Pairing phrase‐cued text with readers theatre: Effects on reading prosody and automaticity

Background We examine effects on oral reading fluency (defined as automatic word recognition and prosody) when phrase‐cued text (defined as marking the phrase boundaries in text) is layered on to readers theatre, an evidence‐based instructional format that includes multiple readings over a period of about 5 days as students practice and prepare to orally perform a poem or play for an audience. Methods Ten first‐ to third‐grade students (ages 6–9 years old) who were falling behind reading grade‐level expectations participated in the study. We used a randomised single‐case nonconcurrent multiple‐baseline research design that features a time‐staggered introduction of the instructional intervention across participants, along with an associated randomisation test statistical analysis. The design is particularly well suited to the present study because it yields valid results based on small sample sizes, contains its own control group (because each participant serves as his or her own control) and allows for the testing of the effectiveness of a specific instructional component – in this case, phrase‐cued text. Results As hypothesised, adding phrase‐cued phrases led to a statistically significant performance increase on the combination of two subscales of the Multidimensional Fluency Scale (MFS), expression and phrasing, subscales that represent the subconstruct, prosody. Conclusions Adding text with highlighted phrase boundaries enhanced the effect of readers theatre on two aspects of prosody: expression and phrasing.