THE UNIVERSITY OF MOHAMMED EL BACHIR EL IBRAHIMI

The effectiveness of teaching speaking

through role plays and
gap information activities .

This study is conducted by third year English language and literature

students of The university of Mohamed El Bachir El Ibrahimi
mentioned below :

• Rania Djellouli
• Oumnia Mebarkia
• Meka Bennecif
• Manar Benmerzoug
• Salah Eddine Ziani
• Chaima Diaf

Teacher supervisor : Dr. FATIMA DOUADI

THE UNIVERSITY OF MOHAMMED EL BACHIR EL IBRAHIMI
Abstract

Good speaking activities can and should be extremely engaging for the students. If they are
all participating fully ,and if the teacher has set up the activity properly and can then give
sympathetic and useful feedback , they will get tremendous satisfaction from it. For the sake
of looking for more information about the effectiveness of good speaking activities and
specially “ role plays and gap information activities “ , Third year English language and
literature students preferred to conduct this research .

This investigation looks at enhancement in learners’ speaking skills through role

plays and gap information activities and this study also examines the teacher’s
assessment of students for further development of their speaking skills. This
document applies to the teachers and professors of the English language and
literature department of the university of Mohamed el Bachir El Ibrahimi and third
year English language and literature group 03 /06 students’ of the same university.

Aims and objectives:

The purpose of this Research proposal is :

▪ To examine the effectiveness of role play and gap activities in teaching speaking ▪ To

figure out how far the use of these activities improve speaking as a skill ▪ To find out

whether these activities help students to produce language automatically ▪ To discuss

the role of teachers during the practice of these activities Timeline:

This work continued for three consecutive days. On the first day, there were preparations for
the appropriate questions and their selection accurately, clearly and directly to suit the
candidates. As for the second day, it was devoted to copying, arranging and writing the
papers clearly, and it ended with printing these papers.Finally, on the third day, we shared our
questionnaire with the candidates from 3rd year students group 3 and 4 and also teachers to
get appropriate answers and opinions so that we can collect data

Ethnical approval :

• This research does not involve work with children (under-18) or vulnerable adults . •
No aspect of this research may give rise to any form of harm to participants , including
the researchers
• No aspect of the research may produce information that could lead to criminal
prosecution of nor the participants neither others .
• This research is totally anonymous and does not include any intrusive to personal
nature
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 • This research does not include any illegal activities
• The proposed participants are teachers and students .
Methodology

After selecting the research settings , participants , and also the aims and objectives ; we
preferred to collect data through a research instrument consisting of two sections “A” and
“B” which contain a series of printed written questions with a choice of answers for the
purpose of gathering information from respondents and to identify, select, process, and
analyze information about this topic . We used Restricted questions, which are also called
closed-ended, it consists of asking the respondent to make choices “yes or no”, check items
on a list, or select from multiple choice answers. Restricted questions are easy to tabulate
and compile. The questionnaire and the procedure was pretested before it was used in this
study .

Literature review

In the mater of teaching speaking methods and theories it is best to refer to the famous writer Jeremy
Harmer. Jeremy Harmer is a teacher, a teacher trainer, and an author of books and articles for both
teachers and students of English as a foreign or second language . Jeremy Harmer’s book” how to
teach English , 6th impression” is a guide to the teaching of World English for the 21st century. It
presents a comprehensive view of English language teaching theories and practices that is both
carefully researched and imbued with uncommon sense. This book is, therefore, appropriate for those
who want a practical and easy to understand way of teaching listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

In “chapter 9: how to teach speaking” states why teachers should encourage students to do speaking
tasks, focusing on the kind of speaking activities, on the advantages of these type of activities and on
the role of the teacher and the participation of the students. In order to do so, the author describes
several activities in order to give examples of the theory he is trying to teach through his book. Finally,
Harmer offers a synthesis about the importance of engaging the students into the topics of speaking
activities to give an end to this chapter.

