CreatingFluentReaders:TheRoleofReadersTheaterandFluencyPoems

CarynSnow
UniversityofNewEngland
April20,2015

StatementofAcademicHonesty:Ihavereadandunderstandtheplagiarismpolicyas
outlinedintheStudentPlagiarismandAcademicMisconductdocumentrelatingtothe
Honesty/CheatingPolicy.Byattachingthisstatementtothetitlepageofmypaper,I
certifythattheworksubmittedismyoriginalworkdevelopedspecificallyforthiscourse
andtotheMSEDprogram.Ifitisfoundthatcheatingand/orplagiarismdidtakeplacein

CREATING FLUENT READERS

thewritingofthispaper,Iacknowledgethepossibleconsequencesoftheact/s,which
couldincludeexpulsionfromtheUniversityofNewEngland.
Abstract
This study evaluated how repeated readings through the use of readers theater and
fluency poems, affected student prosody, word recognition, and phrasing. This study
consistedof18FirstGraderscomposedof7girlsand11boysinRuralVermont.Base
line data for this study was gathered through Aimsweb, the Fountas and Pinnell
BenchmarkSystem,andactiveobservationstochartstudentgrowthintermsofreading
prosody, oral reading rate, comprehension, and reading expression. Findings
demonstratedthatrepeatedreadingsthroughreaderstheaterandfluencypoemsdoes
increasestudentreadingfluency.Ninetyfourpercentofstudentsinthestudyincreasedin
readingrate,andallstudentshadimprovedcomprehensionandreadingexpression.Data
mayhavebeenaffectedbylimitationspresentedduetohighteachermeetingscausingthe
teachertobeoutoftheclassroomthroughoutthestudy,andstudentabsenteeism.
Keywords:readingfluency,prosody,comprehension,expression,readerstheater,
Aimsweb,repeatedreadings

CREATING FLUENT READERS

TableofContents
Abstract................................................................................................................................2
Table of
Contents
3
CreatingFluentReaders:TheRoleofReadersTheaterandFluencyPoems....................5
ProblemStatement...........................................................................................................6
ResearchQuestion...........................................................................................................7
Hypothesis.......................................................................................................................7
AReviewoftheLiterature..................................................................................................7
TheLiteratureReviewProcess........................................................................................8
Summary........................................................................................................................16
Methodology......................................................................................................................17
ResearchDesign............................................................................................................18
DataCollectionPlan......................................................................................................20
Table1...........................................................................................................................20
DataCollectionMatrixforRepeatedReadingsandFluencyIncrease..........................20
DataAnalysis.....................................................................................................................24
SampleStudents.............................................................................................................24
Results............................................................................................................................25
DataPresentation...........................................................................................................25

CREATING FLUENT READERS

Figure1..........................................................................................................................26
Figure2..........................................................................................................................26
AverageWordsReadPerMinuteinPassageAimswebPassageFluency....................26
Table3...........................................................................................................................27
FountasandPinnellPreandPostAssessmentData......................................................27
Table4...........................................................................................................................29
TeacherObservations....................................................................................................29
DataAnalysis.................................................................................................................31
Limitations.....................................................................................................................35
FurtherResearch............................................................................................................35
ActionPlan....................................................................................................................35
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................36
References:........................................................................................................................37
AppendixA........................................................................................................................41
TeacherObservations....................................................................................................41
AppendixB........................................................................................................................42
SampleWeekLessonsandActivities............................................................................42

CREATING FLUENT READERS

CreatingFluentReaders:TheRoleofReadersTheaterandFluencyPoems
Theimportanceofreadingfluencyinstructionisoftenignored,andmanyconsider
individualstobefluentreaderssolelybasedonspeed. Oralreadingfluencyisakey
componenttosuccessfulreading.Oralreadingfluencyaffectsreadingcomprehension,
efficiency,andaccuracy(Pikulski&Chard,2005;SamuelsandFarstrup,2011).Fluent
readersarethosewhodemonstrateautomaticityinwordrecognition,prosody,andread
withproperexpressionwhenreadingorally(SamuelsandFarstrup,2011).
ThisstudywillexploretheaffectsofReadersTheaterandfluencypoemsonfluency
development.ReadersTheaterengagesstudentsinatextstudentsmustattempttoread
with proper intonation to convey the characters feelings, as well as comprehending
characters feelings and moods by becoming the character (Allington, 2012). Both
ReadersTheaterandFluencypoemsrequirestudentstopracticerepeatedreadingswhere
studentspracticeapoem,passage,orplayoverseveraldaystoenhancehisorheroral
fluency(Faver,2008).TherrienandKubina(2006)statethat,Regardlessofpresent
readinglevel,repeatedreadingsappearbeneficialforstudentswhoreadbetweenafirst
andthirdgradeinstructionallevel(Faver,p.350,2008). Byincorporatingrepeated
readingsintheformofpoemsandplays,allstudentsintheFirstGradeclassshould
improveinoralreadingfluency.

CREATING FLUENT READERS

ThisstudyspecificallyfocusesonaFirstGradeclassconsistingof18studentsin
Bennington,Vermont.Elevenofthestudentsareboysandsevenaregirls.Twelveofthe
studentsreceivefreeorreducedlunch;tenarefromsingleparenthomes.Manyofthe
guardiansareundertheageof28yearsold.
ThisFirstGradeclassinwhichthisstudyistakingplacehas135minutesdevotedto
literacyinstructioneverymorning.Readinginstructionconsistsoftwofortyfiveminute
blocks of guided reading groups each consisting of 24 students. The Teacher sees
students for 20 minute blocks 23 times a week depending on their reading level
accordingtotheFountasandPinnellBenchmarkAssessment(Fountas&Portsmouth,
2010).ATitleOneReadingTeacherpushesinduringthistimetoprovideadditional
readinggroupinstructiontostrugglingreaders.Smallgroupinstructionconsistsofword
work, explicit reading strategy instruction, reading leveled books, and teaching
comprehensionstrategies.Whiletheteachermeetswithgroups,theotherstudentsare
doingtheLexiaReadingCore5programonthecomputer(http://www.lexiacore5.com)
workingonwriting,doingwordworkincenters,orreadingindependentlyorwitha
buddy.Inadditiontothetwofortyfiveminuteblocksofreadinggroupinstruction,every
studentreceives45minutesofFundationsinstructiondifferentiatedtomeettheirown
level.WilsonFundationsisakindergartenthroughthirdgradephonicsbasedprogram,
whichworksonspellinganddecodingbyexplicitlyteachingdecodingstrategies.
ThisstudywillexplorehowReadersTheaterandFluencyPoemsaffectstudent
motivationandreadingfluencyprogressbyintroducingpoemsandplaysweekly,and
practicingthemdaily.Thisstudywillevaluateandintegratetheresearchinsupportand

CREATING FLUENT READERS

opposedto Readers Theater,as well as explain the mannerin which the studywas
conductedandresultsyielded.
ProblemStatement
Currently33%oftheFirstGradetestclassareconsideredaverageoraboveaveragein
termsofreadingfluencyasaccordingtotheAimswebnationalnormsinreadingfluency,
whichstatesthatbyWinterofFirstGrade,students shouldbereading37wordsper
minute(ReadingCurriculumBasedMeasurement,2015);Fiftyeightpercentofthetest
classstrugglewithreadingfluentlyasdefinedbySamuelsandFarstrup(2011).Manyof
thestudentsreadinoneortwowordsegmentsandareunabletocomprehendwhatthey
arereadingbecauseoftheirlackofprosody.Thispreventsstudentsfromaccessingmore
difficult,complextextandmaterialthatmaybeofhigherinterest.BytheSpringofFirst
Grade, that national norm for passage fluency in Aimsweb is 57 words per minute
(ReadingCurriculumBasedMeasurement,2015).
ReadingfluencyisparticularlyimportantatthisstageinFirstGradebecausestudents
aredevelopingtheirreadingstrategiesandskills.Currently,thereisdisparitybetween
studentsreadinglevelsaccordingtoFountasandPinnell(Fountas&Portsmouth,2010)
andAimswebreadingfluencyinthistestgroup.Fluencyseemstobeanareawheremost
studentswithinthisschoolstruggleinFirstGradeandthegreatestareaofconcernfrom
oldergrades.
ReadersTheaterisanapproachtofluencyinstructionthatisconsideredtobeauthentic
andcomprehensivebecauseitscaffoldsthedevelopmentofautomaticityandprosodyin
oralreading(Farstrup&Samuels,2011).ByimplementingReadersTheaterandfluency

