Some Benefits of Using Readers Theatre in EFL Classroom

Reading plays an important part in developing learners' knowledge. By reading, learners will get many benefits, such as adding their knowledge, knowing information and having pleasure. There are many ways of making them engaged in learning English especially reading skill. One kind of activities is using Readers' theatre.  RT was introduced in EFL classroom to enhance the learning of communication skills. Readers' theater offers learners' an opportunity for interpretive oral reading as they use voices, facial expressions, and hand gestures to interpret characters in stories. Readers' theater also builds readers' confidence, brings stories to life through performance, animates content areas, and improves reading ability, comprehension, and oral reading skills.

Reading literacy is not only a foundation for basic learning, but also a prerequisite for successful participation in most areas of youth or adult life (Linnakyla, Malin, & Taube, 2004, p. 13).
Issues in reading tend to start at the beginning of reading instruction, persist, and become more difficult as time passes. If reading difficulties are recognized early on in their schooling, learners have a better chance of becoming successful in the areas of reading fluency and comprehension. It is imperative that if learners are deemed low-performing in reading that strategies be implemented that will help them achieve grade-level reading standards.
Others phenomena or issues which happens in English teaching and learning processes are; EFL learners are not interested in reading English or have difficulties to decode the meaning of the context, EFL learners tend to read in a slow and inexpressive voice unenthusiastically as they are reading English stories or dialogues, EFL learners lack the stimulation of English listening input in their living environment.

Learners
with reading difficulties do not spontaneously overcome their problems, which makes WKHVH \RXQJ OHDUQHUV ¶ UHDGLQJ performances get worse as they advance through school (Good, & Kaminski, 2003, p. 98). Besides, for most EFL learners who have poor academic success, learning English early will make them give up English even much easily. Thus, if teachers can provide efficient instructions to increase VWXGHQWV ¶ LQWHUHVW DQG PRWLYDWLRQ DQG more importantly, to develop their reading proficiency for catching up with the level of their age, children will become better learners through their school years in learning English .
Most elementary EFL teachers often design a number of games and activities purposing to increase VWXGHQWV ¶ OHDUQLQJ PRWLYDWLRQV DV ZHOO as to have them practice vocabulary and sentence patterns repeatedly. The consequence could be that students indeed acquire the vocabulary and sentence patterns, but most of them could neither read aloud in an expressive way as they are reading a paragraph or even a dialogue nor read other English materials. It is because that the instructions and the contents of the texts used are all segments of a language, not a complete and meaningful context.
The purpose of this SDSHU LV WR H[DPLQH LI 5HDGHU ¶V Theater (RT) is an efficient approach to solve the problems encountered in EFL classroom and whether it can help students reach the goals of learning. Other reasons why I have chosen RT to be the approach in this paper , because RT is one of the approaches recommended by many researchers and educators to fit for the purposes mentioned above (Tyler & Chard, 2000;Keen, Harmon, & Shoho, 2008;Callard, 2008;Chen, 2006;98).

Reading and its importance
It is a well-known fact that when there were no televisions or computers, reading was a primary leisure activity. People would spend hours reading books and travel to lands far away-in their minds. Swalm and Kling (1973) as cited in Permadi ( 2013, p 23) state that ³the literate adult today is reading more in one week than their greatgrandfather did in a whole year´. This fact places pressures on the students to perform at a higher level than the students before.
The only tragedy is that, with time, people have lost their skill and passion to read. There are many other exciting and thrilling options available, aside from books. And that is a shame because reading offers a productive approach to improving vocabulary and word power. It is advisable to indulge in at least half an hour of reading a day to keep abreast of the various styles of writing and new vocabulary.
Permadi (2013, p. 11) stated WKDW ³5HDGLQJ is a process of interpreting written symbols. Reading is an active skill that involves the reader, the text, and the interaction between the two (Grabe, 2009, p. 56). It is observed that children and teenagers who love reading have comparatively higher IQs. They are more creative and do better in school and college. Reading is said to significantly help in developing vocabulary, and reading aloud helps to build a strong emotional bond between parents and children. The children who start reading from an early age are observed to have good language skills, and they grasp the variances in phonics much better.
Reading is an activity that involves greater levels of concentration and adds to the conversational skills of the reader. It is an indulgence that enhances the knowledge acquired, consistently. The habit of reading also helps readers to decipher new words and phrases that they come across in everyday conversations. The habit can become a healthy addiction and adds to the information available on various topics. It helps us to stay in-touch with contemporary writers as well as those from the days of yore and makes us sensitive to global issues.

