THE PECULIARITIES OF USING ROLE-PLAYS AND CASE STUDY IN
THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM
Tursunbayeva X.A., Chsherbakov A.S.
North Kazakhstan State University named after M. Kozybayev, Petropavlovsk
As we all know, one of the main goals of language teaching is to equip our students with the ability to communicate in the target language. Using different imitative and role techniques in the language classroom is an effective way for students to learn and practice communication skills as well as to develop their own communication strategies that can be readily applied to the real world.
The benefits to using imitative and role techniques in the classroom are numerous; however, we would like to focus on the particular aspect of how namely role-play and case study promote communicative language learning through tasks or activities. The general principles of the considered methods are as follows:
1. there is a communication problem of some type to solve;
2. the task has some relationship to real-world activities;
3. task performance can be based either on implementing a definite role;
4. there is always an element of game in these activities.
The benefits of gaming in the classroom include increased memory, class performance, social benefits, and improving the transfer of learning [1: 120]. Educators presume that students learn and use that knowledge in other contexts, but that is not always the case. Students need to have the material learned in a variety of contexts in order to practice it, which is not the norm in a traditional classroom setting; in contrast, this becomes feasible in a game environment where students are encouraged to take risks and learn from them. Currently, through playing some roles, students are able to learn various skills including listening and speaking, interaction and organizational skills; they can enlarge their vocabulary. These teaching strategies enable learners to acquire additional knowledge in social studies, and skills of time and money management, problem solving, and exhibiting appropriate behaviors by playing board games. Both role-play and case study fit in almost every subject in today’s classrooms creating unexpected or stealth learning opportunities while accommodating various student-learning styles and encouraging complex skills.
So, let us in brief illustrate what the role-play and the case-study techniques represent themselves and how they can be implemented at the English lesson.
Role-play is an effective technique to animate the teaching and learning atmosphere, arouse the interests of learners, and make the language acquisition impressive. Incorporating role-play into the classroom adds variety, a change of pace and opportunities for a lot of language production and also a lot of fun!
When organizing the practice of role-play, the teacher must provide a context and several roles for students to prepare and then perform in the class. The performance can be developed by several groups. When one is performing, the other students are audience and discuss its advantages and disadvantages afterward the discussion itself is also a kind of practice.
B. Fraser, E. Rintell and J. Walters proffer role-play as a useful means to study learners’ pragmatic competence [2]. Therefore, many contextual features are important in determining how a speaker will behave in a role-play; the speech act can be kept constant while the contextual features are varied. Many dimensions of a learner’s pragmatic competence may be explored in this way.
The purpose of role-play that applies to practical usage in communication demands the flexibility of participants’ words – the closer the activity access to reality, the more interest students will take in. Thus, the choice of roles and contexts become very important: when teachers design a role-play, they must take students’ age and experience into consideration.
To sum up, the studies on this topic presented the general research for role-play and affirmed the positive effect of role-play, which is proved to be useful in communicative teaching method. In this activity, students obviously play a central role. However, the teacher should be a surveyor and control the whole situation in order to make the class go along with the task. Judging by the experience, students consciously apply the vocabulary from the presentation of new lessons. The effect of memorization and application of new words is proved better than single practice of recitation. Some errors occur occasionally. Serious grammatical errors should be corrected by the teacher immediately or by the students in the follow-up discussion. Some slips of tongue can be neglected while the speaker himself is aware of it.
Role playing authentic situations is one avenue leading to improved communicative ability in the target language. For the instructor, role play is a versatile activity in that it can be based on authentic listening passages, readings, or videos. For most learners, moving from structured activities to less structured activities allows them to proceed at their own pace while building confidence. Through role play, students can also learn the significance of the spoken and nonspoken word in their own as well as in the target language and culture.
According to the number of acknowledged methodologists “Case studies are stories that are used as a teaching tool to show the application of a theory or concept to real situations. Dependent on the goal they are meant to fulfill, cases can be factdriven and deductive where there is a correct answer, or they can be context driven where multiple solutions are possible. Various disciplines have employed case studies, including humanities, social sciences, sciences, engineering, law, business, and medicine. Good cases generally have the following features: they tell a good story, are recent, include dialogue, create empathy with the main characters, are relevant to the reader, serve a teaching function, require a dilemma to be solved, and have generality” [3].
