Running head: ORAL FLUENCY DEVELOPMENT THROUGH READER’S THEATRE

Oral Fluency Development Through Reader’s Theatre

Raegan Stead

Franciscan University of Steubenville

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Introduction

Reader’s theatre is an instructional strategy that involves repeated oral reading. Students

read from a script and act out a story. Scripts can be student generated or adapted from any type

of text. According to Young and Nageldinger (2014), Readers Theater requires no props, no

memorization, and no costumes. Students entertain audiences with their expressive oral reading,

while the prior rehearsal gives a purpose for repeated readings, a well-researched method for

increasing reading fluency (4). Some teachers use this strategy solely for it's engaging aspects,

but not many realize that reader’s theatre can be implemented as an intervention for struggling or

excelling readers. According to Young and Rasinski (2009), Reader’s Theatre can create an

academic avenue that leads to increased reading fluency, regardless of whether students are

striving or thriving (p. 4). All students in the classroom can benefit from taking part in reader’s

theatre. This intervention can increase the development of fluency skills such as rate, expression,

and accuracy in all students. Research on the topic of reader’s theatre as an intervention to

increase oral fluency is important to the field of education because this strategy is not being used

to its full potential.

Purpose

The development of oral fluency in students through reader’s theatre will be studied

through the use of articles and surveys. The articles are focused on the implementation of

Reader’s Theatre and how it effects the development of oral fluency. The students studied in the

articles are of various reading abilities and achievement levels in order get an overall sense of

how students develop oral fluency. Most of the research begins with a baseline fluency for the

participants and follows them through weeks of a Reader’s Theatre program. Their progress is

monitored and segmented into different forms of data. This information will be used to
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determine if oral fluency does in fact increase oral fluency in students of various reading abilities

and which are affected more. How can Reader’s Theatre increase the development of oral

reading fluency in students?

The research question will be answered through two methodological approaches. First,

this research will examine six empirical and non-empirical articles. These articles focus on using

reader’s theatre as an intervention for developing oral reading fluency in students. Students of

various ages, backgrounds, and reading ability were studied in the articles. The information from

these articles could lead to different strategies and interventions that accompany reader’s theatre

in the development of oral reading fluency. The data collected from these articles could also be

used to guide future research. Second, a survey with questions focused on oral reading fluency

development through reader’s theatre will be administered to a group of teachers at an

elementary school. Language Arts teachers will be given the survey and asked if they have ever

used or seen reader’s theatre be used in a classroom setting. Those teachers will be asked to fill

out the survey consisting of twelve questions. The questions will focus on the fluency skills such

as rate, accuracy, and expression and how they were affected by the implementation of reader’s

theatre. Teachers will also be asked to list which grade level they used reader’s theatre with and

the number of students in the classroom. This research may show if reader’s theatre is effective

in improving oral reading fluency and how grade level and classroom size may effect the data.

I hypothesize that this research will show that reader’s theatre does improve oral reading

fluency. Teachers may not realize that reader’s theatre can be used as an intervention to improve

student’s fluency. I think that the research from the articles will show more favorable results

because they are actually studying reader’s theatre as an intervention strategy and tracking

results. Teachers who fill out the survey may know that reader’s theatre can improve oral reading
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fluency, but they may not be studying it as closely as researchers would. I believe that results

from research will determine that teachers and researchers find that reader’s theatre is a

motivating and engaging intervention for students that helps increase oral reading fluency.

Review of Literature

Four different research articles focusing on the development of oral reading fluency

through reader’s theatre were reviewed and will be discussed further. Reader’s theatre is most

commonly used with young students to get them involved in their reading. It can also be used to

help struggling readers in any grade level. In the first article, Mraz, Nichols, Caldwell, Beisley,

Sargent, and Ripley (2013), did a study on improving oral reading fluency through reader’s

theatre. They aimed to determine if oral reading fluency is developed through repeated reading.

In the article the authors discuss ways reader’s theatre can be used in the classroom and also

offers strategies and recommendations for teachers. A study was conducted in a third grade

classroom to see how reader’s theatre helped struggling readers improve their fluency levels. The

classroom where the study took place was located in a large urban city with high poverty rates.

