Feature Articles

Using Role-Play to FosterTransformational and Social

Action Multiculturalism in theESL Classroom

TATIANA GORDONHofstra University

This article discusses the use of role-play as an effective strategyfor enhancing the quality of multicultural curricula in theEnglish as a second language (ESL) classroom. The authorcritiques the use of the simplistic additive approach to multi-cultural instruction and furthers the work of those theoristswho advocate the use of the more substantive paradigms:namely, transformational, social action, and reconstructionistmulticultural curricula (Banks, 1991, 2006; Epstein, 2010; Pinet,2006; Sleeter & Grant, 2003). The article discusses evidence,obtained through action research, that contextualizing languageteaching through role-play enables teachers to render ESL mul-ticultural instructional objectives more significant and classroomactivities more meaningful and engaging. It provides an over-view of oral and literacy activities as well as literacy scaffoldsand assessment tools developed in conjunction with multicul-tural role-play units. Included with the text are some instruc-tional materials used in two elementary and secondary levelunits: Exploring Aztec Roots of Mexican Culture and Amendingthe U.S. Constitution.doi: 10.1002/tesj.32

The importance of validating students’ home cultures is abedrock of teaching English to speakers of other languages(TESOL) theory and practice. However, the development andimplementation of multicultural curricula has not been withoutproblems. Multicultural education researchers have pointed outthat current multicultural curricula tend to be watered down and

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insufficiently substantive. In many instances, curricula have theadditive quality (e.g., Banks, 2006). Additive curricula will includeone or two lessons that focus on an ethnic holiday or theaccomplishments of outstanding individuals from a certaincultural background, but will fail to engage students in a moreconsistent, in-depth exploration of diversity. As token, superficialtributes to multiculturalism, additive curricula fail to focus onsignificant concepts or big ideas. Moreover, lessons withinadditive multicultural curricula often reinforce commercialcultural stereotypes. For example, in such a version of the additivecurriculum, Mexico’s rich and complex culture will be reduced toa pinata, or China’s ancient cultural heritage will be narrowlyrepresented by the Chinese New Year.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ACTIONRESEARCHMulticultural curriculum theorists explore approaches that wouldenable teachers to break out of the confines of additive curricula(e.g., Banks, 1991, 2003, 2006; Sleeter & Grant, 2003). A number ofinnovative curriculum development models have been advocated.

For instance, the approach known as the transformationalmulticultural curriculum is meant (as its name suggests) totransform participants in the educational process. This approachenables students “to view concepts, issues, themes, and problemsfrom several ethnic perspectives and points of view” (Banks, 2003,p. 19). Banks (2003) emphasizes that the primary objective of thetransformational approach is not the addition of heroines and theircontributions, but rather the “infusion of various perspectives,frames, and references, and content from different groups thatwill extend students’ understanding of the nature, development,and complexity of the United States and the world” (p. 19).Transformational multicultural curricula are thus meant toovercome a narrow ethnocentric worldview by enabling studentsto appreciate and adopt new cultural perspectives.

The range of topics addressed in the transformationalmulticultural framework is vast. For instance, students may findout how ideas of social justice have been tackled by Latin

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American artists or explore the theme of the individual’s place inthe universe central to the Chinese artistic tradition. Students mayalso learn that a particular historical event or social practice maybe seen in profoundly different ways by different cultures. Forinstance, a topic that merits examination in the transformationalmulticultural curriculum framework is the exploration of theNorth American continent by Christopher Columbus. Traditionallytouted in North America as an important achievement ofEuropean civilization, Columbus’s exploit is seen in South andCentral America as just one controversial, albeit crucial, link in acomplex chain of events that brought about the fusion of divergentcultural strains and the emergence of new cultures in the Americas(e.g., Eakin, 2007; Stannard, 1992).

