Reflections
The article “The power of Role Play Activities in Language Teaching’ is more a promotion or a blog to promote Sanako’s reinvention of role play as an educational exercise in language learning.
It is my task to provide a rhetorical analysis of the piece using the tools I had learnt in my Freshman Composition, ENG 1100 class.
In my analysis I gave a summary of Sanako’s article using the techniques employed or likened to a rhetorical precis. Upon exploring it readers should get a full grasp of who Sanako is, its aim in writing the article, the main argument purported in the piece, how it supported this argument, the audience that Sanako targets directly & indirectly as well as the reasons behind it whether they may be apparent or not.
I then go on to detail the various rhetorical strategies & literary devices employed by Sanako to attract & retain its readers’ interest in their role play technology.
It is through this encounter with rhetorical strategy that I have learnt various types of it while reawakening my interest in literary devices. I had forgotten the absolute revelation that came with tearing apart a cleverly written piece to decipher the mysteries of its layered words, & fun too.
I learnt some new ones such as Enumeration, Expert witness, Emphasis on benefits, parallelism, positive connotations, Comparison, appeal to authority, Concession, etc. It is not that I have never used any of these or read them being used in texts; but it is useful to be able to give a name behind what it is they do. More so, in such cases where I need to explain my work or someone else’s & the strategies used to achieve the needed purpose.
A perfect example is how much time it took to particularly identify the various rhetorical strategies used by Sanako. It was a struggle that led me unearthing fallacies that can be formal & informal, to a whole list of rhetorical devices to compare to those in the article then describing the believed use (as understood from article) in Google to get the term used to describe it. This took many searches.
However, after copying the article entirely into a word document then annotating it with my little comments & multitude of colorful highlights, the concepts behind the rhetorical strategies made it a lot easier to put my thoughts on the article together.
In conclusion, I can honestly say that I have fulfilled a number of the expected outcomes of this course with this rhetorical analysis alone. These are ‘to explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations; to develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing & to recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.’
A Rhetorical Analysis of Sanako’s article titled, ‘The power of Role Play Activities in Language Teaching’
The company Sanako wrote a blog on ‘the power of role play activities in language teaching’ (February 16th, 2024) in a bid to promote their role play technology that effectively help Teachers improve their student’s language skills. Sanako not only provides us with the studies of Educational Scholars who support this way of teaching but also strategically breaks down the pros & cons of using this role-playing technology & how it can be used for optimal results, while offering alternatives & solutions to counteract probable situations.
Sanako takes on the role of Teacher to the Educators, as care is taken to explain how the best results can be achieved with the technology in the classroom, using the simplest means. This simultaneously allows Sanako to become known as the brand that understands the needs of Teachers, thus fostering the possibility for more engagement with the brand. Parents & other educators in other fields can appreciate this quality of Sanako’s, not to mention the many scenarios & particularly the ‘fun’ appeal to students.
Delving more into the rhetorical techniques activated by Sanako to attract & retain its audience we must mention the use of definition (logos), Authority appeal (ethos), emotional appeal (pathos), enumeration, values & benefits, repetition, parallelism not to mention the structure of the article into its sections all prudently employed towards its various purposes.
The words of Educational Scholar, Jassim Mohammed Rayhan, stated that “…speaking is at the heart of role play. (It is) define(d)… as “an activity where students can express ideas, opinions, or feelings through words or articulation to others.” (Rayhan, 2014) …Another, Pipit Rahayu (2015) “goes further arguing that role play helps shy students, who have difficulty in conversation, by providing a mask, so they can improve their ability to speak and interact in any situation.” The two were selected for their work on role play; Rayhan with his article, ‘The Impact of Using Role Play Techniques on Improving Pupils’ Speaking Skill for Primary School’ & Rahayu, with his essay, ‘Role Play Strategy in Teaching Speaking’.