Nine girls and ten boys participated in the study and all of them were African American. Most of

the students had different issues that contributed to their low reading capabilities and none of

them were reading on their grade level when the study began. Based on the pretest scores from

the third grade Johns Basic Reading Inventory, STAR Reading Test, and the districts quarterly

reading assessment, the teacher of the struggling students chose reader’s theatre scripts that

would challenge the students. The program and scripts were read each day for thirty minutes

during the literacy block. The author found that reader’s theatre is an effective and enjoyable

way for struggling readers to increase fluency and comprehension. Reader’s theatre provides

authentic reasons for reading and rereading texts while increasing fluency as well as
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comprehension. It also encompasses many strategies used to improve oral reading fluency such

as modeling, echo reading, buddy reading, choral reading, and repeated reading.

I liked how the authors gave teachers suggestions on how to use readers theatre and

compared that to the results from the study. The description of reader’s theatre and the authors’

research gave very good reasons as to why readers theatre is beneficial for students in developing

oral reading fluency. When I first read the article I thought it was difficult to understand the

process used in the study. They explained it in a paragraph and then broke it down into daily

segments. I thought that there were two different studies, but after reading the article again I

realized that there was only one study. This article directly studied the topic that I would like to

use for my action research project. Everything in the article was based on developing oral

reading fluency through reader’s theatre. They gave different techniques to use and also provided

concrete information from the study. I would like to see this type of study done with students

from all ethnicities to see the variations. This study was only done with African American

students so I would like to see how these students’ progress would compare to other students.

Have you wondered what the best tools for developing oral fluency in students would be?

In the second article, Young and Nageldinger (2014), conducted a study that focused on

considering the contexts and texts for fluency. The purpose of the article was to describe the

importance of oral reading fluency and to offer suggestions, such as readers theatre, to help

develop fluency with students. Certain texts are more suited to help students develop fluency

skills. In the study, multiple classrooms were observed using readers theatre. The researches

focused heavily on one second grade classroom and that classroom is the only one that provided

a plan for increasing fluency and discussed how the students improved. The students in the

classroom improved their oral reading fluency by 20% and doubled the expected growth in
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words read per minute. This classroom used the five-day format and each day of the week they

focused on different aspects of literacy.

I thought that the researchers did a very good job of thoroughly describing what reader’s

theatre is, how it can be implemented, and how it increases students’ oral fluency skills. The

research section of the article was the most difficult part. They talked about different classrooms

without mentioning what grade was studied or anything about the students in the classroom. The

researchers mostly focused on the second grade classroom, but that section was short and did not

have much detail. This article is very relevant to my research topic and gave me more details

about readers theatre. It described reader’s theatre in great detail and connected it to oral fluency

in students. I would like to know which other grades were studied and how those results could

compare to the second grade classroom.

How can reader’s theatre address the oral reading fluency skill? In the third article,

Young and Rasinski (2009), conducted a study to see how implementing reader’s theatre would

affect students’ oral reading fluency. This study determined that oral reading fluency is a critical

skill and it aims to give reasons as to why reader’s theatre would address this skill in classrooms.

Twenty-nine of the monolingual second-grade students at Eagle Elementary were involved in the

study. There were eight girls and twenty-one boys. Nine out of twenty-nine of the students were

ELLs. There was a weekly reader’s theatre program that all of the twenty-nine students

participated in. The results indicated that the students made significant progress in the

development of fluency throughout the school year from the weekly program.

I liked how the researchers described the weekly reader’s theatre program and showed

what the students did each day of the week. I also liked how all of the information in the article

was clearly labeled and easy to find. There was not anything in the article that I found difficult
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and I was able to easily locate all of the sections of the article to find the information that I

needed. It was well-written and described the processes and strategies with a lot of detail and it

was easy to understand exactly how the program operated in the classroom. This article gave me

a lot of information on my topic and also showed me a well laid out study that I feel I will be

able to get a lot of use from. I would like to know if the weekly reader’s theatre program helped

with any other skill besides oral fluency. They briefly mentioned comprehension skills in the

article, and I found that interesting.

