SUMMARIZED TEXT.

Role-playing is a teaching strategy that fits within social family of models (Joyce and Weil, 2000). These strategies emphasize social nature of learning, and see cooperative behavior as stimulating students socially and intellectually.

This strategy offers advantages for both teacher and student. First, this tactic raises student interest in the topic is raised. Research showed that “integrating experiential learning activities in the classroom increases interest in the subject matter and understanding of course content” (Poorman, 2002). Fogg (2001) felt that his history classes were boring and not involving the students. After trying out a role-playing type game one semester, he observed that students were more interested.

Secondly, there is increased involvement on the part of the students in a roleplaying lesson. Students are not passive recipients of the instructor’s knowledge. They take an active part. Poorman (2002) observes that “true learning cannot take place when students are passive observers of the teaching process” (p. 32). One student at Barnard College who was enrolled in a role-playing history class said, “This class tricks you into doing much work” (Fogg, 2001). The result of the involvement is increased learning (Fogg, 2001).

A third advantageof this strategy is that it teaches empathy and understanding of different perspectives (Poorman, 2002).  A  roleplaying activity would have students taking on a role of a character, learning and acting as that individual would do in the setting. Poorman (2002) found “a significant increase among students in feeling another’s distress as their own” (pg. 34). Role-playing has been effective in reducing racial prejudice (McGregor, 1993).Students who role-play the part of enslaved African Americans in a class on pre-Civil War history, develop empathy and come away with a better idea of the experience than they would in a typical lecture setting (Steindorf, 2001).

In role-playing the student is representing and experiencing a character. (Scarcella and Oxford, 1992). Role-play emphasizes personal concerns, problems, behavior, and participation (Silver & Silver, 1989).  It improves interpersonal skills (Teahan, 1975), improves communication skills (Huyack, 1975).

The role-playing approach can be used in a variety of settings,.  The principle behind role-playing is that the student assumes a particular personality.  According to Jones (1982), students “must accept responsibilities of their roles, and do the best they can in the situation in which they find themselves.”

One use of role-playing might be to introduce a topic, using the students’ background (schema) to introduce and interest them in a new unit of study (Lloyd, 1998). But often, role-playing is used as a strategy in which students use their background to acquiring information about the character in order to better play the role (Lloyd, 1998).

Skilled teachers have used skits, plays, newscasts, and other forms of drama to motivate students when information is introduced.  Role playing activities are divided into four stages (Cherif & Somervill, 1998):

1. Preparation and explanation of the activity by the teacher

2. Student preparation of the activity. The role-playing

4. The discussion or debriefing after the role-play activity 

ORIGINAL TEXT 

Role-playing is a teaching strategy that fits within the social family of models (Joyce and Weil, 2000). These strategies emphasize the social nature of learning, and see cooperative behavior as stimulating students both socially and intellectually.

Role-playing as a teaching strategy offers several advantages for both teacher and student.

First, student interest in the topic is raised. Research has shown that “integrating experiential learning activities in the classroom increases interest in the subject matter and understanding of course content” (Poorman, 2002, pg. 32). Fogg (2001) tells of a college professor who felt that his history classes were boring and not involving the students.After trying out a role-playing type game one semester, he observed that students were much more interested in the material.

Secondly, there is increased involvement on the part of the students in a roleplaying lesson. Students are not passive recipients of the instructor’s knowledge. Rather, they take an active part. Poorman (2002) observes that “true learning cannot take place when students are passive observers of the teaching process” (p. 32). One student at Barnard College who was enrolled in a role-playing history class said, “This class tricks you into doing so much work” (Fogg, 2001). The result of the involvement is increased learning (Fogg, 2001).

A third advantage to using role-playing as a teaching strategy is that it teaches empathy and understanding of different perspectives (Poorman, 2002).  A typical roleplaying activity would have students taking on a role of a character, learning and acting as that individual would do in the typical setting. Poorman (2002) found “a significant increase among students in feeling another’s distress as their own” (pg. 34). Role-playing has also been seen to be effective in reducing racial prejudice (McGregor, 1993).Students who role-play the part of enslaved African Americans in a class on pre-Civil War history, for example, develop greater empathy and come away with a better idea of the experience than they would in a typical lecture setting (Steindorf, 2001).

In role-playing the student is representing and experiencing a character known in everyday life (Scarcella and Oxford, 1992).  The use of role-playing emphasizes personal concerns, problems, behavior, and active participation (Silver & Silver, 1989).  It improves interpersonal skills (Teahan, 1975), improves communication skills (Huyack, 1975), and enhances communication (Ettkin & Snyder, 1972).

The role-playing approach can be used in a variety of settings, including the classroom.  The principle behind role-playing is that the student assumes a particular personality of a different person, such as a historical character.  According to Jones (1982), students “must accept the duties and responsibilities of their roles and functions, and do the best they can in the situation in which they find themselves.”

One possible use of role-playing might be to introduce a topic, using the students’ background knowledge (schema) to introduce and interest them in a new unit of study (Lloyd, 1998). But probably more often, role-playing is used as a strategy in which students use their background knowledge in addition to acquiring new information about the character in order to better play the role (Lloyd, 1998).

Skilled teachers have generally used skits, plays, newscasts, and other forms of drama to motivate students when new information in introduced.  Role playing activities can be divided into four stages (Cherif & Somervill, 1998):

1. Preparation and explanation of the activity by the teacher.

2. Student preparation of the activity3. The role-playing.

4. The discussion or debriefing after the role-play activity.

NOTE: This text has been taken from a arbitrated page of Sacramento´s University and the link is the following: http://imet.csus.edu/imet3/odell/portfolio/grartifacts/Lit%20review.pdf.