IMPROVING STUDENTS SPEAKING ABILITY BY

USING UNSCRIPTED ROLE PLAY

(A Case Study of The Tenth Graders in a Public School in Bandung)

A Research Proposal

Bintang Permata Dewi

(1100070)
Class A

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
2014
TABLEOFCONTENTS

TABLEOFCONTENTS.............................................................................................i

INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................1
1.1Background........................................................................................................1
1.2PurposesofResearch.........................................................................................2
1.3ResearchQuestion.............................................................................................3
1.4SignificanceoftheStudy...................................................................................3
1.5ScopeoftheStudy..............................................................................................3

LITERATUREREVIEW...........................................................................................4
2.1 ClarificationofTerms.....................................................................................4
Speaking.................................................................................................................4
RolePlay................................................................................................................4
ScriptedRolePlay..................................................................................................5
UnscriptedRolePlay..............................................................................................5
2.2 ReviewofRelatedLiterature.........................................................................5
RESEARCHMETHOD..............................................................................................7
3.1 ResearchDesign...............................................................................................7
3.2 Participants......................................................................................................7
3.3 DataCollection................................................................................................8
3.4 DataAnalysis...................................................................................................8
References:....................................................................................................................9

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 INTRODUCTION

1.1Background

ItiswidelyrecognizedthatEnglishisimportantforIndonesiaandthe
reason most frequently put forward for this is that English is a global or
internationallanguage(Lauder,2008).TheglobalstatusofEnglishispartly
duetothenumberofpeoplewhospeakit.(Crystal,2003a:6769,Crystal,
2003b: 108109) estimates that in 2,000 there were approximately 1,500
millionspeakersofEnglishworldwide,consistingofaround329millionL1
speakers(mostlyininnercirclecountries),430million L2speakers(outer
circle countries) and about 750 million speakers of English as a foreign
languageinthecountriesoftheexpandingcircle.Thisconveysinresultthat
approximately one in four of the worlds population are capable of
communicatinginEnglish.ThatispotentiallyalotofpeopleforIndonesians
whoknowEnglishtocommunicatewith.
Communicationisanessentialneedforhumanbeing.Aslanguageis
themethodofhumancommunication,eitherspokenorwritten,consistingof
theuseofwordsinastructuredandconventionalway (OxfordDictionaries
Language matters), it is not enough for students to learn words and
grammaticalfeaturesiftheywanttointeractwithothersinEnglish.
Therefore,thegoalforstudentslearningEnglishspeakingisthatthey
arebeabletouselanguagetocommunicateeffectivelyandappropriatelyfor
alllifesrequirements,bothsocialandacademic(Sari,2011).Thestudents
havetobeabletoexpresstheirthoughts,ideas,andfeelingsorallyinEnglish
withoutthinkingforalongtimebeforesayingwhattheywishandneedtosay
(Walter,2004).
In this case, role play technique plays important role in helping
students to practice communication in different social contexts and in

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different social roles. This is in line with Richards (1985) that role play
activitiesalsodevelopconversationalskillamongstudents.Similarly,Stern
(1983ascitedinPham,2012)alsosupportedthatroleplayhelpsstudentsto
becomemoreflexibleinmanykindsofnewsituationsinwhichtheywilluse
the language more easily. The strength of flexible role play forms new
conversationalpracticeandcreatesapositiveenvironmentinclass.Students
enjoyandrelaxwhiletheyarelearning.
Roleplaycanbedividedintotwogroups.AccordingtoByrne(1978),
roleplaycanbegroupedintotwoforms:scriptedandunscriptedroleplay.
Usually, scripted role play is more common that unscripted. The students
workinpairandtheycanwriteroleplayasascriptandthenreadthelines.
Ontheotherhand,Unscriptedroleplayishardlyusedbecauseitisrelatively
difficultandcomplicatedforthestudentstoprepareinashorttimeandthen
act out in front of the class. However, unscripted role play is real life
conversationthatoccursnaturally.Teacherscanchangethescriptbasedon
the real situations. Unscripted role play is important because when the
studentsfacethereallife,theywillnotreadascripttocommunicatewith
others,sothatthestudentshaveatendencytoexpandtheircommunication
whenproblemsoccurred.
Regardingtotheexplanationabove,thisstudywillbefocusedonthe
usageofunscriptedroleplaytoimprovestudentsspeakingability.Andthe
results could be extended to contribute to the knowledge in improving
studentsspeakingability.

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1.2PurposeofResearch

Reffering to the introduction above, this study purposes to reveal the

influenceofunscriptedroleplayto studentsattitudes towardstheEnglish
speakingclass

1.3ResearchQuestion

Thisstudyiscarriedouttoanswertheresearchquestionasfollows:
1. How does unscripted role play influence students attitudes
towardstheEnglishspeakingclass?

