EDSL 635 Research Methods

Lisa Buschmann

Proposal

Spring Semester 2013

Yana Orlova

Proposal

Abstract:

The paper describes that mastering the cultural element is crucial in the EFL/ESL language learning process. It was found that the importance of culture in the education system has been significantly increasing over last thirty years. Once the role of culture in language learning teaching was determined, the question of how to implement culture into EFL/ESL classrooms was raised. Role-playing is one of the effective methods to accomplish this objective. Role-playing is a dynamic process that involves participants taking imaginary roles and acting out significant events. The present study aims to explore the effects of role-playing on students’ development of cultural awareness. The best way to address the hypothesis is through a quantitative quasi-experimental study with further Written Discourse Completion Task. EFL sophomores studying in Ryazan State University in Russia will constitute the intended population. The main evaluation tool to be applied to the experimental group will be role-playing correlated with the course curriculum. The participants in the control group will be given materials used in traditional methods of teaching a foreign language. It is hypothesized that the instructional use of role-playing will lead to enhanced development of students’ overall cultural skills.

Introduction

Culture-Language

Those who are Educators in the academic discipline of languages have come to recognize that the forms and uses of language reflect the culture in which the language is spoken (Lafayette, 2003, Moran, 2001, Kramsch, 2001, etc.). In other words, there is a unique and clear relationship between a culture and its language. A culture determines certain features and characteristics of both a language’s content and appropriate ways of communicating such as, as examples, utterances, gestures, intonation patterns, and so forth (Sysoev & Donalson, 2002). Peck (1998) relevantly summarized this concept by opining that teaching a foreign/second language might be functionally inaccurate and incomplete without the study of the related culture (p. 1). Further along these lines, Smith (1985) advocated sensitivity to the intertwining of culture and language as “The presentation of an argument in a way that sounds fluent and elegant in one culture may be regarded as clumsy and circular by members of another culture” (p. 2).

Culture-Language and ESL/EFL

With this growing awareness, recent studies in English language teaching through EFL and ESL have placed more emphasis on teaching about the target culture in conjunction with the affiliated language. Authors such as Brown (1994), Smith (1985), Byram (1990), Atkinson (1999), Moran (2001), and Mishan (2004) have all discussed culture as an important component in any effective language curriculum, and have explored and described compelling methods for integrating the underlying culture in foreign and second language classrooms. In this context, Byram (1990) wrote that his main goal was to develop “an integrated discipline of teaching language and culture” (p. 23). His understanding was that learning about the underlying culture induced increased tolerance for the unfamiliar, promoted positive attitudes toward others, and reduced cultural biases. Moran (2001) subsequently added his observation that cultural awareness helps students reveal their personal perspectives not only to the target and native cultures but also both the world as a whole and even to themselves (p. 75).

The Ever-Increasing Emphasis on the Culture-Language Approach Over Time

As is evident from above, Byram (1990) was writing about this issue more than 20 years ago and over the ensuing few decades the integration of language and culture has came to the foreground. Nevertheless, many teachers were and are unclear as to how they should incorporate culture into EFL/ESL classrooms and so make no effort toward such incorporation. For example, most Russian EFL classrooms continue to simply focus on the grammar-translation approach, i.e., where students have to memorize significant and non-significant grammar points and then do dozens of boring exercises drilling the newly learned grammatical form(s). Russian students are not taught to communicate “internationally or interculturally” in the class, but listen only to the teacher’s instructions and complete the work (Kodotchikova, 2001).

Correspondingly, when the students who have only benefitted from the grammar-translation approach enter college in any English-speaking country, they are at significant risk of misunderstanding some behaviors, some life-style aspects of the target culture, culturally appropriate social conduct, and might not be able to effectively express themselves in the new land.

Additionally, absent preparation relating to a language’s underlying culture, students’ motivation to learn a language can be reduced and, when transplanted to the target culture, they are more likely to develop aversions to newly exposured behaviors.

No Requirement That Russian ESL/EFL Teachers use the Culture-Language Approach

Despite all of the advantages inherent in the cultural component of language studies, in actuality such is rarely implemented. Fundamentally, and continuing with Russia as an example, in Russia there is no specific requirement that cultural communication be taught in ESL/EFL classes. Nevertheless, while not required to do so but in recognition of the advantages thereof, progressive Russian teachers include, to the extent that they are able, the target’s cultural orientation in their syllabuses based on their levels of proficiency and their personal experience in teaching the foreign language. However, in the real world, typically such proficiency and experience are sorely lacking and the effectiveness of Russian ESL teaching and learning is correspondingly reduced.

