng soalnya udah dipraktekan langsung.

  I like learning with role play; I can understand it more quickly as we have directly practiced itin the classroom. (Student 20, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Membantu soalnya jadi bisa membuat kan, nanti kalo disuruh bikin lagi pasti sudah bisa.

  It helps us because we made the conversation by ourselves and if I were asked to make one again, I can surely do it. (Student 18, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  According to Students 20 and Student 18, role play provided real practice of the theory that could stay in their mind. This experience could help them understand the material more quickly and could, in turn, help them do a similar task in the future.

  To sum up, role play played a big role to facilitate the students to improve their speaking skill through many kinds of roles that should be performed in front of the class.The experience of getting involved in making a dialogue based on the given examples and then performing it helped students to understand the material more quickly and easily. Moreover, recalling to that experience could help students do a similar task on a later time. Regarding this, Dorothy Mahalakhsmi (2011) stated that teaching English using role play is very important since it provides real-world tasks, It might help the students to learn English as a foreign language effectively. Role play can be an effective teaching strategy since role play facilitates the students to learn by doing. Therefore, through role play the students can understand the materials with less time and they also have already practiced the materials directly.

  Roleplay built students’ confidence to speak English.

  Learning English especially speaking is not easy for some students, theymay encounter some obstacles while learning. From the four most common problems in learning a foreign language proposed by Ur (1996) in Hosni (2014), the most common problem for the shy and passive students in this study is inhibition.Some of the students looked nervous and shy in front of many people.

  This point was stated by sixteen out of nineteen students. Students 2 and Students

  13 put it:

  Malu lah soalnya ditonton terus didenger sama temen lainnya.

  I am shy to speak English in class because all of my friends see and listen to me. (Student 2, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Nggak percaya diri, pengucapannya masih jelek banget.

  I am not confident to speak English since my pronunciation is so bad. (Student 13, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Student 2 felt shy to speak English because ahe might not feel comfortable to be the center of attention. Student 13 felt unconfident to speak English since he thought that his pronunciation was still so bad. Other students stated similarly that they were reluctant to speak English in front of many people because they did not feel comfortable to be the center of attention and because they were not confident with their own skill.

  In relation to this most common problem in class, ten students agreed that role play helped them to be more confident to speak using English in front of many people as Student 4 and Student 7 stated:

  Ya role play bisa lebih percaya diri kalo lagi ngomong bahasa Inggris. By role play, I can be more confident when speaking English. (Student 4,

  on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher). Ya bisa melatih percaya diri sih apa lagi di depan kelas gitu di banyak

  orang. Role play helps me to build my confidence when speaking English in front

  of many people. (Student 7, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Role play facilitated the students to practice first before performing, it might be helpful for most of the students to prepare themselves and build good self-confidence. Student 6 put it:

  Kalau role play kan sudah latihan dulu dirumah, jadi udah terbiasa jadi engga malu. Jadi biasa aja.

  I usually did some practices at home before I performed, and it would be make me be more confident. (Student 6, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Moreover, in some situations, the teacher gave longer time for the students to memorize and practice the dialogue. The longer the time the teacher gave;the more ready and confident the students would be to do the role play. Student 9 explained :

  Lebih enak kalau dikasih waktu yang lama untuk persiapan role play jadi lebih mantep kalo maju kedepan.

  When the teacher provided a longer time for me to prepare the role play, I would be more confident when I have to perform my role play. (Student 9, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  In this study, the teacher provided an opportunity for the students to do some practices before doing the role play and this helped build students’ confidence when they performed the role play.

  A few students, however, still felt shy and dazed when they waited for

  their turn to perform the role play, but these students could give good performance and did a great job when it came for them to perform their rope play.

  Role play provided experiences that could be applied in the real

  life.Fourteen students stated that role play experiences could be used in their real life.Fourteen students stated that role play experiences could be used in their real

  Jadi kalo role play kan harus ngomong terus, kalo sekarang aku bisa lah telefon pakai bahasa inggris spontan.

  Role play forces me to learn to speak English. After I did my my role play,

  I can communicate in telephone call using English spontaneously. (Student

  1, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher). Ya dapet pengalaman baru si bisa langsung di dipakai. Kaya yang ngasih

  arah arah itu.

  I can get many experiences from role play. Now, I can give some directions for someone. (Student 20, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Ya kalau sekarang bisa telfonan sama pak guru pakai bahasa inggris. Now, I can use Englishto communicate with my teacher in a telephone

  call. (Student 21, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  According to the students above, from their experiences in role play, they could apply what they have learned in their real life, such as making a telephone call in English spontaneously to their teacher and giving directions. The finding is

  consistent with Gower, Philips Walters’statement (2005, p.105) that role play is an opportunity for the students to be a particular person other than themselves such as a customer, a manager, and a shop assistant. Moreover, role play provides opportunities for the students to know more deeply about their role in role play so that they can apply their experiences from role play in their real world (Bharathy, 2013, p.18).

  Role play built positive atmosphere in the classroom.

  The findings showed that the use of role play during the teaching and learning process made the classroom be more fun and comfortable. Through role play, the atmosphere was better and it helped the students to enjoy the learning process. Ten students explained that role play influenced their feeling in the class while learning. Student 17 and Student 6 explained it :

  Seneng kalo diajar pakai role play, menyenangkan kelasnya.

  I am happy when there is a role play in the class because the class becomes fun. (Student 17, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Kelas nya jadi nyenengin, ngga tegang, bisa ketawa ketawa. The class becomes fun not stressful because we can laugh. (Student 6, on

  FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher). In addition, for some students, the use of role play also prevented them

  from becoming sleepy and tired in the classroom. Student 13 and Student 16 put it:

  Nggak ngebosenin , jadi ngga ngantuk.

  The teaching process does not make me bored. I am not sleepy at the class. (Student 13, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Males kalo ngga pakai role play cuma nyatet tok, bikin ngantuk.

  I do not like to take a note only during the lesson. It makes me sleepy. (Student 16, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  From the Student 13’s and Student 16’s statements, the researcher interpreted that role play could make the students be more motivated in learning

  English since role play itself invited the students to enjoy positive atmosphere in the classroom.

  Role Play Encouraged Creativity.

  In this study, the researcher found that role play could train the students to

  be more creative. Based on the example given, the students should develop their own dialoguecreatively for the role play. Student 11 put it:

  Kan sudah ada contohnya, terus kita bikin lagi kaya contohnya tapi beda topik.

  We can see the example from the teacher then we make the new dialogue for the role play with a new topic. (Student 11, on FGD, May 10, 2017, translated by the researcher).

  Moreover, since the students told to make the dialogue by themselves, it