A systematic review and meta-analysis of the Readers’ Theatre impact on the development of reading skills

Abstract

Readers’ Theatre is an artistic drama-based preparation and stage presentation of theatrical scenarios method, where the reader is called to interpret dialogues effectively, in cooperation with a group of people in the form of Stage Reading. Numerous studies have been conducted in order to evaluate the didactic effectiveness of the method for the development of the students’ reading skills. The aim of the study is the systematic review and meta-analysis of bibliography from 1990 to 2020, in order to unitize the findings concerning the didactic performance of Readers’ Theatre applications in the development of students’ skills aged between 6 and 12, as well as the revelation of the fields, where research presents some deficiencies. The findings of the systematic review of 23 studies showed that Readers’ Theatre is a teaching method, which contributes positively to the development of the students’ reading skills, along with the creation of positive attitudes towards reading and the development of incentive for the learning of reading within linguistic environments of either the mother tongue or a foreign language. Moreover, based on the meta-analysis results of 11 studies with similar research hypotheses and design, it was discovered that Readers’ Theatre contributes considerably to the improvement of the students’ reading skills and has a large effect size indeed.

Keywords

• Reader's theatre
• Stage reading
• Drama-based instruction
• Interpretive reading
• Reading ability
• Reading literacy