Situational Role Plays For Teaching and Learning English

In simple terms, Situational Role Plays are activities in which teachers provide their students with information relating to a situation together with some vocabulary prompts and a framework for a dialogue. The students then write and perform the dialogue and possibly go on to adapt and improvise their script in various ways. As a rough guide ‘Situational Role Plays’ can be seen as the middle tier in the build-up to more open and complicated drama work. Dialogues are the first foundational tier. In a dialogue, all the scaffolding and most, if not all, of the vocabulary is provided. Basically, students read, learn and perform the lines they are given. In Role-Plays students are given a situation and as much scaffolding as the teacher thinks they will need and are then asked to create and perform the dialogue themselves. Once learners are capable of producing interesting role-plays without much help or scaffolding from the teacher, they are ready to engage in even more creative and open-ended drama work in which they can devote more time to nuance and characterisation. But ‘Situational Role Plays’ are not only a way to lead into more extensive drama work, they are also a tool for practising and reinforcing any desired area of vocabulary in realistic scenarios.

For TEFL/ESOL and all English Language teachers, situational role-plays involve creating scenarios where students act out specific situations using English. These scenarios should simulate real-life contexts, allowing students to practice language in a practical, immersive way. For instance, students might act out a restaurant scene, a job interview, or a doctor-patient conversation. Role-plays help develop specific language skills including reading, speaking and listening as well as encouraging critical thinking as students navigate their way through the various scenarios, using appropriate language and expressions. It encourages communication and boosts confidence in using English in the different situations they might encounter in real life.

Coming up with these scenarios and creating level-based scaffolding can be quite difficult and time consuming. While it is relatively easy to think up a few typical situations such as ordering a meal in a restaurant or asking for directions in the town centre, ideas can soon dry up. Adding the right degree of scaffolding and instructions which are appropriate to the level and age group you are teaching can further complicate the task. Fortunately, TEFL-Toolkit has created a set of 20 Situational Role-plays for pair work with English language learners that take some of the hard work out of setting up these activities. The resource covers a wide range of realistic situations. They also contain instructions, tips and ideas aimed at helping teachers adapt the suggested activities to the needs and abilities of their own students.

In the remainder of this article, we take a deeper dive into the benefits of using situational role plays, not only as an introduction to drama work but to enhance other aspects of learning English.

Situational Role Plays are a great way to learn new vocabulary in more natural and realistic situations. They can also be used to revise vocabulary in new contexts or to prepare students for speaking tests or exams. Engaging in role-play activities is an immersive experience, allowing students to use English in a more natural manner. They encourage students to contextualise words and grammar and to associate specific vocabulary with particular scenarios, professions, or social contexts. This helps students to remember the vocabulary they are learning.

Situational Role Plays encompass all four of the main language skills that students need to master. They will usually need to read and digest the information that is given to them, boosting their reading comprehension skills. They must also actively listen and respond appropriately during the role-plays, enhancing their listening comprehension skills. In terms of speaking, role plays contribute to general fluency and can also be used to check and correct pronunciation. The learners will sometimes need to write part of the dialogue down and possibly write something more as a follow-up activity.

Acting out scenarios helps students overcome any shyness or fear of speaking English in front of others by providing a safe, supportive environment. The teacher can tailor role plays to the individual needs of students. Less able or less confident students can be given more scaffolding in the way of vocabulary or partially complete sentences, while most of the scaffolding can be removed for more confident or higher-ability students.

Situational role-plays simulate real-world situations, therefore students are prepared to use the language they have learned in meaningful situations such as job interviews, giving directions and casual conversation.

Because Situational Role Plays are based on real life situations, they give a glimpse into the cultural background of the country whose language the students are studying. This helps students understand cultural nuances and social cues while using English.

More generally, portraying different roles allows students to step into others' shoes, hopefully creating empathy and understanding.

