Readers Theatre Research Articles

Reader's Theater: An Alternative Tool to Develop Reading Fluency among Thai EFL learners

Reader's Theater: An Alternative Tool to Develop Reading Fluency among Thai EFL learners

Money Makes the World Go Around: Interdisciplinary Unit for Grades 3–5

This economics unit includes inquiry, framed with strong reading/writing connections that lead to a variety of collaborations, conversations, and presentations of knowledge and ideas. Embedded in these learning activities is an emphasis on developing language and foundational skills. As a result, this unit encompasses many of the ELA Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). Students will engage in close reading of fiction and nonfiction texts that include an emphasis on key ideas and details, the author’s craft/ text structure, and integration of knowledge and ideas. Students will also engage in a range of writing throughout the unit. They will conduct research, write informative paragraphs, complete impromptu writing to exhibit understanding of concepts, write narrative responses to reading, write a poem, write in a journal/learning log, write an advertisement, and write a business plan. To deepen understandings of content, students will engage in a variety of groupings, such as paired readings, smallgroup book clubs, and whole-class grand conversations. In addition to contributing to discussions, students will also present their perspectives via presentations, such as Readers Theatre, poetry dramatizations, and a commercial to advertise their business. Throughout these activities, students will develop understandings of vocabulary and effective use of language conventions. They will also develop fluency through repeated readings of text, such as poetry and sharing passages from the book club books. The culminating project, the Young Entrepreneurs’ Emporium, will highlight students’ understandings and will also include engagement in all of the language arts. This integrated unit focusing on economics is designed to develop the following enduring understandings:

Voices from the Oregon Trail by Kay Winters (review)

Reviewed by: Voices from the Oregon Trail by Kay Winters Elizabeth Bush Winters, Kay. Voices from the Oregon Trail; illus. by Larry Day. Dial, 2014. [40p]. ISBN 978-0-8037-3775-4 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 3-6. Winters reprises a format she employed in Colonial Voices (BCCB 5/08) and Voices of Ancient Egypt (BCCB 2/03) to recreate the experiences of common people in historically significant eras. Here fifteen overlanders and a Sioux scout comment in free-verse poems about personal episodes that illuminate typical occurrences along the wagon route from Missouri to Oregon in the mid 1800s. Patience Mills has no choice but to follow her husband once he sells the family farm, even though it means leaving behind the grave of her baby son. Carl Hawks, son of the wagon master, embraces the excitement of the journey and his considerable responsibilities, even as he worries about repeats of previous disasters. A three-year-old is lost in a river crossing, a pair of teens meet and marry, the Indian scout ponders the changes the settlers bring (“No good can come of this”), a farmer revels in a buffalo hunt, a young man helps lower his wagon down a three-hundred-foot drop. Many stories interconnect and the voices are lively and engaging, although each individual is given only a single hearing, leaving readers unable to gauge changes in attitude along the way. Copious endnotes expand on various aspects of wagon train organization, and Day’s detailed watercolor artwork nimbly switches mood from the grief of a mother making a last visit at her child’s tombstone, to the cowpie-slinging antics of kids inventing their own fun to shake off boredom. This format will enliven middle-grades history classes as a readaloud or, better still, asan adaptable script for readers theater. [End Page 340] Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Linking Readers Theatre to CLIL in foreign language education

This article explores the potential of linking Readers Theatre (RT), a group reading aloud activity, with Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in foreign language education. Both RT and CLIL, independent of each other, have demonstrated affective and cognitive benefits for foreign language learners. Examples are provided of how subject matter texts, for example about history, can be adapted and created for RT in the foreign language classroom. Reference is made to positive experiences for both learners and teachers of the combination of RT and CLIL in lower secondary English classrooms in Norway. Finally, classroom implications are addressed, for example how the combination of RT and CLIL integrates different language skills, how combining the two allows for a focus on form within a meaning-based approach, and how group dynamics can aid the individual learner.

Is EFL Worth Studying at Japanese Colleges? Readers Theatre Provides an Answer

This paper discusses issues, insights, and considerations concerning Readers Theatre and its applications to Japanese EFL classrooms based on the author’s experiences in taking part in a Readers Theatre (RT) workshop. Although RT is of great use when teaching Japanese college students, the application of its techniques should be introduced within the framework of the EFL settings where almost all of the directors, performers, and audience consist of Japanese speakers who study English as a foreign language, not as a first or a second language. Elements related to the students’ social growth such as cooperation, responsibility, and sense of fulfillment should be considered more when RT is taught in college EFL classroom settings.