Role-Playing Efficiently and Effectively Teaches Culture-Language

To the extent that foreign teachers can include cultural orientations in their lessons, Doff (2007), Ladouse (2003), Larsen-Freeman and other educators argue that role-playing can serve as an efficient and effective foundation to teach and learn cultural awareness in EFL/ESL classes. The commentators discuss three reasons that role-playing is an effective tool in teaching cultural orientation. First, in role-playing, students must inherently display cultural knowledge. Second, students can consciously act out a communication or a miscommunication that is based on cultural differences. Finally, students’ self-awarenesses are increased when acting out real-life situations.

Put another way, role-playing allows students to explore themselves in relation to another way of life and stimulates the expression of their own feelings, perceptions, beliefs, values, and attitudes, and hence, fosters their development as cultural beings (Moran, 2001). Because role-playing is a cost and time effective method which can be used to link a language to its culture, this research paper focuses on role-playing as an effective teaching method for purposes of developing cultural awareness that Russian teachers of ESL/EFL should include in their classes. In point of fact, when a native child is raised in a culture, rarely does the child undergo rote memorization of his/her language; typically the child learns his/her Culture-Language by role-playing!

Therefore, this paper illustrates in more detail two questions: why comprehending culture is an important part in EFL/ESL classes and why role-playing approach is an effective teaching method for purposes of incorporating culture in ESL/EFL classrooms and is a natural way to learn.

Purpose

The present study aims to explore the effects of role-playing on students’ development of cultural awareness as reflected in ratings of pretest and posttest Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Task (MDCT). Therefore, this study seeks to answer the following question: To what extent does role-playing result in any appreciable change in students’ cultural competencies in the experimental group compared with that of the control group? It is hypothesized that the instructional use of role-playing will lead to enhanced development of students’ overall cultural skills.

Significance

The idea of concurrently teaching a language’s affiliated culture is not new. Cultural elements have been incorporated in ESL/EFL instruction from the beginning. After providing background on teaching culture through role-playing in the classroom and pedagogical literature, it will be shown that it is believed culture teaching is important in an ESL/EFL curriculum for three reasons: 1) culture and language are inseparable; 2) culture teaching in ESL/EFL classes facilitates students’ experiential acculturation; and 3) the background knowledge of the target culture is necessary for anyone to communicate successfully with members of the target culture.

While it is commonly accepted that knowledge of the underlying culture is a prerequisite to the successful learning of a language, the actual day-to-day process of effectively teaching the affiliated culture needs to be addressed. To effectuate cultural instruction, appropriate techniques should be organized and incorporated into lesson plans. Role-playing methodologies based on the literature review study are believed to be one of the effective techniques that enable teachers to instruct cultural content in a cogent way. Therefore, the significance of this study is that it will explore whether or not role-playing is an effective method for developing students’ understanding of culture. If yes, educators should be encouraged to implement this teaching approach in language instruction so as to improve students’ cultural skills.

Literature Review

The goal of this literature review is to provide a foundation in the academic background which has emerged to support the application of role-playing in EFL classroom in order to develop both students’ language skills and cultural awarenesses. As part of this process, I gathered materials from sources such as Google Scholar, ERIC, textbooks related to Foreign Language Teaching, and materials at the Miriam Library at Chico State University, California. My computer search used keywords such as ‘English and role-playing,’ ‘teaching culture,’ ‘culture and the second language,’ and ‘EFL’ (English as a Foreign Language). In this subsection, this paper will discuss the following themes:

1. the meaning of ‘culture’ in general and in the context of ESL/EFL,

2. the relationship between language and culture,

3. the rise of the appreciation of culture in the context of language teaching,

4. incorporation culture into the ESL/EFL classroom,

5. what is role-playing, and

6. culture and role-playing in the ESL/EFL classroom.

In the Conclusion, the effectiveness of the relationship between role-playing and teaching cultural awareness in EFL class will be summarized.

What is Culture?

There has not been a clear and universally accepted definition of “culture” and, as such, each ethnographer has worked within his or her own explicit and/or implicit definition(s) of same. Trifonovich’s survey reflects more than 450 different definitions of and/or concepts of “culture” (as cited in Croft, 1980, p.550). Nevertheless, because the field of foreign and second language developmental teaching need not use an all-encompassing definition, but rather, need only work within a more narrow and less-sophisticated definition of “culture” than do some other academic disciplines, ESL/EFL through the NSFLL has developed a reasonably accurate and workable definition of “culture.”

The word “culture” originated from the Latin word “cultura,” which means “being cultivated” (Nababan, 1974). As the Latin language evolved over time, the word “cultura” came to mean “the study of ‘civilization’ or ’society’” (Taylor, 1982). Basically and perhaps simplistically, “Cultura” as civilization is understood in two ways: “big C culture” and “small c culture.” “Big C” culture reflects history, social institutions, works of art, architecture, music, and literature. The “big C” concept further refers to large groups of people as a nation, and clearly distinguishes them from other societies. On the other hand, “small c” culture reflects customs, traditions, and lifestyles of both large groups of people as well as subgroups of these large groups of people (Halverson, 1985, Lafayette, 2005, Nemetz Robinson, 1998).

