Stage It! Readers Theater to Engage ELLs Dr. Kate Mastruserio Reynolds William Brooks--brookswk@uwec.edu
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Project Description
Pre and Post Results Student Perception and Performance
This project was designed to analyze the best practices of Readers Theater for an ESL setting. We wished to see if Readers Theater could be used as a powerful language teaching tool for English language learners, in allowing for the
Students took a needs assessment comprised of four parts: 1) Recording of written passage from Well Said: Pronunciation for Clear Communication 2) Written response demographic information 3) Self-perception of English skills and habits 4) Self-perception of English language learning progress
integration and contextualization the four language skills (i.e., speaking, listening, reading and writing) plus grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Along with addressing the non-verbal behavior and socio-cultural features of the texts, we also sought to adapted the unit to fit students individual language learning needs while
Students completed pre-test on February 2, 2011 and the post-test on March 4, 2011. During that time, students also completed weekly surveys on their self-perception of their English language learning skills.
teaching language arts standards, with literary concepts like foreshadowing, character development, and plot.
1)The students performance on the recorded portion of the pre- and post-tests showed a general improvement in fluency and speaking rate, as the length of the recordings decreased. There was also a noted increase in students ability to pronounce –s word endings correctly in context. Aside from that, several students also displayed an increased adeptness to appropriate intonation and word stress.
The text that the students worked from during this unit was adapted from Kevin Klimowski s dramatic adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe s short story, The Tell-Tale Heart. Each student had their own role in the play, including: Wade (the murderer), Landlady, Officers (3), and Narrators (4). While students did do work concerning the play as a whole, the majority of the work they did was focused around their characters or parts.
Objectives
Population Description The study took place in northern Wisconsin high school in an ESL block English/reading skills classroom. The students in the class were all Hmong with ELP levels ranging from 1.9-3. The students ages range from 15 to 18 and are in grades 10-12. Most of the students reported being from Thailand and having been in the United States for 5 to 8 years. Most of the students estimated that they had been learning English for 2-8 years and said that their speak either no English or very little English.
Students also made this collaborative summary of the play by working in pairs to summarize the main events of the play. After they wrote their parts, we mixed them up and the students put them in the correct order.
TESOL
• Writing Students will be able to use 9-14 new words from the context of the play in writing.
Students created a map of the play s setting according to the stage directions given by the text. We often referred to the maps throughout the reading and acting of the play.
Students will be able to read aloud from their parts with increased fluency and speed.
Students will be able to keep track of their place in the play while others read.
Audience: Mr. Fisher s Family Letter of condolence
Students will be able to use descriptive writing to convey more information.
Topic:
The Murder of Mr. Fisher
Students will be able to act while in a way that conveys an appropriate mood. Students will be able to position themselves in concordance with stage directions.
4) Students language skills in in writing and speaking, in particular, seemed to improve over the course of the unit. With teacher guidance, the students began to write and speak more descriptively. They were often creative with their responses, using words from the play in addition to their pre-existing vocabulary.
Officer Smith
Format:
Acting
1) The classroom environment developed into a place with a lower affective filter, where students where willing and able to make mistakes in their speaking and learn from them more freely. The classroom became a place that was often filled with laughter and discussion.
Students did a RAFT reading strategy activity based on the play.
Students will be able to make predictions about the direction of the text.
Students will be able to summarize the key parts of the play.
Throughout the course of the unit, I noticed several positive developments:
Sample Lesson Plan Role:
English/Language Arts
Teacher Perception of Student Performance
3) Students were willing to work in groups and slowly began to help each other workshop their parts. While students worked through their regular in-class verbal performances of the play, they would often help each other with a word that was difficult to pronounce.
Students will be able to write from the role of their characters.
• Listening Students will be able to identify words with –s endings.
4) The students responses to the English language learning process portion of the pre- and post-tests showed several students who listed activities related to speaking as the easiest part of class.
2) Students slowly became better at monitoring their own reading and speaking. In the beginning phases of the play students were instructed to keep track of words and passages made sense or were confusing. Students also became better at asking questions or looking up answers more frequently.
• Reading Students will be able to self-identify areas of a text that they understand and don t understand.
• Speaking Students will be able to speak with correct intonation in context.
3) The students answers to the language skills and habits portion of the pre- and post-tests generally made a small improvement. Students self-perception on their ability to understand English input and their ability to produce comprehensible English output increased. Several students reported an increased use of English in and out of the school setting.
Resources The text I used: • Poe, Edgar Allan. One Act: The Tell-Tale Heart. Ed. Kevin Klimowski. Logan, IA: Perfection Learning, 1995. Print. Other potential texts I would have used for this project: • Dean, Michael. A Ghost In Love and Other Plays. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999. Print. Oxford Bookworms. • Henry, O. One Thousand Dollars and Other Plays. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000. Print. Oxford Bookworms. • Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. Ed. Alistair McCallum. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. Print. Oxford Bookworms. (For a complete list of reviewed texts and resources please see the binder.)