The Application of Role Play in Oral English Teaching in Junior Middle School

【Abstract】Nowadays， role play has become an important teaching method in English Teaching. The objective is to encourage students in a particular situation created by the teacher proficient in English speaking， with more interesting ways to exercise the student ability of oral English. This paper discusses the application of role play in junior oral English teaching in three aspects. Firstly， it reveals some problems in the present situation of junior oral English teaching. Secondly， it presents the application of role play in junior oral English teaching， which means the combination of role play and junior oral English teaching; Lastly， it presents some suggestions on the application of role play in junior oral English teaching.

【Key words】role play;junior oral English teaching;application

【作者簡介】李美茹，惠州市華科職業高級中學。

1. Introduction

With the rapid development of economy， oral English is becoming more and more important in international communication. However， in traditional English teaching， teachers are the central part， while students play passive roles （Huang132）. Teachers act as the disseminator of the knowledge and the treasure house of information， and their chief task is to transfer knowledge to students. With time going on， Students think that teachers are the authority and they even do not know what they should do without teachers’ help. As a result， it produces a lot of students of high score with poor oral English ability. However， the society pays more attention to is the oral English. So， a way to improve junior students’ oral English comes up as the times require， which is role play. Role play is an activity to develop students’ communicative competence and is widely used in English class because it gives students an opportunity to practice communicating in different social context and? roles， and it may take various forms and create different scenes in use of the classroom environment. Consequently， this is a new way for teachers to teach oral English by using the role play in class. The application of role play and importance of junior oral English will be stated here， and the effect will be shown in this paper.

2. The Present Situation of Oral English Teaching in Junior Middle School

More and more people realize the importance of English and oral English is given special attention to in junior oral English teaching in China. However， in practical teaching， we can see the students’ oral English practice often is limited by many objective factors.

2.1 Teaching Models in Junior Oral English Teaching

Nowadays， we have advocated application of spoken English in English class. But the reality is that most of the students use Chinese in English class， only a handful of students use oral English practice， and many English teachers also use Chinese in English teaching. At the same time， there is not enough time to practice oral English in classroom，students rarely take the initiative to practice oral English. Accordingly， students lack a necessary platform for the practice of oral English， which make students’ oral English ability poor. Lack of the opportunity for practice and necessary language environment in English class， so most students have poor oral English.

2.2 Improper Traditional Teaching Methods in Junior Oral English Teaching

The exam-oriented education system plays a vital role in traditional teaching. The majority of the students are mainly asked to master language knowledge， and oral English is not given special attention to in junior oral English teaching in China. Teachers overemphasize the interpretation of the vocabularies and the usage of the grammar and ignore the application of language of the whole passage， which make students lack the ability of spoken. Students who are cultivated under this way can only present their strong points in test but they can not speak fluently English in class， and even they can not express their thought and feelings completely in life. This is the biggest shortage of traditional teaching methods.

2.3 Uneven Oral Ability in Junior Oral English Teaching

Due to the individual differences of students， so they behave differently in class. Some students are outgoing， optimistic and active， with good communication， so these students behave well in class and they can express their ideals with English. However， others are shy， passive and terrified of speaking in public， some of these students can not express well their ideals in English class. Thus lead to there are two characteristics in student’ learning. On the one hand， those who prefer to show what the students in the classroom， English is getting better and better. On the other hand， some students display negatively in English classroom and not willing to open the mouth to speak English， because they are afraid to expose their own shortcomings or be blamed by his or her teacher. This kind of fear has hindered their development of spoken English， which has lead to the phenomenon of poor oral English teaching.

3. The Application of Role Play in Junior Oral English Teaching

From the above， we can be seen that there are many problems in junior oral English teaching. Role play is a useful way to learn oral English， and it is welcomed by students. It not only improves junior students’ interest in learning oral English but also gives an efficient way to teachers to teach junior students oral English.

3.1 Clear Teaching Objectives

New Curriculum Standard has brought teachers and students new challenge. If teachers want to realize the teaching and learning goals， they must be clear teaching objectives. Teachers draw on a comprehensive command of subject matter of English of instruction to establish goals， design curricula and instruction， facilitate students learning. Moreover， teachers also make teaching plans according to the individuals. Judge whether role play is a successful depends on teaching goals. If there is no teaching target， role play as fragmented， time-consuming and has no effect in teaching. It may dampen some students’ learning enthusiasm in the long run.

3.2 Stick to the Teaching Materials and Creating Situation

How to create effective scenarios for students in the classroom is very important. Teachers should well utilize textbooks， create language environments in their instruction. And， teachers should stick to the teaching materials， choose appropriate materials， the creation of the problem situation has rich themes， reflects the demands of the oral English teaching. The teachers should pay more attention to the application teaching material content. Therefore， according to the teaching content of teachers need to create a vivid situation， can arouse students’ enthusiasm and curiosity， lets students in the state. Through the dialogue of role play， students can realize the interesting of conversation， so as to improve the learning motivation of the students. At the same time， students can strengthen communication and exchanges in the course of the session， so as to improve students’ ability in oral English.