CREATING FLUENT READERS

passages, students will be motivated to practice their reading and work on their
expressioninamotivatingandengagingmanner.Byperformingtexts,studentswilllearn
thatprosodymatterswhenitcomestoactingouttheperformanceduetothefactthat
readinghasbeenmodeled,assisted,andrepeated(Young&Rasinski,2009).
ResearchQuestion
Asprimarystudentsprogressintheirreadingability,theresearcherquestionshowthe
impactofReadersTheaterandfluencypoemseffectsstudentmotivation,engagement,
andfluency.ThisstudywillconsiderifReadersTheater,supportedbyfluencypassages
isasufficientmethodforteachingstudentstoreadwithfluency,whichincludeprosody,
wordrecognition,andphrasing.Thisstudywillalsoexplorehow,andif,studentstransfer
andapplylearnedskillsfromReadersTheatertoeverydayreading.
Hypothesis
BypracticingReadersTheaterduringafourweekstudyalongwithfluencypassages,
students will become more fluent when reading other texts. Students will develop
phrasing,wordrecognition(throughapplyingotherstrategies),andprosody.Readers
Theaterwillresultinstudentsbecomingmoreengagedandmotivatedintheirreading.

AReviewoftheLiterature
Readingisacompilationofmanyskills.Itrequiresaproficientandadeptteacherwho
ishighlytrained,goodfirstinstruction,andstudentmotivation.Itiswidelyknownthat
therearefivemajorcomponentstoacomprehensiveandsuccessfulreader.Thesefive
components entail phonemic awareness, phonics or word recognition, vocabulary,

CREATING FLUENT READERS

comprehension,andfluency.Fluencyisnotasimple,surfaceelementofreading;ratherit
isadeeper,multifacetedcomponentthatrequirestheintegrationofallreadingstrategies.
Oftentheroleoffluencyinreadingdevelopmentisoverlookedandunderappreciated
(Pikulski&Chard,2005).Manyconsidertheroleoffluencyasspeed,wordsperminute,
which often leads to unexpressive and uncomprehending reader. A successful and
comprehensive reader does not focus on oneindividual aspect ofreading, but rather
seamlessly integrates all reading strategies to form understanding. This review of
literatureaimstoexaminethekeyroleofhowvariousinstructionalpractices,particularly
repeated reading through the use of Readers Theater and fluency poems, engage,
motivate,andbuildfluentreaders.
TheLiteratureReviewProcess
Toconductthisliteraturereview,theresearcherusedtheEricEBSCOsearchtool
fromtheUniversityofNewEnglandlibrarydatabasebetweenthedatesofJanuary28 th
throughFebruary5,, 2015.Theresearcherlimitedthesearchtofulltextsthathavebeen
peerreviewedbetweentheyearsof2005and2015.Theresearcheremployedsuchkey
wordsas:fluency,primarygrades,reader'stheater,readingfluency,repeatedreadings,
oralreadingfluency,Aimsweb,earlyreading,fluencypassages,fluencyinterventions,
early literacy skills. These descriptors resulted in many articles which the researcher
siftedthrough.Oncetheresearcherdeterminedwhicharticlesweremostrelevanttothe
researchtopic,shethencontinuedtoexploreresearcherswithinthosearticlesthatwere
continuallyreferencedwithinthosereferences.

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10

Evaluating current reading instruction. In Gay Iveys article, Redesigning

ReadingInstruction(2000),researchersWalmsley&Allington(1995)werereferencedin
their remark about the diversity of todays classrooms and the lack of teacher
preparedness(p.42).Manyoftodaysreadingprogramspresentstrugglingreaderswith
lowlevelreadingskillsratherthanimmersingstudentsingradeleveltext(Ivey,2000),
andmanyteachersareundertrainedintheareaofliteracy,unabletosupplementwith
valuableresources.Usingtheresourcesathand,theteacherislefttorelyonthebasal.
Thisfocusonskillanddrillmaywidenthereadinggapratherthanhelpcloseit.Tohelp
createforsuccessfulreaders,researcherssayteachersneedtoevaluatehowtimeisspent
onreadinginstruction,whattheclassroomroutinelookslike,andstudentmotivation
(Applegate&Applegate,2010;Begeny,Krouse,Ross,&Mitchell,2009;Faver,2008;
Ivey2000).Studentsneedtohavetimetoexploregradelevelbooksthatinterestand
engagethem(Applegate&Applegate,2010;Ivey,2000).Evenifstudentcannotreadthe
words,theycanreadthepictures,retellbookstheteacherhasreadaloud,andchoose
booksofinteresttoreadwithapeer.Allowingstudentsautonomytochoosethebooks
theyreadhelpsmotivatestudentsbecausetheycanchoosebooksbasedontheirinterests.
Thismotivationhasbeenseentoincreasestudentreadingcomprehensionandaidinthe
development of relationships between new ideas and application (Applegate &
Applegate,2010,Ivey,2000).Studentswhoaremotivatedbyatopicorideamaythen
becomemoreengagedinreadinginstructioninanattempttoreadthebookofinterest.
Teachersalsoneedtoevaluatetheirreadinginstructionandlookattheiruseofdirect
instruction(Stockard&Engelmann,2010).Instructionneedstobeevaluated,assessed,

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11

anddeterminedfitorunfitbasedontheteachercontrolledvariablessuchasgroupings,
texts,andwordskills,toestablishsuccessfulreadinginstruction(Ivey,2000;Stockard&
Engelmann,2010). Teachersneedtoensurethatthetimeprovidedforinstructionis
adequate,thegroupingsappropriate,instructionscaffoldedtomeetvariousstudentneeds,
andactivitiesthatareengaging,motivating,andworthwhile.Whenstudentsfeelthat
their needs are being met, and the activities are worthwhile, they will become more
motivatedtoengageinthelessonactivities. Thisengagementwillcreateaninvested
interestwhichwilldeepenstudentreadingdevelopment. However,suchstructureand
progress can only take place in a classroom where a teacher is highly trained, and
providesopportunityforstudentgrowth.
Teacherquality. Teacherscanonlyteachwhattheyknow.Alltoooftenschools
implementnewreadingprogramsinattemptstoraisereadingscores.Thisoftendoesnot
havethedesiredresultsbecausenosingleprogramencompassestheskillsandstrategies
thatwillmotivate,engage,andinstructeverychild.Equallyconcerningistheideathata
new program, no matter how adept, is ineffective without a teacher who is
knowledgeableinhowtoimplementit(Ivey,2000).Awelltrainedteacheristhekeyto
successfulliteracyinstruction.
Inordertosupportreaders,teachersmustparticipateincontinualandongoing
professionaldevelopmentaroundthesubjectofliteracy(Allington,2012).Theyshould
betrainedinthemostrecentresearch,andprovidedadditionalsupportsinandoutofthe
classroomtoaidintheirliteracydevelopment.Professionalsneedtoknowthetheoretical
knowledgebehindhowtomotivate,engage,andassiststrugglingreaders(Samuels&

CREATING FLUENT READERS

12

Farstrup,2011).Theyneedtobeabletoevaluateandassesswhyastudentisstruggling
(eyesight, tracking, confidence, stamina, motivation, comprehension, etc.) and then
determinehowtobestassistthestudentinovercomingtheseobstacles. Professional
developmentaroundliteracywillproducemorereflective,knowledgeableteacherswho
arecapableofimplementingandsupplementinggoodfirstinstruction,andprovidethe
supportsallreadersneed.
Directinstruction.TheMattheweffect,wheretherichgetricherandthepoorget
poorer,isoftenreferencedineducation(Stockard&Engelmann,p.3.,2010).Teachers
are continually failing to meet the needs of struggling readers and those readers are
falling further behind as the gap between proficient readers and struggling readers
widens.Onewaytoclosethegapistoensureteachersareusingdirectinstructionasa
teachingmethodwheninstructingliteracy.Gooddirectinstruction(DI)isdifferentiated
with interventions that improve the classroom instruction, scaffold student learning
thoughadditionalexpertsupports,andprovideadequateuninterruptedtimeforliteracy
instruction(Allington,2012).Skillsandstrategiesareexplicitlytaughtandtheclassroom
isstructuredaroundasetliteracyblockwithhighlytrainedteachers.Teachersneedto
adequatelybalancetheirtimeandinstructionbetweenskillsbasedandmeaningbased
literacy instruction to develop a balanced literacy model (Bingham & HallKenyon,
2013). The idea behindbalanced literacyis to providestudents withtheinstruction
neededtodevelopandapplyliteracyskillsthroughteacherguidedinstruction,aswellas
learnhowtobecomeindependentandcomprehensivereaders