The social action curriculum, another multicultural curricularinnovation, makes a case for instructional activities that empowerlearners by enabling them to develop the skills essential forassuming active roles in a democratic society (Banks, 1991;Epstein, 2010; Pinet, 2006). The social action approach aims at adeep-level restructuring of the multicultural curriculum. It impartsa dimension to instruction whereby students “make decisionsand take actions on the concept, issue, or problem they havestudied” (Banks, 2003, p. 20). The social action approach providesstudents with opportunities to explore ways of promoting thewelfare of their communities, gaining social mobility within theexisting societal structure, and becoming active agents of socialchange.

Depending on the age and proficiency levels of Englishlanguage learners (ELLs), social action curricula might focus onthe following topics: the role of citizens in the governance andlegislature of a democratic society, local community organizations,issues that affect local and global communities, and individuals’responsibilities in resolving these issues. Some sample socialaction multicultural activities cited by theorists include making acommitment to challenging racial and ethnic stereotypes, asking aprincipal to order sets of photographs that represent people ofcolor who have jobs in different careers, or compiling an annotatedlist of books about various ethnic groups (Banks, 2003).

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The transformational and social action approaches parallel themulticultural reconstructionist paradigm advocated by Sleeter andGrant (2003). This approach is also concerned with replacing thetraditional curriculum model with one that helps students becomeactive agents of societal change. Advocates of the multiculturalreconstructionist approach are concerned about the fact that, in thetraditional curriculum framework, students are taught some basicfacts about democracy, but not about practicing democracythrough social action. An alternative approach, whereby studentsexplore ways of making democratic ideas work for themselves, isproposed. Intended primarily for students from disadvantagedand disempowered groups, the multicultural reconstructionistapproach places emphasis on analyzing the circumstances ofstudents’ lives, developing social action skills, and using theseskills to challenge the problems that affect students and theircommunities. Sleeter and Grant provide some examples ofreconstructionist activities. For instance, they mention that youngstudents can “lobby to get home and school rules changed to meettheir interest and needs” (p. 212).

The arguments about the need for deep restructuring ofmulticultural curricula are compelling, but their implementationin the English as a second language (ESL) classroom can be quitechallenging. The main difficulty, quite obviously, has to do withrendering sophisticated target-language vocabulary accessible tolanguage learners (Met, 1991). Abstract concepts and respectivetarget-language items, such as exploitation, social justice, legislature,and nonviolent resistance (to name just a few examples), presentdifficulties for mainstream students, let alone for those whoseEnglish language proficiency is at an early stage of development.This issue is well documented. Research has provided ampleevidence that abstract, context-reduced academic language tendsto be particularly hard to teach (e.g., Cummins, 1979; Met, 1991).And yet, the need to make rich, substantive, and empoweringmulticultural curricula available to ELLs appears to be pressing.

In order to enhance the quality of multicultural curriculaavailable to ELLs, Hofstra University faculty and educationstudents adopted a model developed by the Hawaii-basedKamehameha Elementary Education Program (KEEP). KEEP is a

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research-based project initiated by a team of psychologists,linguists, and teachers with the purpose of promoting Hawaiianchildren’s language development (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988).

There are a number of reasons why the KEEP initiative hasspecial resonance with the action research project conducted atHofstra. First, KEEP has focused on enhancing instructionalexperiences of linguistic and cultural minority children. Second,the project has been concerned with infusing intellectual rigor inthe curricula and placing instruction at the furthest reaches ofstudents’ cognitive development. Last but not least, KEEPparticipants have placed special emphasis on promoting culturallycompatible curricula. These three features of KEEP also define theHofstra project.

A curriculum development strategy resorted to by the KEEPproject is project consultation. This term refers to a curriculumdevelopment mode whereby novice teachers and teachereducators form a team so that “the entire group operates in jointproductive activity for the purpose of solving a particularproblem” (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988, p. 127). Because it helpsovercome teachers’ social isolation, “the major barrier to change inthe teaching process,” project consultation has been reported byKEEP participants to be “the most powerful” means of enhancinginstruction (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988, pp. 127, 190).

Following KEEP’s lead, Hofstra’s teacher education program(Gordon, 2005) uses project consultation in its curriculuminnovation efforts. Hofstra student teachers, cooperating teachers,methodologists, and student teaching supervisors form projectteams that work collaboratively at every step of the curriculainnovation. Whether project participants set instructionalobjectives, develop activities, or put together assessmentinstruments, they are involved in a group effort.

