Walking with the words: Student motivation toward reading and studying Shakespeare’s plays through rehearsal room practices

ABSTRACT

Educators have long been challenged to support students’ engagement with and comprehension of reading complex texts, including Shakespeare’s plays. Rehearsal room practice (RRP) specifically integrates the rehearsal room processes used by the Royal Shakespeare Company and other ensemble-based theatre companies with active, inquiry-based learning in the classroom. Furthermore, RRP is aligned with a theory of dialogic reading. This quasi-experimental study describes the use and impact of RRPs on high school student attitudes toward reading and perceptions of the value of reading Shakespeare’s plays. Students who experienced RRP while studying Shakespeare’s plays were more motivated, saw Shakespeare’s plays as relevant to their lives, and wanted to read additional challenging texts at the end of the program. Implications for practice are discussed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Diversity based on district categories of race/ethnicity identity; we understand diversity to be also be inclusive of multiple and intersecting experiences of difference in many ways.

² Historically, formalized instructional standards change some based on the political landscape. At the time of manuscript preparation, Common Core and similar standards were used extensively by states in the United States.

³ This is a reference to a 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in which a teacher is taking role call in a lecture-based traditional classroom. In a monotone voice, the teacher calls, “Bueller…Bueller” and no one responds.