A case study of Readers Theatre in a primary Norwegian EFL class

Abstract

This article presents research on a case study of the use of Readers Theatre (RT), a group reading aloud activity in which a text is divided into small segments, in a sixth grade English as a Foreign Language (EFL) class in Norway. A mixed ability class of 27 readers, divided into groups of five to six pupils, rehearsed and performed fairy tales adapted for RT. The aims were to find out how the teachers and pupils experienced RT and how it influenced the development of the pupils’ reading, motivation and confidence. Data collection was through two teacher interviews, post-project pupil journals, lesson observations and video recordings of the first rehearsals and performances of three of the groups. Gains were recorded in pupils’ pronunciation, word recognition and fluency, especially among the struggling learners in the class. Gains were also recorded in pupils’ motivation and confidence to read. Both the cognitive and affective gains support research on RT among young learners in first language contexts and add to the sparse research on RT among young foreign language learners.

Reading in the second language classroom: Consideration of first language approaches in second language contexts

“…Supporting Myrset (2014) and Myrset and Drew (2016), the study showed that the learners' fluency improved and that they made considerably fewer pronunciation and word recognition mistakes in the performances compared to the rehearsals. They had become conscious of the need to be as accurate as possible and through peer and especially teacher assistance, had improved their reading accuracy and fluency.…”

“…Video recordings enabled the researcher to compare pronunciation, word recognition and fluency during the first rehearsals and performances of the groups, something which was original in the research on RT in an L2 context. Substantial gains were recorded in pronunciation, word recognition and fluency, especially amongst the struggling learners in the class (Myrset, 2014;Myrset & Drew, 2016). In addition to improvement in their reading skills, the learners produced a good deal of text in their Christmas stories, were enthusiastic and engaged in the project, became more confident about their reading, and were eager to participate in another RT project.…”

“…However, a growing number of studies have been carried out on RT in a range of English language classrooms and with learners of different age groups in Norway. There have been studies on RT in primary EFL classrooms (Myrset, 2014;Myrset & Drew, 2016), in lower secondary classrooms (Drew & Pedersen, 2010, 2012Pettersen, 2013), and with adult learners (Naess, 2016).…”

“…For the participants, coming from multilingual backgrounds, English was their third, fourth or fifth language, and their levels of proficiency in English were generally low. As in Myrset (2014), the learners experienced two cycles of RT: firstly with pre-written scripts and then with scripts they created themselves. The selfcreated texts were unique in RT research as the participants created texts to share with each other about the countries and cultures from which they came.…”

“…Data were collected through teacher and student interviews, classroom observations, and audio recordings of first rehearsals and performances. The latter, as in Myrset (2014) and Myrset and Drew (2016), allowed the researcher to measure the learners' improvement in fluency, pronunciation, and word recognition.…”