There are many forms of case studies which differ hugely in complexity. Case studies range from a simple short scenario and the question “What would you do now?”, to complex multi-perspective studies. How complex a case should be depends on what you want your students to do with it. Teachers can create their own cases or take one of the numerous case studies which are offered as teaching material. Typically case studies are assigned as teamwork so that participants can brainstorm and develop common solutions, but they can also be used as an individual assignment. Usually they are presented by a teacher, but it is also possible to transfer the case study method to e-learning. Whichever form a case takes, it has three basic components:
1) a real world or fictive scenario, 2) documentation and data,
3) an open-ended problem.
The use of case studies can therefore be a very effective classroom technique.
Case studies have long been used in business schools, law schools, medical schools and the social sciences, but they can be used in any discipline when instructors want students to explore how what they have learned applies to real world situations.
Most case assignments require students to answer an open-ended question or develop a solution to an open-ended problem with multiple potential solutions.
Requirements can range from a one-paragraph answer to a fully developed group action plan, proposal or decision.
Most “full-blown” cases have these common elements:
1. a decision-maker who is grappling with some question or problem that needs to be solved;
2. a description of the problem’s context (a law, an industry, a family);
3. supporting data, which can range from data tables to links to URLs, quoted statements or testimony, supporting documents, images, video, or audio.
Case assignments can be done individually or in teams so that the students can brainstorm solutions and share the work load.
A major advantage of teaching with case studies is that the students are actively engaged in figuring out the principles by abstracting from the examples. This develops their skills in:
1. problem solving,
2. analytical tools,
3. decision making in complex situations, and
4. coping with ambiguities.
Decision cases are more interesting than descriptive ones. In order to start the discussion in class, the instructor can start with an easy, noncontroversial question that all the students should be able to answer readily. However, some of the best case discussions start by forcing the students to take a stand. Some instructors will ask a student to do a formal “open” of the case, outlining his or her entire analysis. Others may choose to guide discussion with questions that move students from problem identification to solutions. A skilled instructor steers questions and discussion to keep the class on track and moving at a reasonable pace.
In order to motivate the students to complete the assignment before class as well as to stimulate attentiveness during the class, the teacher should grade the participation – quantity and especially quality – during the discussion of the case. This might be a simple check, check-plus, check-minus or zero. The instructor should involve as many students as possible. In order to engage all the students, the instructor can divide them into groups, give each group several minutes to discuss how to answer a question related to the case, and then ask a randomly selected person in each group to present the group’s answer and reasoning. Random selection can be accomplished through rolling of dice, shuffled index cards, each with one student’s name, a spinning wheel, etc.
In conclusion, it is worth pointing out that role play and case studies are forms of experiential learning [4] where the students can experiment with different responses and behaviours. Students can gain a greater insight into the issues at stake providing ‘real life’ context, and emotional impact. As an educational tool, both role play and case study promote experiential learning by training in the actual environment in which the provider is expected to use these skills.
The advantages to the use of case studies and role-plays in class are the same, students solve their problems through the action, analyze the situation and solve it depending on their own attitude. In both situations teacher should control the course of the lesson. But the difference is in their “role” in these two types of work. In the role play the teacher provides particular situation with ready participants roles, so the students should play the parts of those agents. Regarding the case study students, given the background, act for themselves.
References:
1. Skehan P.A. Cognitive Approach to Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
2. Fraser, B., E. Rintell, & J. Walters. (1980). An Approach to Conducting Research on the Acquisition of Pragmatic Competence in a Second Language. In D.
Larsen-Freeman (Ed.), Discourse Analysis in Second Language Research (pp. 75-91). Rowley, MA: Newbury House
3. L. Barnes, C. R. Christensen, A. Hansen. Teaching and the Case Method, 3rd ed., by Harvard Business School Press, 1994; 333 p.
4. Russell C., Shepherd J. Online role-play environments for higher education British Journal of Educational Technology. Special Issue: Learning objects in progress. Volume 41, Issue 6. Pp. 992–1002, November 2010.