【Teaching Practice Report】

Implementing Readers’ Theater for a Project-Based Advanced
English course
Nfor Samuel
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of readers’ theatre-based instruction in an Advanced English
course involving 21 freshman at Rikkyo University. The students were enrolled on an advanced-level English classin the first semester focusing on reading and writing. In the second semester, the same students embarked on areaders’ theatre project to reinforce first semester skills. Walker’s (Walker, 2018) Her Own Worst Enemy was chosen
as the main text for the course. A background discussion of the play involved techniques of skimming, scanning,
and inferencing to further develop students’ reading skills. Three groups comprising seven students performed
different roles in the seven-member cast. The teacher facilitated rehearsal sessions by having students highlighttheir parts, add descriptions of action on their scripts, delete or add lines, practice movements, make notes ofdifferent emotional moments, and mark different levels of intonation. Dramatic reading rehearsals enabled students
to experience language use from within and think on how sentences, vocabulary words, and phrases can be used toachieve communication goals. Rehearsals culminated in readers’ theatre performances where students read aloudand only glanced at the script half the time. Rehearsals culminated in readers’ theatre performances where students
read aloud and only glanced at the script half the time. Finally, students wrote an alternative ending to the play andperformed it in groups. A questionnaire was administered after the project to gather data and student feedback. The
findings of the study indicate that implementing readers’ theatre as a project-based English class enabled positivechanges in enhancing students’ reading, writing, and presentation skills.
Keywords: reading, writing, presentation, rehearsals, readers’ theatre

Introduction
In view of Japanese university-level EFL learner needs regarding reading, writing, andpresentation skills, a drama-based approach to English language teaching can prove effective as
Göksel (2021) asserts that Drama in Education (DiE) is a well-recognized pedagogy in manyeducational systems. However, there seems to be some hesitance in experimenting with drama-based
pedagogy in EFL classes at the university level in Japan (Donnery, 2013) although the use of dramain teaching of foreign languages is not a novel approach and its beginnings can be traced back to the19th century. (Schewe 2007, cited in Giebert, 2014). Since the late 1970s, with the increasing popularityof the Communicative Approach, drama-based pedagogy has been an integral part of foreign
language teaching and is recognized and appreciated by some English language teachers although
the approaches to integrating them in classes vary. This paper outlines the production process of a
student-centered readers’ theatre project. Starting with a discussion of the playscript andcomprehension questions, the project progressed to theatrical readings, performing readers’ theatre,
adding a scene to an existing script, and presenting it in class. At the conclusion of the study, students
answered a survey, with the results indicating that readers’ theatre enhanced reading, writing, andpresentation skills.

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IMPLEMENTING READERSʼ THEATRE FOR A PROJECT-BASED ADVANCED ENGLISH COURSEThe Teaching Context
A class of 21 first-year university students (aged 18–19 years), majoring in Business andInternational Business at Rikkyo University, participated in this project. The students had TOEIC
scores of 600 and over, which is equivalent to The Common European Framework of Reference for
languages (CEFR) level B1. Demographic information collected through a questionnaire showedthat the students have received six years. of English education at junior high school and high school.
Some had lived in English-speaking countries for a considerable amount of time, and a few others
had studied English outside of regular school curricula in Japan. Thus, they had acquired English
skills advanced enough to be able to enroll in the Advanced English course taught twice a week for
100 minutes each time.
The course ran for a year (28 weeks) and the aim was to nurture and encourage creativity andto develop reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. In addition, the course aimed at developing
the ability for students to provide logical and reasoned explanation of their views and the ability toargue and convince their peers and develop independent learning, thereby enabling them to beautonomous, collaborative, and creative. The second semester of Advanced English course is projectbased and shifts the focus of the course from academic skills to content. By virtue of my interest in
Drama in Education and because the course was more focused on content, I speculated that areaders’ theatre project would help me work intimately with students, placing them at the center oflearning, while keeping them motivated to meet the course goals. With this in mind, the projectfocused on readers’ theatre that combines language and skills practice to help students develop
strategies for interacting with others and provides an opportunity to develop their imagination.
The choice of the participants was based on the fact that Business and International Businessmajor students are often highly motivated to study English. The motivation often arises from their
aspirations to work in global environments in Japan or abroad or obtain jobs with internationalorganizations. Because of the high aspirations that such students have to accomplish their future
career objectives, most are open and receptive to experimental project-based learning.