Readers Theatre in the Chinese EFL Classroom: Setting the Stage for Oral Performance

Readers Theatre is an example of a story dramatization in which readers read a story and transform the story into a script for reading aloud (Sloyer, 1989). The scripts are then performed using only voices and facial expressions. To portray the characters in the story, readers strive for voice flexibility, good articulation, proper pronunciation, and projection. This study was designed to investigate the perceptions of Chinese EFL learners of Readers Theatre as a way to improve their oral English .The participants for this study were PRC students enrolled in a Communication Skills course in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. A survey questionnaire was designed to evaluate learners’ reactions to the Readers Theatre activity and the data were also triangulated by the teachers` observations of learners’ attitudes and behaviours. The findings from this study showed that a majority of Chinese EFL learners reacted positively to the use of Readers Theatre as a way to enhance their oral English performance. In addition, the RT activity provided the opportunity for Chinese EFL learners to engage in different language use functions such as asking and answering questions, solving problems, expressing their opinions, and arguing and persuading. Readers Theatre is a rewarding language learning experience for Chinese EFL learners as it boosts their confidence in using English in a real communicative context.

Colonial Voice Reinterpreted: A Readers Theatre Presentation

Father and daughter inhabit the same space but interpret it differently. A colonial and a present-day educator see Papua New Guinea life through new lenses - the curriculum and the academic goals; students with new ambitions and diverse lifestyle issues; family and the extended wantok system; all factors affecting one’s world view.

The Application of Readers Theater to FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools) Reading and Writing

This study used a mixed-method approach to investigate the effectiveness of Readers Theater (RT) in promoting English as a foreign language children's reading and writing proficiency after a participation period of one semester. In addition, the researcher recorded and analyzed children's learning motivation and feedback toward RT. The quantitative results of the study indicate that the RT group outperformed the control group in reading accuracy and fluency but not in reading comprehension. In writing performance, the researcher found significant differences for most aspects of writing proficiency, except for sentence structure. The qualitative results, on the other hand, support the idea that with RT, students have a purpose to interact in class, to work with others, to read and write for an audience, and, at the same time, enjoy their learning.

Extending Readers Theatre: A Powerful and Purposeful Match With Podcasting

The struggling second and third graders in this mixed methods study increased their reading comprehension after a 10‐week Readers Theatre podcasting project. Podcasting made the students aware of a wider audience, which enhanced the authenticity and social nature of the strategy, and made their performances permanent so they could be stored and conveniently retrieved for later listening and evaluation. Finally, students discussed their podcasts using visual vocabulary such as “watch,” “show,” “look good,” and “show my voice,” uncovering the concept of audio as a visual medium. Since visualization is a critical strategy used by skilled readers, podcasting has the potential to strengthen this aspect of Readers Theatre.

Requiem: Poems of the Terezín Ghetto (review)

Reviewed by: Requiem: Poems of the Terezín Ghetto Deborah Stevenson, Editor Janeczko, Paul B. Requiem: Poems of the Terezín Ghetto. Candlewick, 2011. [112p]. ISBN 978-0-7636-4727-8 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 6–9. Operating both as a transport point and a ghetto for Jews under the Third Reich, the Czech camp Terezín is perhaps most infamous for the propaganda-friendly artistic freedoms that allowed its residents to make music and stage plays—until they were relocated to death camps. Janeczko reflects on Terezín through thirty-five compact free-verse poems, most written in the voice of named (and numbered) inhabitants and guards, almost all fictional, of the camp. Verses testify to the grief of watching a friend die or a loved one depart on a train to certain doom; they describe the torment of bedbugs or the deliberate torturing of inmates; they explore the strange paradox of music and art that give only an ironic illusion of freedom. The poems don’t provide as much specific information about Terezín in particular as a reader might wish, but the verses are spare and accessible, filled with crushing historical weight; the first-person approach will make the entries particularly compelling as readers theater or readalouds. This could also help expand a Holocaust curriculum, especially if used as an accompaniment to Thomson’s excellent Terezín: Voices from the Holocaust (BCCB 2/11) or the classic collection I Never Saw Another Butterfly in a deeper exploration of Terezín. End matter includes a brief description of the camp’s history, a note on the poet’s research, and a list of sources in book, web, and DVD format (a glossary will be included in the bound book); final illustrations were not seen. Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Readers Theatre: A different approach to English for struggling readers

This article presents a study of the use of Readers Theatre in English lessons with groups of academically-challenged pupils in a Norwegian lower secondary school. The study is based on the teacher’s logs, interviews with the teacher, a questionnaire answered by the pupils, and lesson observations. Readers Theatre, a group reading activity that can be used with a wide range of texts, was successfully incorporated into the curriculum with relatively small ‘fordypning’ (specialisation) groups in English. These pupils had opted for more English lessons instead of learning a second foreign language. Most of them struggled with English as their first foreign language and were struggling readers. However, the majority of the pupils experienced Readers Theatre as both enjoyable and educational. The experience had a positive effect on their confidence and motivation to read. It also helped to improve their reading fluency and accuracy, for example pronunciation, and facilitated growth in vocabulary. The experience of practising and performing as a group was especially satisfying and motivating for the pupils involved. The majority were keen to participate in other Readers Theatre projects.

