Dialog  Role-Play for Communication  Practice     
  by Lucille Lever

 A dramatic  presentation of a prepared dialog involves challenge, joy, fun and a
great  speaking practice platform. Role-plays are useful for the emotional and
social  self.
Plays,  in general, are a wonderful means for role-play, characterization,
improvisation  and performing aloud. The dialog, in particular, is an excellent
introduction to  sharing a script by allowing students to work in pairs, deal
with only one  other, and have equal ability to express opinion, and have an
active part in the  performance.
 
Dialog  Scripts
 The  use of dialog scripts in a drama class, language lesson, foreign language
  lesson, or communication groups enables  communicative pair-work, creates
  a platform for reading aloud practice, teaches  turn-taking and pacing, enhances
  dramatic characterization,  adds  discussion and fun to any lesson, results
  in a memorable performance. 

Supplying   a role-play dialog based on a topic or grammar point allows students to use
  language more fluently and realistically than reading regular grammar sentences
  from a text book. Students can also write the dialogs (in pairs) in a language
  lesson, using given sets of vocabulary or grammar structure. Part of the
  practice is the preparation it takes to act out in the  class.

 Role-play  preparation means that students are focused on material and deal with it from
  many sides, such as reading, discussion, speaking, rehearsing and presentation.
  Usual text work can be tedious when repeated many times, but having pairs act
  out a scene again and again becomes entertaining, specifically because of its
  repetition.

 Abstract  Role-Play  Dialogs
 Abstract  dialogs are even more intriguing. Abstract dialogs are those in which the words
  don’t quite make sense as they stand, and the students have to discuss and
  analyze what is silently going on between the lines. Teachers should encourage
  students to understand the words in the text, and try to determine the
  underlying reactions between the words in order to perform the abstract dialog.
  Results will be intriguing as the performers will show a variety of acts based
  on any one given script. This kind of dialog can only be given to students whom
  the teacher feels are mature enough to understand both the text and the
  underlying possibilities. From middle school-aged ESL students, through adult
  ESL learners, this kind of simplified text can be easy to work with, yet allow
  for more depth from the underlying story behind the scene.

 Example  of an Abstract  Dialog
 A:
  Did you bring it?
 B:
  Why did you expect me to?
 A:
  I told you yesterday that we need it.
 B:
  I’ll get one later. Did you bring the stone?
 A:
  No!
 B:
  Well that was stupid! How are we going to do it without a
stone?


Preparation  by the students:
Who  are the speakers, what are their ages, what are their names? 

• Where  is this conversation taking place? 
  What  are they talking about? 
  What   is the “stone”? 
  What  was forgotten? 
  What  happened just before this scene? 
  What  happens after this scene takes place?

  Preparing  a Dialog  Performance
 A  lot of planning and discussion needs to take place in pairs for students to set
  up their act. The words have to make sense. The act has to flow and the
audience  has to understand exactly what is going on. From a dramatic point of
view, the  action taking place between the lines is just as important as the
words  themselves. The performance can also be enhanced with costumes
  that the teachers can help create.   This activity promotes discussion, agreement,
disagreement, argument, sharing  of  ideas, practice and presentation. Students in the audience may be challenged
to  summarize the content of each of the performances. The text demands their
focus,  understanding and an interpretation of what they have
  viewed.
 A   post performance discussion in the class can be encouraged for students to
speak  about the different interpretations that they saw, and they can explain
which  acts they liked and if they enjoyed learning via the dialogs. This
feedback will  encourage teachers to use dialogs again, or help adapt the idea
to make it more  successful at another time. Many aspects of language practice
can be  incorporated into the lesson via dialog role-plays and success will most
likely  result. Teachers can enjoy this easily prepared, creative addition to
  communication, drama and language lessons.

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