Further, the Hofstra team draws on the KEEP project’s successwith the use of modeling, a proven means of imbuing instructionwith substance. Whether Tharp and Gallimore (1988) aredescribing activities in which ELLs learn about food preparation,space flights, or local governance, they report on the effectivenessof modeling as a means of developing complex verbal skills.

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Hofstra University TESOL teacher education students andfaculty chose to experiment with the use of role-play as a means ofmodeling language use. Role-plays, a tried-and-true technique inforeign and second language education, are game-likereenactments by students of various real-life roles and functions.Role-plays can also be dramatic reenactments of historic events orpieces of literature. This technique’s effectiveness in lowering theaffective filter, bolstering the communicative curriculum (Donahue& Parsons, 1982; Hayati, 2006; Heath, 1993; Magos & Politi, 2008;Scarcella, 1978), and developing learner literacy skills (Ernst-Slavit& Wenger, 1998; Whiteson, 1996) has been amply documented.

Hofstra TESOL teacher education students and faculty haveresearched the use of role-play as a tool for teaching context-reduced academic language. Prior action research projectsundertaken by the university’s TESOL Program demonstrated thatthis strategy can serve as a powerful means of facilitatingstudents’ comprehension of abstract target-language items andrendering ESL instruction cognitively stimulating (Gordon, 2007).

Another modeling technique used by the project participants isscaffolding. Scaffolds are instructional tools—such as bridging,advance organizers, or schema building—used to propelinstruction into the furthest reaches of learners’ zones of proximaldevelopment, or ZPDs (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988; Wertch, 1990).Recent research has provided ample evidence regarding theefficacy of scaffolding in the second language classroom (e.g.,Gordon, 2005; Walqui & van Lier, 2010). In particular, this projectdrew extensively on studies that have demonstrated theinstructional benefits of literacy scaffolds (Boyle & Peregoy, 1990;Carrier & Tatum, 2006).

Although the role-plays that Hofstra project participantsexperimented with include various types of scaffolds, specialemphasis is placed on literacy scaffolds, such as graphicorganizers, sentence stems, picture dictionaries, and word walls.These literacy scaffolds are meant to enhance students’ writtenoutput and render their writing more sustained, lexically rich, andstructurally target-like.

Project participants placed emphasis on developing ELLs’strategic competence; that is, their ability to overcome

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communication challenges stemming from limited secondlanguage proficiency (see, e.g., Oxford, 1990). The team wasespecially interested in creating a classroom environment whereself-reliant language users are capable of dealing with thedifficulties inherent in performing complex literacy activities.

A few words are in order about the theoretical underpinningsof the assessment component of the project, which was informedby research that makes a case for the authentic assessment ofELLs’ language development (e.g., DelliCarpini, 2009; Genesee &Hamayan, 1994; O’Malley & Valdez Pierce, 1996). These studiesprovide extensive evidence that the performance-based evaluationparadigm, with its use of context-embedded, hands-on, teacher-created, and varied assessment instruments, provides a fair,nuanced, and valid means of revealing whether ELLs havedeveloped mastery of target-language items.

An effective authentic assessment tool is re-presentation. Inre-presentation activities, ELLs assume the role of a fictional orreal-life character and summarize the material covered in classfrom the viewpoint of that character, while performing a reallife–like literacy activity (Gordon, 2007). For instance, in are-presentation activity, a “participant” of a historical event pens ajournal entry or a letter, a “journalist” writes a newspaper article,and a “lawmaker” puts together a court ruling or a deposition.

