Exploring Reading-Writing Connections Based on Source Texts in an L2 Context

The current study examines reading and writing connections based on source texts in an EFL context and reveals that students’ cumulative reading experience enhances writing proficiency. Ten university students who were taking a reading course were asked to write essays on assigned topics related to the themes of the four novels they read in the class both before (pre-reading writing) and after reading (post-reading writing) each novel. Students’ writings were graded on vocabulary, content, grammar and organization. Results based on students’ writing scores indicated that the mean scores increased significantly on the post-reading writing compared to the pre-reading writing and that the students’ post-reading scores increased significantly as the number of novels read increased. However, cumulative reading effect was more prominent between post-reading writings than between pre-reading writings. It is concluded that reading experience can surely benefit writing proficiency, thus, that reading and writing activities should be integrated in an EFL setting.