How Does Readers Theater Improve Language Fluency?

How does Readers Theater improve language fluency?

Answer:

Readers Theatre has garnished lots of positive attention in educational settings in recent years by providing drastic improvement to young reader’s fluency. Fluency is one of five reading components, including phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary and comprehension. Teaching to read with fluency is difficult to in a natural and organic setting, but thankfully readers theatre is one tool for educators that works for developing fluency. Here is why readers theatre in the classroom works to improve fluency.

Increasing Students Interest

It is a proven fact that we learn better the more engaged we are, and this is very true for students. Giving students an out of context passage to take home and read does not foster enjoyment. Readers theatre is engaging for young readers. This engagement translates to increased learning.

Repetition for Fluency

Readers theatre increases and teaches fluency because of the repetition involved. The readers will practice reading their lines and passages over and over, but in a meaningful and fun way. This repetition is working on reading fluency, as it is repeated practice. As an educator, you should see fluency increase in the entire group with each practice block.

Context When Reading

Reading fluency also depends on reading for a purpose. The same line can be read many ways depending on the meaning and context of how and why it is being spoken. By having a purpose and context for each line, students are able to practice reading with expression. This again improves their overall fluency.

These are just some of the ways that implementing Readers Theatre in your classroom or educational program will improve language fluency. The more engaged we can make our young learners, the more they will learn.