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Thedevelopingreader.Learningtoreadisadifficulttask.Notonlydoesastudent
havetolearnthelettersandsounds,theymustthenlearnhoweachisrelated.Once
studentsconnectlettersandsounds,theythenbegintoblendletterstoreadwordsby
focusing on the beginning letters of words and relying on other clues such as other
soundsintheword,pictures,orperhapscontext. Asstudentsprogress,theybeginto
recognize certain words by sight or with automaticity. This instant, accurate, and
automaticwordrecognitionisthebeginningbasisofbecomingafluentreader(Allington,
2012;Pikulski&Chard,2005).Oncestudentsbegintorecognizewords,theytransfer
thiswordautomaticitytocomprehendingthemeaningbehindthewords(Bingham&
HallKenyon,2013).Oneearlyindicatoroflaterreadingsuccessisstudentexposureand
accesstoliterature.Childrenwhohaveearlyliteracyexperiencestendtohaveawider
vocabulary,greatersetoflanguageskills,andbroaderbackgroundknowledge,allof
whichhelpbeginningreadersbuildreadingcomprehension(Begeny,Krouse,Ross&
Mitchell, 2009; Stockard & Engelmann, 2010). As students have more literary
encounters, students knowledge of text expands, they begin to process and retrieve
information faster and rely less on decoding skills and more on their integration of
knowledgearoundotherliteracyskills(Pikulski&Chard,2005;Samuels&Farstrup,
2011). Reading fluency builds on the foundation of oral language skills, phonemic
awareness, and proficient decoding skills; when students move from focusing on
decodingtoautomaticwordretrieval,theyareabletoreadtextmoreaccuratelyandwith
better comprehension thus resulting in more fluent readers (Pikulski &Chard, 2005;
Samuels&Farstrup,2011).

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Thecrucialroleoffluency.Whilemanyconsidertheroleoffluencyassimplywords
read per minute, many researchers and authors define fluency as a bridge to
comprehension, which requires an individual to read with automaticity, accuracy,
prosody,andexpressivenesswhilereadingoutloudandsilently(Allington,2012;Faver,
2008;Pikulski&Chard,2005;Samuels &Farstrup,2011;Marcell&Ferraro,2013;
Young&Rasinski,2009).Whenteachersovertlyrelyonspeedasameasureforfluency,
they often compromise reading comprehension and enjoyment (Young & Rasinski,
2009).Oftenstudentsaresofocusedonreadingforspeed,thatthattheyhavenoregard
forpunctuationorintonationandstruggletoretelleventhesimplestofevents(Marcell&
Ferraro,2013).Itistheteachersresponsibilitytoassiststudentsindevelopingreading
fluencythroughassistedandrepeatedreadingswhichwillresultingreaterconstructof
knowledge(Garret&OConnor,2010).Furthermore,theteacherisresponsibletoensure
thatstudentsmovefromlearningtoread,toreadingtolearn.Thisrequiresstudentsto
have the skill set and knowledge to read with fluency and expression, while
comprehendingwhattheyarereading.Oncethistransitionhasoccurred,studentstendto
discoverthattheycanlearnnewinformationfrombooksandreadforenjoyment.
Automaticity and prosody, which are components of fluency, improve student
accuracy,proficiencyandcomprehension.Studentsmustknowhowtospeedup,slow
down, and change their voice based on text difficulty, punctuation, or differing
perspectives. This allows readers to make meaning through inferring (Samuels &
Farstrup,2011).Afluentreaderisonewhoreadsatanormalspeakingvoice,whilealso

CREATING FLUENT READERS

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comprehendingwhatheorsheisreading(Faver,2008).Readaloudsareagreatwayto
teachreadershowtobecomefluent.Theyallowteacherstomodelfluentreading.
Readingaloudtomodelreadingfluency.Whenteachersreadaloud,studentsare
abletoenjoyastorythatis beingreadfluently.Thisallows students tohearhowa
teacherpauseseffectively,thinksaloudtomodelquestioningatext,usescontextcluesto
solve for new vocabulary, and even model reading in segments. Hesitations and
mispronunciationscanchangethemeaningofatext(Fisher,Flood,Lapp,&Frey,2004).
Readaloudsprovidesanopportunityforstudentstonotonlyenjoyastoryandseehow
effectivestrategiesaremodeled,butalsodiscovertheimportanceofthosenotsoefficient
strategies,suchasnotbeingfluent.Ateachercanbeginbystatingthepurposeofthe
lessonsuchasexpression,pronunciations,prosody,flow,rate,andqualityandhowthese
affectenjoymentandcomprehensionofthetext(Fisher,Flood,Lapp,&Frey,2004).By
modelingfluidreadingthroughreadalouds,studentsbecomemoreawareoftheirown
readingandthatoftheirpeers.Theyseemtobemoreopentoconstructivecriticism
becausetheynowunderstandtheimportanceofreadingwithexpressionorinmultiword
phrases.Studentsthenbegintoguidetheirpeers,remindingthemwhentoslowdown,
speedup,orchangetheirexpression.Readaloudsareagreatwaytointroducetheideaof
fluencyinanoncriticalmanner.
It has been noted, that fluent readers tend to have greater academic and social
successes.InastudyconductedbyJeanStockardandKurtEnglemann(2010),itwas
observed that students who were not fluent readers by the end of first grade, had
substantiallyhigherprobabilitiesoflateracademic,economic,andsocialproblemsthan

CREATING FLUENT READERS

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studentswhoachieveatgradelevelatthattime(Stockard&Englemann,p.2,2010).
Readingfluencynotonlyresultsinbetterreadingcomprehension,rate,andprosody,it
alsoresultsinimprovedreadersselfesteemandflexibility(Garret&OConnor,2010).
Oftenthereisalackoffluencyinstructioninoldergrades.Thismeansitiscrucialfor
theprimarygradestofocusoncreatingfluent,comprehensivereaders.Tocreatefluent
readers, researchers Samuels and Farstrup (2011) recommend teachers model fluent
reading, students practice assisted reading, students practice their reading through
repeated readings to learn how to chunk up words and phrases to create more fluid
readingandsynergize(alsoreferredasMAPPS).Oneapproachtocreatingmorefluent
readersthataddressallMAPPSrequirementsistheuseofReadersTheaterandfluency
poems(Samuel&Farstrup,2011).
The use of readers theater, fluency poems and the role of
repeated reading.Repeatedreadingisaprocesswhereastudentreadsapassage
dailyoverseveraldaysinattempttobecomemorefluid(Begenyetal.,2009;Faver,
2008).Repeatedreadinghasbeenshowntohelpgeneraleducationstudents,aswellas
thosewithlearningdisabilities.Studentsimprovedinwordautomaticity,expressionin
theirreading,andreadingcomprehensionandbeendescribedbySamuels(1979)asbeing
thebestwaystotargetfluencyinstruction(Begenyetal.,2009;Faver,2008;Young&
Rasinski,p.6,2009).Furtherithelpsinreinforcingstudentsselfesteemastheybecome
moreproficientwithapassage.Studentsbegintorereadpassagesindependentlyand
withtheirpeers,offeringadviceandhelpindecodingwords,readingwithexpression,
andacknowledgementofpunctuation.Repeatedreadingsexposestudentstowordsthey

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mayhavepreviouslybeenunfamiliarwithandincreasesreadingrateandvocabulary
withoutanoveremphasizingtheneedforspeed(Marcell&Ferraro,2013).
Oftenteacherswillreadaloudpassageswhilestudentsfollowalong,thenstudents
practicethepassagewithteacherassistance,andthenindependently.Studentspractice
thesepassagesuntiltheyhaveachievedthecorrectrate,prosody,andaccuracy(Begeny
etal.,2009;Young&Rasinski,2009).Repeatedreadingscanbedonethroughtheuseof
books,poems,orplays.ReadersTheaterisaresearchedbasedinstructionalpracticeof
interactive repeated reading where students are given scripts or stories that can be
performedasaplay(Garret&OConnor,2010;Young&Rasinski,2009). Itexposes
studentstodifferentgenres,sightwords,andrepeatedreadingssostudentscanbuild
comprehension(Garret&OConnor,2010).Studentsseemtobemoreengagedtomake
the text come alive by becoming a character within the story (Allington, 2012). As
studentsbecomemorefamiliarwiththepassageorplay,theybecomepartofthestory.
Studentsgraduallybeginusinggesturestoaccompanytheirplay,andbegintolearnhow
tochangetheirvoicestomatchthatoftheircharacterbecausetheyaninvestedinterestto
practiceReadersTheaterpassages(Young&Rasinski,2009). Astudyconductedby
Clark, Morrison, and Wilcox (2009), resulted in an increase in student interest,
confidence,engagement,aswellasreadingexpression,volume,pace,andphrasing.By
the end of the study, students who began reading in robotic, monotone voices were
reading with correct phrasing and expression. Students became less distracted when
workinginlargergroupsbecausetheywereworkingtowardsacommongoalandfelta
responsibilitytopracticetheirReadersTheaterparts(Clarketal.,2009).

