The effect of instruction and practice through readers theatre on young readers’ oral reading fluency

Abstract This study compared difference in treatment effect when Readers Theater was implemented in two ways as an instructional intervention to promote oral reading fluency in second grade classrooms. The study also examined the effect of Readers Theater intervention on students at different levels of reading ability. Multiple measures were used to determine pre‐ and post‐intervention performance of students in reading level, rate, accuracy, comprehension, and prosody. Although students in both treatment groups at all levels of ability made statistically significant gains, there was no significance between students who received Readers Theater plus explicit instruction in aspects of fluency and students who received only the Readers Theater intervention. Low achievement students made significant gains in rate, retelling, and expressiveness when compared with students at average and high achievement levels. High‐achievement readers made significant gains in measures of reading ability when compared with low‐ability readers.