Many teachers may not fully understand fluency and what it encompasses. They may use

instructional methods to teach fluency that can be effective, but not motivating. In the fourth

article, Clark, Morrison, & Wilcox (2009), found “research indicates that an effective approach

to teaching fluency is repeated oral reading” (p.1). Repeated oral reading can become

monotonous and students lose interest easily. A more engaging approach to teaching fluency is

Reader’s Theatre, which still involves oral reading and repeated reading. A study conducted by

Clark, Morrison, and Wilcox examined the development of three fourth-grade students who had

varying reading abilities. The researchers found that most studies looked at the product of

fluency instruction, such as rate, accuracy, and expression of oral reading by using pre-tests and

post tests as the main sources of data. In their own research, they decided to focus more on the

process of developing oral fluency by determining how elements of expressive reading develop

during fluency practice. The participants in the study were selected by the amount of words they

read correctly per minute. They used reader’s theatre as an intervention for fluency instruction

and practice. The intervention took place over an eight week period and students were observed,

interviewed, and wrote self reports weekly. The authors found that the results were inconsistent

for student accuracy, but showed progress in pace and expression/volume.

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I liked how the researchers discussed how previous research had only focused on the

product of fluency instruction. They decided to go a different route by studying the process of

developing fluency. In the article the researchers discussed areas of fluency that they wanted to

improve and thought they could do that by implementing an 8-week reader’s theatre

intervention. I also liked how the study was broken up into different sections that made it easier

to follow along. I found some of the wording in the data section to be confusing and there were

not explanations for all of the instruments used. This article is relevant to my research topic

because it discusses developing oral fluency in students through reader’s theatre. The research

showed student improvement in some aspects of fluency. I think that using a larger group of

participants may be beneficial in determining a more accurate program success rate.

Methodology

The research used for this study came from a survey given to teachers who have used or

seen reader’s theatre used in classrooms and from empirical and non-empirical articles. The

survey was given to teachers at a few different elementary schools throughout the country. The

teachers who were given the survey used reader’s theatre in their classrooms or had seen it used

in other classrooms. I chose to send the survey to elementary school teachers because they would

have been teaching the grade levels most likely to use reader’s theatre. The survey questions

were specifically geared towards teachers who had used reader’s theatre or had seen it be used

because they would have the most knowledge about it as an intervention strategy. They were also

able to more accurately assess the affect reader’s theatre had on oral reading fluency than

someone who had not used or seen reader’s theatre.

The first few surveys were sent to teachers that I knew personally and those teachers

were asked to send the survey to other teachers that used reader’s theatre in their classrooms or
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had seen it used before. The first few teachers came from different schools across the United

States and they forwarded the survey to other teachers in their school and teachers from different

schools that they knew. The survey consisted of 12 questions which focused on fluency aspects

such as rate, expression, and accuracy. The survey was also used to find if teachers would

recommend reader’s theatre as an intervention to increase fluency.

Findings

The results of the research from the survey and articles showed that reader’s theatre can

increase oral reading fluency in students of various reading abilities. How can Reader’s Theatre

increase the development of oral reading fluency in students? Researchers and teachers have

found that reader’s theatre increase the aspects of fluency such as rate, expression, and accuracy

of words read. They have also found this intervention to be motivating and engaging for students

while building confidence in their reading abilities. This intervention can be implemented

successfully into all elementary grade levels according to the research. Figures 1, 2, and 3

represent the teacher’s answers to survey questions based on reader’s theatre improving students’
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accuracy of words read, rate at which students read, and expression of students’ words when

reading orally.

Figure 1. Teacher’s findings on reader’s theatre increasing accuracy of words read.

Yes
Yes No
No
Unsure Unknown
I don’t know
Somewhat It depends on the child’s reading level
It helps with appropriate expression and reading with a natural pace
I have not used it recently, but I have in the past. Children enjoy reader’s theatre but I have not used it enough to assess fluency.

5%5%
5%5%
5%
5%
5%
0%
5%
5%

73%
86%

Figure 2. Teacher’s findings on reader’s theatre increasing rate at which students read.
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Yes Unknown

5%

95%

Figure 3. Teacher’s findings on reader’s theatre improving students’ expression of words.

