The Effect of the Reader’s Theatre on Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension Skills of 4th Grade Primary School Students

Öz

In this study, reader’s theater’s effect on reading comprehension and fluency skills was examined. In research, quasi-experimental design was used. The research was applied in a public school in Mamak/Ankara for 14 weeks in the 2019-2020 Academic Year. 29 students took part in the research. In the experimental group reader’s theater activities were carried out by the researcher and no application was done with the control group. To find out the reading comprehension levels of the students, reading comprehension test was used. In addition, the word recognition percentage, reading speed and Reading Prosody Rubric was utilized to determine the participants’ reading fluency levels. As a result of the analysis, the reader’s theater method was efficient in the increase in reading prosody and reading fluency skills, and the decrease in the number of misspelled words. Although no significant effect of the reader’s theater method on the participants’ reading speed was observed, it was concluded that the reader’s theater method increased the participants’ reading comprehension skills.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Readers theater
• reading fluency
• reading comprehension.

Kaynakça

1. Akyol, H. (2017). Türkçe ilk okuma yazma öğretimi [Turkish primary reading and writing teaching]. Ankara: Pegem Akademi.
2. Akyol, H., Yıldırım, K., Ateş, A., Çetinkaya, Ç., & Rasinski, T. (2014). Okumayı değerlendirme: Öğretmenler için kolay ve pratik bir yol [Assessing reading: an easy and practical way for teachers]. Ankara: Pegem A.
3. Al Qannubi, M., Gabarre, S., & Mirza, C. (2018). Experimenting reader’s theatre to improve omani pupils’ reading motivation. Asian Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, 1(2), 1-11.
4. Baştuğ, M., & Akyol, H. (2012). Akıcı okuma becerilerinin okuduğunu anlamayı yordama düzeyi [Predicting level of reading comprehension by fluent reading skills]. Kuramsal Eğitimbilim Dergisi[ Journal of Theoretical Educational Science,], 5(4), 394-411.
5. Black, L. A. (2016). The effects of reader's theater on reading comprehension and fluency of fifth-grade students (Doctoral dissertation). https://www.proquest.com/ accessed from page.
6. Carrick, L. U. (2001). The effects of readers theatre on fluency and comprehension on fifth grade students in regular classrooms (Doctoral dissertation). https://www.proquest.com/ accessed from page.
7. Caudill-Hansen, K. J. (2009). Readers' theater as a strategy to increase comprehension and fluency in sixth grade students. (Doctoral dissertation). https://www.proquest.com/ accessed from page.
8. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York, NY: Roudledge Academic.Computing R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.

9. Diederich, P. B. (1973). Short-cut statistics for teacher-made tests. New Jersey: Educatıonal Testıng Service.
10. Flemmer, M. A. (1984). First graders' reading comprehension can be increased through the application of story theatre and readers theatre. (Master’s Thesis). https://search.proquest.com/docview/1710734863?accountid=8319 Accessed from page.
11. Grimm, K. J. (2008). Longitudinal associations between reading and mathematics achievement. Developmental neuropsychology, 33(3), 410-426.
12. Jackson, N. E. (2005). Are university students' component reading skills related to their text comprehension and academic achievement?. Learning and Individual differences, 15(2), 113-139.
13. Jones, N. (2014). Readers' theater: Its effect on second graders' fluency, comprehension, and attitude towards reading (Doctoral dissertation). https://www.proquest.com/ Accessed from page.
14. Karasar, N. (2017). Bilimsel araştırma yöntemleri [Scientific research methods]. Ankara: Nobel.
15. Karasu, P., Girgin, Ü., & Uzuner, Y. (2013). Formel olmayan okuma envanteri [Informal reading inventory]. Ankara: Nobel.
16. Kaya, D., Doğan, B., & Yıldırım, K. (2018). Okuduğunu anlama testi geliştirilmesi: Geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışması [Developing a reading comprehension test: Validity and reliability study]. Okuma Yazma Eğitimi Araştırmaları [Literacy Education Research], 6(2), 44-55.
17. Keehn, S., Harmon, J., & Shoho, A. (2008). A study of readers theater in eighth grade: Issues of fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 24(4), 335-362.
18. Kolić-Vrhovec, S., Bajšanski, I., & Rončević Zubković, B. (2011). The role of reading strategies in scientific text comprehension and academic achievement of university students. Review of psychology, 18(2), 81-90.
19. Lewis, M., & Feng, J. (2014). The effect of readers' theatre on the reading ability of elementary special education students. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED557788 Accessed from page.
20. Marshall, H. B. (2017). The effectıveness of readers'theatre on fluency, comprehensıon, and motıvatıon on prımary students (Doctoral dissertation). https://www.proquest.com/ Accessed from page.
21. Millin, S. K. (1997). Effects of readers theatre on oral reading ability and reading attitudes of second-grade Title I students. https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=5405793 Accessed from page.
22. Owusu-Acheaw, M., & Larson, A. G. (2014). Reading habits among students and its effect on academic performance: A study of students of Koforidua Polytechnic. Library philosophy and practice, 0_1.
23. R Core Team (2019). R: A language and environment for statistical. https://www.R-project.org/ Accessed from page.
24. Rasinski, T. V., Blachowicz, C. L., & Lems, K. (Eds.). (2012). Fluency instruction: Research-based best practices. New York:Guilford.
25. Rasisnski, T., Stokes, F., & Young, C. (2017). The role of the teacher in reader's theater ınstruction. Texas Journal of Literacy Education, 5(2), 168-174.
26. Suggs, E. (2019). The impact of readers theater on fluency (Order No. 13857112). Master’s thesis. Lisans Tezi. https://search.proquest.com/docview/2269915384?accountid=8319 Accessed from page.
27. Tatar, E., & Soylu, Y. (2006). Okuma-anlamadaki başarının matematik başarısına etkisinin belirlenmesi üzerine bir çalışma [A study on determining the effect of success in reading comprehension on success in mathematics]. Kastamonu Eğitim Dergisi [Kastamonu Journal of Education], 14(2), 503-508.
28. Woolley, G. (2011). Reading comprehension. Reading comprehension assisting children with learning difficulties içinde (s. 15-34). Dordrecht: Springer.
29. Yıldız, M., Yıldırım, K., Ateş, S., Çetinkaya, Ç. (2009). An evaluation of the oral reading fluency of 4 th graders with respect to prosodic characteristic. Uluslararası İnsan Bilimleri Dergisi [International Journal of Human Sciences]. [Online]. 6(1), 353-360.
30. Young, C., & Rasinski, T. (2009). Implementing readers theatre as an approach to classroom fluency instruction. The Reading Teacher, 63(1), 4-13.
31. Young, C., & Rasinski, T. (2018). Readers theatre: Effects on word recognition automaticity and reading prosody. Journal of Research in Reading, 41(3), 475-485.
32. Young, C., Durham, P., Miller, M., Rasinski, T. V., & Lane, F. (2019). Improving reading comprehension with readers theater. The Journal of Educational Research, 112(5), 615-626.
33. Young, C., Stokes, F., & Rasinski, T. (2017). Readers theatre plus comprehension and word study. The Reading Teacher, 71(3), 351-355.