Teacher Comments: The Value of Role Playing

Neil Grigg, Civil Engineering: One of the problems I see in defining purpose is that they have not played the different roles they need to play in order to fit themselves into the writing scenario. If the writing scenario is that you are an engineer evaluating something, the role is engineer. With a proposal to get a job, the role is more salesperson. If you're in a decision-making role to defend your decision, it's more like a judicial opinion. Many students don't have these experiences to discern from. When they get a topic, the only experience they have is from English classes. . . . Role playing is a way to learn these different types of roles [in the discipline].