Role-play in the post-16 language class: a drama teacher's perspective

Abstract

This article takes a drama teacher's eye view of role-play in the language classroom. It argues that the potential of the activity to motivate spontaneous talk with meaning may be heightened by devising scenes in ways that draw on the students' intuitive sense of drama. It shows how a simple role-play from a language textbook may be adapted to create stimulating dramatic ironies and then how the dramatic ‘narrative’ may be extended to sustain the challenge to communicate in the target language. The final section looks at ways of following-up the role-play and at the linguistic gains that may result from its more dramatic scene structure.