ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to set role activities in foreign language education within a sociolinguistic and psychological frame of reference which seeks to take account of – the complex behaviours involved in interacting and negotiating with
meaning and purpose in a foreign culture; – the kinds of learning contexts these behaviours imply; and – the types of knowledge, skills and strategies which it is necessary for
individual learners to develop if they are to apprise and realise verbal and non-verbal meanings in culturally appropriate ways.