Role-plays will often involve a degree of improvisation, requiring students to think on their feet and find solutions to unexpected problems. For example, in a role play based around buying train tickets, the times and departure platforms for trains could be changed, prices for tickets might vary according to the time of day, or the customer might need information about where and when to change trains. The experiential nature of these activities can help students learn and use language structures, idioms, and expressions more effectively and naturally. Collaborating with others to produce scenes or scenarios promotes teamwork and cooperation among learners.

We have given a few examples of how situational role plays could be integrated into various lessons at different levels of ability.

Role-play buying groceries. Students can practice simple phrases like "I would like," "How much is this?" or "Can I have...?" They can also get used to talking about money in English currencies and are introduced to vocabulary and expressions such as ‘cash’, ‘credit card’ or ‘change’. You may need to provide a basic shopping scenario together with keywords and phrases. Get the students to write a dialogue first, based on the input you have given and then repeat the activity with more improvisation and less reliance on the written dialogue.

Role-play booking a hotel room. This can be used to revise vocabulary connected with numbers, money, days and dates. Students can practice phrases such as, "How much is a single room/double room?  Excuse me, where is...?" or "I need a room for..." Assign roles to students in pairs. One person is booking a room while the other is the hotel receptionist. The receptionist should be provided with prices for different types of rooms.

For older students simulate job interviews, practicing common interview questions and responses. Students can role-play both the interviewer and interviewee, improving fluency in professional settings. In the interview, both students should have access to pre-written common interview questions and notes on their own responses.

Organise debates on various topics, assigning roles to different students. For example, a meeting of the school governors to identify priorities for next year’s budget. Students can take the roles of parents, teachers, other members of staff as well as students. This challenges students to see things from other points of view, express opinions convincingly and articulate arguments.

Adapt scenes from films or television shows related to the subject you are studying, having students act them out in English. Assign roles to students and emphasise aspects of characterization. Encourage students to think seriously about what ‘X’ would do in this situation.

For situational role plays at this level the teacher’s input and language scaffolding should be reduced to the minimum. The key is for students to improvise and use the English they are familiar with confidently and effectively.

The points mentioned so far demonstrate how Situational Role Plays can be used to enhance language learning in all aspects of the curriculum. But as we have seen in the introduction, these activities are also a key stage in the build up to drama work. We will look at that in more detail in the next section.

Once students are comfortable with role-playing, they can progress to writing their own scripts. This involves not only crafting dialogues, but also working on longer narratives, and more complicated scenarios.

The element of drama allows students to explore emotions, thoughts, and ideas, fostering creativity in language use. It makes learning English fun and engaging, motivating students to participate actively. By integrating drama and role-plays into language learning, teachers of English can create more dynamic and interactive environments that cater to various learning styles while hopefully making the process enjoyable and effective for all students of English.

When drama becomes the main aspect and desired output from a lesson or series of lessons, there are various elements that teachers of English can explore in greater detail. These include the following;

• Character Development. After experimenting with role-plays, students can delve deeper into the wider aspects of drama such as character development. They can create written backstories for their characters, noting and highlighting the motivations and personality traits of the characters they portray.

• Body Language. Drama allows students to explore emotions, body language, and facial expressions associated with different scenarios. This builds on basic vocabulary and highlights nuances in communication.

• Theatrical Elements. More advanced drama activities can involve elements like staging, blocking, and basic acting techniques, introducing theatrical techniques while practising English.

• Performance Skills. Participating in drama activities helps improve general speaking and communication skills, which boosts students’ confidence and ability when it comes to giving presentations or engaging in any form of public speaking.

Most TEFL teachers and other teachers of English will be familiar with using situational role plays in various situations. We hope this article will inspire teachers to try using these activities in a wider range of teaching and learning contexts. Don’t forget to download the ‘Situational Role-plays’ resource suggested previously. Once you have these you will no doubt find new ways to use them in your own lessons and they are a resource that you can keep and use whenever you need.