Communication in Training Future EFL Teachers: Simulation and Roleplay in the English Classroom

Abstract

The issue under investigation is topical and significant. Being a communicative language acquisition method, simulation and roleplays develop future teachers' language competencies and pedagogical competence, playing a unique role in forming teacher-student, teacher-parent communication patterns. The article aims at studying the place simulation/roleplay have in this process and its specific features. The authors describe how roleplays and simulations are introduced into the English classroom, examples of supplying study books with roleplay tasks. The methods applied to explore the problem were observation and questionnaire administered to the students at the end of the course. Their analysis has permitted the authors to arrive at several conclusions. The most remarkable conclusion is that introducing simulation/roleplay into the study process significantly influences students' communication skills and academic performance, forming their pedagogic competences and communication patterns. Furthermore, the findings revealed that simulation/roleplay in training foreign language teachers should be well-planned and organized; the author gives some advice concerning it. The study results could be highly substantial for teachers of universities preparing future foreign language teachers.