Role-taking in DIE stands for understanding a social situation more extensively or experiencing imaginatively through identification in social situations (Heathcote 1990:
49). However, working in role comprises both the aforementioned, the experience assisting in the understanding. It is enabled through working in role inside drama worlds which imitate life and, therefore, assist in learning various issues. People think of similar dilemmas in their own life after they have been in role and this connection of reality and fiction is one of the most powerful effects of drama (Wagner 1998: 77). As Heikkinen (2004: 130) points out, matters remain in one's head a great deal better when
one can participate with their own action. Thus, owing to the fact that learning-by-doing is accustomed for children, drama supplies the means to gain knowledge of issues that children could not otherwise have access to (Neelands 1984: 25). As Heikkinen (2004:
129) states, drama is the depiction of real and fictional events by using roles. For this reason, it allows one to experiment with feelings, thoughts and expressions that are not possible in everyday life (Heikkinen 2004: 23).
As Neelands (1998: 13) points out, owing to students' socialisation, they possess knowledge of how other people behave in various situations. This enables students the means to work in different roles in new situations. Moreover, students can perceive the world through other viewpoints, promote empathy and develop their understanding (Wagner: 1998: 9). Heikkinen (2004: 121) shares a similar view by stating it is possible to experience emotions, attitudes, social statuses and motifs through a role. Thus, role-play allows one to use various means of interaction in different situations, which regular social intercourse does not make possible. For this reason, the material has multiple tasks in which students have different roles.
Working in various roles develop cooperative skills and interaction (Heikkinen 2004:
126). In addition, working in role receives its impulse from group work. Heathcote (1990: 50-51) states that observing others and using previous information enables a person to see new and deeper meanings as well as produce different attitudes and experiences through group work. The roles in drama do not exist unless there are others in role to which an individual role can be connected to, such as there are roles in games and those roles cannot exist without other players (Bolton 1984: 100). Consequently, group work is essential for role-playing by allowing one to perceive how various people act in the world. The tasks in the material package have various opportunities for students to work in role while observing others in different roles.
Even though serious playfulness necessitates participants to take their role-play seriously, it also requires a certain amount of playfulness. As Heikkinen (2004: 58) states, all that occurs in drama is playfull in a certain sense. Indeed, the actions of the roles that are taken in drama are imaginary. For this reason, it is crucial for the students to acknowledge aesthetic doubling in a role. Thus, a person does not get angry even though their character does (Heikkinen 2004: 58). However, certain situations can be so
real for certain students that they may induce real emotions. The character might contradict with the real person because it enables different thoughts and emotions (Heikkinen 2004: 121). This requires the possibility to abort the drama situation (discussed further in section 5.2). Nevertheless, adopting the thoughts of the characters instead of using one's own is a more secure way to explore the ideas (Fleming 1994:
40).
Moreover, drama allows one to willingly choose to step into a role and accept the reality of the fictional situation (Bolton 1984: 104). I have found this option occasionally problematic in class due to the fact that students can decide how much they will put themselves into a role. Nevertheless, it can be a valuable asset for motivation. It is common for drama activities that students can decide themselves how they perform.
Even though the rules of an activity might dictate the role, students can determine what they do in their roles. As Bolton (1984: 104) states, participants appropriate the activities that the setting calls for.
As it was discussed previously, DIE does not necessitate acting skills. However, role-play provides the experience of being another person. As Heikkinen (2005: 36) points out, the performance is of no consequence, the meanings are created in the processes.
Heathcote (1990: 60) states that drama does not necessitate the old rules of theatre, for example ”face the front”, but requires the students to know that they can use their ideas and talents honestly. She (1990: 74) continues that students are not asked to behave like actors but believe in the attitudes and viewpoints for the time they are in role. Thus, the function of role-play is to experience the role from within (Clipson-Boyles 1998: 12).
Consequently, none of the tasks in the material package require students to act for an audience.
As Almond (2005: 10) points out, students gain more confidence through acting when supporting and collaborating with others towards a mutual valuable goal. It develops students from all agegroups to use acting in expressing their feelings and thoughts without any emphasis on actual acting skills. As Bolton (1984: 101) points out, children are not required to play a part in drama but be themselves in various situations and act according to the situation's demands. Although they are commonly other people in different situations, students are not required to act differently, that is to say, walk or
talk dissimilarly. In fact, one has to be active in the role (Heikkinen 2004: 121). It is essential to be fully involved in the play and observe the world through the role and the dramatic world, as well as through one self and social reality (Heikkinen 2004: 65).
Thus, role-play enables one to research the surrounding world through a role that is played seriously.