PJJ SESSION 2 2018 / 2019

GGGB6023 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY II

TASK:

STATISTICS MINI RESEARCH FINAL REPORT

NAME: LOOI SU JIAN

IC NO: 930220-11-5442

MATRIX NO: P99350

SET/CLASS: SET 1 / TESL 1

LECTURER: DR. NOR HAFIZAH ADNAN

DEADLINE: 25TH JAN 2020

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1.0 Topic

Primary School Students’ Perceptions on the use of Role Play Technique in a Speaking Class

2.0 Problem Statement

2.1 Issues in Speaking Skill

In today’s business and education world, English became the most essential language using by people
around the world. Almost people from many different countries around the world used it to
communicate (Samsiba & Wahyuddin, 2018). Thus, undergraduate students need to possess the
communication skills in order to secure job opportunities in government and commercial industries as
communication skills are considered to be one of the important skills in the world. However, in recent
years, poor communication proficiency has been a serious problem in developing the speaking skills
among Malaysian ESL learners. The problem frequently found was that, their native language caused
them difficult to use the foreign language. Other reason was the lack of motivation to practise the
second language in daily conversation. The students were also too shy and afraid to take part in the
conversation (Samsiba & Wahyuddin, 2018).

In Malaysian context, apprehension and lack of self-confidence are some of the causes which hinder
the learners from speaking in the target language (Fung & Min, 2016 as cited in Nurul Ajleaa &
Nooreiny, 2018). Learners became apprehensive and less motivated to speak in English due to several
reasons. According to a research, the learning process is exam-oriented due to the education system
which emphasizes on the product rather than the outcome, which is the examination. Besides that,
Malaysian education system also lacks of creativity which causes students to feel bored and dreadful
(Christopher & Lee, 2016 as cited in Abdul Rahman & Maarof, 2018). Besides that, limited exposure
to the second language is identified to be among the factors which may result in lack of interest to
learn the language (Siti Sukainah & Melor, 2014). This indicates that learners need adequate support
in terms of supportive learning environment and meaningful language experience to develop their
interest and positive attitude towards second language learning in the classroom. Hence, motivating
the students has been the primary concern among the primary school teachers as it is the key factor to
improve the students’ proficiency level. Realizing the importance of improving the current situation,
there is a need to implement the learning activity which can motivate the students to learn such as role
play as it encourages the students to communicate in a real-world situation through face-to-face
communication.

2.2 The Importance of Speaking Skill

Speaking skill is the most important skill to acquire foreign or second language learning. Among the
four key language skills, speaking is deemed to be the most important skill in learning a foreign or
second language (Parupalli, 2019). In the world of globalization, communication plays a vital role in

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ensuring success in all fields. It is impossible for people to achieve a perfect communication without
using the language as language is used as a tool for communication globally. This is because English
is considered as the international language and it is used for people all over the world to communicate
with each other. According to Brown and Yuke (1983) as cited in Parupalli (2019), “speaking is the
skill that the students will be judged upon most in real-life situations”. This indicates the importance
of improving the students’ speaking abilities so that they can perform better in real-life situations.
Based on a study conducted by Parupalli (2019), role-plays are the best activities to introduce in the
English classrooms to improve the learners’ speaking skills in English during the second stage. This
points out the importance of conducting role play in the classroom as it acts as a platform for the
learners to improve their speaking skills while playing different roles that can be related to their real-
life situations in the society. This is further supported in a study by Sayin (2015) that stated “today’s
world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students’ communicative skills,
because only in that way students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and
cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance”. Hence, teachers should provide
meaningful tasks that assemble real-life situations to maximise the use of oral language output in the
society.