Various Understandings of the Meaning of “Culture”

Before explicating the ESL/EFL definition of “culture,” varying related perspectives will be noted to suggest the degrees, however subtle, of differences between the adopted definition and the definition used by other Culture-Language scholars. These variations may help ESL/EFL instructors better understand and implement new and creative ways to use the Culture-Language approach.

The National Center for Cultural Competence (1994) defines culture as an “integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thoughts, communications, languages, practices, beliefs, values, customs, courtesies, rituals, manners of interacting, and roles, relationships and expected behaviors of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group; and ability to transmit the above to succeeding generations.”

In Brown’s (2007) opinion, culture reflects ideas, customs, skills, arts, and tools that characterize a certain group of people in a particular period of time (p. 188-195). Taylor (1982) defined culture as a context that includes “knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (p. 531).

Some studies have defined culture on a more specific basis by more narrowly emphasizing four meanings of culture in aesthetic terms: cinema, literature, music, and media (Adaskou, Britten & Fashi, 1990). While their semantic concept refers to thought processes, their pragmatic sense aims to emphasize social abilities and increase the use of realistic and pragmatic use of language for successful communication.

Another important classification variation that relates culture to concept has come from the studies of Larsen-Freeman (1987), Nemetz Robinson (1988), Klopf (1998), and others. They take the position that culture consists of artifacts, actions, and meanings. Larsen-Freeman (2000) referred to culture as being defined by the concepts of interrelated dimensions such as form, use, and meaning. Nemetz Robinson (1988) has further defined these dimensions as consisting of products, behaviors, and ideas. Subsequently, Klopf (1998) chose to define the three dimensions to be artifacts, sociofacts, and mentifacts.

Similarly, Moran (2001) regarded culture as “the great achievement of people as reflected in their history, social institutions, works of art, architecture, music, and literature” (p. 4). Moran (2001) proposed a variation where the definition of “culture” required five interrelated dimensions: products, practices, perspectives, communities, and persons. He stated, “Culture is the evolving way of life of a group of persons, consisting of the shared sets of practices associated with a shared sets of products, based upon a shared set of perspectives on the world, and set within specific social context” (p. 24). Which is to say that cultural artifacts, actions, and meanings don’t exist separately from the people of that culture. “People – alone and with others – make and use artifacts, carry out actions, and hold meanings” (Moran, 2001, p. 24).

In contradistinction with definitions that reflect concrete elements, some studies tend to stress the abstract element of behavior. Risager (2007) and Peck (1998) suggested culture is a “blue print.” Along these same lines, Thompson (1990) defines culture as “the pattern of meaning embodied in symbolic forms, including actions, utterances, and meaningful objects of various kinds, by virtue of which individuals communicate with one another and share their experiences conceptions and beliefs” (p. 132). Blue print definitions suggest that culture and behavior are related to each other in that knowledge of culture influences – is a blue print for - behaviors of people in a society.

National Standards For Foreign Language Learning’s Definition of Culture

Finally, and within this intellectual background, the NSFLL (1999) adopted a definition of “culture” based on three interrelated dimensions: products, practices, and perspectives. Worded another way, to the NSFLL, culture consists of artifacts, actions, and meanings. “Through the study of other languages, students gain a knowledge and understanding of the cultures that use that language and, in fact, cannot truly master the language until they also mastered the cultural context in which the language occurs.”

While there may not be a single overarching accepted definition of culture, the definitions are comparable with only subtle variations. Those subtle variations reflect slightly different perspectives which, arguably, reflect the culture of any given Academic! In practice, an instructor can use these variations to shed more light on the concept so as to better devise their lesson plans.

The Relationship Between Language and Culture

Recently, Wardhaugh (2011) stated that “the nature of the relationship between language and culture has fascinated, and continuous to fascinate people from a wide a variety of backgrounds” (p. 3). No matter the intellectual perspective or perspectives adopted as to the definition of “culture,” Academics have increasingly concerned themselves with the inexorable relationship between culture and language while increasingly realizing the necessity of understanding the culture in order to be able to effectively teach and use the language. In point of fact, all known studies of Culture-Language have confirmed the interrelationship between language and culture.

Many authors, such as Brown (2007), Moran (2001), Nabanan (1974), Tang (1999), Kramsch (2001), and Wardhaugh (2011) have all explicitly stated that language and culture are closely related. Kramsch (2001) broadly drew attention to the interaction of language and culture with the understanding that members of society conduct their social lives with language and when language is “used in context of communication, it is bound up with culture in various and complex ways” (p. 15). Based on Wardhaugh (2011) study, culture is “patterned behavior,” where language is a “vital component” of the culture. “The relationship of language and culture is widely recognized, communicative behavior and cultural systems are interrelated, as there is are relations between the form and content of a language and the beliefs, values, and needs present in the culture of its speakers.” Similarly, Nabatan (1974) concluded that it is impossible to learn the culture well without learning the language of the target context because beliefs, feelings, perspectives, and so forth are functionally embedded and interwoven within the language. As such, even a fluent speaker might misunderstand the messages he/she hears or reads or sees without sufficient cultural skills. Tang (1999) went even further by asserting that culture is language and language is culture. Hence, for Tang, absent the threshold ability to think in the target language, the speaker will not be sufficiently fluent in that language and culture. Perhaps mystically, Tang opined that language is the soul of the country (pp. 35-40).