According to this chapter, the kind of speaking activities that students should be exposed to should
concern with activate exercises, rather than with exercises that only have a “study function”. This must
be done by using all of the language to perform some kind of oral task; in other words, all of the
possible tools that the language can provide.

Encouraging students to do speaking tasks is extremely relevant. Some reasons to do so are for
example that speaking is a good opportunity to rehearse and to get the feel of what communicating in a
foreign language really feels like. Also, because it provides feedback to students as well as to the
teacher while students are improving their performance. On top of that, speaking activities can be very
motivating when they actually engage the students into the topics.

One advantage of speaking activities is that they can be very varied and interactive; there are several
kinds of activities, for instance activities such as filling information gaps, describing & drawing, story
telling activities, surveys and discussions among others.

“How to teach speaking” also points out the fact that teachers should correct students rather than
interrupting them while activities are going by. Nevertheless, it is very important at the same time to
provide them the corresponding feedback. Yet, there are some occasions when students need the
teacher’s guidance through sensitive prompting.
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THE QUESTIONNAIRE

SECTION A: dedicated to Teachers

Please read attentively and answer the questions below in the space provided
in the questionnaire.

• Do routine activities realize a sort of development in students’ speaking

skills?

YES

NO
• Are students bored while playing routine activities in classroom?
YES

NO
• Do students show negative attitude throughout the routine activities in
classroom?
YES

NO
• Does role plays and information gap activities promotes interaction in the
classroom?
YES

NO
• Could information gap activity be useful for students who tend to feel
overwhelmed, lost, and frustrated with speaking activities?
YES

NO
• Does the use of information gap activities improve the students’ oral
fluency?
YES
THE UNIVERSITY OF MOHAMMED EL BACHIR EL IBRAHIMI NO

• Do learners show positive attitudes towards speaking activities?

YES

NO

• With the information gap activities, may teachers use contrived material
and adapt elements of authentic material?
YES

NO

• Are the students comfortable obtaining and giving information in a

variety of contexts throughout the activity?
YES

NO

• Does the use of an information gap activity was a good way to review
and practice new vocabulary, parts of speech and topic-based dialogues?
YES

NO

• Is the technique of role play an effective teaching technique?

YES

NO

• Is there any positive impact of the evaluation based on the recorded

performance of role play on the students?
YES

NO
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 • Do role plays and information gap activities increases students’
motivation in the classroom?
YES

NO

• Do the role plays and information gap activities help the students to get
over speaking anxiety?

YES

NO

• Does the use of Role plays improve the students’ oral fluency?

YES

NO

-end-

Thank you!
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SECTION B : dedicated to students

• Do you have a lack in speaking skills ?

YES

NO
• Do you face difficulties to express yourself in the classroom?
 YES

NO
• Do teachers use good speaking activities in the classroom?
YES

NO
• Do you participate in speaking activities in the classroom?
YES

NO
• Do you prefer :

Exercises that only have a “study function”.

Activate exercises

• Does activate exercises and speaking tasks give you an opportunity to

rehearse and to get the feel of what communicating in a foreign language
really feels like?
YES

NO
• Do you participate in information gap activities?
YES

NO
• Do you participate in role plays in the classroom?
YES
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NO
• Is the technique of role plays an effective learning technique?
YES

NO
• Is the information gap activity a good leaning technique?
 YES

NO
• Do role plays and information gap activities help you evolve your
speaking skills?
YES

NO
• Do the role plays and information gap activities help you to get over
speaking anxiety?
YES

NO
• Are you comfortable obtaining and giving information in a variety of
contexts throughout the role plays or the information gap activities?
YES

NO

-end-

Thank you !
THE UNIVERSITY OF MOHAMMED EL BACHIR EL IBRAHIMI
Rania Djellouli GROUP 03 Oumnia
Mebarkia GROUP 03 Meka Bennecif
GROUP 06 Manar Benmerzoug GROUP 06
Salah Eddine Ziani GROUP 01 Chaima Diaf
GROUP 03