The effects of role plays on EFL students’ grammar learning.

Abstract

Being able to use correct grammatical constructions in speech enables learners to feel motivated when learning a target language. When learning grammar rules, linguists state that students should be exposed to different contexts for ensuring communicative competence. The present research synthesis revises the overall effectiveness of role plays as an academic tool for teaching grammar to EFL students. The study comprises experimental and quasi-experimental studies developed in EFL contexts with students from eleven years old to adulthood. Twenty studies were selected for developing this research synthesis that met the inclusion criteria of being published from 2000 onwards, which tested a total of 979 students. This research synthesis aims to investigate the effects on students’ grammatical learning while using role plays. It also investigates how role plays are used in classrooms as well as students’ attitudes towards the implementation of role plays. Findings acknowledge that (a) role plays improve students’ grammatical competence; (b) they follow two pedagogical practices known as Presentation, Practice, Production, and Feedback and Instructional Modeling; and (c) students develop positive and negative attitudes towards role plays. The results, conclusions, and possible suggestions are discussed at the end of this study.