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Summary
Inordertoproducestrongreaders,wemustfirsthavewelltrainedprofessionalswho
are reflective and knowledgeable in the areas of literacy instruction. They must
understandthatreadingisacomplexprocessthatrequirestheintegrationoffivemajor
components phonemic awareness, phonics or word recognition, vocabulary,
comprehension,and fluency.While muchattentionis garnered towards thefirst four
components,readingfluencyisoftenignored.Infirstgrade,fluencyisoftenconsidered
reading with speed, disregarding the importance of prosody, expression, and
comprehension. By modeling fluent reading through read alouds and implementing
repeatedreadingsthroughtheuseofReadersTheater,studentswillbemoreengaged,
motivated, and successful. This method of instruction for the next four weeks will
scaffoldfluentreaderswhoareefficient,accurate,andcomprehensivewithintext.

Methodology
ManyFirstGradestudentsstrugglewiththeabilitytoreadfluently.Studentsareeither
readinginoneortwowordsegments,readinginarobotic,monotonevoice,orfocusedon
readingforspeedresultinginacomprehensiongap.Afluentreaderisonewhoreadswith
appropriaterate,prosody,expression,andcomprehension.Thisstudyexploredhowthe
useofrepeatedreadingsintheformoffluencypoemsandreaderstheateraffectsstudent
fluency.Thehypothesizedresultswerethatrepeatedreadingsintheformsofreaders
theater and fluency poems would increase students reading rate, expression, word
automaticity, and comprehension. It was expected that students would apply these

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strategies in other reading contexts. This case study was based on a single system
researchstudythatfocusedonasinglegroupusingassessmentspriortointerventionand
afterintervention.Thestudygroupconsistedof19FirstGraders,allofvaryingreading
abilityandfluencylevels.Thestudymadegeneralizabilitysabouttheaffectofrepeated
readingsthroughtheuseofreaderstheater.
Datawascollectedthroughamixedmethodsdesigntoincludingqualitativedata
collectiontechniquesfromactiveparticipantobservationsaswellasprivileged,active
observer, and quantitative data collection techniques from teacher given tests and
nationallystandardizedtests(Mills,2012).Toensurevalidityandreliabilityofresults,
the use of multiple assessments were used, specifically Aimsweb, and Fountas and
PinnellBenchmarkAssessment(Fountas&Portsmouth,2010).Bothsystemsmonitored
student fluency, specifically rate. The Fountas and Pinnell system also accounts for
student comprehension, expression, and prosody in its fluency score (Fountas &
Portsmouth,2010). Thistriangulationwillensurethattheresultsfromthisstudyare
morecredibleandvalid.Therewillalsobethemoreinformalobservationofstudents
increase in reading fluency encompassing all its components through the use of
observation in acting out the readers theater and application during guided reading
groups.
ResearchDesign
Students were assessed pre and post intervention using teacher observation of
expressionandprosodywhilereading.Aimswebwasusedtocomparewordsperminute
throughapassageselection.TheFountasandPinnellBenchmark(2012)wasutilizedto

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crossexaminestudentreadingfluencyandtodetermineifstudentscomprehendwhat
theyarereading.
Throughoutthe4weeks,thewholeclassbeganeveryMondaybeingintroducedtoa
different, teacher selected fluency poem, throughout the month of March. The class
beganwiththeteacherreadinganddiscussingthepoemtotheclass.Newvocabulary
fromthepoemwasintroducedandstudentsweretaughthowtovisualizewhattheywere
reading.Thentheclassreadthepoemtogetherwiththeteacher.Eachchildwashanded
hisorherowncopyofthepoemtoillustrateandpracticeindependentlyandinpairs.
Everydaytheclassspent5minutesreadingthepoemasagroup.Throughouttheweek,
theteacherconferencedwithstudentsfor3minutesaboutthepoem.Thisconsistedof
readingthepoemtogetherandhavingthestudentsreadthepoemindependently. The
teacherobservedtherateandexpressionofhoweachpoemisbeingread.
Insmallerguidedgroupsconsistingof47students,theteacherintroducedanew
readerstheaterplayeachweek.Thestudentsreadthroughthescriptwiththeteacher,
discussing the characters, vocabulary, and the plot. The teacher modeled different
methods of speaking for various characters while the students help to determine the
appropriateintonation.Astheweekprogressed,studentsmetintheirsmallgroupswith
andwithouttheteachertopracticetheirplays.EveryFridaystudentswereencouragedto
performtheirplayfortheclass,providinganopportunityforpeerreview,aswellasto
determineifstudentswerereadingtheplaysfluently.Inthelastweekofthestudy,the
studentsweregivenaplaytoworkonintheirsmallgroupstodetermineiftheywereable
toreadtheplayfluentlyatanindependentlevel.

CREATING FLUENT READERS

21

Repeatedreadings.Repeatedreadingsrequirestudentstopracticepassageswhatthey
havealreadyreadwiththeteacher.Thisrepetitionhelpsstudentsfamiliarizethemselves
with words,thus increasingtheir wordrecognitionandautomaticity.Italsoprovides
studentswithmoreopportunitiestopracticephrasingandexpressionsincetheybecome
morefamiliarwiththetexteachtimetheyreadit.Finally,repeatedreadingshelpbuild
student comprehension. As students became more familiar with the text they were
reading, they began to read in longer phrases, with more expression, and build an
understandingaboutwhatwasgoingonwithinthetext(Begenyetal.,2009).
Fluencypoemsandreaderstheater.Fluencypoemsandreaderstheaterareforms
ofrepeatedreadingthatencouragestudentstoworkalone,withapartner,orinsmall
groupstobuildoralreadingfluency.Poemsandreaderstheaternotonlyexposestudents
to basic sight vocabulary thus building word recognition, it also helps build
comprehensionthroughactingouttheplay(Garret&OConnor,2010).Theserepeated
readings expose and familiarize students to different genres and engage students by
allowingthemtobepartofthetext(Allington,2012).
DataCollectionPlan
Adatacollectionmatrixwasdesignedinordertoorganizeandmaintaindatacollected
through the 4 week research period to track what methods of intervention are
implementedandthecorrespondingresults(Table1).

CREATING FLUENT READERS

22

Table1
DataCollectionMatrixforRepeatedReadingsandFluencyIncrease
DataSource
ResearchQuestions

CanweeklyReadersTheater
practiceimprovestudents
fluencyintermsofreading
withappropriateexpression,
comprehension,andprosody?

Teacher
Observation
(Pre
assessment)

Teacher
Observation

Fountasand
PinnellReading
Comprehension
Questions

Willdailyrepeatedreadingsof
fluencypoemsincrease
studentreadingrateandword
automaticity?

Aimsweb
(Pre
assessment)

AimswebPost
testpassage
fluency

DolchSightWord
list

Willstudentsbemoreaware
ofproperexpressionwhen
readingothertextsafter
practicesrepeatedreadings
throughtheuseofpoemsand
plays?