CONTEXT AND PARTICIPANTSHofstra University is located in the town of Hempstead, in NassauCounty, Long Island, east of New York City. Leading to the NewYork State Certification to teach ESOL, Hofstra’s TESOL Programis designed to prepare second language educators who will beworking with young and adolescent language learners. LongIsland is experiencing a striking shift in its demographics. Thissuburban area, which formerly had only a few immigrantenclaves, began to grow particularly diverse in the 1990s. Thistrend has continued. Today, two of the largest and fastest-growingof Long Island’s immigrant groups are Latinos and Asians. LongIsland residents have been acutely aware of the changes in thearea’s population profile; Newsday, a local newspaper, has beenrunning articles with headlines such as “Island’s Little El

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Salvador” (Jones, 2001) and “Surge in LI’s Asians” (Endo, 2001).More recently, over the 2007–2008 period, the ratio for both theLatino and Asian groups in Nassau County has grown by 1%,with the Asian community accounting for 7% and the Latinogroup making up 12% of the overall population (U.S. CensusBureau, 2008). In certain areas of Long Island, the growth ofimmigrant communities has been particularly significant. Forinstance, in the town of Central Islip, 44.3% of residents areHispanic (City Data Forum, 2010).

The rapid change in the demographics of the area has beenaccompanied by cultural rifts between language minorities andthe communities in which immigrant families live and wheretheir children go to school (Gordon, Zaleski, & Goodman, 2005).These disjunctures can be profound and have manifestedthemselves in nativist outbursts, such as a clash between localresidents and Mexican American immigrants in the town ofFarmingville (Smith, 2001). They can also be more covert, forinstance, revealing themselves in the segregation of LongIsland’s residential patterns (Fields & Hendons, 2001). It is thesedisjunctures that a rich and truly empowering ESL curriculum iscalled upon to address by challenging ethnocentrism andexpanding students’ worldviews.

Student teaching is a strategic coursework juncture, whereHofstra TESOL teacher education students are able to experimentwith curriculum development. Hofstra’s preservice ESL teachersare placed in a variety of Long Island school districts that havesignificant numbers of students from Central and South America.The percentage of Spanish-speaking students in some of LongIsland’s Union Free School Districts is as follows: Brentwood, 56%;Central Islip, 40%; Freeport, 41.4%; Uniondale, 23.5%; andWestbury, 39% (U.S. Department of Education, Institute ofEducation Services, 2009).

METHODSTypically, the project team starts by identifying a significant themeor concept that can enhance instruction by expanding ELLs’worldview (the transformational multicultural curriculumexperience) or by empowering ELLs to advocate for their interests

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in the broader democratic society (the social action orreconstructionist curriculum experience).

Next, project participants identify the unit’s conceptualobjectives and incorporate modeling strategies that could helpELLs develop a mastery of the respective target-language items.Experimentation with role-plays has been a significant componentof the action research project. All Hofstra TESOL teacher educationstudents are expected to develop at least one rigorous,developmentally stimulating role-play activity in the course oftheir studies.

At the final stage of the project, TESOL teacher educationstudents proceed to develop authentic formative and summativeassessment instruments. The formative assessment tools includefollow-up comprehension questions and teacher observation.Additionally, literacy activities are used for summative evaluation.Closely aligned with the instructional objectives of the units,accompanied by detailed directions, and scaffolded with picturedictionaries, these literacy activities serve as authentic and holisticsummative assessment instruments.

The multicultural unit is deemed successful if students revealcomprehension of the target content–compatible vocabulary byusing it in their oral and written output. Special attention is givento students’ ability to use target-language items in propercollocations (i.e., word combinations) and in broader contexts.

Action research is a team effort, with student teacherspreparing the preliminary draft of the activities, after which theteam reflects on the activities’ effectiveness and explores possibleways of rendering instruction more rigorous and substantive. Ina follow-up assessment of TESOL teacher education studentperformance, faculty and students discuss how multiculturalactivities can be further revised to incorporate social action andtransformational perspectives.