1.4SignificanceoftheStudy

Theresultofthisresearchisexpected tobeusefulfortheEnglish
teacher especially in teaching speaking. Hopefully, teacher can manage
classroomactivitiescommunicativelybyusingunscriptedroleplayactivities.
Forstudentsthemselves,itcanmotivatethemtotrytospeakEnglishnaturally
andpracticeitasoftenaspossible.Itwillhelpthemtoimprovetheirabilityin
speakingskill.

1.5ScopeoftheStudy

Thisstudywillbefocusedonanalyzingunscriptedroleplayactivities
byoneclassastheexperimentalclass,whiletheconventionaltechniquewill
beappliedbyanotheroneclassascontrolclass.Theanalysiswillbefocused
oninvestigatingstudentsspeakingabilitybyusingunscriptedroleplay.

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 LITERATUREREVIEW

ClarificationofTerms

The following terms are clarified in order to avoid the ambiguity,

misunderstandingandmisconceptionofthecasepresentedinthisstudy.

Speaking

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that

involvesproducingandreceivingandprocessinginformationBrown(1994;
Burns &Joyce,1997ascited inFlorez,1999).Its formandmeaningare
dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants
themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the
purposes for speaking. It is often spontaneous, openended, and evolving.
However,speechisnotalwaysunpredictable.

RolePlay

AccordingtoCollinsDictionaries,roleplayistheactofimitatingthe
character and behaviour of someone who is different from yourself, for
example,asatrainingexercise,orinlanguagelearning.
In ACourseinLanguageTeaching,Ur(1996)explainsroleplayas,
allsortsofactivitieswherelearnersimaginethemselvesinasituationouside
theclassroom,sometimesplayingtheroleofsomeoneotherthatthemselves,

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andusinglaguageappropriatetothisnewcontext.Thereby,learnerswould
beplacedinavarietyofexperincewheretheyareplayroleasthemselvesor
playtheroleofsomeoneelseandtheyshoulduselanguagethatsuitablethe
situationandsocialcontextwhichtheyareplaying.

ScriptedRolePlay

Based on Byrne (1986) this type involves interpreting either the

textbookdialogueorreadingtextinformofspeech.Themainfunctionofthe
textafteallisconveythemeaningoflanguageitemsinamemorablyway.

UnscriptedRolePlay

Unsciptedroleplayisknownasafreeroleplayorimprovisation.The
situationofunscriptedroleplaydonotdependontextbooks.Itisdonemore
naturalanditcanhelpstudentstofacethereallifeconversation.Thestudents
themselveshavetodecidewhatlanguagetouseandhowtheconversation
shoulddevelop.

ReviewofRelatedLiterature

Asameanstoelaboratethisstudyconnectstoseveraltheories,itis
importanttoidentifythestudiesqualifiedinwhichconnectedtothestudents
speakingabilitybyusingunscriptedroleplayactivity.
Scarcella and Crookall (1990 as cited in Tompkins, 1998) review
research to show how simulation facilitates second language acquisition.
Threelearningtheorieswhichtheydiscussarethatlearnersacquirelanguage
when:(1)theyareexposedtolargequantitiesofcomprehensibleinput,(2)
theyareactivelyinvolved,and(3)theyhavepositiveaffect(desires,feelings
andattitudes).Itreferstoroleplayactivity.Inordertoimprovinggenuine

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communication, active involvement, and a positive attitude, the simulated
"reallife"problemshelpstudentsdeveloptheircriticalthinkingandproblem
solving skills (Tompkins, 1998). Tompkins also said that role playing/
simulation isanextremely valuablemethodforL2learning.Itencourages
thinkingandcreativity,letsstudentsdevelopandpracticenewlanguageand
behavioral skills in a relatively nonthreatening setting, and can create the
motivationandinvolvementnecessaryforlearningtooccur.
AccordingtoByrne(1978),roleplaycanbegroupedintotwoforms:
scriptedandunscriptedroleplay.Scriptedroleplayismorecommonused
thanunscriptedroleplay.Scriptedroleplaycanbedonebywriteroleplayas
scriptandthenreadthescriptthattheyhavewritten.Unscriptedroleplay
requiresstudentstoprepareinashorttimeandthenactoutinfrontofthe
class.
Scriptedroleplayseemsmoreinterestingthanunscriptedroleplay,
but since students will face the real life communication with different
situation,itgivesthestudentsexposuretospeakasnaturalaspossiblebecause
inthereallifethestudentswillnotreadascripttocommunicatewithothers.
Linkingthefindingsfromthepreviousstudies,theresearcherhopes
thatusingunscriptedroleplayactivitycanencouragetheseniorhighschool
studentsabilityinspeakingclass. Usingunscriptedroleplay asatool,the
purposeofthisstudyistodescribetheeffectfoundintheseniorhighschool
studentsspeakingability.