Perhaps not as extreme as Tang and more in line with the mainstream, Brown (2007) similarly postulated that “language is a part of a culture, and culture is a part of the language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without loosing the significance of either language or culture”. For Brown, culture deeply comes through “each fiber of our being, but language – the means for communication among members of a culture” – is the most visible and available expression of culture (Brown, 2007, p. 170).

The Rise of the Appreciation of Culture in the Context of Language Teaching

As a threshold matter, it is essential to note the concurrent supporting contributions of both the development of information communication technology, such as the Internet, and the increase of exchange program studies to the ever-widening acceptance of the Culture-Language approach (Risager, 2007). These contributions increased the speed of and otherwise facilitated the adoption of the Culture-Language approach.

Beginning in the 1960s and continuing into this century, the relationship between language and culture in the context of EFL/ESL has been discussed. However, the fruits of these discussions were not put into the EFL/ESL curriculum in the 1960s. (Sysoev, 2002). Rather than thoroughly adopting the Culture-Language approach, for various reasons instructors continued to use other approaches such as the Classical approach, the Grammar-Translation approach, the Direct approach, the Audiolingual approach, Suggestopedia, Total Physical Response, and the Silent way. (Brown, 2007, p.16-17). These approaches emphasized structure and vocabulary and neglected cultural aspects of communication.

Beginning in 1970, the cultural teaching of language was clearly in the ascendance in EFL/ESL. Initially, those adopting this approach did so in a rudimentary fashion by using only dialogues (Brown, 2007). However, as the positive results of the Culture-Language approach were increasingly recognized, the approach became ever more popular and was increasingly fleshed out to include:

“the recognition or interpretation of major geographical characteristics of the target culture, major historical events related to the target country; major masterpieces of architecture, literature, and the arts; active and passive everyday cultural activities like greeting, shopping or marriage customs, education, politics and so forth; manners, proper common gestures, the validity of generalization about foreign cultures, skills needed to research on culture, the culture of all countries that speak the target language” (Lafayette, 1975).

The growing importance of culture in the EFL/ESL curriculum was evidenced in the 1980s by the appearance of syllabuses designed to assist teachers in using the Culture-Language approach as discussed by Rivers (1982), Robinson (2002), and others. Two of the most important scholars of that period, Byram (1989) and Zarate (1986) articulated the expanding understanding of culture teaching to include “using various sources of information, identifying stereotypes and other representations, contextualizing information, explaining one’s own culture to foreigners and establishing personal contacts with foreigners and preparing trips to a target language country” (cited in Risager, 2007, p. 86). Byram (1990) specifically advocated the development of an integrating discipline to teach language and culture (p.23). By the 1990s, Byram and Zarate (1994) coined the concept of “intercultural speaker” which described those who “have the ability to see how different cultures related to each other in terms of similarities and differences and to look at themselves from an “external” perspective when interacting with representatives of other cultures” (cited in Risager, 2007, pp. 86-90).

Today, the incorporation of the Culture-Language approach in EFL/ESL classrooms is ubiquitous and is used either or both explicitly or implicitly (Atkinson, 1999). For example and not surprisingly, Cakir (2006) expressed the belief that acquiring language skills involves not only grammar, speaking, listening, and reading ability, but also certain features and characteristics of the target culture (p. 156). Cakir (2006) went on to generally state that to communicate “internationally” means to communicate “interculturally.” He provided such explicit and implicit examples as tone of voice, appropriate topics of conversations, gestures, movements, and expressions that might be different from students’ native cultures. He propounded that when we teach languages in EFL classrooms, we should automatically teach culture, “the forms of address, greetings, formulas, and other utterances found in the dialogues or models students hear and the allusions to aspects of culture found in the reading represent cultural knowledge” (p. 156).

How to incorporate culture into the ESL/EFL classroom?

Emphasize Small “c” Culture

As discussed above, culture is now broadly recognized as an important component in language teaching. But how might it be incorporated into ESL teaching? Tomalin and Stempleski (1993) emphasized that “small c culture” should be emphasized even at the cost of “big C culture” in EFL/ESL classrooms, as learning “culturally influenced beliefs and perceptions, especially as expressed through language, but also through cultural behaviors that affect acceptability in the host community” (p. 6) are more important in the language learning process. Which is to say that different kinds of practical life-situations and the rules and models of conduct relating to them should be emphasized in EFL/ESL classes at the expense of the more abstract “big C culture” i.e., music, art, facts of history and geography.

