The Effectiveness of a Role-Play Activity in Practicing EFL Learner’s Communicative Skills

Abstract

With the officially publication of General Senior High School Curricular Standards (2017 Edition) and English Curricular Standards for Compulsive Education (2022 Edition), Chinese English education formally steps into the "key competence era". The new standards put forward new ideas, new methods and new theories for English language teaching, and give higher requirements for teachers' "teaching" and students' "learning". Besides, since last century, scholars at home and abroad have carried out studies on “role-playing method” and “communicative skills” respectively, and later results confirmed the positive promotion of role-play activities to the cultivation of communicative skills. Therefore, role-playing method was originally used for theatrical performances and trainings, and then later introduced and widely used in foreign language teaching. The new standards clearly stipulates that it is necessary to "develop language ability, cultivate cultural awareness, improve thinking quality and learning ability". In order to develop learners’ communicative ability, cultivate their key competences and promote all-round development, the effectiveness of a role-play activity in practical EFL learners' communicative skills is worth exploring.