The research articles all found that reader’s theatre increased fluency in students. The

aspects of fluency were studied and the interventions were implemented into different

classrooms. Young and Rasinski’s (2009) study found the following:

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Readers Theatre had a profound positive effect on all readers and gave an opportunity for

struggling readers to read fearlessly in the limelight. Regardless of the

compensatory strategies used in practice, their performance reflected proficient reading

that was adequately paced, prosodic, confident, accurate, and filled with

meaning and enthusiasm. Every performance day, the struggling readers were in step

and were virtually indiscernible from the rest of the class. (p.9)

In Young and Rasinski’s study, students’ work recognition accuracy increased and they doubled

the expected growth in words read correctly per minute.

In another study, Mraz, Nichols, Caldwell, Beisley, Sargent, & Rupley (2013), found that oral

reading fluency is a vital component for proficient reading. Reader’s Theatre provides authentic

reasons to read and reread selections focusing on fluency.

Recommendations

The results of the study found that reader’s theatre can increase students’ fluency by

focusing on the fluency aspects such as expression, rate, and accuracy. The next step in this

research would be to look at the effects reader’s theatre has on comprehension. In order to

understand the content, students have to first be fluent in their reading. Clark, Morrison, &

Wilcox (2009), suggested that the relationship between fluency and comprehension remains an

unclear issue among researchers. It would be interesting to discover if there is a relationship

between comprehension and fluency. Research could also be done to find out if reader’s theatre

can increase comprehension as it did fluency. A case study could be implemented to study the

reader’s theatre intervention to see if comprehension increased as fluency increased.

In my research, a case study could also be done to test the effects of reader’s theatre on

fluency skills. A case study would show reader’s theatre being implemented into an elementary
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grade classroom of students with varying reading abilities. The study would begin by assessing

the students’ fluency skills and keeping record of them. Their skills would be monitored

throughout the case study and in the end would be compared to their beginning skills. Rate,

accuracy of words read, and expression would be tracked and assessed. Implementing the

intervention into a classroom would provide more in depth data than the survey did. If I would

have had more time I would have liked to implement my own reader’s theatre intervention into a

classroom and test its’ effects on fluency during an 8-12 week case study.

I recommend that teachers not only use reader’s theatre because of its’ motivating and

engaging nature, but also to assess and increase fluency in students. Repeated reading is a critical

strategy for increasing fluency and reader’s theatre combines that with a fun activity for students.

Reader’s theatre should also be used frequently in order to accurately assess fluency. Some

teachers use this strategy occasionally, but if it is used consistently it can provide accurate

information for monitoring fluency skills. All students in the classroom can benefit from reader’s

theatre and improve on their oral reading skills.

References

Young, C., & Rasinski, T. (2009). Implementing Readers Theatre as an Approach to Classroom

Fluency Instruction. The Reading Teacher, 63(1), 4-13.

Clark, Rachel et al. "Readers' Theater: A Process Of Developing Fourth-Graders' Reading

Fluency". Reading Psychology, vol 30, no. 4, 2009, pp. 359-385. Informa UK Limited

Young, C., & Nageldinger, J. (2014). Considering the Context and Texts for Fluency:

Performance, Readers Theater, and Poetry. International Electronic Journal Of

Elementary Education, 47-56.

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Mraz, M., Nichols, W., Caldwell, S., Beisley, R., Sargent, S., & Rupley, W. (2013). Improving

Oral Reading Fluency through Readers Theatre. Reading Horizons, 5.

Chou, Chi-ting. "A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF APPLYING “READERS’

THEATER” AS ENGLISH REMEDIAL INSTRUCTION FOR UNDERACHIEVERS".

Taiwan Journal Of TESOL, vol 10, no. 1, 2013, pp. 77-103.

Kennedy, Joan. "Oral Interpretation Of Literature: Readers’ Theater". The CEA Forum, 2011,

pp. 71-77.
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Appendix
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Raw Data
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https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gNhhFWeOvkA1EzIpvJUrD2-

uYCHQGED0bmKWmab769c/edit?usp=sharing