Venn Diagrams

To achieve the goal of successfully incorporating “small c culture” into the EFL/ESL classroom, Mishan (2005) suggested conducting comparative analyses between the native and target languages to both more efficiently and effectively teach and learn cultural skills. Mishan (2005) stressed that “The fact that the native culture always serves as a reference point for the foreign one can actually be used to great advantage in the language learning classroom. Drawing comparisons and contrasts between cultures can serve as a useful exercise itself or as a starting point for deeper explorations. It can also broaden understanding and ultimately improve the learner’s ability to communicate with native speakers of his/her target language culture” (p. 46). Using, for example, a Venn diagram, students are often more easily able to analyze the native and target languages to thereby identify cultural similarities and differences. With this basic knowledge, students are made aware of and can be prepared to use appropriate responses and behaviors when they encounter a similar situation in the target culture. Additionally, with this basic knowledge students can further develop their personal perspectives about cultural issue as part of the process of developing their identities as human beings (Mishan, 2005, pp. 46-56).

Moran’s “Cultural Experience”

Along with the discussed recommendation to use of Venn diagrams as discussed above, Moran (2001) suggested incorporating cultural experience through the experiential learning cycle by what he characterized as “the cultural experience.” For Moran, “the cultural experience” consists of any encounter between learners and another way of life, be it firsthand through learning materials in the language classroom or by discussion of news events, etc. When students undergo the “cultural experience,” four kinds of culture learning or cultural knowings are elicited: (i) knowing about, (ii) knowing how, (iii) knowing why, and (iv) knowing oneself. In other words, learners go through an interactive cycle of acquiring cultural information, developing cultural behaviors, discovering cultural explanations, and articulating personal responses to what they are learning” (Moran, 2001, p. 8). Each cultural knowing often requires different types of teaching.

Moran’s Four “Knowings”

“Knowing about” includes the gathering and subsequent demonstration of cultural information, such as data, facts, knowledge about products, practices, and perspectives of the culture. In this type of cultural knowledge, students master information about the culture.

“Knowing how” involves acquiring cultural practices, such as behaviors, gestures, and actions. Here students adapt skills of how to act in this or that situation in the target culture.

“Knowing why” deals with developing comprehension of basic cultural perspectives, such as beliefs, feelings, and values. This interaction requires analyzing and explaining the cultural phenomena that can involve a comprehension analysis between the target and native cultures.

“Knowing oneself” requires students to understand the target culture from their personal values, opinions, feelings, and thoughts. Progress in this stage comes from increasing self-awareness. Students learn to understand themselves and their native culture which also serve as the bases for developing themselves as cultural beings (Moran, 2001, pp. 12-19). When students come through the “cultural experience”, they acquire cultural skills by developing cultural behaviors, discovering cultural explanations, and expressing personal responses to what they are learning.

While the “cultural experience” is generally efficacious, experience has demonstrated that, absent appropriate countermeasures, a number of students emerge from the “cultural experience” with psychological block or “cultural fatigue” vis-a-vis the target culture. Kodotchikova (2002), Doff (2007), Larsen-Freeman (2000) and other educators have, fortunately, shown that teachers can help most if not all students avoid psychological block/”cultural fatigue” with, as discussed more fully below, role-playing. “As language and culture are interrelated, language cannot be taught without culture, but there are many ways of co-teaching language and culture. One is role-play” (Kodotchikova, 2002).

Cultural Encounters

Practically speaking, some specific approaches succinctly integrate language and culture at the same time. Mishan (2005), noted, ”The ‘treasure chest’ of cultural exploration is of course, authentic materials which ‘contain’ the culture. They give learners the opportunity to observe target culture customs, behaviors, and interactions, and thence to infer underlying values and attitudes” (p. 47). Authentic materials of the target culture consist of, as examples: films, television programs, newspaper or magazine articles, and role-playing.

Therefore, if language teachers teach language without teaching culture at the same time, they teach meaningless symbols to which students attach the wrong meaning. Students can successfully acquire and use second language only when cultural context is incorporated with language learning at the same time. One of the most effective tools that can be used to teach and learn culture and language is role-playing. The Oxford Dictionary defines role-playing, in part, as follows:

noun

chiefly Psychology the acting out or performance of a particular role, either consciously (as a technique in psychotherapy or training) or unconsciously, in accordance with the perceived expectations of society as regards a person’s behaviour in a particular context.

To achieve cultural goals in ESL/EFL classes, teachers should use role-playing approach that helps students successfully acquire overall cultural awareness.

What is Role-Playing?