(Pretest)
Fountasand
Pinnell
Benchmark

Fountasand
PinnellPost
Testreading
rate

Teacher
observation

Datawascollectedovera4weektimeperiodtomonitorandevaluatestudents
increase in word automaticity, appropriate rate, expression, prosody, and reading
comprehension. The researcher will use a mixed methodology (Mills, 2014), data
collectionplanusingqualitativeandquantitativedatatodetermineifrepeatedreadings
haveaffectedstudentreadingfluency.
Qualitativedata.Thequalitativedatathatwasexaminedinthiscasestudyconsisted
ofthoroughlyanalyzednotesandobservationsbasedonstudentoralreadingprosody,
expression,andcomprehension.AppendixAshowsanotetakingchartdesignedthat

CREATING FLUENT READERS

23

assisted in data collection. Students were observed at the beginning of the study to
determineabaseline,thenonaweeklybasistonotegrowthovertime,andapplicationof
strategiestaughtthroughouttheweek.Theresearcherdeterminedifthereareoverarching
themesorgapsinstudentfluencyandusedacodingsystemtodeterminewhichstudents
needwhatinstructiontofillthosegaps(Mills,2014).
Quantitative data. The quantitative data collected in this research project was
gatheredusingtheFountasandPinnellBenchmarkAssessmentSystem(F&P)(Fountas
&Portsmouth,2010)andAimsweb.
TheF&Prequiresstudentstoreadeitherfictionornonfictiontextsatthestudents
instructionalleveltodetermineifthestudentisafluentandcomprehensivereader.After
reading the text, the student was asked questions that require the student think both
explicitlyandimplicitlyaboutthetext.Therecordernotonlytimeswordsperminuteat
thestudentsinstructionallevel,butalsodeterminedstudentcomprehensionbasedona0
3pointscaleasprovidedbythebenchmarksystem.Studentsmaybetestedusingthe
systemeverysixweeks.
TheAimswebassessmentsolelyreliedonstudentreadingratetodeterminereading
fluency.Theassessmentdidnottakeintoconsiderationstudentreadinglevel,butrather
requiredeachstudenttoreadaoneminutepassageatthecurrentgradeleveltheyarein.
The student results were then compared to national norms of words per minute to
determineifstudentsweremeetingthegradelevelfluencyexpectations.

CREATING FLUENT READERS

24

Instruments.Thetriangulationmatrix(Table1)showsthevariousformsofpreand
postassessments alongwithweeklyassessments thatwereusedtoshowgrowthand
changeovertimethroughoutthisresearchproject.
Improvementinexpression,comprehension,andprosodyusingreaderstheater. A
mixedmethodologyusingqualitativeandquantitativedatawascollectedtodetermine
how Readers Theater has helped to improve student expression, comprehension, and
prosody(Mills,2014).Qualitativedatawascollectedusingteacherobservation,where
theteacherusedatabletokeeptrackofprogressandgrowth(appendixA).
The teacher collected quantitative data using various assessment tools. One
assessmenttoolistheFountasandPinnellBenchmark(2010).TheFountasandPinnell
Benchmark(2010)requiredtheteachertocalculatefluency(aswordsperminuteWPM)
andcomprehensionafterthestudentreadsafictionornonfictiontextprovidedbythe
benchmarksystem.Thestudentisaskedquestionsthatrequirebothexplicitandimplicit
thinking.Thissystemisdifferentthanotherqualitativeassessmentsbeingusedinthis
researchbecausestudentsareassessedbasedontheirinstructionallevelversusgrade
level.Thereforestudentgrowthinmorenotedbecauseitshowsgrowthovertime.The
studentswillbegivennewreaderstheaterscriptsonMondayofeachweek,andwill
spendtheweekpracticingthesescriptsindependentlyandinsmallgroups.OnFridaysof
eachweek,thestudentswillperformtheplaysfortheirpeers,astheteachertakesnotes
usingAppendixA.
Dailyrepeatedreadingsandgrowthinwordrecognitionandrate. Studentswere
assessedandmonitoredusingqualitativedataontheirwordrecognitionandrate.While

CREATING FLUENT READERS

25

the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark (2010) monitored student WPM at the students
instructional level, Aimsweb assessed students as compared to national norms
comparingstudents toother students across thenationin First Grade. Students were
requiredtoreadagradelevelpassageandtimedforWPMbothasapretestandposttest.
Classachievementwasthengraphedtocomparetheclasstonationalnormstoshowhow
studentscompare.
Toassistwithwordrecognitionandrate,studentsspent35minutesdailypractice
sightvocabularyfromtheDolchSightWordList(http://www.dolchsightwords.org)to
buildautomaticityandsightwordrecognition.Studentsweretestedeverytwoweeksto
showgrowthinsightvocabularyrecognition.
Studentsabilitytoapplynewstrategiesinotherareasoflearning.Studentswere
assessed using the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark (2010), and through teacher
observation to determine if they are appropriately applying fluency strategies while
readinginothercontexts.Whenstudentsareencouragedtopracticetheirreadingsin
morevarieties oftexts,thereisoftenagreatergrowthinvocabularyandconception
growth (Pikulski & Chard, 2005). By integrating the fluency strategies and skills
acquiredthroughtheuseofrepeatedreadings,studentsshouldthenbeabletoapplythese
strategiestoothertexts.
Teacherguidedlessonsandindependentpractice. Studentsweregivenweekly
fluencypoemstopractice.EachMondaytheteacherwillintroducethefluencypoemto
the class, read and discuss it with the students, and hand out individual copies.
Throughouttheweekstudentshadvariousactivitiestocompletebothinasaclassand

CREATING FLUENT READERS

26

independently(AppendixB).Theseactivitiesweredesignedtoaddressalltheareasof
fluency which encompasses student comprehension, and the ability to read with
automaticity,accuracy,prosody,andexpressivenesswhilereadingoutloudandsilently
(Allington, 2012; Faver, 2008; Pikulski & Chard, 2005; Samuels & Farstrup, 2011;
Marcell&Ferraro,2013;Young&Rasinski,2009).

DataAnalysis
Qualitativedata. TheresearcheranalyzedthedatacollectedinAppendixAto
determineifstudentshavemadegainsintheirexpression,prosody,andcomprehension
based on the Friday performances of their readers theater plays and fluency poem
readings.Theresearcherusedcoding(Mills,2014)toorganizedatatodetermineifand
wheretherewerepatternsofstudentneedandsuccess.Thedatawascollectedfromthe
weeklygroupperformancesandindividualfluencyreading.
Quantitativedata.TheresearcherplanstodocumentthedatafromboththeF&Pand
Aimswebassessmentsusingagraphtocomparegrowthoftheclassoverthetesttimeas
wellascomparethedatatohowthetestclassperformscomparedtothenationalnorms.
Thedatawillbefurthercomparedtodetermineifstudentsperformingbelowgradelevel,
as according to the F&P benchmark are consistently disfluent in the Aimsweb
assessment,andifthesestudentsshowgrowth.
SampleStudents
Firstgradeisacrucialtimefordevelopingreaders.TheresearcherchosetheseFirst
Graderstobetothetestsamplegrouptoexplorehowandifrepeatedreadingaffected

CREATING FLUENT READERS

27

studentreadinggrowth,particularlythatoffluency.The19studentsevaluatedwereallin
a general education classroom receiving the same allotted instruction time that was
differentiateddependingonstudentneed.Sinceallstudentsspentthesameamountof
timewithintheclassroom(ratherthanbeingpulledoutforservices),itwastheidealclass
todorepeatingreadingswithsinceallstudentswouldbereceivingthesameamountof
exposuretowholegrouplessons.
Results
DataPresentation
Thedatacollectedwasanalyzedandorganizedpriorto,during,andfollowingthe
implementation of the readers theater and fluency poem instruction. This was to
determinetheaffectsofrepeatedreadingsthroughtheimplementationofreaderstheater
andfluencypoemsonstudentreadingfluency.Thepreassessmentdatawasgatheredat
theendofthesecondtrimester,approximatelyoneweekbeforetheimplementationof
this project. The data is compared to Aimsweb winter national norms, as well as
Aimswebspringnationalnormssincethetestschoolsacademicyearisdividedinto
trimestersratherthanthemorecommonlyusedquarters.
Aimswebpassagefluency. Priortofluencyinstruction,studentswereassessedon
fluencyaccordingtoAimswebpassagefluencywhichconsidersreaderfluencybasedon
wordsreadperminute.Only33%ofthetestclasswasmeetingthewinternationalnorms;
studentswererequiredtoreadanaverageof37wordsperminutetobeconsideredfluent.
Studentsinthetestgroupreadanaverageof34wordsperminute.Studentswerethen
testedafterthefourweeksofintensivefluencyinstructionusingthespringAimsweb

