6.4.5 : The Webquest and Role Play

Role play is defined as pretending to be someone else or pretending to be in a specific situation that you are not actually in at the time.

How is it used in a WebQuest? It is enhanced by wrapping motivational elements around the basic structure by giving the learners a role to play and scenario to work with. Students (players) are given some information about the problem. Students self-select the roles and give themselves pseudonyms in order to investigate an issue from more specialized perspectives. While playing out the role and analyzing the sites, selected by the teacher, they become “experts” on a certain aspect of the problem. So, finally, they complete real world task and create a presentation or a product to demonstrate their knowledge. In this way, “knowledge and skills are learned in the contexts that reflect how knowledge is obtained and applied in everyday situations”.

The difference between the role play in a WebQuest and the role play I used to conduct in my Language classroom is that the former is in the form of a big project, involving self –directed learning and investigation, promoting higher order thinking and creativity in order to solve a real world problem while the latter involved a very short skit focusing more on the acting but relegating the critical thinking, investigative skills and the creation of a new product to demonstrate knowledge.

This is an eye opener for me.