The term “role” comes from “rolled-up” scripts which actors used two thousands years ago in Ancient Greece (Maheshwari, 2011). “Role-playing is a way of bringing situations from real life into the classroom” (Doff, 2007, p. 232). Ladouse (2003), described role-playing as any speaking activity where students either put themselves into somebody else’s shoes, or where they stay in their own shoes but put themselves into imaginary situations” (p. 5). Role-playing is a teaching strategy in which students are asked to act out a role; one that they would not normally be in (Donahue & Parsons, 1982, p. 361). Yardley-Matwejczuk (1997), defined role-playing as a term that “describes a range of activities characterized by involving participants in “as-if” or “simulated” actions and circumstances” (p. 1).

In Di Pietro’s (1987) article, Scenarios, Discourse, and Real-Life Roles, a role is defined as “a set of norms and expectations applied to the incumbent of a particular position”(p. 227). However, Di Pietro identifies two distinct types of role-playing. In the first group, Di Pietro, and other educators such as Littlewood (1981) defined role-playing as “real play”. “Role-playing as a classroom activity fits in with this desire for realism since it gives students the chance to rehearse the typical activities they will presumably perform in real life: greetings, making suggestions, asking for directions, ordering food in a restaurant, or functioning at bank, post-office, airport, etc.” (Littlewood, 1981, p. 62). That is, in this real role-playing students are expected to behave as if the situation really would exist.

Di Pietro (1987) and other educators categorized role-playing as “surreal-playing” in the second group. “While real-playing seeks a willing acceptance of the belief that the classroom can become the real world”, surreal-playing is “willing suspension of disbelief on the part of students that the role-play situation is one of pretense” (Di Pietro, p. 42). The proponents of surreal role-playing noted that students love to imagine. “Children and even teenagers and adults often imagine themselves in different situations and roles when they play games. So by using surreal role-playing in the class, we are building on something that students naturally enjoy” (Doff, 2007, p.240).

In either of the two types of role-playing, students imagine a role and a context, and then improvise a conversation. Students can become anyone they like for a short time, such as a president, a doctor, a millionaire, a zombie, or a tourist. They act in imaginary settings, such as a restaurant, a hospital, the White House, or the airport.

Role-Playing and Culture in the ESL/EFL classroom

Hirschfeld (1991) argued that the strong relationship between role-playing and cultural awareness – and hence efficacious language learning – is important for at least three reasons: (i) the large and growing diversity of people from almost all cultures throughout the world who are opting to learn English, (ii) the concurrent developmental maturation of students’ personal awarenesses, and (iii) the opportunity to cautiously explore another culture such that faux pas may be uncovered in safe environments and respect for cultural differences may be developed.

A rapidly growing population of students from culturally diverse backgrounds is entering schools. Almost each ESL/EFL classroom and classes in general have many students from culturally diverse backgrounds. For example, Browne, G., Howard, J., and Pitts, M. (1993) concluded that, based on the statistics for the year 1991, approximately 50% of all grade school students in Texas are Hispanic – a word which itself subsumes a large multitude of varying cultures – and an additional 20% of all Texas grade school students come from other non-English language dominant homes. Further, the Hispanic population is the fastest growing of all population groups in the United States, and by the year 2020, it will be the largest minority group in the U.S. As such, and as in the past with all earlier groups of immigrants, inevitably the mixing of these Hispanic cultures with the dominant American culture will occur and the greater the degrees of cultural awarenesses of the integrating populations, the smoother the transitions will be.

Second, Hirschfeld (1991) (pp. 317-350) noted that role-playing is a way for students to learn generally both about the world around them and to explore their own and others’ cultural values. As discussed earlier in this Literature Review, communicating cultural values of the target language to ESL/EFL students is a crucial part of language learning process. Role-playing can safely mimic essential forms of a culture and provide a means of communicating – through language and otherwise – social norms, allow for differentiation among group members, and assist in the eventual assimilation of the students into the target culture. Role-playings should use artifacts that are normally used in the relevant context of the target culture which, of course, will enhance students’ assimilations and will also provide a mirror through which they can contemplate, re-evaluate and better understand their own cultures.

Third, foreign/second language learning programs can be designed to increase positive awarenesses of individual differences and cultural diversity as a whole. Hence, role-playing serves as an excellent way to help teach students about the differences between people and, significantly, to provide understanding leading to respect for those differences (Hirschfeld, 1991, pp. 317-350).

Therefore, if language instructors teach language without teaching culture at the same time, they teach mere symbols to which students can struggle to attach varying and sometimes wrong meanings. Students can both successfully acquire and use a second language only when the target population’s cultural context is incorporated with language learning at the same time. To achieve cultural goals in ESL/EFL classes, teachers should use the role-playing approaches described above which additionally help students successfully acquire overall personal and cultural awarenesses and enhance personal growth.

