Speaking Instruction including Decision-making Role-play Tasks and its Impact on High School Students’Interactional Performance

Abstract

　　In the present practice of a lesson unit, 1st-year high school students of one classroom had classes with speaking activities designed to enhance their interactive skills with which they can develop their conversation cooperatively to reach agreement. Their 3-week engagement in the speaking module focusing on sub-skill training, which would enable them to play better roles in interactive settings, preceded 3-week intensive engagement in role-play activities. The analysis, comparing their pre-test performance to their post-test performance, shows they became able to ask more confirmation questions, give more comments before showing opposite views, and argue logically. The result supports the view that the engagement in the role-play speaking activities help high school students become more aware of making the speech more interactive while exchanging their opinions.