3.3 Choose the Roles

When choose the roles that teachers can according to the students’ character， hobbies， performance ability to undertake the role assignment. Even teachers should give students the freedom to choose their own roles. And teachers try to exclude prejudice in role assignments， such as it is not always possible to assign weak characters to female. Not only students are the main body of participation but also it is one of the biggest affecting factors in role play. Teachers must consider students’ personality characteristics and English level， given students some appropriate suggestions. General speaking， this is helpful to carry out cooperation and dialogue. Students can choose their own role in the distribution， but in the unreasonable place， teachers should give students some positive suggestions.

3.4 Organize the Students Practice

This is a important part for students. During the exercises， the teacher only tells the situation and requirement. Students need to use language and knowledge to express their own idea， and the students were asked the same teaching material. The teaching material is the unit1 from What’s your favorite season？ in Feng Huo middle school Class2 Grade1.The students are supposed to describe seasons and ask others about seasons in correct sentence. During this step， the teacher presents today’s teaching material. Although many students have already known today’s teaching material， the teacher will also give simple introductions. And then teachers guide students to play. The topic of activities is about season; The possible situation can be real， simulated or imaginary; We should divide the students into pairs to act， if they want to change roles， we can give the chance to other students to act. During the process of exercises， students need to focus on their pronunciation learn to how to communicate with other student in English based on text book.

3.5 Evaluation

Timely evaluation plays an important role， it can guiding and inspiring students in activities. In the end of role play， teachers should organize promptly evaluation activities. Teachers should give each group of students a feedback in aspects of students' language， vocabularies， and performance. The evaluation does not mean that teachers point out all errors of student. If teachers point out the mistake too much， may damage their enthusiasm， and hit the confidence of the students. Teachers should comment on the subject， language， performance and other aspects of the students. On the one hand， teachers should often encourage students to join in the activities. On the other hand， teachers should also put forward some suggestions during the evaluation， such as： how to improve their language ability. This method can encourage students to communicate with others and enhance students' comprehensive ability.

4. Suggestions on the Application of Role Play in Junior Oral English Teaching

There are some suggestions on the application of role play in junior oral English teaching. In order to apply role play in junior oral English teaching effectively and to attract junior students’ learning interests of studying English， teachers should pay special attention to the following suggestions.

4.1 The Improvement of Teachers’ Role

According to Fu Daochun （2001）， teachers’ role are not static. They change with the development of the society. In Chain， teachers’ contribution and dedication to education and society has been widely acknowledged （Wang 72）. Harmer defines the teacher’s roles as controller， assessor， organizer， prompter， participant and resource-provider （Wang 69）.

Before students start the activity， the teacher should give instructions clearly and concisely so that how to do what. While students are doing the activity， the teacher as a prompter， if students are not sure what to say next， the teacher should give appropriate prompts， and if students find themselves unable to cope with the demands of a situation， the teacher can offer advice or provide necessary language items. Certainly， the teachers as a participant， the teacher should participate in students’ activities. the end of the whole activities， teachers as a assessor. It is generally believed it is a major part of a teacher’s job to assess the students’ work.

4.2 The Improvement of Students’ Role

In the traditional English teaching， teachers are dominant， while students are submissive. All teaching carried out under the control of the teacher. However， students have become the center of the present English teaching， in which their abilities of applying English are regarded. In the role play， students can forget shy， have the courage to express themselves. In oral English teaching， the students’ subject position should be improved， and it can cultivate their initiation， creativity and cooperation ability， and improve teaching efficiency.

4.3 The Combination of Role Play and Teaching Materials

Famous linguist J.L.Roberts said： “All communication teaching is learner-centered in the sense that it accepts the imperatives learner’s communicative needs” （Wu 32）. The ultimate goal of oral English teaching is to improve students’ oral English ability， and it is an effective teaching method. The students’ vocabulary is an important factor. Even though most of the students want to participate in role playing， however， their performance was limited due to lack of vocabulary. Therefore teachers should determine the range of activities according to the difficulty of teaching materials and content to help students， and adding some vocabularies and syntax， let students have words to say， also have enthusiasm to participate in the activities， at the same time， it gained satisfactory teaching effect.

5. Conclusion

Nowadays， most people realize the importance of oral English and it is focused by the society and schools. Junior time is an important period to cultivate the students' interest of English and form a good learning habit. The ultimate goal of English teaching is to make students have to reach to a basic skill of listening， speaking， reading and writing English. However， most students are poor in oral English. Role play is an effective teaching method in English classroom， especially in junior English teaching. Role play can stimulate the students’ learning motivation， improve the students’ interest on English learning， understand teaching content effectively. The most important is that role play activity also provides students with opportunities to take a risk with language and which in turn helps them go beyond the text book. So in the student-centered learning process， students are given more opportunities to practice the target language and develop their communicative ability.

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