Perception of teachers on readers’ theatre and reading comprehension: Prospects for curriculum planning

Abstract

Reading has always been a challenging task especially for struggling learners of English as a second language (ESL). Readers' theatre has been used as a class instruction approach to enable learners to become innovative and active participants in the reading class. During class instruction, teachers use multiple strategies such as modeling reading accuracy, main idea instruction, group reading, adapting scripts, and discussion. Using a qualitative approach, this study aimed at investigating the perception of secondary school teachers on the impact of readers' theatre for improvement of reading comprehension of learners of ESL. Data was collected using interviews from eight teachers of English in secondary schools in Kisumu County, Kenya, and lessons were also observed. Purposive sampling was used to select the teachers. The findings were reported verbatim in accordance with the themes of the study. The findings revealed that readers' theatre class activities enabled learners to be involved actively in-class reading tasks which resulted in enhanced reading comprehension. Furthermore, learners built confidence in reading due to group reading. The findings of this study will assist teachers to plan appropriate class activities that scaffold reading comprehension and build confidence among learners. The study suggests further studies on implementing readers' theatre on writing skills.