2.3 The Importance of Role Play Technique in a Speaking Class

According to Kuśnierek (2015), the role-playing develops learners’ fluency in speaking. The learners’
focus is put on the communication of meaning rather than on the appropriate use of language as the
wide range of language functions, for example apologising and greetings are practised more than in
any other activities. This is important as the students’ speaking skills will be trained in different social
situations since they are placed in a condition that requires them in using the language to
communicate socially. Besides that, Kuśnierek (2015) revealed in a study that role-play is a helpful
rehearsal and what is more, it allows them to learn how to interact in a variety of circumstances,
instead of just acquiring the phrases. This shows the importance of integrating role play activity in a
speaking lesson as the students will be given opportunities to explore different roles so that they are
able to use the language in different types of situations. This is further proven in a study that stated
role play strategy supports the theory of Vygotsky in Brown (2008) as the development of language
performance occurs in sociocultural interaction in learning process (Arham, Yassi & Arafah, 2016).
Hence, the students will be given opportunities to develop their communicative competence by
speaking directly using the target language through social experiences which allows them to play
different roles in specific context of communication. Other than that, Arham, Yassi & Arafah (2016)
stated in a study that role play is approved to be a communicative language learning since students are
actively involved in the conversations. When the students are given opportunities to speak, they will
be an active learner who are more creative and enthusiastic in exploring the language on their own.
This is further supported in a study conducted by Kuśnierek (2015) that stated role play really

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provides students meaningful experiences where students do not only understand but also have to act
or behave as if they are in real work situations. This indicates the importance of conducting role play
activity in enhancing the students’ speaking skill so that students are able to adapt themselves in the
society by communicating with others using the target language based on their knowledge and real
experiences encountered.

It is hoped that this research could help the students in enhancing their speaking skills through the
implementation of Task Based Activity which focuses on communicative approach that could assist
the students in improving their confidence to communicate in the English language. The overall
purpose of this study is to investigate the students’ perceptions towards the use of role play technique
in a speaking class.

3.0 Research Questions

(i) How does attitude and motivation influence students’ perceptions on the use of role play
technique
in a speaking class?

(ii) What are the students’ perceptions on the use of role play technique in a speaking class
due to the gender differences between them?

(iii) What are the students’ perceptions on the use of role play technique in a speaking class due to the
age differences between them?

4.0 Methodologies

This chapter discusses the method of the study and divides it into seven parts, namely methods,
research participants, setting, research instruments, data collection method, data analysis method and
research procedure.

4.1 Method

The method of this study was a quantitative study. According to Apuke (2017), a quantitative research
method deals with quantifying and analysis variables in order to get results. (Leedy & Ormrod 2001;
Williams, 2011) as cited in Apuke (2017) stated that “Quantitative research involves the collection of
data so that information can be quantified and subjected to statistical treatment in order to support or
refute alternative knowledge claims”. To be exact, this research was a survey research. Based on a
study, Kerlinger (1973) as cited in Mathiyazhagan & Nandan (2010), survey research is considered as
a social scientific research that focuses on people, the vital facts of people, and their beliefs, opinions,
attitudes, motivations and behaviour. The advantage of using this research is that the data can be
collected within a short period of time. Hence, this research focuses on using questionnaire to gather

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the students’ perceptions in terms of attitude and motivation on the use of role play technique in a
speaking class.

4.2 Research Participants

The research participants of the study were the primary school students from SJK(C) Lok Khoon. The
researcher selected 30 students from Year 3 to Year 6 as the research participants. In this research, the
researcher focused on purposive sampling because the focus of this research was to gather the
students’ perceptions from different ages and genders about the use of role play technique in a
speaking class. According to Etikan & Bala (2017), the purposive sampling design is based on the
judgement of the researcher as to who will provide the best information to succeed for the objectives
of the study. Hence, students from different ages were chosen so that the researcher could process the
data more accurately by gathering the information from different groups of students. Moreover, the
students were often exposed to the role play activity in the classroom since the researcher taught all of
the classes. Hence, the students were chosen since they were able to provide the researcher with the
information regarding their perceptions about the implementation of the role play activity in a
speaking class.

4.3 Setting

This research was conducted in the first month in the year of 2020. It was conducted in SJK(C) Lok
Khoon, a suburban school in Terengganu. The setting of this study was 4 classes from Year 3 to Year
6. Each class consists of different number of students, range from 4 to 11.

4.4 Research Instrument

In this research, the researcher used questionnaire as the research instrument.

4.4.1 Questionnaire

According to Roopa & Rani (2017), a questionnaire enables quantitative data to be collected in a
standardized way so that the data are internally consistent and coherent for analysis. In this study, the
questionnaires were distributed in order to obtain the students’ perceptions after experiencing the role
play activity. The type of questionnaire used in this research was close-ended questions. According to
Roopa & Rani (2017), respondents’ answers are limited to a fixed set of responses and most scales are
closed ended in close-ended questions. Hence, Likert-Scale has been employed in this research to
measure the students’ perceptions towards the implementation of role play activity in a speaking class.

