The Relationship Between Reading and Writing in the ESL Context
Why this study?
Krashen’s idea is founded on the notion that exposing children to pleasure reading and shifting focus from form to meaning in extensive reading helps learners acquire writing ability in any language.
It is my hope that at the end of this study, I will be able to come up with concrete evidences of the influence that reading has on students’ writing. Armed with such evidences, I would be able to come up with well-founded principles on teaching writing to my students in this particular context.
The Students
The students were in their Third Grade in an international school set-up. There were 21 of them. Half of the class were Taiwanese and the other half, Thai.
The Book
“Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing”
Peter and Fudge are brothers. Peter is a fourth grader while Fudge is only two years old. Fudge gets involved in one trouble after another, oftentimes dragging his brother along. Peter is very patient and forgiving about all of them, but he has had enough when Fudge swallows his pet turtle.
Peter feels as if his parents love Fudge more than him because they are so worried about Fudge having swallowed Peter’s turtle. Not much attention is given to Peter, who has lost a pet, or to Dribble who was swallowed! But in the end, he realizes that his parents do care. They give him a dog to replace Dribble. Peter names the dog Turtle in memory of his former pet.
The Activities
Pre-Test:
Peter Hatcher is in Fourth Grade. His biggest problem is his little brother, Fudge, who always gets into trouble.
Write a paragraph or two about how you think Peter and Fudge’s story is going to be like.
May 18, 2001 – First writing activity after reading the first two chapters of the book.
Imagine you were Peter and you were given a Picture Dictionary by the Yarbys as a present. How would you feel? What would you say? What would you do?
Write a paragraph to describe the experience.
May 24, 2001 – Halfway through the study:
Choose from the following.
1. Title of your paragraph: “It’s Fudge’s Birthday!”
2. make up your own paragraph with your own title
3. make this a part of your paragraph, “Oh, Fudge!” my mother said. “Look what you did.”
June 12, 2001 – Post Test:
Choose from the following and continue the story.
1. Fudge has gotten out of the hospital and Peter has a new pet – a dog he named Turtle. What do you think is going to happen now?
2. Imagine that Mrs. Yarby is going to have a new baby. How is this going to change things with Peter and Fudge? With the whole family?
3. Do you think Fudge will change once he starts school? Write a paragraph or two about Fudge’s adventures in school.
December 8th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Who is Krashen ? I need help to get my 16 year old nephew enjoing reading. He is new to the US from Eritria and doing fairly well in school but I know he would do much better if he would start to read something other than his class books.
ed
December 8th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Ed, I taught English to teenagers last year, and this year, I have a grade 11 Writing for College class. What I always tell my students in the beginning of the year is to find books in English on topics they love. For instance, if your nephew loves cars, I would encourage you to find lots of books on cars for him. He does not have to read novels or chapter books for starters.
You are absolutely right – he would do better if he read other than his class books. Having learned English as a second language myself, I learned to love books when I started reading mystery books (Hardy Boys series), then I moved on to suspense thrillers by Stephen King and Sidney Sheldon. If he loves spy and action movies, he might like those written by Jeffrey Archer.
What I found effective in my classes was giving students choices as to which books they want to read. Then I give very minimal assignments to go with it, but I make sure we have small group discussions where they get to share what it is they are reading. This way, students are focused on the story itself, and not just on fulfilling the assignments for their grades.
Krashen is looked upon as an authority by many on literacy, and during my MA classes, he was often referred to by my mentors at Grad school. I’ll find you more substantial info on him and his work.
‘Hope this has been of help.
Hedda