Medical Readers’ Theater as a Teaching Tool

Readers’ Theater (RT) is a unique vehicle for introducing ethical, cultural, and social issues in medicine to academic, professional, and community audiences. It brings alive the characters in a story in a way that silent reading or reading a story aloud cannot. Audience members experience what is, in essence, a case report acted out “on stage” rather than reading or hearing someone report on a situation second hand. RT has an immediacy about it, a compelling aspect, that makes listeners pay attention and mentally participate in the action. It draws people into the story, engages them. The oral reading and subsequent open discussion combine to educate audience members about the topic of the story and the variety of ways one can interpret the story’s message. This article describes the long-standing RT program at the Brody School of Medicine (BSOM) at East Carolina University (ECU) and some of variations on RT that people have developed around the country.

Talking to, Talking about, Talking with: Language Arts Students in Conversation with Poetic Texts

Turn your poetry classroom into a readers theater.

Identify This…

Readers theater productions are meaningful expressions of creative pedagogy in higher education. This article presents the script of a readers theater called Identify This… A Readers Theater of Women's Voices, which was researched, written, and produced by undergraduate and graduate students in a women's studies class called Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender. Section one of the article reproduces the script of Identify This that was based on life history interviews with a diverse selection of women to illustrate intersectional identities. Section two briefly describes the essential elements of the process we used to create and perform Identify This.

Readers Theatre, Bible, and Fluency

Readers Theatre has been a dramatic genre for many years. Only recently, however, has it been seriously applied to educational endeavors and, even then, seldom to the teaching of Biblical themes and related values. In view of the mandate to integrate literacy into every area of the school curriculum, this article explores how expression, fluency, and intonation of oral reading may be improved using Readers Theatre in faith formation classes.

Transformations through Teatro: Culture Clash in a Chicana/o History Classroom

This article describes the creation and implementation of a unique undergraduate history seminar dedicated to examining and engaging the work of the Chicano-Latino theater trio Culture Clash. My previous research identified similarities between Culture Clash's playwriting methods and scholarly approaches to oral history and ethnography. The course engaged these methods, requiring students to conduct oral histories and transform those interviews into performance monologues. Informed by the role of Chicana/o teatro in the social protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s, the course challenged students to follow Culture Clash's methods of using teatro to tell the stories of those on society's margins. Culture Clash members joined the class in facilitating students' efforts to bridge historical scholarship with oral histories of everyday people. I examined excerpts of students' monologues and a spoken word piece performed as part of the course culminating public “Reader's Theater” event. Reflecting on some of the students' remarks, I discuss the seminar as contributing to a tradition of transformative history pedagogy.

A Study of Readers Theater in Eighth Grade: Issues of Fluency, Comprehension, and Vocabulary

This study investigated the impact of Readers Theater on eighth-grade students, the majority of whom were reading below grade level. Over six weeks of a short story unit, one class participated in Readers Theater. The comparison group of like-ability students received more traditional literary and vocabulary instruction. Quantitative measures showed that when compared with students in the comparison class, students in the Reader Theater class made statistically significant growth in reading level, as well as significant gains in fluidity and expressive measures of oral reading. Groups were not significantly different on comprehension measures. However, the Readers Theater class nearly doubled the vocabulary acquisition of the comparison group. Qualitative measures attested to the potential of Readers Theater to motivate struggling adolescent readers and to build their reading confidence.

Readers Theatre—Take Another Look—It’s More Than Fluency Instruction

This article argues that in spite of its benefits and value, there appears to be little attention given to the use of readers theatre or to its connection to theories of learning or reading. The author takes a "second look" at readers theatre and highlights its value in an attempt to reignite the excitement that it brings to reading. Social constructivism, Cambourne’s (1988) conditions for learning, and reader response theory are examined as the theoretical underpinnings. Using readers theatre increases comprehension, literature appreciation, and student engagement. Evidence is provided to support the claim that readers theatre is not only enjoyable for students, but it is also a sound pedagogy that results in more than improved fluency as reflected in the sample of student thoughts prefacing the next section.

From Visions to Actions: Using Readers Theatre to Critically Engage Multilingual Readers

Kellie Chavira’s first teaching job is in a bilingual second-grade classroom in Chicago. As a way of focusing on complex and critical definitions of literacy while still addressing the outcomes associated with guided reading expectations, Kellie undertakes a readers theatre project, which gives her students practice in decoding and fluent reading while engaging them with real issues and challenging solutions.

Use of Readers Theater to Enhance Interdisciplinary Geriatric Education

This article focuses on the design and implementation of an interdisciplinary geriatric educational project at a small New England University. A novel, affective teaching approach of Readers Theater is highlighted as a beginning classroom instructional strategy for interdisciplinary students. The physical and psychosocial considerations for health are complex with geriatric clients, and the successful construction of intervention plans is enhanced through an interdisciplinary approach. This pedagogical technique served as an effective method to initially engage health profession students, promote interprofessional collaboration, and support the creation of a compassionate, holistic approach to the care of elders.