Role-playing is an excellent tool to use in teaching culture of foreign language. This learning method is based on the communicative approach, where students act out an imaginary person in an imaginary situation, and in so acting acquire and reinforce communication skills. Per Maxwell (1997), “Role-play can be integrated into many themes and content-based lessons as a building block of previous lessons while being a fun and creative way for learners to practice and/or improvise verbal and non verbal communication” (p. 170). As Larsen-Freeman (2000), pointed out in his book Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, “Role-plays are very important in the communicative approach because they give students an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and in different social roles” (p.137). Students interact with classmates at the very beginning of the lesson and choose a social situation they would like to act out based on the day’s lesson(s) (Doff, 2007). During the process of creating this imaginary situation, students work in pairs or small groups and discuss how they will perform their situation, what gestures, body movements, vocabulary, and cultural products they will use in their performance, etc. (Ladouse, 2003). Similarly, Celce-Murcia stated in her book Techniques and Resources in Teaching Grammar (1988, p.61), “These techniques facilitate a match between structure and social functions, and can be used for both communicative and focused grammar practice” (as cited in Master, 1990, p.61). In role-playing, students practice current and past vocabulary words and phrases, and new grammatical forms in a natural way. Hence, the subject is more naturally memorized and learned.

Role-playing helps avoid rote and boring exercises by stressing creative communicative work. Role-playing both helps students to build confidence in communicating with each other as well as in using the target language (Larsen-Freeman, 2000). Thus, role-playing enhances social skills as well as preparing them for real-life communication.

As ESL/EFL is intended to be a practical and focused curriculum, role activities at the beginning should focus on the daily life of peers in the learning language country, their families, living conditions, relations with their friends, leisure time activities, traditions, and customs.

Inevitably, at first some students won’t comprehend the teacher’s explanations and will, therefore, need additional time to absorb the material. Yet, another advantage of role-playing is that the entire process gives additional time to students during which they are more likely to comprehend the learned material fully (Kodotchikova, 2001).

Further, role-playing activities offer good listening practice. In order to make the conversation meaningful, students need learn to listen to and understand their classmates while interacting and performing a their role. In this sense, they acquire listening and comprehension skills (Larsen-Freeman, 2000, Doff, 2007 Ladousse, 2003).

Role-playing activities enrich students’ experience and make them aware that there is diversity among cultures and this diversity should be understood, and never underestimated (Doff, 2007). Zwiers (2008) believed that role-playing can teach key aspects of the content-specific standards in the language teaching process (p. 149). Kodotchikova (2001) explained that when the teacher introduces role-playing activities, it could be one of the effective ways to become aware of cultural significant norms. “Students learn to examine their perceptions and treat representatives of other cultures with empathy” (Kodotchikova, 2001). Brown (2007) mentioned, that both learners and teachers need understand cultural differences and to recognize that “people are not all the same beneath the skin” (p. 167).

Moran (2001) also suggested using complex role-playing scenarios such as organizing and caring out a parade, a criminal investigation, a concert, a civic demonstration, preparing breakfast, walking the dog, making conversation over a meal, or just gossip. (p. 57). Moran (2001) proposed the following framework to acquire such abilities: (i) operations, (ii) acts, (iii) scenarios, and (iv) lives.

Operations

Operations involve manipulation of cultural artifacts. Operations often don’t require language. For example, cleaning a room, tending a garden, making a sandwich, fishing, or painting.

Acts

Acts establish language expressions with the accompaniment of nonverbal language. As examples, greetings, expressing enjoyment, or asking for the price.

Scenarios

Scenarios involve a series of interactions within particular settings and social circumstances. They can be as simple as buying train tickets or making a telephone call. They can be more complex, with a number of sequenced exchanges and practices such as participating in a wedding or conducting a military campaign.

Lives

Lives include dramas where there are interactions among characters based on specific social circumstances that “mirror the way of life of a particular culture” (Moran, 2001, pp. 59-64).

Carik (2006) opined that role-playing activities can help students discover the distinctive features of the target culture’s language in a natural way. As discussed generally above, students, while acting out role situations, are able to find comparisons and similarities between the target culture and their own which helps the students develop awareness of both their own and the target culture. In this sense, understanding cultural issues through such simple role-playing activities as greetings and farewells means more than just being able to produce language. It teaches students appropriate ways to understand as well as communicate in the target culture. Therefore, teachers should design role-playing based on the cultural differences of students’ native and target cultures. The main role of a teacher here is to instruct students to react to cultural differences adequately, while expressing respect for both cultures. Role-playing helps students to clearly recognize that each culture, as well as everyone in the world, is not “just like [their] native culture or like [them]”, that there are real differences between groups and cultures (Carik, 2006).

Anthony J. Liddicoat (2011) noted in Language Teaching and Learning from an Intercultural Perspective, “Experiencing different social situations in a natural way, students observe perspectives, beliefs, feelings, and values of the target culture” (p. 837). It helps students explore and then express their own perspectives toward the target culture as well as their native culture. Liddicoat (2011) called this process as a basis for reflection. For example, acting out an American role situation involving greetings, students visually learn distinctive features of the culture, which are different from those in Russia. Students may thereafter express their own perspectives toward American and Russian cultural traditions (Kodotchikova, 2002).