THE PROJECTHofstra teacher education students developed a number of socialstudies instructional units that followed the social action andtransformational approaches while also incorporating role-play(Gordon, 2007). For instance, in a primary-level unit focused on

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the U.S. system of taxation, students impersonate individuals whohold different jobs, earn salaries, and have taxes collected by ataxation agent. Students examine the uses of taxes (e.g., to buildschools, to pay community helpers’ salaries) and participate in adebate as to whether high or low taxes are preferable. In anotherprimary-level unit, students travel back in time to explore thegreat scientific discoveries (e.g., the development of paper and theinvention of the compass in ancient China). Students use ancientChinese methods to make their own paper and create their owncompasses; they then discuss the advantages provided by theavailability of these materials and tools. In yet another upper-elementary-level historical role-play, students reenact theU.S. immigration experience from the turn of the 20th century,including the transatlantic journey, Ellis Island interview,and medical exam. This particular instructional unit wasenthusiastically reviewed in a Long Island newspaper (Falco,2004). Another upper-elementary-level role-play examines colonialIndia’s fight for independence; in this unit, students learn aboutGandhi’s role in developing the principles of nonviolent resistance.Students reenact the “salt march,” a peaceful act of civildisobedience involving thousands of India’s citizens, who, guidedby Gandhi, walked to the Indian Ocean and dipped their hands inits salty waters. This symbolic gesture was used to protest theprohibitive tax on salt imposed by the colonial administration.

Each unit includes a capstone literacy re-presentationassignment, an activity in which students describe theirexperiences from their own viewpoint or that of an imaginarycharacter. For instance, in the taxation unit, students write lettersto lawmakers expressing their opinions about the optimal taxpolicy; after their trip to the past, students write directions formaking paper and a compass; turn-of-the-century “immigrants”write letters home to their imaginary families in Europe,describing their arrival in the New World. Building a monumentto Gandhi, students describe his contributions on the monument’spedestal.

Props and costumes impart greater vividness to role-plays. Thetax-collecting agent is dressed up as Uncle Sam; Ellis Islandimmigrants wear shawls and carry valises and suitcases. Literacy

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units also include the use of props. “Immigrants” pen their lettershome with “quills” (pencils capped with feathers) on tea-stainedantique-looking paper. Publishing materials include mocknewspapers, postcards, student-created stationery, and otherlifelike materials. ELLs’ written pieces are published in creativeand evocative ways. Photographs of students wearing periodcostumes and stylized stationery are used to render re-presentation activities more meaningful and engaging.

Sample Multicultural Instructional UnitsTo give the reader a better sense of multicultural instructionalunits, two are now described in more detail.

Exploring Aztec roots of Mexican culture. Thistransformational multicultural unit focuses on Aztec culture. Theunit is meant to give students an opportunity to study a trulydistinctive culture without a parallel on the North Americancontinent or perhaps even in the world. Discussing Mexico’sNative American ethnic lineage, Enrique Krauze (1998), aninfluential modern Mexican historian, points out that the “processof mestizaje (‘racial mixing’) is absolutely central to the history ofMexico. No other country in the Americas experienced soinclusive a process. . . . It permeated every area of life and becamethe framework and substance of a society” (p. xiv). Ethnographersand cultural historians (e.g., Bethell, 1998) also point to theprimacy of the Aztec culture in Mexico and describe the countryas its custodian and beneficiary. The unit deals with this culturalnarrative.

In the course of the unit, students not only explore the notionthat ancient-time artifacts can survive until the present day, theyalso discuss the fact that Aztecs still live in some areas of Mexicoand that many modern residents of the country are descendants ofthe Aztecs. Although all students are encouraged to celebrate andhonor the richness of a Native American culture, MexicanAmerican ELLs are expected to take special pride in their land’sdistinctive cultural heritage.

The unit consists of a chain of mini role-plays thatcontextualize the use of target-language items such as pyramid,artifact, and archeological dig. In the course of the unit, students

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apply for passports and “purchase” tickets to go on an imaginarytrip to Mexico, they climb “pyramids” (school staircases double asancient Aztec structures), they participate in an “archeologicaldig” by rummaging through shoeboxes filled with shredded paperand discovering teacher-created Aztec artifacts, and theyhypothesize about the significance of the archeological finds andadmire their aesthetic qualities. Furthermore, ELLs review newvocabulary items by using picture dictionaries and writingpostcards home in which they describe their adventures in Mexico(see Figures 1–5).

