[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-598550-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":80,"doc-detail-598550-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","the-cea-forum-winterspring-2011-oral-interpretation-of-literature-readerstheater-pedagogical-approach","THE CEA FORUM - Winter/Spring 2011 - Oral Interpretation of Literature: Readers’Theater - Pedagogical Approach","","Winter/Spring 2011 issue of THE CEA FORUM presents an experiential-learning approach to oral interpretation of literature through Readers’Theater. The article describes how student participation in reading, interpreting, discussing, writing, assessing, and performing helps develop creative thinking aligned with Bloom’s taxonomy and its revision by Anderson and Krathwohl. It explains Readers’Theater as script-based group performance focused on voice and oral interpretation rather than acting, then connects the method to drama traditions, poetry as oral tradition, and Kolb’s experiential-learning cycle through “testing in action.”",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/","Literature",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-cea-forum-winterspring-2011-oral-interpretation-of-literature-readerstheater-pedagogical-approach/598550/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-cea-forum-winterspring-2011-oral-interpretation-of-literature-readerstheater-pedagogical-approach/598550.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"A glass of water","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-19","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":26},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"What is the core teaching goal of Readers’Theater in this article?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"It aims to use oral interpretation and performance to accomplish experiential learning through students’ reading, interpretation, discussion, writing, assessment, and creative presentation of a literary text.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"How does Readers’Theater differ from acting in a stage play?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"The emphasis is on each student’s oral interpretation of a script, with lines assigned to readers to transmit images and ideas, rather than acting as in traditional theater.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"Which learning frameworks does the article connect to Readers’Theater?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"It links the activity to levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, Anderson and Krathwohl’s revised hierarchy that places creativity at the top, and experiential-learning ideas described by Kolb and Dewey about balancing doing and receiving and testing learning in action.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},598550,1792404174,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,90,94,99,104,109,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":88,"slug":89},80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":91,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":95,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":100,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":26,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":26,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":105,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},962090760832,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","THE CEA FORUM  \nWinter/Spring 2011  \nOral Interpretation of Literature: Readers’Theater  \nJOAN KENNEDY  \nCollin College  \nThe pedagogical principle of experiential learning embodied in the oral interpretation of literature through Readers’Theater provides an avenue to accomplish a seemingly daunting task. Students’participation in reading, interpreting, discussing, writing, assessing, and performing their own creative responses to a literary work promotes a learning activity that leaves an indelible mark on their educational process as they explore complex and abstract levels of thinking—in real time, no less. The activity entices students out of the virtual world of technology to explore a tangible sphere of performance. The thought processes that the activity demands cover the gamut of Bloom’s taxonomy of skills, which defines levels of intellectual behavior important to learning. The synthesis and evaluation elements at the top of the taxonomy demand creative behavior. Anderson and Krathwohl’s revision of the taxonomy—remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating—also places creativity at the top of the hierarchy of skills.  \nI have used oral interpretation of literature through Readers’Theater for many years and have adapted the process for numerous contexts. Readers’Theater consists of a performance based on a specific text (sources are varied) that has been adapted into a script. In a group performance the students read a script for an audience, while using voice inflection to interpret  \nTHE CEA FORUM  \nWinter/Spring 2011  \nthe text. I assign specific lines to each reader so that images and ideas from the script bounce from student to student. The emphasis, then, is not on acting as in a stage play, but on each student’s oral interpretation. Students celebrate their own voices and perspectives through this live performance of a literary text. When examining the trajectory of the concept of “voice,”Peter Elbow reflects in College English: “Voice used to be a hot critical term in the pages of journals, but our current scholarly conversation has gone rather quiet. I think there is something to be gained if we reawaken the discussion”(168) . Providing oral interpretation assignments asan alternative method of exploring literary texts prompts a reexamining of how “voice” can be reawakened.  \nThe very roots of celebrating human responses to life experiences and beliefs lie in the act of creative, oral expression. Early beginnings of drama in ancient Greece occurred with maenads dancing and singing the myths surrounding the god Dionysus. Oral expression of cultural myths and human stories define the ancient traditions of experiential participation, learning, and devotion. Poetry emerging from songs was the earliest form of oral tradition. David Pike points out in Literature: A World of Writing: “Because most poems are not focused on telling a story, they tend to withhold clarity in order to focus our attention on the dense interrelationship of its themes”(25); this genre becomes the ideal mode of expression to serve asa basis for a script. Using poetry as a basis for Readers’Theater allows a dialogue to emerge in which the intertwining of themes creates vivid images of a text rather than a chronological story. Creating a learning environment that allows a revisiting of these ancient traditions offers a sound pedagogical approach to literature, while providing students the opportunity to express their voice before a live audience.  \nTHE CEA FORUM  \nWinter/Spring 2011  \nPedagogy that allows students to reach beyond the process of taking in information and discussing it promotes a rich learning environment where expression and articulation reinforce the material. David Kolb states in “Learning Styles and Learning Spaces: Enhancing Experiential Learning in Higher Education”: “Learning is like breathing; it involves a taking and processing of experience and a putting out or expression of what is learned”","cbCaislWflguySN7","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaislWflguySN7","pdf",132817,"English","# Oral Interpretation of Literature: Readers’Theater\n## Experiential learning and creative interpretation\n## Readers’Theater structure and focus on voice\n## Literary traditions: drama and oral poetry\n## Learning theory connections (Bloom, Kolb, Dewey)\n## Sources for creating Readers’Theater scripts","[{\"question\":\"What is the core teaching goal of Readers’Theater in this article?\",\"answer\":\"It aims to use oral interpretation and performance to accomplish experiential learning through students’ reading, interpretation, discussion, writing, assessment, and creative presentation of a literary text.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Readers’Theater differ from acting in a stage play?\",\"answer\":\"The emphasis is on each student’s oral interpretation of a script, with lines assigned to readers to transmit images and ideas, rather than acting as in traditional theater.\"},{\"question\":\"Which learning frameworks does the article connect to Readers’Theater?\",\"answer\":\"It links the activity to levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, Anderson and Krathwohl’s revised hierarchy that places creativity at the top, and experiential-learning ideas described by Kolb and Dewey about balancing doing and receiving and testing learning in action.\"}]","THE CEA FORUM - Winter/Spring 2011 - Oral Interpretation of Literature: Readers’Theater - Pedagogical Approach | PDF",1792087138,11]