Sanako uses the words of these writers not to define role play, as Sanako does this task themselves in their very first paragraph where they erect a distinction between role play, the game & their role play technology, an “educational exercise”. What Sanako uses is the technique ‘appeal to authority’ in order to have the words of those scholars who have countless hours of extensive study under their name serve as evidence/ or expert witness on the topic of role play. Thus, giving them that mandate or the authority to speak on the topic &, thus adding quite a lot of credibility to all Sanako’s later statements. It is no random reason why these quotes are right at the beginning or after Sanako’s own definition.
The words themselves of the scholars were cleverly chosen as Rayhan’s “speaking is at heart” illuminates the main tool that the role-playing software focuses on while highlighting the many benefits when this tool is strategically stressed in a fun learning environment. These words not only detail what the tool helps with but creates an expectation as one reads on as the same concepts of being free to clearly express oneself & articulation is repeated throughout the article.
The logical result of using role play technology is also captured with the image of a shy student enabled to speak, first through prompts, then through his/her own initiative. The word shy is repeated in almost every category as an example because Sanako already received the stamp of approval from Rahayu that role play activities are a definite advantage for students lacking confidence. An example of this is seen in Sanako’s list of disadvantages.
According to the pathos of rhetorical appeal there is also the comparative visual impact Rahayu’s statement creates. Sanako uses this to constantly appeal to the reader’s emotions while imprinting it throughout as the logical result of using their tool, the perfect example.
Now, the ‘value’ or the ‘benefits’ of the role play tool is more clearly captured within the category of both the advantages & the disadvantages section. There “(t)hese advantages showcase the multifaceted benefits of integrating role plays into language learning activities. They not only enhance language skills but also promote critical thinking and overall confidence in using the target language.”
Sanako uses the rhetorical strategy of ‘Emphasis on benefits’ & Enumeration’ to once again appeal to the emotions of the reader. The values & interests are explicitly stated within the section on advantages & disadvantages section too, as highlighted in the above quote. This is no longer a subtle approach as this structure was established for just such an opportunity for Sanako directly reveal, what was implied before, that all readers can gain with this tool; one way or another.
The quote, “…role plays are not without potential disadvantages. Language educators should be aware of these drawbacks and address them to maximize the benefits of role-play activities.” Speaks on the disadvantages but more specifically stresses on solutions to them in order to maximize the benefits of role play activities. Emphasis on benefits once again employed here to get readers to act on the drawbacks so as to not miss out on all the role play platform has to offer.
A more comprehensive nature of the benefits is implied by using such phrases from the second quote; “(role play) not only enhance language skills” & “integrating” while speaking of its “multifaceted benefits” such as “critical thinking and overall confidence”. First, we are reminded that “Language learning” is the focus of this article but then Sanako uses literary devices of parallelism, persuasion & positive connotations to sell the idea that their role play platform is in no way limited to learning languages. The deliberate choice of words from Rayhan’s study has also indicated as much. Such parallelism stimulates readers to see or visualize this positive actuality of role play in their own field of practice. Thus, the writer uses logical reasoning to connect the dots of the application of ole playing strategies, the advantages of it & the logical results deemed so by our mentioned scholars.
“Yet role plays are not without potential disadvantages. Language educators should be aware of these drawbacks and address them to maximize the benefits of role-play activities.”
With this quote the rhetorical strategy of Concession is brought forward to give credibility to Sanako, allowing readers to appreciate the balanced perspective given on the pros & the cons of role play activities. However, it is debatable whether the cons are truly disadvantageous to Sanako because ethics is used as a rhetorical tool here to morally stimulate readers to act on the drawbacks which inevitably leads to more use or dependence on the role play platform. Sanako puts itself in the role of being knowledgeable about the use of its own platform & willing to be that voice of logical reason to its users of the tool by providing suggested solutions.
In conclusion, Sanako’s use of rhetorical appeals in all categories of logos, ethos & pathos are strategically placed to attract, appeal & engage. I believe these have been achieved & will be achieved with the classroom activities & feedback service available on the platform creating an opening for more engagement & trust building.