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The close-ended questions were chosen since the participants are primary school students. Therefore,
it was easier for the students to fill in the questionnaires since they had to tick in the provided space
according to their opinions based on the options given. The researcher compiled a list of questions
based on some theories of role play which focuses on examining the students’ attitude and motivation
to learn through role play in a speaking class.

The questionnaire used for this study consisted of 12 closed typed questions. The questionnaire was
divided into three parts. The first part consisted of the students’ information, the second part consisted
of the statements list and the third part consisted of the students’ perceptions towards role play
activity. According to Roopa & Rani (2017), Likert scale is a psychometric scale commonly involved
in research that employs questionnaires to measure social attitudes. Hence, the students’ perceptions
towards the implementation of role play was accessed by using Likert scale. A set of statements were
presented to the participants and they were required to give responses by indicating whether they
‘strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree and strongly disagree’.

The data was collected by distributing the questionnaires to the students. The researcher distributed
the questionnaires. Then, the researcher collected and analysed the data based on the students’
perceptions on the use of role play technique in a speaking class.

4.5 Research Procedures

The researcher distributed the questionnaire to the respondents. It consisted of 12 statements to

answer the research questions. The respondents were asked to tick the related column for each
statement based on their experiences. The researcher distributed the questionnaire to the respondents
on 13th of January 2020. Then, the researcher collected and analysed the results of the questionnaires.
Lastly, the researcher obtained the data that can used to answer the research questions based on the
students’ perceptions on the use of role play technique in a speaking class.

4.6 Data Analysis Technique

The data from the questionnaires was generated and displayed in tables. There were 5 indicators of
response to the statements in the questionnaire; 1 was for strongly agree (SA), 2 was for agree (A), 3
was for Neutral (N), 4 was for Disagree (DA) and 5 was for strongly disagree (SD). After classifying
the answers, the researcher counted the percentage of each response. Then, the researcher counted the
average results for each response. The major response for each response would be determined by the
average score. The researcher used numbers and words to tabulate and describe the data. The data was
presented clearer through the presentation of numbers. The data was analysed by using the Likert
Scale as the statements given in the questionnaire were to collect the students’ perceptions on the use
of role play technique in a speaking class.

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For the descriptive analysis, the researcher recorded all the data in a table. Then, the researcher
analysed and discussed the data in the table by referring to the frequencies. Next, descriptive analysis
was used to describe and summarise the data through the measurement of central tendency. In order to
find out the tendency of the respondents towards each statement, central tendency was used in this
survey research. Descriptive analysis was used to calculate the scores of the questionnaire. The data
was analysed by using the descriptive statistics that focused on the mean, standard deviation,
maximum and minimum point for each statement. The data was also analysed by referring to the
frequency score and percentage of each statement as tabulated in the frequency table.

According to Joshi, Kale, Chandel and Pal (2015), Likert scale is considered as ordinal scale as the
first school of researchers and statisticians argue that choices or responses are arranged in some
ranking order. For the inferential analysis, non-parametric tests such as Mann-Whitney and Kruskal
Wallis test were used in this study as Likert scale focused on examining the ordinal data. The
researcher used Mann-Whitney test to investigate the students’ perceptions on the use of role play
technique in a speaking class due to gender differences. The data was analysed by referring to the
mean value of both genders and the significant value as tabulated in the table. The researcher also
used Kruskal-Wallis test to investigate the students’ perceptions on the use of role play technique in a
speaking class due to age differences. The data was analysed by referring to the mean values of
different ages and the significant value as tabulated in the table.

5.0 Data Analysis

5.1 Descriptive Statistics

(i) How does attitude and motivation influence students’ perceptions on the use of role play
technique
in a speaking class?