This activity has been implemented a number of times—mostrecently by student teacher Alison Hinkaty during her 2010student teaching assignment in Brentwood South East SideElementary School. Third-grade ELLs in Alison’s classroomdiscussed how their Mexican American peers in the ESL class maybe “great-great-great grandchildren” of the legendary Aztecs whobuilt the wonderful pyramids. Students could not wait for their“trip to Mexico.” When the “plane” (i.e., classroom chairsarranged in the formation of an aircraft) landed, the “passengers”excitedly clapped their hands. Once at the archeological site,“archeologists” rushed to the top of the “pyramids” and excitedlywent about their search. In their letters, students wrote about the

Figure 1. Passport

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Figure 2. Ticket

Figure 3. Aztec artifacts

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hot weather in Mexico, about missing their families in Brentwood,and—most important—about their archeological finds.

Amending the U.S. Constitution. Focusing on the process ofamending the U.S. Constitution, this secondary-level social actioninstructional unit is meant to foster a social action multiculturalperspective. In the course of the unit, students participate in anactivity in which they change the rules of their school and alsoexplore the notion that the U.S. Constitution is not set in stone, butcan be revised to reflect the needs and interests of variouscommunities.

This unit facilitates mastery of abstract concepts and relevanttarget-language items such as Senate, Constitution, bill, amendment,

Figure 4. Mexico picture dictionary

Figure 5. Postcard from Mexico

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and vote. The opening lessons in the unit are meant to helpstudents connect the legislative process to their own lives.Impersonating rule makers or senators, students propose a billthat would entail a change in their school rules (e.g., We want tobe allowed to play outside for 10 extra minutes tomorrow, We want touse cell phones on campus). Students debate and vote on theproposed rule and write a letter to the principal describing theirbill. Once the bill has been signed into law, students enjoy thenew right (which may be granted for only 1 day) and report onthe senate deliberations and the passing of the bill in theClassroom News newspaper. In the next activity, students learnabout lawmaking on the national stage. In this activity, usingpicture dictionaries as an aid, students participate in a mock U.S.Senate session to pass an amendment to the Constitution. In thefinal activity, students write newspaper articles about theamendment (see Figures 6–10).

This activity has most recently been implemented by studentteacher Ana Rosa during her fall 2010 student teaching assignmentin Freeport High School.

RESULTSEvaluation of multicultural units has demonstrated that role-playis a powerful language development tool that yields instructionalgains on multiple levels. For instance, formative assessmentinstruments, such as observations, suggest that as a result of role-play participation, young ELLs hone their strategic competenceand are able to cope independently with the challenges inherent inperforming complex literacy tasks. Arguably, because studentsunderstand the meaning of real life–like activities, they quicklybegin to refer to picture dictionaries and other literacy scaffoldswhen penning their written pieces. The use of questioning for thepurpose of formative assessment further suggests that youngrole-play participants develop in-depth comprehension of target-language concepts and are able to make connections between theirprior knowledge and the newly acquired target-language items,integrating these into a coherent analytical framework. Thus, whenMs. Hinkaty asked students who had “found” an Aztec musicalinstrument what they thought it was for, one of the students

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mused, “Aztecs used this instrument when they made thepyramids and celebrated.” Students’ comments also revealed theirunderstanding that modern residents of Mexico are directdescendants of the indigenous Native American people. “Maybeher great-great-grandmother lost this necklace, right?” offered astudent.

Re-presentation capstone activities have further demonstratedthe mastery of target-language vocabulary by role-playparticipants. In the following letter, for instance, four new words(i.e., pyramids, Aztecs, archeological dig, instrument) occur within theshort stretch of just one paragraph:

Dear Mom,You won’t believe this. I went to Mexico. I went to see the pyra-mids. There were 200 steps. They were made from [sic] Aztecs. I

Figure 6. Letter to the principal

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went to the archeological dig. I found a Musical instrument.The weather is hot here. I hope you got this letter.