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 RESEARCHMETHOD

ResearchDesign

In order to answer the research question, this study conducts an

experimentalmethod.Howeverthebasicpurposeofexperimentaldesignisto
testtheimpactofatreatmentonanoutcome,controllingforallotherfactors
that might influence that outcome (Creswell, 2009). This is connected to
Surakhmad(1989:29ascitedinKomalasari,2013)thatexperimentalresearch
isthemethodoftheresearchthatexplainthedataforpredictingtheeventsin
thefuture.
Based on the views above, the method that is used is descriptive
quantitative method, which aims to determine the relationship between
independentvariablewithdependentvariable.Theresearchertriestofindout
thesignificanteffectofusingunscriptedroleplaytoimprovethestudents
speakingability.
Humansaregoodatjudgingrelativesensorydifferencesbutpoorat
evaluatingabsolutedifferences (Stone&Sidel,2004).Thisphilosophyhas
madequantitativedescriptiveanalysismethodologydistinctlydifferentfrom
thosedescriptivemethods,whichtrytofinalizetheabsolutedifferenceamong
products.

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Participants

The participants of this study will be two class students of tenth

gradersfrompublicschool.Oneclasswillbeplacedasexperimentalwhere
unscripted role play will be applied, while the rest will be applied the
conventionaltechniqueasthecontrolclass.Hopefully,thistechniquewillbe
able to identify how far unscripted role play can contribute toward the
studentsspeakingability.

DataCollection

Thedatawillbeobtainedfrompretest,treatmentandposttestinthe
experimentalclass.Pretestwillbeheldinthefirstmeeting.Theresearcher
willgivethepretesttothestudentsinspeakingusingconventionaltechnique.
Afterthat,thestudentswillgetthetreatmentinthesecondmeeting.Inthe
controlclass,teacheruseconventionaltechnique,whileintheexperimental
classtheteacherwillapplyunscriptedroleplayinteachingspeaking.The
researcherwillprovideatestattheendoftheclassmeeting.Thetreatment
willbedoneinfourtimes.Last,therewillbeaposttestforbothcontroland
experimentclass.Thepretest,treatmentandposttestresultareconsideredas
thedatatobeanalyzedinthisstudy.

DataAnalysis

In order to fill the questions in the experimental research, the

researcher gathers the data and begins to discover the raw scores of the
experimentalclassandcontrolclass.Therawscorecanbeobtainedfromthe

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 test(Heaton,1974,p.94ascitedinKomalasari,2013).Next,theresearcher
examinesandinterpretsallofthedataobtainedthroughtheentireinstrument.

References:

Ur, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge

UniversityPress.
Walter, T.(2004). TeachingEnglishLanguageLearners. NewYork:Pearson
Education.
Byrne, D. (1986). Teaching Oral English: Longman Handbooks for English
Teacher.Singapore:LongmanGroup.
Collins Dictionaries. (n.d.). English Dictionary. Retrieved from Collins
Dictionaries:http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/roleplay
Crystal, D. (2003a). English as a Global Language (2nd Ed.). Cambridge:
CambridgeUniversityPress.
Crystal,D.(2003b).TheCambridgeEncyclopediaoftheEnglishLanguage(2nd
Ed.).Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.
Creswell,J.W.(2009). ResearchDesignQualitative, Quantitave, andMixed
MethodsApproaches3rdEd.SAGEPublications.Inc.
Florez, M. C. (1999, June). Improving Adult English Language Learners'
Speaking Skills. Retrieved from CAELA Center for Adult English
Language Acquisition:
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/speak.html
Komalasari,F.(2013,October7). TheEffectofUsingScriptedRolePlayto
Improve Students Speaking Ability (An Experimental Research on XI

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 GradeOFMAN2Mataram,AcademicYear20132014).Retrievedfrom
Wordpress: http://ferakomalasari.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/theeffectof
usingscriptedroleplaytoimprovestudentsspeakingabilityan
experimentalresearchonxigradeofman2mataramacademicyear
20132014/
Lauder, A. (2008, July). THE STATUS AND FUNCTION OF ENGLISH IN
INDONESIA: A REVIEW OF KEY FACTORS. Retrieved from
http://journal.ui.ac.id/index.php/humanities/article/viewFile/128/124
Oxford Dictionaries Language matters. (n.d.). Retrieved from Oxford
Dictionaries Language matters:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/languag
e
Oxford,R.C.(1995).TheTapestryofLanguageLearning:TheIndividualinthe
Communicative Classroom. Retrieved from TESLEJ The Electronic
Journal for English as a Second Language: http://www.tesl
ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume1/ej03/ej03r20/
Pham,E.(2012,April21). UsingUnscriptedRolePlaytoImproveSpeaking
Ability of Thai EFL Students. Retrieved from Academia.edu:
https://www.academia.edu/4564314/Using_Unscripted_Role_Play_to_Imp
rove_Speaking_Ability_of_Thai_EFL_Students
Sari,N.P.(2011). ImprovingStudents'SpeakingAbility byUsingRolePlay.
Jakarta.
Stone,H.,&Sidel,J.(2004).SensoryEvaluationPractices3rdEd.SanDIego:
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Richards,J.C.,&Rodgers,T.S.(1996).Approachesandmethodsinlanguage
teaching.NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress.

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Tompkins,P.K.(1998,August8).RolePlaying/Simulation.RetrievedfromThe
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RolePlaying.html

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