Nurturing Elementary School Children's Critical Literacy With Readers Theater for Counteracting "Dead Language" Teaching

• In Event: 65.052 - Social Justice for Learning: English Language Learners and Bilingual Students

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to engage bilingual children in critical literacy using Readers Theater. Participants in this study were six classrooms (3rd, 4th, and 5th grades), 126 children in total, three bilingual, and three English-only classrooms, from southwest borderlands. The innovative approach to Readers Theater involved several dimensions of literacy: dialogue, reflection, problem posing, and creation of solutions through theater games, scripts and performances. The results demonstrate that all the participating children engaged in dialogue, deep critical thinking about issues connected to their lives, and changing their communities, which was triggered by children’s multicultural bilingual books with social messages.

Authors

• Marisol Oriana Ruiz, Humboldt State University

• Myriam N. Torres, New Mexico State University