Maynard Mack, Emeritus Sterling Professor of English at Yale, discusses his pioneering work with the oral interpretation of literature in the graduate and undergraduate English classroom, making the point that such oral techniques need not be limited to the drama or speech departments. (Author/SJL)

When church lectors and beginning and advanced drama students read the same passage, the drama students used faster articulation, faster speech rates, and fewer pauses than church lectors. Expert and nonprofessional evaluators preferred the advanced drama students, followed by the beginning drama students and then the church lectors. (Author/RL)

Details a case study of using narrative theater to engage with a wider variety of subject matter. Defines narrative theater as a group performance that features narrative as the primary expressive vehicle. Outlines the process of writing and directing a student performance of Tim O'Brien's novel "The Things They Carried," which deals with the…

Proposes a model for teaching oral interpretation as a literacy-based course for helping students to become more effective consumers, critics, and producers of "texts." Discusses two different sections of oral interpretation the author recently taught--the first focused on a traditional structure, and the second focused on the literacy-based model…

Examines recent trends in the fields of translation and interpretation, focusing on translation and interpretation theory and practice, language-specific challenges, computer-assisted translation, machine translation, subtitling, and translator and interpreter training. An annotated bibliography discusses seven important works in the field. (112…

Explains how to perform a booktalk as a readers' theater script and offers guidelines for staging. Two examples are given, one for a picture book and one for a novel; and nine booktalks are provided for historical books that are suitable for adaptation as readers' theater scripts. (LRW)

Argues educational researchers must recognize the need for a dialectic between theory and method. Proposes a quasi-historical methodology based on a theory of social action. Suggests a means for understanding the meanings of actions. Outlines a schema for the interpretation of text and offers researchers a form of disciplined inquiry. (Author/NL)

Readers' Theatre is a presentation by two or more participants who read a script. The focus is on effective reading of the script, rather than on a memorized presentation. Discusses preparing the scripts; getting started; the Readers' Theatre Fable Festival; and how Readers' Theatre can be used to enhance the reading and writing program. Includes…

Intended for elementary school teachers, this short pamphlet describes the processes involved in executing a readers' theater. Much easier to implement than dramatic performances, reader's theater is seen as part theater and part oral interpretation. As outlined in the pamphlet, the procedures for implementing readers' theater in the classroom…

One of the rhetorical dimensions on which theatre exists is the rhetoric of production. This implies that the production, through examples, takes and urges an attitude toward the text. This argument provides a foundation for both the nature and the implications of interpreters theatre productions that advocate social issues. Theatrical…

Reading aloud is a rhetorical act. Its purpose is always to communicate, which is a transactional form involving the oral reader and at least one real or imaginary listener. Whenever a person reads aloud, the reader has some intent of reading to someone. In all such situations, readers interpret orally for the mood and meaning that seem…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 25 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) ensemble as a process of actor training; (2) perspectives on the verbal performance of jest, abuse, and contest; (3) a course design for teaching black drama;…

This study presents a theory of oral interpretation as a communicative art. Oral interpretation is defined as a process of preparation, performance, and feedback. A descriptive model of feedback as an intrapersonal and then interpersonal communication process is developed. This process is described as containing the three subprocesses of…

Ideally, the act of performance involves the whole body of the performer. The solo performer of any poem (defined broadly to include all types of literature) becomes the poem; the poem takes flesh in the form of the reader. In this situation, the reader gives the audience a close-up, in which small gestures and minimal movements assume massive…

The field of oral interpretation has been influenced by both the analytical approach to literature study, with significant emphasis on understanding the literary text, and the interpersonal approach. While oral reading may utilize various performance arts or media such as dance, music, or film, the most popular movement currently is Readers…