Citation of “Reading and Writing Together: A Critical Component of English for Academic Purposes Teaching and Learning”

Annotation by Heather Faciane (2018)

Grabe, W. and Zhang, C. 2013. Reading and writing together: A critical component of English for academic purposes teaching and learning. TESOL Journal, 4(1), 9-24. doi: 10.1002/ tesj.65

Article Summary

 In this article, Grabe and Zhang emphasize the importance of integrating reading into writing instruction to help L2 students become more successful writers, particularly in EAP settings. They point out that reading and writing are not often connected in EAP instruction. Reading can help L2 students overcome many of the challenges that they face when writing in their new language. The authors address questions regarding the reading/writing assignments L2 students need to learn, the research that has already been established, and the pedagogical practices that could most effectively helping students improve their academic reading and writing. The authors also discuss two writing tasks that require students to incorporate texts, summary and synthesis, and show how the research indicates that reading helps L2 students overcome difficulties that arises when practicing these types of writing. Because the authors understand that teachers may find the integration of reading into writing classes difficult, they provide several suggestions to overcome these challenges. In conclusion, the authors assert that teachers need to work together to develop effective ways to connect reading and writing in L2 instruction.           

Article Assessment

This article is a good resource for studying the connection between reading and writing. The authors provide information about several studies that involve the integration of reading and writing, making this article a useful starting point for further research. While the authors do describe many studies, they seem to concentrate the most on studies done by Zhang, who happens to be one of the article’s authors. Not only do these authors provide helpful insight into research in this area of study but they also suggest several practical ways that teachers can incorporate reading practices into writing instruction. Overall, this article is a helpful resource for those who are studying the pedagogical practice of connection reading to writing instruction.   

Key Article Quotation

On the how to incorporate reading into L2 writing instruction

“The best general approach to instruction, therefore, is to begin instruction on reading/writing tasks much earlier, much more explicitly, and with much more iterative practice. Such thinking requires some creativity on the parts of teachers, curriculum developers, and materials writers” (p. 19).