Motivation for the Project
Although drama as a process-oriented method is present in Japanese education through school
drama clubs, where students put on plays and performances, drama as a process-oriented approach
is mostly missing within classes (Kobayashi, 2004). Drama-based language instruction has been
defined by different scholars, but Holden’s (Holden, 1981) definition is widely cited:…any activity which asks the student to portray himself in an imaginary situation or anotherperson in an imaginary situation-a definition which can be applied to most formats of drama inlanguage teaching and includes role-play as a form of drama. However, vocal and physicalexercises that do not imply the creation of a fictional character or situation, such as articulation
exercises or movement games, should also be included (p.1).
Regardless of the drama-based instruction tasks implemented, they often require students to interact
in pairs or groups and are aimed at helping students acquire a language skill. According to Kember(1977), when language learners take charge of their own learning, they co-construct knowledge with
the instructor as a facilitator rather than becoming a class speaker. One such way students construct161

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knowledge with the teacher as facilitator is through readers’ theatre of which Ødegaard (2003)
argues that its implementation in learning places students at the center of the learning process,offering them the chance to learn through experience, with teachers taking on a facilitator role
throughout the learning process.
The effectiveness of drama-based instruction for language learning was affirmed by Holden(Holden, 1981) who stated that “they help students have the opportunity to experiment with thelanguage they have learnt, and the teacher has a chance to see how each person operates in a
relatively unguided piece of interaction” (p.8). On a similar note, Via (1987) holds that drama-based
instruction tasks “enable students to use what they are learning with pragmatic intent, somethingthat is most difficult to learn through explanation” (p. 114). Drama-based tasks for language teaching
could involve full-fledged performances that run from casting to rehearsal to performance, or simple
ones like role plays, mime, simulation, or games. Some teachers choose to embark on moresophisticated drama-based tasks, such as process drama or readers’ theatre.
This study focuses on readers’ theatre, an activity in which students are not asked to memorize
their lines, but to read directly from scripts, while telling a story in an entertaining manner, without
props, costumes, or sets. It is an integrated teaching tool, involving students in communicative skills
that includes voice projection when reading, script writing, goal oriented performance, andcollaboration during group work. Although the students engaged in a readers’ theater activity are notasked to memorize their lines, they are encouraged to show facial expressions and to use intonationand gestures appropriate to their characters and their characters’ words. Moran (2006) summarizes
readers theatre stating that:
Readers’ theatre is different from traditional theatres and conventional plays as the readers (orperformers) do not have to memorize lines but read directly from the scripts…costumes,
scenery, props are rarely used and it can take place in any setting. Readers use their voices,
facial expressions and bodies to interpret the emotions, feelings and attitude (p. 318).
The pedagogical potentials of readers’ theatre for enhancing reading fluency, with appropriate tone
and proper expression has been affirmed by Worthy & Prater (2002, p.295) who state that “…reading
performance encourages students to read at an appropriate rate rather than to simply read fast
without attending to meaning…and that when students read and interpret texts regularly, they makeprogress in all aspects of reading.”
In the same light, Allignton, (2013) underscores the usefulness of readers theatre stating it is ateaching technique that exploits students’ thoughts and actions as they study a playscript to perform
it. Readers’ theatre parallels Vygotsky’s (Vygotsky, 1978) Sociocultural Theory, which argues that an
important learning by a child occurs through social interaction with a skillful tutor who models
behaviors and provides verbal instructions for the child, by so doing, developing cooperative or
collaborative dialogue necessary for effective communication. Readers theatre provides an authentic
chance for interaction with peers while practicing and performing a play script.

