Intensifying Language Learning Through Practice: Role-Play and The Perceptions of Japanese Medical- Related Profession Students

Abstract

This article presents a descriptive mixed study regarding the perceptions of university medical-related profession students towards role-playing and their confidence in communication. Students' perception towards roleplaying was determined by an open-ended questionnaire while their most important consideration in language study was measured through a seven-point Likert scale. Thematic analysis was used for the qualitative data while descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data. Out of the 144 students from all the classes, 117 medicalrelated profession students participated in the study. Results showed that role-playing helped the students gain confidence through frequent practice of the target language. Moreover, role-playing showed improvement in the medical-related students’ oral communication skills including their non-verbal communication skills. Furthermore, the students consider practicing the target language as the most important consideration in language study. The results indicate that this study can provide substantial data towards a new approach and a paradigm shift in English language education at the university level; from grammar focused instruction to communicative approach. Keywords— confidence, communication skills, practice role-play _________________________________________________________________________________