Donahue & Parsons (1982). The Use of Roleplay to Overcome Cultural Fatigue

Donahue, M., & Parsons, A. H. (1982). The Use of Roleplay to Overcome Cultural Fatigue. TESOL Quarterly, 16(3), 359-365.

“… cultural subtleties necessary for appropriate social behavior. ” (p 359)

“… promotes the process of trans-cultural dialogue … ” (p 359)

“What is cultural fatigue? It is “the physical and emotional exhaustion that almost invariably results from the infinite series of minute adjustments” (Szanston 1966:48) that people living in a new country make in order to cope with their new environment. The time and energy required for these adjustments leave people fatigued.” (p 359)

“… cultural rub …” (p 359)

“… establishment of an empathic atmosphere …” (p 360)

“Roleplay serves a double function as a technique to overcome cultural fatigue. First, it lends itself well to the development of the process of transcultural dialogue which is necessary if we are to establish an empathic atmosphere. Second, it lends itself well to teaching the necessary rules of conversation once the appropriate atmosphere is established.” (p 360)

“Instruction in the rules of speaking includes the when, where, why, and how of giving an utterance.
Intonation, touching, facial expressions, timing of laughter and movement, appropriateness of response, etc. are integral parts of our conversational patterns and as such should be included in language instruction. Taylor and Wolfson (1978:36) state that all of us are “so completely socialized into our native sociolingiustic patterns that we cannot seem to help reacting negatively to someone who breaks those rules” (1978:35).” (p 360)

“‘Each time an individual encounters cultural differences, he or she learns something about others as well as himself or herself’ (Casse 1981:191).” (p 361)

“… role play provides a sensitizing situation …” (p 361)

“… learn to listen and watch … ” (p 361)

“‘Such practice provides us with an opportunity to learn from our mistakes under conditions that protect us from any actual penalty and in situations in which we have sympathetic help of group members’ (Shaftel and Shaftel 1967:65). Fourth, ‘role play also can provide the means of attacking new problems with new methods.’ (Shaftel and Shaftel 1967:65).” (p 361)

“… drawn from the students’ current, as well as anticipated, experiences.” (p 361)

“We recommend the following steps as the best means of utilizing the role play process (adapted from Shaftel and Shaftel 1967:74-82): warm-up, selecting the participants, audience preparation, the Role Play, discussion of the role play, re-enactment with new players, further discussion, summary.” (p 361-362)

“Correction … is to be avoided.” (p 362-263)

“… as spontaneously as possible …” (p 362)

“… the more impromptu the role play, the better …” (p 362)

“…
Step 1: Warm up (p 362)
…
Step 2: Selecting the participants/role players (p 362)
…
Step 3: Audience preparation (p 362)
…
Step 4: The Role Play (p 362)
… as spontaneously as possible … (p 362)
… the more impromptu the role play, the better … (p 362)
… Correction of students’ language is to be avoided … (p 362-363)
…
Step 5: Discussion of the Role Play (p 363)
…
Step 6: Re-enactment with New Players (p 363)
…
Step 7: Further Discussion (p 363)
…
Shaftel and Shaftel (1967:81) state the purpose of this step as follows: “(The student) may find, on the action level, reason often giving way or find himself so affected by his emotional response that he acts differently from the way he had intended . . . such an experience gets close to reality . . . (T)here is also a kind of insight that comes to the individual as he moves back and forth from being a role player to being an observer.” (p 363)
…
Step 8: Summary (p 363)
…
”

“… sense of trust …” (p 363)

“‘Each step of the confrontation with other constructions of reality is an occasion for learning and growing.” (Casse 1981:191).” (p 364)

“… atmosphere of trust …” (p 364)

“… without the teacher’s help …” (p 364)

[Notable references]

Casse, Pierre. 1981. Training for the cross-cultural mind. Washington, D.C.: The Society for the Intercultural Education Training and Research.

Shaftel, F. R. and G. Shaftel. 1967. Role playing for social values: Decision making in the social studies. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Szanston, David. 1966. Cultural confrontation in the Philippines. In Robert Textor (Ed.), Cultural Frontiers of the Peace Corps: 35-61. Boston: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.

Taylor, Barry P. and Nessa Wolfson. 1978. Breaking down the free conversation myth. TESOL Quarterly 12, 1:31-39.