Literature Review
A review of literature found a few researchers who have covered aspects of drama-based
language instruction in their teaching in Japan and have written about their experiences. In (Yoshida,2007) Play Building in Japanese College EFL Classrooms, the author had students present an
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adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Her objective was to have her all-female class in a
women’s college create a play about a historical female figure in Japan who contributed to higher
education development for Japanese women. Although she tried to demonstrate how integrating playbuilding and performance promotes student competences in language learning, her main focus
seemed to be empowering her all-female class through the work of a female writer by having themempathize with the four female characters’ situations in the story.
In one study, Charles & Kusanagi (2007) led workshop sessions where participants discussed
activities to be performed with short feedback times between the activities. The workshop detailed
the purposes of the activities, how they tapped into learning, and possible outcomes in participants’
own teaching situations (Charles & Kusanagi, 2007). One activity in the workshop was role-playing
characters in scripts for students to guess the adjective matching the characters being played. Ingroups, the students discussed adjectives describing characters and then presented in front of classfor others to guess. The researchers concluded that drama-based learning were nonthreatening andclassroom environments affected students’ motivation toward learning. Greater self-confidence
created good classroom communities because students worked collaboratively to complete tasks,
thereby creating bonds between them (Charles & Kusanagi, 2007). Besides creating classroom
communities, as demonstrated by Charles and Kusanagi in their study, the current study will show
how working in groups on a readers’ theatre project impact students’ reading, writing, andpresentation skills.
In another study, Araki (2007) investigated Japanese primary school students through action
research and deduced that educational drama motivates Japanese students’ EFL learning by
providing them with opportunities for deep engagement and participation in learning. In the study,
students demonstrated improvement of communicative, linguistic, nonlinguistic, and problem-solving
skills necessary for learning.
Donnery (2009) described how drama-based pedagogy in the English language curriculum of aJapanese university increased student motivation and enthusiasm toward the target language. Her
students made role-plays in small groups to show their comprehension of a course textbook unit.
These role-plays helped the students as actors and audience engage with course content, dynamicallyleading them to take control of their own learning. The findings of her study suggest that students
emerged more confident in their oral communication abilities and developed more consciousness ofcultural issues. Friendships were also improved between Japanese students and other international
students in the same class.
Leong’s (2014) study was to examine whether readers’ theatre has any impact on Japanese
students’ writing skills. In a survey the author conducted on students reaction to readers’ theatre,
results showed that the students displayed a positive attitude towards readers’ theatre and theirwriting skills indicating that it lowers affective filters of Japanese learners in the EFL classroom.
The aim of the current study was to add to the literature related to drama and EFL learning inJapan by examining the impact of readers’ theatre on the reinforcement of reading, writing, andpresentation skills following a semester of regular textbook-based education. The aim of the current
study is to address the following research questions:• How does participating in a readers’ theatre project improve students’ reading, writing, andpresentation skills?
• Does participation in a readers’ theatre project show a shift from teacher-centered to studentcentred learning?
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Description of the Project
Before the start of the study, the methodology and aims were explained to the school
administration for administrative formalities, and the necessary permission to implement the study
was obtained. On the first day of the project, the importance of drama and language learning was
explained to the students, emphasizing the idea that the readers’ theatre project was not aimed totrain them to be actors but to be better language users. Students were instructed that, in readers’theatre, process was more important than the product (performance). In other words, the language
skills they develop in the process of participating in the readers’ theatre project is more important
than a successful performance. The readers’ theatre project was designed to meet the following
objectives:• prepare and perform a play to review presentation skills;• read and discuss a play script to review reading skills;• explore themes of a play to develop speaking skills;• practice reading aloud and reading dramatically to communicate emotional intentions;• develop creativity by appending a scene to a play and reviewing writing skills;• perform in groups in front of peers to enhance oratory skills.
Following a review of the project objectives, the students were led through some language
learning games to familiarize them with the concept of “acting,” as well as to introduce them to theconcept of “student-centered learning” and help them see the classroom as a place to play, explore,
have fun, and learn. On the importance of games in language learning and as a lead up to introducing
drama work, (Wright et al., 2008) state that games provide one way for the “learner to experiencelanguage rather than mere study it.” The games used in the project were “ice breakers” and “warmers”
to help learners feel comfortable with each other, confident in themselves, and focused on language
while developing at the same time the notion of rhythm, group cohesion, and voice projection, allnecessary for readers’ theatre. These games introduced some “playfulness” into the classroom as away of focusing the students minds on theatre as a medium of language learning.
A play by Walker (Walker, 2018) tilted Her Own Worst Enemy-A Serious Comedy About Choosing
a Career, primarily written for EFL learning, was selected as the play for the project. The choice of
this play was motivated by the fact that the protagonist Aida, 18, is preparing for university andstruggling with the choice of what to study and what to do as a future career. The students, all ofwhom are 18 or 19, had recently finished selecting on their institution and major, and thus, would
more likely identify with Aida, thereby increasing their enthusiasm to participate in the project.
Working in groups, students spent some lesson time discussing the title of the play, considering its
idiomatic nature and responding to questions leading up to the theme of the play. Because choosing
a career was the central theme of the play, students were required to conduct research on career
profiles by interviewing someone or watching a YouTube video of someone with an intriguing career
profile and presenting about it in class. The prompt read as follows:
Interview a person with an interesting job or watch one on YouTube and take notes considering thefollowing questions as a guide to develop your presentation:• How did you get interested in this field?
• Who influenced you?
• How did you prepare for this career?
• How did you get your first opportunity in this field?
• What do you like best about your work?
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IMPLEMENTING READERSʼ THEATRE FOR A PROJECT-BASED ADVANCED ENGLISH COURSE• What skills do you have?
• What advice do you have for someone who wants to do this kind of work?
• Can you share a quote or person that shaped your thinking?
Students were guided through the process of preparing and presenting a slideshow about career
profiles. Following these in-class presentations, geared toward developing presentation skills, thenext task was to read the play script in groups. Students were placed in groups of seven, one personfor each character in the play. They read the script in groups so as to get a general idea of the plot
and themes in the play. The students then answered some comprehension questions to confirm theirunderstanding of the script. By responding to comprehension questions, the essential reading skillsof skimming, scanning, and inferencing were further developed. Students were then divided into
debate teams and debated the choices that the main characters made in the play. The act of debating,making arguments, and responding with counter arguments is a useful exercise to develop speaking
skills.
Next, the teacher led students in a dramatic reading exercise to help them develop vocabulary
through the technique of subtext. Intonation, gesture, voice projection, and facial expressions wereareas emphasized during the dramatic reading process. The teacher also facilitated the dramatic
reading sessions by having students highlight their parts, add descriptions of action on their scripts,
delete or add lines, practice motion, and noting emotions and intonations. Dramatic reading
rehearsals enabled students to “feel the language from the inside” and reflect on how sentences,words, and phrases are used to attain communication goals. Dramatic reading rehearsals culminatedin a readers’ theatre performance. In this performance, the students dramatically read the scripts
aloud and looked up from the script only half the time.
The next task involved the students, again working in groups, to append a new scene to the play.
The students had to be creative to extend the story in an interesting and unique way. This task was
designed to help with students’ writing, specifically writing that involves cause and effect essays. As
cause and effect development of plot is key to play writing, it proved an effective and creative way of
improving students’ cause and effect essay-writing skills. The teacher assisted the students indeveloping the plot of their new scenes during the writing process, ensuring that the ideas werestructured properly and logically. In addition, the teacher made sure students included transition
words to clarify the cause-and-effect relationships and encouraged students to provide supporting
information based on their personal observations, reflections, and common sense. After completionof the writing process, the students rehearsed and performed their appended scenes as skits.