Role-plays are celebratory, fun-filled activities, and theiraffective benefits have been in evidence. Questions such as “Miss,are we going to go to the Aztec pyramids again?” speak forthemselves. Mexican American students’ poise and beaming facessuggested that these youngsters derived satisfaction from knowingthat their cultural heritage inspired an exciting activity.

Mastery of target-language vocabulary was also in evidence inthe secondary-level unit. Upon having “lived” a simulatedlegislative process, students in Ms. Rosa’s class displayed amastery of the target-language items, such as bill, law, and Senate.Having assumed, if only for the duration of a few classes, thepositions of senatorial authority, students were cognitively,linguistically, and emotionally empowered to discuss politicalissues that had personal resonance for them. For instance, students

Figure 7. The Classroom News newspaper

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said, “I don’t like the Arizona law. It is not fair” and “I hopesenate will pass the Dream Act,” referring to two recent pieces oflegislation: the Arizona immigration law aimed at identifyingundocumented immigrants and the Dream Act, meant to enablecollege-age children who were brought to the U.S. illegally whileminors and who meet certain educational and legal parameters toapply for temporary legal status, which could eventually lead topermanent legal status and eventual U.S. citizenship.

Summative assessment instruments have further revealed theattainment of the unit’s instructional objectives by ELLs. ESL“senators” came up with ingenious bills. They proposed, forinstance, that immigrants should be able to run for the office ofU.S. president.

When reflecting on the experience of developing andimplementing multicultural instructional units, preserviceteachers pointed out that they viewed role-play as an

Figure 8. Constitutional amendment scaffold

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exceptionally effective way of contextualizing challenging target-language items. Preservice teachers who work with elementary-level students have been impressed by young learners’engagement level and willingness to stay on task whenperforming literacy activities. Ana Rosa and other preserviceteachers who work in the secondary-level classroom havespoken about the crucial importance of rendering ESL lessonsintellectually rich and substantive. As Ms. Rosa put it, “They donot act out, when they are engaged and proud of their work.”Preservice teachers learned firsthand that when the ESLcurriculum is infused with substance, rather than beingsuperficial and meaningless, problems commonly associated withhaving resistant learners in the classroom are easily resolved.

CONCLUSIONIt is hardly surprising that role-plays are effective in teachingabstract target-language items associated with transformational,

Figure 9. The Washington Post article

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social action, and reconstructionist curricula. Because theseactivities provide visible and palpable (rather than verbal)definitions, they resolve the problem inherent in teaching context-reduced language. Often, where a lengthy, belabored explanationwould have still failed to clarify word meaning, a dramatic skitcaptures it instantly. Role-plays can be thus described as virtualdefinitions that evolve in real time, enabling ELLs to explorephenomena and events that are removed from their day-to-dayexperiences.

Re-presentation literacy activities are equally effective. Flowingout of role-plays and being literacy role-plays themselves, thesemeaningful, authentic literacy tasks engage learners, excite themabout writing, and create opportunities for ELLs to producesustained written output.

Figure 10. U.S. Senate picture dictionary

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The use of props and costumes further contextualizes languageuse. Relevant materials can elucidate the meaning of difficultconcepts such as ballot and bulletin, bill and law, and render theimplementation of the transformational and social actionapproaches feasible in the ESL classroom. Whereas the projectsdiscussed here have demonstrated the effectiveness of role-plays,they have also raised some questions. The pervasive concern hasbeen about the ways of infusing instructional units with evengreater depth and substance. Specific questions that call foranswers include the following: How can novice teachers be helpedwith setting the significant instructional objectives inherent intransformational and social action multicultural curricula? Howcan ELLs assume a more active and participatory role inenhancing the curricula available to them? What is the role ofteacher educators in fostering ELLs’ active participation in themulticultural curriculum development?

THE AUTHORTatiana Gordon is a recipient of several awards for excellence inESL teaching, including the 1998 Fulbright Memorial Award. Shecurrently teaches TESOL methodology at Hofstra University, inHempstead, New York. She and her students investigate teachingstrategies that render ESL instruction more rigorous andsubstantive.

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