classroom, sometimes playing the role of someone other than themselves, and using language appropriate to this new context.
13
Another expert, Carol Livingstone, states that role play is therefore a classroom activity which gives the student the opportunity to
practice the language, the aspects of role behavior, and the actual roles he may need outside the classroom.
14
From the statements above, the writer concludes that role play is a technique in English teaching in which students learn in an imaginary
situations or roles in order to develop the students’ fluency, and role play in the classroom involves students actively in the learning process by
enabling them to act as stakeholders in an imagined or real scenario.
2. The Application of Role Play
The application of Role Play in the classroom has many steps:
a. Preparat ion :
Define t he problem, creat e a readiness for t he roles, est ablish t he sit uation, cast the charact ers, brief and w arm up, and consider the
t raining. b.
Playing : Act ing, st opping, involving the audience, analyzing the discussion,
and evaluating. The preparat ion is import ant to not e t hat all of it em s in focus on
group experiences. The group should share in t he defining of t he problem , carrying out t he role playing situation, discussing the result s,
and evaluating the whole experience.
13
Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 131.
14
Carol Livingstone, Role Play in Language Learning, England: Longman, 1983, p. 6.
The t eacher must ident ify the sit uation clearly so t hat bot h t he charact ers and t he audience underst and the problem at hand. In
cast ing the charact ers, t he w ise t eacher w ill t ry t o accept volunt eers rat her t han assign roles. St udent s must realize t hat act ing abilit y is not
at st ake here but rather t he spont aneous discharge of how one thinks t he charact er of his role would react in t he defined sit uat ion.
Players may be inst ruct ed publicly so t hat t he audience know s w hat to expect or privat ely so t hat t he audience can int erpret t he
m eaning of their behavior. Be sure t o allow for creat ivit y of t he act ors w it hin their charact er roles and do not over st ruct ure t he situation.
The discussion and analysis of t he role playing situat ion depends upon how w ell the t eacher involves t he audience. Key quest ions m ay be
asked by t he leader and or buzz groups m ay be form ed. All m em bers of t he group actors and the audience should part icipat e, and t he
react ions of t he act ors m ay be profit ably com pared t o t hose of t he audience.
The audience is just as m uch involved in t he learning sit uation as t he act ors are. In the analysis and discussion t ime, t he audience should
provide possible solut ions t o t he realist ic problem sit uations which surface. It is import ant to evaluat e role playing in the light of t he
prescribed goals. Cat egorizing behavior is oft en overdone and get s in t he w ay of the learning process. Evaluat ion should proceed on both
group and personal levels, raising quest ions concerning t he validit y of t he original purpose.
Throughout t he ent ire process it w ill be necessary t o deal w ith cert ain problems w hich arise in role playing situat ions. The backw ard,
silent m em ber m ust be encouraged t o cont ribut e. Creat e an
at mosphere in w hich he is unafraid to share ideas, confident that no one will laugh at his cont ribut ions or harshly criticize his conclusions.
The overbearing monopolizer must be curt ailed in t he discussion phase of role playing lest he dom inat e the group and thereby quash t he
dynam ic, Solving this problem m ay require som e personal counseling out side of class. Tension and conflict in the group m ay not always be
bad. Som et imes t hese elem ent s act as a stimulant t o thinking. There i s such a thing as “ creat ive t ension,” and it is frequent ly found in a role
playing situation as group dynamic em erges. At t he end of t he discussion tim e t he group should collect ively
m easure it s effect iveness in reaching biblical solut ions to the role problem posed at t he beginning. The t echniques of role playing afford
anot her approach t o involving st udent s in t heir own learning process t ow ard t he clarification of self concept s, evaluation of behavior, and
aligning of that behavior w ith realit y.
3. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Role Play