CREATING FLUENT READERS

28

passage.TomeettheAimswebspringnationalnormstandardattheendofFirstGrade
studentsreadanaverageof57wordsperminute.Thetestgroupreadanaverageof52
wordsperminutewhichresultedin39%ofthetestclassmeetingtheendoftheyear
nationalnorms.Figure1showsthegrowthandcomparisonofreaderspassagefluencyof
wordsreadperminuteasaccordingtotheAimswebbenchmarks.Toevaluatethedata
morethoroughly,theresearcheralsoanalyzedindividualstudentgrowth(Figure2)tosee
whichstudentsmadethemostgains.
Whiletheclassdidnotmeetthespringnationalnormsforwordsreadperminutein
oralpassagefluency,itisimportanttonotethatthenationalnormsforspringarein
accordancewiththeendoftheyearinFirstgrade.ThisdatawasgatheredinearlyApril
ofFirstGrade.
Figure1
ClassandNationalNormsWordPerMinuteinPassageFluency

CREATING FLUENT READERS

29

60
50
Pretest Class Average
Words Read Per Minute

40

Post Test Class Average

Words Read Per Minute

30

National Norms Words

Read Per Minute In the
Winter of First Grade

20

National Norms By The

End of First Grade

10
0
Aimsweb Average Words Read Per Minute

Figure2
AverageWordsReadPerMinuteinPassageAimswebPassageFluency

180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

Aimsweb Pretest Words

Read Per Minute
Column1

CREATING FLUENT READERS

30

Fountas and Pinnell benchmark assessments. The Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark
expectationisthatfirstgradersarereadingatatextlevelG,readwith94%accuracyand
comprehension, as well as accurate fluency which was also recorded as words per
minute,andencompassingprosody,expression,andcomprehension.Thisassessmentis
limitedtobeadministeredeverysixweeks.Tomatchsuchrequirements,studentswere
assessedtwoweekspriortotheimplementationofthisfluencyproject,andagainduring
thelastweek. AccordingtotheFountasandPinnellBenchmarkpriortothereaders
theaterandfluencypoeminstruction,73%ofthetestclasswasmeetingthegradelevel
benchmark.Inthepreassessment,theaveragewordsreadperaminutewas39words.
Table3showshowstudentsperformedonthepreandpostassessmentsontheFountas
andPinnellBenchmarkinrelationtofluency,comprehension,prosody,andexpression.
Table3
FountasandPinnellPreandPostAssessmentData
FluencyComponent
StudentOralReading
Fluency
ReadingExpressionand
Prosody

ReadingComprehension

PreAssessment
Averagewordsperminute:
39
Studentsoftenignored
punctuationbyreading
throughthepunctuationor
notchangingtheirvoiceto
reflectthecharacters
feelings.Manystudents
readforspeedratherthan
accuracy.
73%ofstudentsreadatext
levelGorhigherwith5/7
comprehension.Students
struggledmorewith
questionsthatrequiredthem

PostAssessment
Averagewordsperminute:
53
Studentsstillstruggledwith
acknowledgingpunctuation
butdidchangevoicewhen
acharacterwasspeaking.
Theychangedtheirvoiceto
reflectfeelings.
73%ofstudentsreadatext
levelGorhigherwith6/7
comprehension.Students
wereabletogivemore
vividdetailsandexamples

CREATING FLUENT READERS

tothinkaboutmotivesfor
behaviors.

31
astowhycharacters
behavedinaparticularway.

ItisimportanttonotethatFountasandPinnelldataisbasedonstudentreadinglevel
ratherthangradelevel.WhilethepercentageofstudentsreadingatatextlevelGor
higher did not change, children did make gains in text levels, accuracy, and
comprehension,thusshowingimprovementintheirreadingfluency.
Teacherobservationalnotes.Theteacherkeptweeklynotesonstudentsexpression,
prosody,andcomprehensiontoseeifchangeoccurredonaweektoweekbasisandtotry
todeterminewherestudentswerestruggling.Twomainareasconsistentlypresentedto
the observer which included student acknowledgement of punctuation and readers
comprehension.While students reading rateand accuracy increased,students became
better at reading with expression. They also continued to struggle with reading the
punctuationandfullycomprehendingthetexts.Table4demonstratesthekeyfindings
abouttheclassfromtheweeklyobservations.
Table4
TeacherObservations

School:MollyStarkElementarySchool
Date

Readers
Theater
Play

Expression

Prosody

Comprehension

CREATING FLUENT READERS

3/13/15
Class

3/20/15
Class

3/27/15
Class

4/3/15
TheStudents
brokeinto3
groupsto
practiceand
performtheir
readerstheater
basedoninterest.

32

Chicken
Little

Studentsreadin
amonotone
voice.Students
struggleto
becomeexcited
abouttext.

Readsinoneor
twoword
phrases.Ignores
punctuation.

Studentshaveno
actionsthat
accompanyreading.
Studentsare
confusedastowhy
theanimalswould
runintoFoxy
Loxysmouth.

3Billy
GoatsGruff

Studentshave
flatvoiceand
needlotsof
teacherguidance
abouthowtouse
expressionwhen
reading.

Studentsare
readingtryingto
scooptheir
wordstoreadin
morecomplete
phrases.Still
ignoring
punctuation.
Studentsstilldo
notstopatall
periodsorpause
atcommas.

Lotsofdiscussion
aroundvocabulary:
trotted,bubbling
brook,trollandwhy
atrollwouldwantto
eatthegoats.

TheLittle
RedHen

Group

Studentsare
beginningto
changetheir
voicestoportray
different
characters.
Studentsare
beginningto
changeinflection
basedon
punctuation.
Readers
Expression
Theater
Play
LittleRed
Hen

Prosody

Students
Fluent,
changed
smooth,and
voicesand acknowledge
madeanimal punctuation.
noisesto
Pausingfor
reflect
commasis
characters. stilldifficult.

Studentsarestill
strugglingtouse
contextcluesto
definevocabulary
butaremore
animatedand
engagedin
expression/acting
outthestory.
Comprehension

Thenarrators
oftencuedthe
othercharacters
howtobehave,
andreminded
themtheyneeded
tolistentothe
wordssothey
knewwhatactions
todo.

CREATING FLUENT READERS

33

Three
Billy
Goats
Gruff

Students
changed
theirvoices
toreflect
their
characters
especially
thetroll.

Students
readvery
smoothly
andquickly,
butignored
the
punctuation.

Chicken
Little

Great
expression!

Students
wererushed
intheir
speaking.
Forgotto
stopat
punctuation.

Studentswere
verygoodabout
actingoutthe
play.Afterthey
explainedwhythe
BigBillyGoat
pushedtheTroll
intothewaterand
whattheythink
happenednext.
Studentsactedout
theplayand
afterwardsasked
theaudiencesome
keyquestionsto
seeiftheywere
payingattention.

Theteacherobservedthatinthebeginningthestudentsneededguidanceabouthowto
usecontextcluestodefinenewvocabulary,andhowtolookaheadatthepunctuationto
determine how a certain sentence should be read. Students quickly discovered how
expressionwasakeystrategytoconveymeaninginaplayandthentransferredthatto
theireverydayreadings.Studentsmostoftenstruggledpausingforcommasandstopping
aperiods,althoughtheywouldstopatquestionmarksandexclamationpointaswellas
changetheirintonationtoreflectthesepunctuation.
DataAnalysis
Aimswebpassagefluencydataanalysis.TheAimswebpassagefluencybenchmark
showsthatstudentsgained18wordsperminuteinoralreadingrate.Inthebeginning,the
testclassaveragedreading3wordslessperminutethanthenationalnormaveragein
winterAimsweb.Attheconclusionoftheteststudy,theclassaveraged5wordsbelow
theendoftheyearnationalnormsforAimsweb.However,whenevaluatingthedata

CREATING FLUENT READERS

34

studentsmadesomegreatgainsinoralreadingratethroughoutthe4weekstudy.Itis
alsoimportanttonote,thatstudentswereevaluatedwith10weeksremaininguntilthe
finalendoftheyearbenchmark.Thatbeingconsidered,ifthetestclassweretocontinue
tousingthepracticeofrepeatedreadings,itmaybeassumedthattheclassaverageof
wordsreadperminutewouldincrease.Whilethepercentageofstudentsmeetingthe
nationalnormsinwordsreadperminuteonlyincreased6%,itisimportanttonotethat
94%ofthetestclassincreasedtheirwordsreadperminute.Onaverage,studentswere
abletoread16.27morewordsperminute.
Whilestudentsmadegains,onehastorememberthatAimswebsolelydeterminesoral
fluency based on words read per minute. Fluency encompasses so much more than
simplyreadingquickly.Rasinskisoaptly(2002)stated,Iffluencyisnothingmorethan
readingfast,thenfluencyinstructionshouldbeconsideredcold(Marcell&Ferraro,p.
608,2003).Theresearcherhastoquestionifstudentsaresimplyrecitingthewords,orif
theyareunderstandingandprocessingthetext.Itisimportanttoconsidertherolesof
expression,comprehension,andprosodyinadditiontooralreadingrate.
Fountasandpinnelldataanalysis.TheFountasandPinnellBenchmarkAssessment
demonstratedthatwhilethesamepercentageofstudentsremainedongradelevel,
student reading expression, accuracy, comprehension, and words read per minute all
increased.Readerstheaterandfluencypoemsexposestudentstonewvocabularyand
concepts.Studentspracticedthroughrepeatedreadingstobecomemoreaccurate,and
comprehensivereadersoftheirplaysorpoems.Thestudentsbecamemorefamiliarwith
previouslyunfamiliarwords,weremoreaccuratedecoders,andgainedagreatersensein