5.1.1 Descriptive Statisitics Table

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Based on the descriptive statistics, the minimum and maximum score for all the statements were the
same as there was statistically not much difference between the mean and standard deviation for all
the statements. However, it can be observed that statement 11 had the highest mean score of 3.8667.
This indicated that most of the student agreed that ‘they could get a better progress in learning by
having role play’. Meanwhile, statement 2 had the lowest mean score of 3.1000. Hence, it can be
observed that most of the students disagreed and being neutral towards the statement whereby ‘they
did not feel more motivated to speak by using role play’. Statement 3 and 4 had the same mean score
of 3.5333. Statement 1 had lower mean score as compared to other statements but it had the highest
standard deviation score. Thus, it can be observed that the values of the data were spread out over a
wide range. Statement 4 had the lowest standard deviation score. Therefore, the values were close to
the mean. As for gender, it had the same score of 1.50 for both the minimum and maximum point. For
the age, it had higher maximum score of 4.00 as compared to the minimum score of 1.00. In
conclusion, the reading of the mean and standard deviation score for all the statements were close to
each other. This indicated that there was not much statistically difference between all the statements
regarding the students’ perceptions in terms of attitude and motivation on the use of role play
technique in a speaking class.

5.1.2 Frequency Table

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Based on the frequency table, statement 3,7 and 11 had the highest frequency score of 12 with the
average percentage of 40.0 for the ‘strongly agree’ scale. It can be observed that most of the students
agreed that ‘role play is an easy method to speak with others, role play helps to increase vocabulary

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and they can get a better progress in learning by having role play’. Meanwhile, statement 4 and 5 had
lower frequency score of 2 with the average percentage of 6.7 for the ‘strongly disagree’ scale. It can
be observed that most of the students also agreed and being neutral to the statements that ‘role play
helps to overcome nervousness and role play helps to increase fluency’. Statement 5 and 6 had the
same frequency score of 10 with the average percentage of 33.3 for the ‘neutral’ scale. It can be
observed that one third of the students did not really agree or disagree that ‘role play helps to increase
fluency and express emotions freely’. Statement 8 had the highest frequency score of 13 with the
average percentage of 43.4 for the ‘agree’ scale. It can be observed that most of the students agreed
that ‘they enjoy speaking in English very much’.

5.2 Inferential Statistics

A Mann-Whitney U test indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the
students’ perceptions on the use of role play technique in a speaking class between different gender,
U(Nmale= 17, Nfemale=13)=87.500,z=-.965, p=.341 with a mean of 14.15 for male and 17.27 for
female.

P=0.334>0.05

⸫ Failed to reject Ho, there was no significantly difference in different gender.

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A Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the
students’ perceptions on the use of role play technique in a speaking class between different age
groups, H(3)=6.712, p= 0.082, with a mean rank of 15.00 for age 9, 20.59 for age 10, 11.31 for age 11
and 10.75 for age 12.

P=0.082>0.05

⸫ Failed to reject Ho, there was no significantly difference in different age.

6.0 Conclusion

Based on the results, it can be concluded that age and gender difference did not affect the students’
perceptions on the role play technique in a speaking class as the maximum and minimum point for
each statement were the same. It can also be observed that there was not much difference in terms of
the mean, standard deviation and percentage for all the statements. Based on the data, it can be seen
that there was no significant difference between the variables. It meant that the null research
hypothesis (Ho) for the research was failed to be rejected.

7.0 Discussion

As seen on the results of the questionnaires, it can be concluded that the data for each statement was
distributed equally as there was not much difference in terms of the mean, standard deviation and
percentage score. Hence, it can be observed that most of the students had equal opinions between the
options given. Therefore, the results showed that there was not much difference between the
statements in the questionnaires. This indicated that the students did not really agree or disagree that
role play plays an important role in motivating them to learn in a speaking class. However, most of
the students agreed with statement 3,7 and 11 that ‘role play is an easy method to speak with others, it
helps to increase vocabulary and helps them to get a better progress in learning’. Most of them also

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agreed with statement 8 that ‘they enjoy speaking in English very much through role play activity’.
This proved that majority of the students agreed that role play had a positive side in facilitating their
learning process as they had a positive attitude towards it. It can be concluded that they still believed
there were some aspects in the role play technique that could actually help them in learning better in a
speaking class. Besides that, most of the students also had neutral opinions for statement 5 and 6. This
proved that they did not really agree or disagree that ‘role play helps to increase fluency and express
their emotions freely’. The role play activity did not really convince them in terms of the benefits of
using role play in a speaking class.

Overall, the data on students’ perceptions towards the use of role play in a speaking class were
distributed equally as the mean, standard deviation and percentage point for each statement were close
to each other. It was proven by the data analysis whereby there was no relationship between the
variables since the significant value is larger than the α value, 0.05 for both tests.

