In the classroom, some teachers may wonder why their students become stuck with their writing and are unable to even frame a basic sentence. But could it be that other underlying issues may be the cause for the jitters, anxieties, or mental block that some students have while writing? Hirvela (2004) elucidated that the breakdown that students have in writing might not necessarily be entirely due to writing issues but may be reading related. Writing teachers traditionally focus on writing only, so they may feel that it is not their responsibility to teach reading. In addition, writing teachers may not feel prepared to teach reading especially during writing (Hirvela, 2004). More increasingly, however, educators are finding that reading and writing are interconnected and that learning about one informs learning of the other. That is, our knowledge of reading comes from writing and what we know about writing is learned through reading (Hirvela, 2004). Hedgcock and Ferris (2009) discussed how reading and writing, which were previously seen as independent subjects, are now seen as interconnected. In his discussion about the history of reading and writing, Hirvela (2004) highlighted that in the 1970s, these subjects were taught independently. Then, by the 1980s, reading and writing researchers emphasized the important connection between reading and writing and how they shared similar cognitive processes, skills, and ways of learning (Grabe, 1991). Finally, by the 1990s, reading was no longer seen only as a precursor to writing, but was perceived to be on the same footing as writing, and both were conceived as being co-constructors of meaning (Hirvela, 2004).

Hedgcock and Ferris (2009) further established that writing helps students become deep thinkers. They also emphasized that reading provides the content students need for writing, as well as serves as “rhetorical and linguistic models” (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2009, p. 188). As such, content reading could be gleaned through reading science, social studies, or other academic text, while rhetorical reading is widely discussed in the English as a second language (ESL) arena as an approach for directly training students to attend to specific organization, text features, or even transitional phrases as they read (Hirvela, 2004). Eventually, the goal is for students to be able to recognize, internalize, and transfer some of these linguistic features to their writing.

Hirvela (2004) discussed the importance of students engaging in “reading for ‘rhetorical purpose’ rather than for comprehension of meaning” (p. 124). Students are perceived as active agents engaged in analyzing the “writerly decisions the author made in producing the text being read” (Hirvela, 2004, p. 124). As a result, Hirvela (2004) referred to the act of reading for rhetorical purpose as students working as miners or writerly readers. Further, he emphasized that these purposeful acts of reading help to provide an arsenal of writing strategies for students to use as they write. Therefore, reading and writing are interrelated and should be connected to better support ESL students’ writing and reading development.

As a reading specialist at an elementary school, I spend most of my instructional time working with struggling readers during guided reading (GR) time. Students are mostly grouped according to their reading levels and needs. About 90 percent of my students are English language learners, who may have a range of reading difficulties compounded by language and vocabulary challenges. However, while the goal is to help support students with reading on grade level, there is also a purposeful and systematic aim to help them become strategic readers. The various components of GR offer opportunities for students to be successful readers.

Prior to asking them to read, I may have students write predictions of what they think the story or text will be about. During reading, I often pose questions for students to stop, reflect, and respond to through writing. Almost always after reading, students have to respond to the text through writing in various extension activities. Further, there may be higher level thinking questions for them to respond to in their journals. Though the preparation is time consuming, it is a necessary part of my planning in order to help students to be successful. Therefore, I view my role not only as a reading teacher or as a writing teacher but as a language literacy teacher

One post-reading activity students engage in is completing a Reader Response organizer, (Jackson, 2011) (see appendix). The Reader Response organizer provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of a text by identifying the genre and, in the case of fictional text, identifying story elements. Students may also identify text structure patterns such as compare/contrast, sequence, cause/effect, problem/solution, and classification. In order to determine text structure, students need to demonstrate their understanding of rhetorical reading. Specifically, students need to attend to the author’s use of particular transitional words or phrases, which would suggest a particular text structure.

The Reader Response organizer extends beyond the concept of reading primarily for reading comprehension (Hirvela, 2004). Students can become active partners in the reading process (Hirvela, 2004). Further, students can actively engage in creating meaning of the text based on their interpretation, which is also supported through reading the text. In addition, students gain the opportunity to incorporate reading and writing. However, often teachers tend to teach reading and writing independently and sequentially (Anderson & Briggs, 2011). That is, teachers usually provide reading followed by writing instruction. However, Anderson and Briggs (2011) believe that students should have authentic literacy experiences, which can shape them to become members of a reading audience, as well as authors. Therefore, teaching reading and writing together may be a two-for-one deal (Anderson & Briggs, 2011).

There are many other benefits of the reading and writing connection. The reading and writing connection offers opportunities for English language learners to build reading confidence and develop their identities as writers. For instance, as students identify the authors’ purpose and point of view through writing, they demonstrate further meaning-making ability. In addition, as students summarize, they engage in higher level thinking that shows their understanding of the most important points within the text. Furthermore, as they give their (not the author’s) interpretation and substantiate their reason for possible themes within the text, they demonstrate their ability to go beyond the text by incorporating their background knowledge and experience.

In sum, the reading-writing connection can afford many opportunities for English language learners to demonstrate their understanding of the reading process. By identifying the author’s purpose, writing a summary, and inferring a theme, students exhibit an in-depth understanding of the text. Furthermore, students’ explanation of their thinking on the Reader Response organizer further reveals the cognitive processing that takes place during higher level reading. The reader response model safely bridges students’ understanding of the reading and writing process. To that end, the student, the teacher, the GR framework, and text materials all play a role in the literacy process.

REFERENCES

Anderson, N. L, & Briggs, C. (2011). Reciprocity between reading and writing: Strategic processing as common ground. The Reading Teacher, 64, 546-549.

Grabe, W. (1991). Current developments in second language reading research. TESOL Quarterly, 25, 375-406.

Hedgcock, J. S., & Ferris, D. R. (2009). Teaching readers of English: Students, texts, and contexts. New York, NY: Routledge.

Hirvela, A. (2004). Connecting reading and writing in second language writing instruction. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Jackson, A, P. (2011). Reader Response organizer.

Annmarie Jackson is a doctoral student at Georgia State University in the Language and Literacy Department. Her research interest is mainstream teachers’ perceptions and beliefs of English language learners. Currently, she works as a reading specialist at an elementary school in Georgia.

Appendix