All told, the role-playing method is a very effective teaching method for purposes of acquiring, improving, and maintaining overall communication skills. It gives students an opportunity to be emotionally involved in cross-cultural learning based on comparative analysis of learned cultures, and to reflect on their own perspectives toward target and native cultures that will develop their own identity, increasing self-esteem and confidence. To reiterate, students can successfully acquire and use a second language only when its cultural context is incorporated with language learning at the same time.

Conclusion

This literature review is intended to encourage foreign language teachers to teach language and culture at the same time as both language and culture are inextricably intertwined. Role-playing effectively and efficiently increases not only a student’s language ability but also cultural awareness. Through experience with different real-life role-playing situations and discovering similarities and differences between the target and native cultures, students can observe diversity among cultures and heighten their own self-awareness. Role-playing further helps to prepare culturally aware students to exhibit appropriate responses and behaviors when they encounter a similar situation in the target culture. While undergoing this learning process, students are able to develop their personal perspectives regarding their own cultures, the target cultures, and cultures throughout the world as a whole. This can serve as a basis for developing students’ identities as human beings. Moreover, role-playing activities build students’ confidence when they need to communicate in real-life situations in the target context. Role-playing instruction methods should be universally required in teaching culture of all ESL/EFL classes.

Methodology

Design:

The best way to address the hypothesis is through a quantitative quasi-experimental study with further Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Task (MDCT). The experimental research method will be adopted from Fahady (1995) using the following schematic pattern:

Cont. Group Pretest Placebo Posttest

Exp. Group Pretest Treatment Posttest.

Gilmore (2011) conducted a ten-month quasi-experimental study exploring the potential of authentic materials including role-playing to enhance the development of cultural competence in Japanese students studying English. Sixty-two second year university students were assigned to either a control group receiving textbook input or an experimental group receiving authentic input such as role-playing. Their pretreatment and posttreatment levels of overall knowledge of target culture norms reflected in their speech in common situations were analyzed. The cultural competence was operationalized with a batch of several different evaluations such as a vocabulary test and a discourse completion task. The results indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group, suggesting that authentic tasks such as role-playing more effectively developed a broad range of knowledge of appropriate communication skills in conventional situations in the target culture than did the simple use of textbook materials.

Alkbari and Jamalvandi (2010) investigated the impact of role-playing on fostering EFL learners’ communicative abilities in which an experimental research method was adopted from Farhady (1995). Sixty sophomores were randomly selected for the purpose of their two-month study. Here the experimental group received input through role-playing cards, while the control group received input by way of traditional methods of language teaching. At the beginning and end of the study, pretest and posttest Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Task (MDCT) analysis was performed. According to the obtained results, role-playing techniques were effective in helping learners upgrade their communicative competence.

Participants:

EFL sophomores studying in Ryazan State University in Russia in an International Relationship program will constitute the intended population. Out of this population two distinct subsets consisting of one subset of 50 female students and the second subset consisting of 50 male students will be randomly selected. The population pool of all 100 students will randomly rang in age from 18 to 30 years old. Subsequently, the two subsets will be reconstituted into an experimental and a control group each consisting of 50 people. The sex ratio of both the control group and the experimental group will be 50:50.

Materials:

The main evaluation tool to be applied to the experimental group will be role-playing correlated with the course curriculum. The participants in the control group will not engage in role-playing, but rather, the control group will be given materials used in traditional methods of teaching a foreign language.

Instrument:

As mentioned previously, to measure the subjects’ cultural competencies, the study will utilize Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Task (MDCT) in its pretest and posttest. The test’s methodology will adopted from that used by Professor of English and Applied Linguistics, Universität Erfurt, Gila Schauer. Schauer’s approach consisted of requiring students to read twenty realistic and commonly occurring social scenarios and then asked the students to select one of the three or four given options what would be best to say in that situation.

Data Collection and Analysis:

Following the implementation of MDCT in both the pretest and posttest, four raters will assess both the control group’s and the experimental group’s pretests and posttests. To provide confidence in the reliability of the rating process, inter-rater reliability will be computed by calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Based on the assessment results, the standard deviations and variances of the two groups will be calculated. The same procedure will be implemented for the posttest to determine if there are any significant differences between the two groups’ achievements or if the hypothesis should be rejected.

Conclusion:

As mentioned earlier, the present study is aimed at investigating the effects of role-playing on ESL/EFL students’ cultural skills. Adopting the planned experimental technique and conducting the procedure for two months might generate noteworthy results. According to the results, the hypothesis that role-playing enhances EFL/ESL students’ cultural competence and thus their foreign language abilities will or will not be rejected. If the hypothesis is not rejected, it is suggested that role-playing should be recommended and emphasized as an effective method for the teaching of foreign culture and foreign language.

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