CREATING FLUENT READERS

35

howtocontrolphrasing,intonation,andpitch(Garrett&O'Connor,2010; Marcell,&
Ferraro,2013). Asthestudentsgainedmoresightwordsandbecamemoreautomatic
decoders,theyalsogainedbettercomprehensionbecausetheycouldmoreeasilyaccess
thetext(Stockard&Engelmann,2010).
Whilethestudentsmadegreatgrowthintermsofwordsreadperminute,expression,
andcomprehension,onedoesquestionwhynogainsweremadeintermsoftextlevels?
Thereareseveralreasons.Whenlookingatthetestclass,allchildrenmadegainsin
expression,94%inwordsreadperminute,andmanyincomprehension.Manychildren
alsomadegainsintextlevels,butthepercentagedidnotincreasebecauseeitherthe
studentswerealreadyreadingatalevelGorhigher,ortheirreadinglevelgainsstill
hadntbroughtthemtotherequiredtextlevelG.
Qualitativedataanalysis.Studentreadingfluencyincreasedintermsofreading
wordsperminute,readingwithexpression,andcomprehension.Thisfirstgradeclass
continued to struggle with reading with the appropriate prosody. The students often
ignoredperiodsandcommas,whichwouldresultinonelongrunonsentence.Students
often became confused with what they were reading, and would lose focus and
understanding.Studentsinthistestgroupneedmorepracticewithpunctuationandhow
topauseatcommasandstopatperiods.Itispossiblethatalthoughstudentsarereading
withbetterexpression,automaticity,andratethattheystillbelievefluencyitselfissolely
speed.
Prosody. Prosodyistherhythm,stretch,andintonationofonesvoice(Farstrup,
2011).Manyearlyreadersreadinrobotic,brokenwordchunksthatoftenlimitstudent

CREATING FLUENT READERS

36

readingcomprehensionandfluency.Punctuationhelpsdeterminehowasentenceneeds
tobereadandwheretoaddinflection.Duringthisstudentswouldoftenchangetheir
voicetomatchtheinflectionneededwhenthesentenceendedwithaquestionmarkor
exclamationpoint,butwouldignoreperiodsandcommas.Inoneinstancewhilereading
TheThreeBillyGoatsGruffreaderstheater,achildreadImustcrossthebridgetoeat
thefreshgreengrassontheothersidetriptraptriptrapwhoscrossingmybridge?allas
onesentence(Cheney&Norris,p.84,2003).Inthiscase,thechildnotonlyignoredthe
punctuationwhichexplainedwhatthecharacterwassayingandthesoundoftheaction
hewasdoing,healsoignoredthefactthattwodifferentcharacterswerespeaking!When
asked what was going on, the child couldnt explain. He said he was trapped while
crossingthebridge.Whenthechildwasaskedtoreadthesentenceagain,theteacher
pointed out all the periods. After reading the sentence the second time, he began to
understandthatthereweretwocharactersspeaking,andactionbeingdone,andbrief
narrationofwhathewassupposedtobedoing.
Expression.Whilestudentsoftenstruggledwiththeirreadingprosody,theyexcelled
inchangingtheirvoicetoexpressexcitement,curiosity,andanger.Twoofthefavorite
charactersfromthereaderstheaterplayswereChickenLittlefromChickenLittleand
theTrollfromThreeBillyGoatsGruff(Cheney&Norris,2003).Thestudentslovedthat
therewassuchanobviousneedforexpressionsincethetrollwasdescribedasbeing
meanandugly,andtheChickenLittlewasscaredandexcitable.Studentslovedchanging
theirvoiceandaddingactionsastheyreadbothparts.Theydidstrugglethoughwiththe
partsthatwerentsoobviouslyfullofexpression,forinstancethepartsoftheHeninThe

CREATING FLUENT READERS

37

Little Red Hen (Cheney & Norris, 2003). Here students didnt convey the hens
frustrationwiththeotheranimalsbecauseitwassoexplicitlystatedinthetext.The
studentsneededtodelvedeeperintothetextandanalyzehowthehenwasfeelingand
howshemayportraythisfeeling.
Whilestudentsdidgreatlyimprovetransferringreadingwithexpressiontotheirbooks
andeverydayreading,theystillneedmoreworkandexplicitinstructiontothinkmore
implicitlyaboutthetexts.
Motivation.Throughoutthisstudy,onemajorobservablechangeinstudentbehavior
wasstudentmotivationandengagementinreading.Studentswerecontinuallyaskingif
theycouldreadtheirreadertheatersplays.Studentswouldformgroupsof47students
andgatheredontherug,attables,orbythedoorandtaketurnschoosingtheirrolesso
theycouldreadtheplay.Similarly,studentswouldcheerwhenevertheteacherinformed
them they were receiving a new readers theater play. Although the class had been
practicingreadingfluentlyandrereadingtextsallyear,itseemedasthoughallofsudden
studentsfelttheyhadalegitimatereasontorereadtextandtopracticefluency(Garrett
&O'Connor,p.8,2010). Duringparentteacherconferences,oneparentinformedthe
teacherthattheirchildpracticesteachingtheplaystotheirstuffedanimals,whilesheis
thenarrator.Studentswerenotonlyexcitedaboutreading,theywantedtosharetheirnew
foundjoyofreadingwithothers.
Limitations
Resultsofthefinalprojectarebasedon4weeksofrepeatedreadingpractice,butonly
3weeksofactualinstructionduetoteachermeetings,inservicedays,assemblies,and

CREATING FLUENT READERS

38

testingdaysforendofthetrimesterassessments.Theteacherimplementedherresearch
plantothebestofherabilitygiventhedailyinterruptionsduringtheliteracyblockand
themandatedinstructionfromadministration.
Severalstudentsinthetestsclassmissed4or5daysofinstructionduetoillness,
truancy,ortardiness.Onehastoconsidertheimpactsofthoseabsences(bothteacherand
student)tothestudy,andwonderhowtheresultswouldhavedifferedifthestudywere
implementedduringadifferenttimeintheyear.
FurtherResearch
Theteacherresearcherintendstocontinueherresearchintheareaoffluencyand
repeatedreadingstodeterminehowfurtherteacherstudentstoreadwiththeappropriate
prosody.Furtherresearchwillalsobeexploredtolearnhowtointroducefluencypoems
and readers theater earlier in the school year, and how to better scaffold repeated
readingsforstrugglingreaders.
Readerstheaterwasanengagingandmotivatingcomponentforstudents.Further
researchwillbedonetofindmorestrategiesthatarebothengagingandmotivatingto
studentsthatfurtherbuildonstudentfluencyskills.
ActionPlan
Theteacherplanstocontinueimplementingrepeatedreadingsthroughtheuseof
fluencypoemsandreaderstheaterstoaidinfluencyinstruction.Importantinsighthas
beengainedabouthowexplicitlyteachingandreinforcingtheuseofpunctuationand
howitcanchangethemeaningofatext.Studentswillcontinuereceivingweeklyfluency

CREATING FLUENT READERS

39

poemsbutwillbeencouragedtopracticeareaderstheaterplayuntiltheyhavereacheda
suitablereadingfluencylevel(Begenyetal.,2009).
Theteacherwillcontinuetomodelfluentreadingthroughreadalouds,explicitly
demonstratinghowshechangeshervoicetoconveymeaning,andreliesonpunctuation
tohelpdecipherwheretopause,whentostop,andhowtoreadthesentence(Fisher,
Flood,Lapp,&Frey,2004;Faver,2008).Inthefuture,theteacherintendstointroduce
fluencypoemsandreaderstheaterearlierintheschoolyear,sothatchildrenwilluse
repeatedreadingstoscaffoldreadingfluently.

