Journal Screenshot

International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2226-6348

The Effects of Reader’s Theatre on Students’ Reading Performance: A Systematic Review

Jordan Wee Jee Wui, Azlina Abdul Aziz

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARPED/v11-i4/15421

Open access

Reading skills has always been emphasised in English language classrooms because reading skills is believed to be crucial in helping students become proficient writers and speakers in the process of second language acquisition. However, the “Programme for International Student Assessment” (PISA) 2018 results revealed that most of Malaysian students were still below international benchmark in reading. Therefore, the current systematic review focuses on the effectiveness of Reader’s Theatre, a strategy to teach reading, in improving students’ reading performance. Employing the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses” (PRISMA) review methodology, a total of 15 eligible articles were selected from two databases, which were ERIC and Google Scholar. The identified articles ranged from the year 2013 to 2022. From the articles, it was found out that Reader’s Theatre was effective in improving students’ oral reading fluency and reading comprehension. Most of the studies in the primary school context focused on the components of oral reading fluency, such as pronunciation, word recognition and prosody; studies in the secondary school context focused more on vocabulary building and reading comprehension. The results also demonstrated the effects of Reader’s Theatre in improving motivation among students. It is suggested that future studies focus more on investigating the effectiveness of Reader’s Theatre with the integration of technology.

