Students need to
understand the relationship between reading and writing by learning reading
strategies to make sense of what is read and writing strategies so that others
can make sense of what is written (Aulls, 1985). The student needs to be taught the writer-as-reader strategy
so that he/she can switch back and forth from writer to reader and reader to
writer. As the writer writes, the
student would construct meaning in the written prose and as the reader; the
student would re-read to be sure that the text makes sense. If not, revisions
would be made. The reader-as-writer
strategy would be applied to reading the text; the student would need to
construct meaning from the author's intended meaning.
If incorrect interpretations were made, then the student would have to
revise his/her reading by rethinking and clarifying the meaning of the text for
himself/herself as a reader. (Boutwell, 1983).
The curriculum needs to provide opportunities for students to practice
reading and writing activities that include prereading/prewriting that draw on
prior knowledge and experiences; reading /writing that establish a purpose; and
summarizing in order to summarize what has been read and revision to revise
written text to communicate with the intended audience (Heller, 1991;
Shanahan,1988; Smith & Dahl, 1984; Tierney & Pearson, 1984).
Teachers have an important role in giving students'
opportunities to learn through reading and writing strategies.
Effective reading-writing learning strategies should include
characteristic of (1) learning consists of critical thinking, analysis,
reasoning and understanding, (2) using revision to evaluate meaning, (3)
fostering student's prior knowledge, (4) personal involvement in reading and
writing by making personal choices or taking positions, and (5) promoting
students' responses through feelings. All
writing assignments should be encouraged before, during, and after the reading
of literature. Reading and writing strategies that illustrate the
characteristics of critical thinking and revision are Dialogical Reading and
Writing, Letter to the Editor, Extended Writing about Literature (a formal
analysis about the literary work) and Extended Writing about Content (a
synthesis about the major concepts of the text).
The strategies of Guided Writing Procedure, i.e. the student will
brainstorm ideas about a topic, group ideas into categories, read the text, and
write about the topic using the text; and KWL are examples of the characteristic
of promoting students' use of prior knowledge.
The strategies of Self-selected Trade Books, i.e. using a trade book for
individualized reading about a topic; Identifying with the Character, i.e.
writing a letter to a character whose story the students will later read; and
Extended Writing from Different Perspectives, i.e. writing from different
perspectives or for different audience are examples of the characteristic of
students' personally involved with reading and writing.
The strategy of Response to Content or Reading Response Journals is an
example of the characteristic of students' responding using their feelings (Cobine,
1995; Haneline & Aiex, 1997; McGee & Richgels, 1990;Tompkins, 1990).
Through writing in response to reading, the reader can identify whether
or not he/she is communicating with the author (Smith & Dahl, 1984).
Therefore, readers need to write about what they are reading, so that
they can appreciate the words and style of the author.
All writing activities assigned with reading are based upon the premise
that students assimilate their perceptions of a text by writing in response to
reading (Cobine, 1995). Through
reading and writing activities, students will learn more about their own reading
and writing abilities, which can lead to more possibilities in their own working
and personal lives (Haneline & Aiex, 1997).