Conclusion
ThisActionResearchProjectwasimplementedtodetermineifReadersTheater,
supportedbyfluencypassages,isasufficientmethodforteachingstudentstoreadwith
oralreadingfluencywhichincludeprosody,wordrecognition,andphrasing.Itexplored
how,andif,studentstransferandapplylearnedskillsfromReadersTheatertoeveryday
reading.PriorresearchsupportsthatimplementingrepeatedreadingsthroughReaders
Theater, has been shown to help general education students, as well as those with
learning disabilities. Furthermore students made improvements in word automaticity,
expressionintheirreading,andreading(Begenyetal.,2009;Faver,2008;Young&
Rasinski,2009).
Findings of the current study support the findings of previous researchers. Not
surprisingly,teacheravailability,studentattendance,andtimedevotedtoliteracyplayed
amajorroleinthisstudy.Whenteachersareprovidedsufficientinstructionaltimeinthe
classroomandstudentsareinattendance,greatgainsintermsoffluencycanbemade.

CREATING FLUENT READERS

40

During this study, 94% of students improved in terms of reading rate, all students
improvedinvocabularygrowth,readingwithexpression,andreadingcomprehension.
Students in this test class still need explicit instruction surrounding reading prosody,
especiallyinregardofhowtoreadperiodsandcommas.Futureresearchshouldexplore
how continuity and timing affect reading fluency results. The researcher needs to
considerhowanextendedtimeframeforthestudywouldaffecttheresults,andhow
continualimplementationthroughouttheyearwouldmotivateandchangetheresults.

CREATING FLUENT READERS

41

References:
Allington,R.(2012).kidsneedtolearntoreadfluently.Inwhatreallymattersinresponseto
interventionresearchbaseddesigns(3rded.,pp.99120).Boston,Pearson.
Ardoin,S.P.,&Christ,T.J.(2009).Curriculumbasedmeasurementoforalreading:standard
errors associated with progress monitoring outcomes from dibels, aimsweb, and an
experimentalpassageset.SchoolPsychologyReview,38(2),266283.
Begeny,J.C.,Krouse,H.E.,Ross,S.G.,&Mitchell,R.C.(2009).Increasingelementaryaged
students' reading fluency with smallgroup, Journal Of Behavioral Education,18(3),
211228.
Bingham, G. E., & HallKenyon, K. M. (2013). Examining teachers' beliefs about and
implementation of a balanced literacy framework.Journal Of Research In
Reading,36(1),1428.doi:10.1111/j.14679817.2010.01483.x
Cheney, M., & Norris, J. (2003). Readers' theater: Grade 1. Monterey, CA: EvanMoor
EducationalPublisher.
Clark,R.,Morrison,T.G.,&Wilcox,B.(2009).readers'theateraprocessofdevelopingfourth
graders'readingfluency.ReadingPsychology,30(4),359385.
DolchSightWords.(n.d.).RetrievedFebruary28,2015,fromhttp://www.dolchsightwords.org
Farstrup,A.(2011).ReadingFluencywhatitisandwhatitisnot.InWhatresearchhastosay
aboutreadinginstruction(4thed.).Newark,Del.InternationalReadingAssociation.
Faver, S. (2008). repeated reading of poetry can enhance reading fluency.Reading
Teacher,62(4),350352.

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42

Fisher,D.,Flood,J.,Lapp,D.,&Frey,N.(2004).Interactivereadalouds:isthereacommon
setofimplementationpractices?.ReadingTeacher,58(1),817.

Fountas,I.,&Portsmouth,N.(2010).Fountas&pinnellbenchmarkassessmentsystem1(2nd
ed.).Portsmouth,NH:Heinemann.
Garrett,T.D.,&O'Connor,D.(2010).Readers'theater"holdon,let'sreaditagain.".Teaching
ExceptionalChildren,43(1),613.
Kennedy,J.(2011).Oralinterpretationofliteraturereaders'theater.CEAForum,40(1),7177.
Lexia Learning. (n.d.). Personalized learning for students at all reading levels Retrieved
January31,2015,fromhttp://www.lexiacore5.com/
Marcell,B.,&Ferraro,C.(2013).Solong,robotreader!Asuperherointerventionplanfor
improvingfluency.ReadingTeacher,66(8),607614.doi:10.1002/trtr.1165
Mills,G.(2014).Actionresearch:Aguidefortheteacherresearcher(5thed.).UpperSaddle
River,N.J.:Pearson.
Pikulski,J.J.,&Chard,D.J.(2005).Fluencybridgebetweendecodingandreading
comprehension.ReadingTeacher,58(6),510519.
Samuels,S.J.,&Farstrup,A.E.(2011).Whatresearchhastosayaboutreadinginstruction(4th
ed.).Newark,DE.InternationalReadingAssociation.
Reading curriculum basedmeasurement (oral reading fluency). (n.d.). Retrieved January31,
2015,fromhttp://my.vanderbilt.edu/specialeducationinduction/files.2013/07/IA.Reading
CBM.pdf

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Rasinski,T.,Rikli,A.,&Johnston,S.(2009).Readingfluencymorethanautomaticity?More
thanaconcernfortheprimarygrades?.LiteracyResearchAndInstruction,48(4),350
361.
Stockard,J.,&Engelmann,K.(2010).Thedevelopmentofearlyacademicsuccess:Theimpact
ofdirectinstruction'sreadingmastery.JournalOfBehaviorAssessmentAndIntervention
InChildren,1(1),224.doi:10.1037/h0100357
Reed,Ashley.(2015).Marchfluencypacket.RetrievedFebruary12,2015from
www.teacherspayteachers.com.
Wilfong,L.G.(2008).Buildingfluency,wordrecognitionability,andconfidenceinstruggling
readers:thepoetryacademy.ReadingTeacher,62(1),413.
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fluencyinstruction.ReadingTeacher,63(1),413.

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AppendixA
TeacherObservations
School:______________________
Student
Initials/Date
Ex:JD:2/27/15

Readers
Theater
Play
TheBoy
WhoCried
Wolf

Expression

Prosody

Comprehension

Ignoresmeaning
ofboldtext,
exclamation
points.Doesnot
changevoiceto
reflecturgency
ofmoment

Readsinoneor
twoword
phrases.Ignores
punctuation.

Studenthasnot
actionsthat
accompanyreading.
Whenaskedwhy
noneofthe
townspeoplecame
running,JDsaid
becausetheywere
probablyeating
dinner.

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46

AppendixB
SampleWeekLessonsandActivities
(Lessons and Activities Provided by Ashley Reed, 2015)
Day of the Week
Teacher guided activity
Independent Practice
Monday
Teacher introduces Poem
Students are given own
In Like a Lion, Out Like a copy of poem. Students
Lamb and reads poem with read their poem to three
class several times. The
classmates, then complete
teacher and class discuss
Lion/Lamb Response page
meaning and find familiar
with questions like:
and unfamiliar words
1) What does In Like
a Lion mean?
2) What does Out like
a lamb mean?
3) List the adjectives
that define lambs
and lions. (Students
label pictures.
Tuesday
As a class, students reread
Students read the fluency
the poem. Then students
poem to a friend who times
build the poem using
them. Their friend is the
sentences strips that have
teacher and needs to
part of the poem written on make sure the reader is not
it to put in proper order.
reading like a robot. The
child writes how long it
took them to read the poem
at the bottom of their paper.
They then illustrate the
poem.
Wednesday
Teacher hands out small
Students Be the Teacher
passages that in quotations. by teaching their fluency
It is the students job to
poem to two stuffed animals
determine who is speaking, in the classroom. They then
and then read the quote
grade the stuffed animal on
appropriately.
accuracy, rate, expression,
Ex: Take off your muddy
and punctuation.
shoes! Mom yelled.

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Thursday

Friday

Spin and Read: Students

spin a spinner with different
characters (old man,
cheerleader, baby) and the
class reads the fluency
poem in that voice.

Teacher pulls students

individually to listen to
poems being read aloud.
She listens to appropriate
phrasing, expression, and
prosody.

47
Sight word Rainbow:
Students read sight words in
a rainbow, as they read
them, they color each part
of the rainbow
appropriately. They then
repeat by reading the sight
words again, with the colors
in place.
Read fluency poem again
with a friend, timing
themselves. Compare time
to previous time.