Devarajoo, H., & Yamat, H. (2021). Exploring the effectiveness of Audacity Readers’ Theatre in increasing reading motivation and fluency among lower primary ESL learners. International Journal of English Language Studies (IJELS), 3(2), 120-130.
Dole, J. A., Duffy, G. G., Roehler, L. R., & Pearson, D. D. (1991). Moving from the old to the new: Research on reading comprehension instruction. Review of Education Research, 61(2), 239-264.
Farid, A., Ishtiaq, M., & Husain, M. S. (2020). A review of effective reading strategies to teach text comprehension to adult English language learners. Global Language Learners, 4(3), 77-88.
Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L. (2011), Teaching and researching reading (2 nd ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education.
Grant, A., Gottardo, A., & Geva, E. (2011). Reading in English as a first or second language: The case of grade 3 Spanish, Portuguese, and English speakers. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 26, 67-83.
Higgins, J. P. T., Thomas, J., Chandler, J., Cumpston, M., Li, T., Page, M. J., Welch, V. A. (2019). Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions (2nd ed.). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
Jacob, S. S. (2016). Impact of reading on second language acquisition. International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities, 4(3), 316-321.
Jenkins, K. D., Jackson, J. T., Abdella, A. S., & Henderson, K. D. (2020). Using Reader’s Theater to improve reading fluency in African-American male students with learning and behavioral challenges. International Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 6(43), 1-8.
Johnston, V. (2016). Successful read-alouds in todays’ classroom. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 52(1), 39-42.
Karabag, S. G. (2015). Secondary school students’ opinions about Readers’ Theatre. European Journal of Educational Research, 4(1), 14-21.
Kok, K. H. (2020). PISA 2018 and Malaysia. International Journal of Advanced Research in Education and Society, 2(3), 12-18.
Kulo, S. A., Kibui, A., & Odundo, P. (2020). Integrating English language skills through readers’ theatre technique for reading comprehension in secondary schools in Kenya. LLT Journal: A Journal on Language and Language Teaching, 23(1), 17-26.
Kulo, S., Odundo, P., & Kibui, A. (2021). Perceptions of teachers on readers’ theatre and reading comprehension: Prospects for curriculum planning. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(1), 256-267.
Laberge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1994). Towards a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 293-323.
Lestrud, M. (2013). Reading skills. In F. R. Volkmar (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springers.
Liu, F. (2010). A short analysis of the nature of reading, English Language Teaching, 3(3), 152- 157.
Mansouri, S., & Darani, L. H. (2016). The effect of readers theatre on intermediate Iranian EFL learners in terms of oral performance and L2 vocabulary knowledge. Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods, 6(9), 295-303.
Mohamed, F. S., Abdel-Haq, E. M., & Ali, M. A. A. (2020). The impact of using Readers Theatre on improving EFL Reading prosody among Primary Stage Pupils. Journal of Faculty of Education, 122, 18-42.
Mohamed, Z. H. A., El Bashbishy, E. M., & Qoura, A. A. (2020). A readers’ theatre based program to improve the reading skills of EFL secondary stage students and motivation. Journal of the Faculty of Education-Mansoura University, 111(5), 137-155.
Mraz, M., Nichols, W., Caldwell, S., Beisley, R., & Sargent, S. (2013). Improving oral reading fluency through Readers Theatre. A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 52(2). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol52/iss2/5
Myrset, A., & Drew, I. (2016). A case study of Readers Theatre in a primary Norwegian EFL class. Nordic Journal of Modern Language Methodology, 4(1), 49-66.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups (NIH Publication No. 00-4754). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Nicolau, C., Matsiola, M., & Kalliris, G. (2019). Technology-enhanced learning and teaching methodologies through audiovisual media. Education Sciences, 9(3), 196-208.
OECD. (2019). PISA 2018 results (Volume I): What students know and can do. OECD Publishing.
Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C-. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., Brennan, S. E., Chou, R., Glanville, J., Grimshaw, J. M., Hrobjartsson, A., Lalu, M. M., Li, T., Loder, E. W., Mayo-Wilson, E., McDonald, S., McGuinness, L. A., Stewart, L. A., Thomass, J., Tricco, A. C., Welch, V. A., Whiting, P. & Moher, D. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. International Journal of Surgery, 88, 1-9.
Quezada, N. F. (2021). Outcomes of a Readers’ Theatre program on oral reading prosody: An exploratory study in different environments. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 13(5), 577-588.
Rasinski, T., Stokes, F., & Young, C. (2017). The role of the teacher in Reader’s Theater instruction. Texas Journal of Literature Education, 5(2), 168-174.
Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B. (2005). The essentials of teaching children to read. New Jersey: Pearson Educational Inc.
Sajid, M. K. M., & Kassim, H. (2019). Comparison of reading aloud strategies versus silent reading strategies used on Pakistani university students’ reading comparison for reading proficiency & literal reading skills. European Journal of Education Studies, 5(9), 112- 129.
Shanthi, A., Thayalan, X., Zainon, I., & De Mello, G. (2019). Developing students’ oral and reading skills through Reader’s Theatre [Conference paper]. The Second Annual International Conference on Language and Literature, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
Sloat, E. A., Beswick, J. F., & Willms, J. D. (2007). Using early literacy monitoring to prevent reading failure. Phi Delta Kappan, 88(7), 523-529.
Stanovich, K. E. (1980). Toward an interactive-compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 16(1), 32-71.
Suraprajit, P. (2019). Bottom-up vs top-down model: The perception of reading strategies among Thai university students. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 10(3), 454-460.
Uri, N. F. M., & Aziz, M. S. A. (2019). Teachers’ evaluation of the suitability of reading syllabus specifications to the CEFR. Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 32-44.
Urquhart, A. H., & Weir, C. J. (1998). Reading in a second language: Process, product and practice. Longman.
Vacca, J. L., Vacca, R.T., & Gove, M. K. (2012). Reading and Learning to Read (8th ed.). New York: Longman.
Wong, C. W. (2019). Teaching with a purpose. The Star. https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/columnists/on-the-beat/2019/12/15/teaching-with-a-purpose
Young, C., Durham, P., Miller, M., Rasinski, T. V., & Lane, F. (2019). Improving reading comprehension with readers theatre. The Journal of Educational Research, 112(3), 1-12.
Young, C., & Mohr, K. (2020). Improving boys’ reading comprehension with readers theatre. Journal of Research in Reading, 43(3), 347-363.
Young, C., & Rasinski, T. (2009). Implementing Readers Theatre as an approach to classroom fluency instruction. Reading Teacher,63(1), 4–13.
Young, C., & Rasinski, T. (2017). Readers Theatre: Effects on word recognition automaticity and reading prosody. Journal of Research in Reading, 41(3), 475-485. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12120
Young, C., Valadez, C., & Gandara, C. (2016). Using performance methods to enhance students’ reading fluency. The Journal of Educational Research, 109(6), 624-630.

In-Text Citation: (Wui & Aziz, 2022)
To Cite this Article: Wui, J. W. J., & Aziz, A. A. (2022). The Effects of Reader’s Theatre on Students’ Reading Performance: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 11(4), 263–275.