Simulation is a language learning model which allows students to express
themselves to their peers in a group setting, groups comprising usually
three or four. It is related to Role Play, but in Simulation students retain
their own personas and are not required to pretend to be someone else.
In Role Play one student might be told that she is a supermarket checkout
assistant whilst another is a customer. Students might also be given fairly
tight guidelines outlining the nature of their exchange or the language
points they are expected to cover.
In Simulation the group members would not be expected to place
emphasis only on a given set of language points, and effective
communication should be the outcome, rather than the strictly correct use
of vocabulary and structures. The group is given a task which may last a
single period or stretch over a number of sessions. These tasks may range
from the fairly short to the longer-term, more wide-ranging and complex
(see www.languages.dk/methods/methods.html). The length of the
Simulation need not be connected to the complexity of the language
required to carry it out, as the language skills which students bring with
them to the exercise are what determines its linguistic complexity. At the
end of the exercise the group will have arrived at some decision or series
of decisions and choices which they will be expected to explain and
justify. However, the process of the exercise is of at least as great
importance as the product in the sense that the linguistic interaction
among the students will determine its effectiveness and success.