Reader Theatre
Repeated readings, such as those used in Readers Theater, are beneficial when establishing fluency and comprehension instruction. Through repeated readings of the text, students increase sight word vocabulary and the ability to decode words quickly and accurately (Carrick, 2006). The repeated readings allow the students to phrase sentences appropriately, read punctuation markers, and read with greater ease. This fluent reading enables students to spend less time on decoding and increase comprehension Readers Theatre is an oral presentation of drama, or poetry by two or more readers. (Cornwell, 2012, p. 23)  There are four basic steps in Readers Theatre which can used by English teacher; learners read a story, learners make selective and analytical choices in transforming the story into a script through social negotiation, readers formulate, practice, refine their interpretations, readers perform to audience , and read aloud from handheld scripts

Some Benefits of Reader theatre in EFL Classroom
Readers Theater has many benefits in the classroom. According to 2 ¶'RQQHOO DQG 2 ¶.HOO\ as cited in Owen ( 2012, p. 5), ³use of Readers Theater in the classroom can: foster a deeper understanding of character, setting, and plot through the reading, interpretation, and experience of dramatic performance, create a deeper understanding of content and a sense of identity and personal validation by making students responsible for their own learning; and encourage better interpersonal interaction through the body, language, voice control, and empathy inherent in the group acting experience. In Readers Theater, students receive a script which they are to read aloud; no memorization is necessary. This program allows them to realize reading success and truly understand the power and importance of reading in their lives. Hill (1990) Shepard ( 1996) as cited in Patrick ( 2008, p2), the benefits of RT are no full costume is needed during learning processes, no full stage sets, no full memorization of speech is involved as the scripts are held during performance and narration provides the framework for dramatic action.

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VWDWHV WKDW ³ RT allows students to engage in creative writing through adding and recreating lines in a story scripts, and by providing introductory and transitional details as they adapt a SLHFH RI OLWHUDWXUH LQWR GUDPDWLF IRUP´ (p. 2). Wu and Yang (2010, p. 3), the benefits of RT are easy to memorize scripts, easy to performance, and easy to prepare and practice for English teachers and students.
Prescott (2003) as cited in Wu and Yang (2010, p. 6) pointed out that ³WKH benefits on RT could not only GHYHORS VWXGHQWV ¶ UHDGLQJ DELOLW\ EXW also confidence and transform reluctant readers into book lovers under the instruction of RT in reading cODVV´ 5HDGHUV ¶ WKHDWHU RIIHUV students an opportunity for interpretive oral reading as they use voices, facial expressions, and hand gestures to LQWHUSUHW FKDUDFWHUV LQ VWRULHV 5HDGHUV ¶ theater also EXLOGV UHDGHUV ¶ FRQILGHQFH brings stories to life through performance, animates content areas, and improves reading ability, comprehension, and oral reading skills. Whether they are in the cast or in the audience, children often enjoy being SDUW RI UHDGHUV ¶ WKHDWHU

Conclusion
In conclusion, RT enhances the oral communication skill of EFL learners as they learn to experiment with their voices big varying their pitch and volume to portray the character during rehearsals. RT enables to concentrate on the elements of voice which carry meaning ±foe example, accelerating and raising the pitch to suggest excitement. Student also pays more attention to their articulation of words, especially when they rehearse their scripts, and ever more so when they know that they have to act out the scripts to an audience. Students also learn to deliver smoother speech, with few pauses as repetitive rehearsals of the scripts increase comprehension as well as fluency. As students rehearse their scripts, they also learn the tone to portray the attitude of the character. In Readers Theater, the readings are carried out in such a way that students do not feel isolated and alone while reading.
Repeated readings in multilevel small groups with high, medium, and low readers together also provide the practice of Repeated Guided Oral Reading, is the only research-based supported method of building reading fluency, However, there can be limitation to using RT in class, particularly if students are not familiar with theatre as a genre, or they may not have the linguistically ability to produce their own scripts. In the case of the EFL learners who have just been immersed in a totally English-speaking environment, getting them to write scripts will be a rather tedious task. The teacher has to proofread and edit their scripts several times before they are ready to perform.