Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Readers' theater--Therapeutic use; Language disorders in children--Treatment--Iowa--Cedar Falls; Language disorders in children--Treatment; Iowa--Cedar Falls; Academic theses;
Abstract
Reader's Theater has been gaining in popularity recently as a way to promote reading fluency and to increase motivation for reading. Reader's Theater can be used for children of all ages, and the main goal of Reader's Theater is to improve reading fluency. Vocabulary improvement has not previously been studied using Reader's Theater. One important component of literacy is vocabulary skills. Children who have extensive vocabulary knowledge have a better ability to infer the meaning of new vocabulary words and this knowledge helps promote learning. Research supports teaching vocabulary through direct and indirect methods. Currently there is a large number of students on speech language pathologists' caseloads who have reading disabilities. With the move away from traditional language therapy to a classroom-based intervention model, Reader's Theater offers itself as an important option for speech-language pathologists. Reader's theater is a language-based activity and would be easy to implement in any classroom. The current study investigates the effectiveness of Reader's Theater in improving vocabulary skills in children with language disorders, reading disorders, and/or at-risk readers. Twelve students in third-fifth grades participated once a week in a study for 11 weeks. Students were administered the Expressive Vocabulary Test-2 (EVT-2) at the beginning and end of the study. A 20 question fill-in-the-blank vocabulary test, consisting of 10 words from the first script and 10 control words was administered at the beginning, middle, and end of the study. Two Reader's Theater scripts were studied and performed during the study. Sessions consisted of discussion and reading of the scripts in large and small groups, making props, and performances of the scripts. Vocabulary was taught in an indirect way through the reading and discussing of Reader's Theater scripts. At the end of the study, no significant results were found when comparing the pre and post measures of the EVT-2 and when comparing the pre, middle, and post results of the vocabulary tests. Significant results were found when comparing the second to the third vocabulary test when looking at the 10 words chosen from the script. Results, implications, and future directions for further research will be discussed.
Year of Submission
2009
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
First Advisor
Jennifer Garrett
Second Advisor
Clifford Highnam
Third Advisor
Frank Kohler
Date Original
2009
Object Description
1 PDF file (62 leaves)
Copyright
©2009 Leanne Marie Kaiser-Wehling
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Kaiser-Wehling, Leanne Marie, "The Effectivness [Sic] of Reader’s Theater in Improving Vocabulary Skills in Children With Language Disorders" (2009). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 3097.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/3097
Comments
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