The interview through role-playing as a strategy for developing oral communication skills

This paper presents an experience of educational innovation carried out in the subjects Diagnosis and Evaluation of Special Education Needs, and Diagnosis and Evaluation of Hearing and Language Disorders, both belonging to the fourth year of the Degree in Primary Education at the University of León. The training action described consists of the development of interviews as a strategy to develop oral expression, using processes of peer assessment and self-assessment of learning. For the implementation of the activity, a five-phase process has been followed: design of the activity and the evaluation instrument, execution of the activity, analysis of the results, evaluation of the training action and redefinition of the activity. Although the different phases are detailed in this document, emphasis has been placed on the evaluation of the activity, whose data has been collected through the formulation of open questions to the students of the 2021/2022 academic year. MAXQDA 2022 software was used for the analysis of the answers, accounting for a total of 73 codes around aspects such as the usefulness and opinion on the role-playing technique, the suitability of the peer assessment, the adequacy of the rubric or the overall assessment of the activity. The results showed that the students positively value this type of activity, since it brings them closer to the reality that they will find in the classrooms of any educational center in a simulated way. However, the improvement proposals of the students have been considered to make adjustments, both in the development of the activity and in its rubric. It is concluded that role-playing through interviews is an ideal technique, not only for the development of oral expression, but also for other skills that, as specialist teachers, they will put into practice in their professional future.