Interpretative Reading Part VI:
Accents and Dialects

Last month we introduced Part V of our series on how to improve your students’ interpretative reading abilities using gestures while reading aloud. The exercises helped students learn to use body language to communicate the emotions and attitudes of the characters in the story. This month we’d like to give teachers a more advanced tool that can enrich their students' expressive reading experience.

Reading aloud a Reader’s Theater character part with a different accent is another tool to help students improve their interpretative reading skills. It's also a way to multiply the fun of Reader’s Theater! Learning to apply a new accent to a character’s dialogue creates a wonderful opening to review the importance of proper articulation and pronunciation. It also provides a rich cross-curricular opportunity to explore the cultural, social, geographical, historical and ethnical differences in American English accents and dialects.

It’s helpful to explain to the students the difference between an accent and a regional dialect because these two words are often used interchangeably. An accent is how a person pronounces the words in a language and often indicates the speaker’s place of origin or social background. A dialect is a regional variation to the language with differences in vocabulary, grammar, speech style, and pronunciation.

No matter how clever a student is in applying a different accent, they have not accomplished their task if their reading is not understandable to the audience. Students must realize when reading aloud a character part with a new accent that they need to be clear and easy to listen to. Applying a foreign accent is more than a matter of pronunciation. It also requires an understanding about the melody of a language or intonation (rhythm and pitch), as well as how the muscles in the mouth work to create different resonant sounds. In the exercises for this month, we’ve enclosed links to websites that give audio demonstrations on different pronunciations for the same English words and simple exercises to help your students become more aware of how they use their mouth to create certain sounds.

Not all students have the ear or ability to produce a different accent consistently while reading aloud their part. The more familiar they become with their own accent, the more skillful and clearer they will be with applying a different accent to a Reader’s Theater character part. This takes time and practice. In the meantime, the journey to learning a new accent will improve their overall understanding and appreciation for pronunciation, vocal variety, and reading comprehension. Click below for this month's exercise!