Results and Discussion
A questionnaire survey was conducted at the end of the course to gauge students’ enthusiasm
and analyze their self-assessment. The questionnaire items asked students to rate on a 5-point Likert
scale (1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly agree) the level ofagreement they had with statements regarding how they felt about the project; if they thought they
had improved their reading, writing, and presentation skills; and if they would like to try the samelearning method in the near future. The questionnaire items were selected to glean useful insights
toward the study’s research questions and were based on an overview of the wider Japanese English
education context so as to build a more comprehensive study (Rasinger, 2010) with readers’ theatre.
Feedback from students provided an emic perspective to add to the etic view to provide a morecomprehensive reflection on the project’s outcomes.
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Figure 1
shows the result of questionnaire survey conducted at the end of the readers’ theatre project

Questionnaire survey results
60
50
40
30
20

9
Agree

Attended almost all classes

8

Future plan to participate in a
drama project7
NeutralProject stimulated interest in
drama and English education

6
DisagreeGroup work fun, promoted
friendship and motivation

5

Felt a sense of accomplishment
and satisfaction

Writing activity encouraged
creativity

4Felt embarrassed performing
but developed confidence

Practiced reading withintonation and emotions

3

Strongly Disagree

Practiced skimming, scanningand inferencing

Each class had a clear purpose

2

Project helped reading, writing
and presentation skills

Instructions were clear anduseful1

Presenting helped withconfidence

Connection between projectand course

No.

