The Interconnectedness of Reading (Scarborough, 2001) and Writing (Sedita, 2019) Ropes

Overview

There is a general agreement among researchers and literacy and language experts that there is a connection between writing and reading. (e.g., Jenkins et al., 2004; Berninger et al., 2002; Abbott & Berninger, 1993; Tierney & Shanahan, 1996; Juel et al., 1986; Juel, 1988, 1983; Loban, 1963; Shanahan, 1984). Researchers such as Pugh et al. 2006, denote the neurological impact that writing and reading have upon the brain, pointing out the overlapping regions of the brain students use when engaging in both literacies. Others, focused on the transference of skills that demonstrate the positive correlation that writing has on reading and that reading has on writing (Weiser & Mathes, 2011; Graham & Hebert, 2011; Tierney & Shanahan, 1991). 

The Integral Parts of Literacy and Language Development

Writing and reading together form two integral parts of a child's literacy and language development. Writing is defined as the ability to produce connected text (sentences, paragraphs, and documents), either by handwriting or keyboarding that communicates an idea, a narrative, or information. Reading is defined as the ability to decode written text quickly and accurately and to comprehend what is read (NICHD, 2012). Gough & Tunmer (1986) Simple View of Reading is a visual formula demonstrating that reading has two basic components: decoding and language comprehension. It provides understanding how the decoding-related reading components (phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency) are connected to meaning-related reading components (vocabulary, comprehension), making it clear that strong reading comprehension cannot occur unless both decoding and language comprehension abilities are strong. 

 

Writing is a fundamental component of literacy. Writing is a means of critical inquiry; it promotes problem solving and mastering new concepts. Adept writers can work through various ideas while producing informational, persuasive, and narrative or literary texts. In other words, writing can be used as a medium for reasoning and making intellectual connections. As students arrange ideas to persuade, describe, and inform, they engage in logical critique, and they are likely to gain new insights and a deeper understanding of concepts and content.

The original Simple View of Writing is a theoretical framework focused on writing as the product of two necessary sets of skills: lower-level transcription skills (spelling and handwriting/keyboarding) and text generation (also called ideation, including word, sentence, and text level writing). The Not So Simple View of Writing expanded the framework by adding and emphasizing executive function and self-regulatory processes (e.g., attention, goal setting, reviewing), and working memory (needed during the planning stage of the writing process), and short-term memory (needed during the review stage).

 

The Correlation Between Writing and Reading

While reading and writing are closely correlated, the correlation, according to the NICHD (2012), is far from perfect. Similarities and differences can be noted between reading and writing. Both (along with the other language arts skills, listening and speaking) involve knowledge of vocabulary (words, their internal morphology, and their meanings in context) and syntax (sentence structure, complex sentences, and how usage can change the intended message). At their higher levels, all of these require reasoning, critical thinking, and analytic ability, and all draw upon background knowledge (NICHD, 2012). Both skilled writing and reading are complex, requiring extensive self-regulation of flexible, goal-directed, problem-solving activities; both require genre knowledge and effective use of strategies (Harris, Graham, Brindle, & Sandmel, 2009). 

The Colorado Framework for Writing Instruction emphasizes and elevates the findings and evidence-based practices from research to depict the interconnected, interdependent, and inter-relational nature of the skills and concepts Colorado students must know, understand, demonstrate, and transfer in order to become skilled writers and readers as outlined in the Colorado Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, and Communicating. The interwoven strands of skilled reading and writing become more tightly intertwined as students become increasingly more strategic and automatic in their ability to apply and transfer all of the skills until the become skilled writers and readers.

Unraveling the Ropes to Understand the Relationship between Writing and Reading

How does the instructional process for writing relate to instruction in reading or the instructional process in reading relate to writing instruction? Despite accumulating evidence in both reading and writing, the field continues to struggle with how best to ensure that students achieve higher levels of reading comprehension and to elucidate optimal trajectories for writing development (NICHD, 2012). When students receiving remediation make important gains, it is not clear what support(s) are needed for them to build on these skills and maintain them. Despite the need for ongoing research, research findings are encouraging enough that teachers can incorporate current research knowledge and use it in their classrooms with their students (NICHD, 2012). The chart below was designed to help school teams not only understand the relationship between writing and reading, but also help school teams examine, determine, and see how each skill and concept in the ropes overlap, spiral, and are dependent upon the each other to produce skilled writers and readers who can apply and transfer knowledge to current and new ideas, concepts, and contexts. 

Back to the Main Page

Previous page: Ground the Work: The "What" and "Why" of Writing

Next page: Process for Developing a Writing Framework at the School Level