Bridging the reading-writing gap in second language learning

Research shows that reading and writing are closely connected. Students who can
read well can be expected to write well. However, repeated observations show that
this is not always the case. Students who have developed an advanced reading
ability often continue to experience difficulty when they try to express themselves
in writing. This chapter first discusses oft-cited sources of students’ writing
difficulties, which typically involve difficulties at the linguistic (e.g., vocabulary,
grammar and text structure) and cognitive levels (e.g., selecting relevant contents,
connecting different parts of the writing).The next part of the chapter explores the
relationship between reading and writing in detail, highlighting areas that need to
be linked more tightly together. The last section presents an instructional model
that promotes more efficient input processing and focused noticing of linguistic
features found in the target text. The model also encourages student writers to
engage in writerly reading and readerly writing to further strengthen their writing
proficiency.