Project aims were clear

0

Statements

10

10

11

12

13

14

15

Strongly agree

The data provided by the sample of 21 students through the questionnaire survey suggest that
there was a significant increase in self-perceived improvement in English communication skills so as
to determine the efficacy of the outcome of readers’ theatre. Potential patterns of the students’changed self-perceptions regarding their language skills following the readers’ theatre project could
be identified from questionnaire responses.
In response to the research question “Does readers theatre improve students reading, writing, andpresentation skills?” 31% agreed and 18% strongly agreed that they could practice reading withintonation and emotions (statement 5, whereas 37% agreed and 31% strongly agreed that the project
was useful for practicing skimming, scanning, and inferencing skills (statement 9), both important
techniques to enhance reading skills.
It can thus be inferred that students’ development of fluency. in reading correlates with thetheory of automaticity in reading (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974). Rasinski et al. (2009) define
automaticity as, “the ability of proficient readers to read the words in a text correctly and effortlessly
so that they may use their finite cognitive resources to attend the meaning while reading” (p. 4).
Reading correctly and effortlessly can be attributed to repeated reading rehearsal as is the case withreaders’ theatre, which increases reading rate, accuracy, and comprehension. Repeated reading has
been acknowledged by the National Reading Panel (2000) as a widely used instructional approach forbuilding reading fluency, while Dowhower (1991) witnesses repeated readings as effective to improvereading fluency among both adult learners and primary school-age children. By spending time toread the same play repeatedly during the 14 week-long period, Advanced English course students not
only made sense of different vocabulary words in the playscript but also understood the plot of theplay and read it enjoyably.
Although the formality of paper formatting and word choice were not stressed in the writing
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challenge, cause and effect essays were prioritized in terms of form and content. At the end of the
project, 31% of students agreed and 18% strongly agreed appending a new scene to the play in groups,
which in turn, stimulated their creativity and logical presentation of ideas. This can be attributed to
the fact that cause and effect development of plot was central in writing an alternative ending of theplay (statement 6).
Half (50%) of the students agreed and 12.5% strongly agreed that conducting slideshow
presentations on career profiles, the central theme of the play, was helpful to enhance confidence
while delivering presentations. (statement 7). Although 43% of students were neutral about the
impact of readers’ theatre in helping with the three core skills of reading, writing, and presentation,
central to the Advanced English course, 12.5% agreed and 18% strongly agreed that the course
impacted the course objectives positively (statement 8). Regarding the second research question,“participation in a readers theatre project as a shift from teacher-centered learning to student-centeredlearning,” 43% of students strongly agreed and 18% agreed that working in groups was fun, which inturn, promoted friendship and enhanced motivation. In addition, 43% agreed and 18% strongly agreed
that they felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction completing a project in groups (statement11). About working in groups as part of student-centered learning, Wright et al. (2008) asserted thatwhile working together in English, students talk more, share their ideas, learn from each other, feel
more secure and less anxious, and use English in a meaningful manner.
From the instructor’s perspective, this readers’ theatre project reduced teacher talk-time anddramatically empowered students to develop as self-motivated learners through peer-to-peer
interactions and training. In response to statement 13, 31% agreed and 18% strongly agreed thatreaders’ theatre stimulated their interest in drama and language learning. This project employed only
one playscript and exploited various language skills for student learning. However, 14 weeks was along time to spend on a single script. Echoing this sentiment, one student gave the following reaction:“I think we could try one or two more stories because we kind of wasted a time for practicing the same
one again and again.” Therefore, in future, multiple scripts could be used to break the monotony,which is necessary for keeping student motivation high and would also allow for experimenting withvarying language skills and engaging with a vast body of literature.

Limitations and Future Pedagogical Directions
This study reported on a readers’ theatre project in a 14-week Advanced English course held at
Rikkyo University. Taken together, the results of the survey add weight to the argument that readers’theatre can be an effective pedagogical method for improving students’ reading, writing, andpresentation skills. There are a number of limitations.
In the current study, the sample, 21 students, is too small to extrapolate the results. Furthermore,data were gathered only through a questionnaire survey and relied on subjective self-reported
measures; thus, the data collection was limited and did not allow for triangulation (Angouri, 2010). A
larger study, involving a lager sample size and conducted over an extended period of time could
provide stronger evidence. The current study used classroom research conducted in 14 weeks;however, a longitudinal design would be useful to provide more analytical evidence through control
and experimental groups.
Limited information was found in the literature regarding readers’ theatre and EFL learning inJapan. This area needs to be explored in further studies; however, the findings of this study highlightthe potential of readers’ theatre-based teaching method for motivating students’ to study English and167

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build their confidence as English communicators , in addition to enhancing reading, writing,speaking, and presentation skills. The readers’ theatre project, like other drama-based teaching
methods, could be a leverage to raise student interest in language study; however, it has a distinct
advantage over other forms of drama wherein it allows the actors (students) to read from a script andis not focused on memorization of lines. This not only makes it more accessible and less intimidating
for language learners of all levels but also has the potential to open access to a bigger corpus ofscripts, thereby allowing students to encounter different playwrights and learn more about the
fascinating world of theater.

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