The Effects of Reader’s Theater Instruction on Oral Reading Fluency of Second Grade Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether small group instruction using Reader’s Theater would positively affect the oral reading fluency scores of second graders who were identified as at-risk readers. The measurement tool was the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Assessment. This study involved the use of a pretest/posttest design to compare students’ scores on the oral reading fluency subtest (before the intervention was administered) to their scores six weeks later (after the intervention was complete). The research in this study examined whether the gap between the students receiving the intervention and the students not receiving the intervention would close. The scores of the students in the treatment group increased, but the gap did not close after the intervention took place. Continued research on the effectiveness of Reader’s Theater to aid in reading fluency is needed.