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I work as the head of the Aviation English department at the Aviation Training Center of Uzbekistan Airways, teaching Aviation English to aviation personnel ( e.g. cabin crew, pilots, air traffic controllers, ground staff, etc.).

Role play is widely used during aviation English lessons to simulate real operational communication.

However, novice teachers often experience difficulties in implementing role play effectively, particularly in mixed ELP level classes where students demonstrate varying levels of confidence and linguistic competence. Also, some students are not familiar with the aviation domain and context.

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This teacher research project investigates how novice teachers can be supported in using role play more effectively to improve the speaking skills of aviation personnel.

The study focuses on identifying challenges faced by novice teachers and students and on developing practical strategies to enhance role play implementation in aviation English lessons.

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1. Why do novice teachers face challenges when using role play to develop the speaking skills of aviation personnel?

2. What do novice teachers and students think about the usefulness and effectiveness of role play for improving speaking skills?

3. In which parts of a role-play activity do novice teachers encounter the most difficulty?

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Data Collection Tools for Exploratory Phase

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Data Collection Tools for Exploratory Phase

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1. Student questionnaire (Google Forms).

2. Novice teacher questionnaire.

3. Classroom observations.

4. Researcher reflection journal

These tools allowed for the triangulation of data from students, teachers, and classroom practice.

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The exploratory stage data revealed that:

Students perceive role play as highly effective, realistic, and relevant to aviation tasks.

Despite positive attitudes, students experience anxiety, low confidence, and vocabulary limitations.

Novice teachers value role play but feel they lack sufficient training, resources, and confidence.

Observations showed limited scaffolding, unclear role expectations, and challenges with feedback and time management.

These findings highlighted a clear gap between the perceived value of role play and its effective implementation.

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Based on the exploratory findings the action plan was developed. This action plan was designed in order to:

1) Improve linguistic scaffolding before role play

2) Reduce students’ anxiety and increase confidence

3) Improve clarity and structure of role play tasks for both students and teachers

4) Support novice teachers through targeted training

5) Enhance feedback and reflection practices

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Data Collection Tools for the Action Stage

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Data Collection Tools for the Action Stage

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In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented actions, I used the following tools:

Classroom observations

Teacher reflection journals

Student feedback

Observation checklists

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After implementing the action plan, I found out that:

Students demonstrated increased confidence and participation during role-play activities

The use of aviation vocabulary by students improved

Role-play tasks became more structured and easier for comprehension

Novice teachers showed greater confidence and improved classroom management

Classroom atmosphere became more supportive and communicative

Overall, role-play activities became more effective and purposeful.

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This teacher research project demonstrated that although role play is perceived as highly effective and relevant by students and novice teachers, the classroom impact depends on structured design and teacher support.

Data from questionnaires and classroom observations revealed that students’ linguistic limitations and anxiety, combined with novice teachers’ need for guidance in scaffolding and feedback, reduced the effectiveness of role-play activities.

The action stage showed that targeted strategies, such as pre-teaching vocabulary, modelling role plays, and structured feedback significantly improved student confidence and engagement.

Overall, the project confirmed that systematic reflection and practical support empower novice teachers to use role play more effectively, leading to improved speaking performance in the aviation context.

As a result of this research, I plan to implement a systematic and reflective approach to enhance the design, scaffolding, and effectiveness of role-play tasks, leading to improved student speaking performance in aviation English.