USING ROLE PLAYING IN ORAL EXPRESSION SKILLS COURSE: VIEWS OF PROSPECTIVE EFL TEACHERS

Abstract

he acquisition of the necessary skills and competencies in the field of English languageteaching. This study aims at determining the opinions of the pre-service teachers of Englishregarding the effects of the use of role playing technique in expression skills course, which isoffered in the 2nd year at the Department of Foreign Languages Education, the problemsexperienced during the application process and the suggestions for the use of the technique. Asemi-structured interview was implemented to gather the data. The data of the research werearranged and interpreted within the framework of the themes created for the purpose of theresearch with the descriptive analysis technique. The data obtained from the study resultsgenerally emphasize that role playing technique is an efficient method for students to improvetheir expression skills. Based on the results of the study, the application of the role-playingtechnique, may also be beneficial to the professional development of prospective teachers.Using drama in foreign language learning classes can improve the self-confidence ofprospective teachers in terms of applying drama activities in their professional lives. However,when we consider this process as a whole, the difficulties students experience in this processshould not be ignored. In order to minimize the problems participants made suggestions aboutthe importance of space and equipment for the role-playing technique to reach its goalefficiently.