Writing to Reading: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading
Jan 16, 2025
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Dr. Steve Graham, a Regents Professor at Arizona State University, discusses the powerful link between writing and reading comprehension. He shares his groundbreaking research showing how effective writing practices can enhance literacy. The conversation reveals the detrimental effects of infrequent writing and underscores the need for explicit writing instruction from early grades. Graham advocates for integrating writing across subjects, highlighting its importance for student confidence and engagement, particularly in the age of AI and evolving educational methods.
Incorporating explicit writing instruction in early literacy education enhances comprehension by fostering essential cognitive skills like phonological awareness.
Increased writing opportunities, supported by diverse feedback methods, significantly improve both writing and reading skills among students.
Deep dives
The Importance of Writing in the 21st Century
Writing is an invaluable skill that serves multiple purposes in our lives, ranging from communication to self-expression. In today's world, writing takes on various forms, including digital communication through social media and speech-to-text technology. Teaching students how to write not only enhances their writing skills but also positively impacts their reading abilities, as engaging with text through writing boosts comprehension and retention. The interplay between writing and reading illustrates that developing one skill inherently supports the other, making it crucial for educational success.
Linking Writing Instruction to Reading Development
Early writing instruction significantly aids reading development by drawing on shared cognitive resources. For instance, teaching young children spelling improves their phonological awareness, which is essential for reading, leading to enhanced fluency and comprehension. Furthermore, writing instruction in specific genres, like persuasive writing, equips students with the skills to analyze and comprehend similar texts more effectively. This connection between writing and reading underscores the necessity of integrating both practices in educational curricula, particularly from the outset of formal schooling.
Enhancing Writing through Feedback and Technology
Increasing the amount of writing students do, coupled with effective feedback, can significantly bolster their writing and reading skills. Recent studies indicate that both computer-based feedback and human feedback can yield similar benefits in writing instruction, suggesting the potential for digital tools to support learning in classrooms. However, the challenge remains that teachers often feel constrained by time to provide necessary feedback, which limits students' writing opportunities. Emphasizing various forms of feedback, including peer and digital options, can help mitigate these constraints and promote more writing experiences for students.
Strategies for Supporting Struggling Writers
Struggling readers and writers can benefit from targeted writing instruction, especially when writing about texts they have read. Explicitly teaching skills such as summarization can enhance comprehension and facilitate connections between writing and reading. This process should involve active engagement and support, allowing students to practice their writing in a structured manner. Ultimately, strategies that encourage students to write, along with tailored instruction to build confidence, are vital for improving their overall literacy development.
For decades, researchers have emphasized the strong connection between reading and writing, both in theory and practice. Multiple studies demonstrate that writing improves comprehension. What has been less clear is what particular writing practices research supports as being effective at improving students’ reading.
Our guest, respected researcher and author Dr. Steve Graham, will discuss the research he conducted (Graham and Hebert, 2010) that illustrates how writing, and the way it’s taught, improves students’ reading comprehension, and the strategies educators should apply to ensure literacy success.
Join us for this lively conversation where you’ll learn from a true trailblazer when it comes to writing and how it impacts learning to read.
Attendees will learn:
How infrequent writing and lack of explicit writing instruction can negatively impact learning to read
Why teachers of reading need to emphasize writing in the classroom in the earliest grades and across content areas
Why writing is a critical skill, important in its own right; consistent writing time and instruction improves reading comprehension
Why more classroom time is necessary for writing
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