Based on the conclusions stated above, the researcher makes the following suggestions:

First, the researcher can conduct the research in a larger quantity by having more participants so that
the data obtained is more accurate since this is a quantitative research. Besides that, the researcher can
conduct the research in different locations such as urban, suburban and rural area so that the students’
perceptions on the use of role play technique in a speaking class can be obtained in a wider point of
views by collecting the data from different geographical places. Next, due to the limited time, this
research is far from perfect. Therefore, it is better to have more statements that are related to the role
play technique so that the students’ perceptions can be collected in wider perspectives to ensure the
reliability and validity of the data obtained. Lastly, another similar research can be conducted within
the same topic to investigate the effectiveness of role play technique in enhancing the students’
speaking skill by focusing on the students’ pronunciation, fluency and accuracy in speaking skills
during the role play activity. This helps us to understand more on the effectiveness of the role play
technique in enhancing the primary school students’ speaking skill.

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References

Apuke, O. (2017). Quantitative Research Methods: A Synopsis Approach. Arabian Journal of

Business and Management Review, 6(10), 40-45. doi:10.12816/0040336

Arham, R., Yassi, A.H., & Arafah , B. (2016). The Use of Role Play to Improve Teaching Speaking.
International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 6(3), 239-241. Retrieved from
http://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-0316/ijsrp-p5141.pdf

Etikan, I., & Bala, K. (2017). Sampling and Sampling Methods. Biometrics & Biostatistics
International Journal, 5(6), 215-216. doi: 10.15406/bbij.2017.05.00149

Joshi, A., Kale, S., Chandel, S., & Pal, D.K. (2015). Likert Scale: Explored and Explained. British
Journal of Applied Science & Technology, 7(4), 397-401. doi: 10.9734/BJAST/2015/14975

Kuśnierek, A. (2015). Developing Students’ Speaking Skills through Role-Play. World Scientific
News . Retrieved from http://www.worldscientificnews.com/wp
content/uploads/2012/11/WSN-1-2015-73-1112.pdf

Mathiyazhagan, T., & Nandan, D. (2010, July). Survey Research Method. Retrieved from
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.464.5585&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Nurul Ajleaa binti Abdul Rahman, & Nooreiny Maarof. (2018). The Effect of Role-Play and
Simulation Approach on Enhancing ESL Oral Communication Skills. International Journal of
Research in English Education, 3(3), 64-69.doi:10.29252/ijree.3.3.63

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Parupalli, S. (2019). The Importance of Speaking Skills in English Classrooms. Alford Council of
International English & Literature Journal, 2(2), 6-15. Retrieved from www.acielj.com

Roopa, S., & Rani, MS. (2012). Questionnaire Designing for a Survey. The Journal of Indian
Orthodontic Society, 46(4), 273-276. doi: 10.5005/jp-journals-10021-1104

Samsibar, & Wahyuddin Naro. (2018). The Effectiveness of Role Play Method towards Students’
Motivation in English Conversation. English, Teaching, Learning and Research Journal,
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Sayin , B. (November, 2015). Considerations on Speaking Skills: Essence of Learning and Teaching
Speaking. David Publishing. doi: 10.17265/1539-8072/2015.11.004

Siti Sukainah Che Mat, & Melor Md. Yunus. (2014). Attitudes and Motivation towards Learning
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Appendix

Survey Questionnaire

Fill up this section.

Name: Age: Gender:

Please respond to the statements by ticking the appropriate boxes.

(SA = strongly agree, A = agree, N = neutral, DA = disagree, and SD = strongly
disagree).

Question SA A N DA SD

1. Role play is interesting.

2. I am more motivated to speak by using role

play.

3. It is an easy method to speak with others.

4. It helps to overcome nervousness.

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 5. It helps to increase fluency.

6. I can express my emotions freely.

7. It helps to increase vocabulary.

8. I enjoy speaking in English very much.

9. I feel confident in the play.

10. Role play develops my creativity.

11. I can get a better progress in learning by

having role play.

12. I get more experience through role play.

Appendix

Descriptive Statistics

(i) How does attitude and motivation influence students’ perceptions on the use of role play
technique
in a speaking class?

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 I
Inferential Statistics

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