Quick Guide
- Keywords: Forum theatre, communicative competence
- Learner English level: Pre-intermediate and above
- Learner maturity: Junior high school to university
- Activity time: 50 minutes or longer
- Materials: Whiteboard/blackboard, written prompts
This role-play and discussion activity adapts Augusto Boal’s ‘forum theatre’ model (1974/2008, p. 117) to focus on developing language learners’ communicative competence. While Boal’s forum deals with scenarios of social oppression, this adaptation focuses on issues of ineffective communication. Students think up various examples of poor communication skills and devise short performances that depict those traits. Students act as spectators for other groups’ performances, analyse the scenarios and consider more effective communicative strategies. Finally, participants are encouraged to ‘step into’ the scenario to improve the outcome. Teachers facilitate the process throughout.
Preparation
Step 1: Prepare instructions on paper slips that you can use with hesitant groups. These slips will act as prompts to get groups thinking about the role-plays they will devise later. The prompts each include an example of uncommunicative behaviour (see Appendix).
Procedure
Step 1: Explain that you are going to analyse some examples of poor communication today.
Step 2: Model an example of ineffective communication between people. Ask a strong student about their journey to class. As they are answering, constantly check the time, or yawn, etc.
Step 3: Elicit examples of ineffective communication skills they noticed from students.
Step 4: Discuss as a class how the scenario could be improved. For example, you could apologise for checking the time by explaining that you are expecting important visitors.
Step 5: Tell students to brainstorm in groups more examples of ineffective communication, and then elicit ideas from the class.
Step 6: Organise the students into groups and give them 15 minutes to devise role-plays. Tell them that their role-plays must show at least one example of bad communication skills. At this stage, you can give hesitant groups the prepared prompts for extra support.
Step 7: Get one of the groups to perform their role-play to the class.
Step 8: Give quick feedback to the class, eliciting examples of bad communicative ability evident in the role-play.
Step 9: Get students to discuss in groups ways to improve such uncommunicative behaviour.
Step 10: Get the original group to perform their role-play again. This time, spectators can say ‘STOP!’ when they see aspects of bad communication.
Step 11: When someone says ‘STOP!’ invite them to come into the role-play as one of the characters (swapping with the original ‘player’) and try to improve that situation. As spectators become participants, encourage them to show rather than explain their suggested communication improvement.
Step 12: Repeat this process with other groups.
Step 13: When all the scenarios have been explored, get groups to discuss ways to be great communicators.
Step 14: Conclude with a class feedback session and draw up some bullet points that act as simple instructions for being more communicative.
Conclusion
The forum format is very flexible. Even if spectators hesitate to enter a role-play, the scenarios create useful discussion points. Teachers can use their own judgement on how much support their students need. For example, you could explain a communication breakdown at the start of a lesson rather than using a volunteer student. As mentioned earlier, in some contexts providing prompts for student role-plays may be necessary. However, your students may not need such prompts. There are many topics that the forum could investigate. It could be described as a peer education approach.
References
Boal, A., & Leal McBride, C. A. (2008). Theatre of the oppressed (C. A. Leal McBride, Trans.). Pluto Press. (Original work published 1974)
Appendix
These are the prompts that could be given to hesitant classes or groups when they start to prepare their role-plays. Each group would have only one prompt.
- Prepare a role-play where someone is not really listening. Try to also include other examples of bad communication.
- Prepare a role-play where people keep interrupting. Try to also include other examples of bad communication.
- Prepare a role-play where someone is too formal. Try to also include other examples of bad communication.
- Prepare a role-play where someone is too informal. Try to also include other examples of bad communication.
- Prepare a role-play where someone does not react appropriately to good news / bad news. Try to also include other examples of bad communication.
- Prepare a role-play where someone is so polite that they can’t say what they really think. Try to also include other examples of bad communication.
- Prepare a role-play where someone sounds like a robot (no intonation). Try to also include other examples of bad communication.
- Prepare a role-play where someone keeps finishing off someone else’s remarks/comments. Try to also include other examples of bad communication.