Integrating reading and writing teaching to improve VNUH ULIS first year english majored students writing skills

that reading, which builds the knowledge base of written texts, helps L2 learners acquire necessary language constructs such as grammatical structures and discourse rules for writing, an

PAGE

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstracts iii

Table of contents iv

List of figures, tables and abbreviations vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the problem and the rationales for the study 1

2 Objectives of the study 2

3 Research questions of the study 3

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Methods of the study 3

6 Design of the study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 – LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Teaching reading 5

1.1.1 Definition of reading 5

1.1.2 Theoretical background of teaching reading 6

1.2 Teaching writing 16

1.2.1 Definition of writing 16

1.2.2 Theoretical background of teaching writing 19

1.3 Integrating Reading and Writing 27

1.4 Overview of related research 33

CHAPTER 2 – METHODOLOGY

2.1 Rationale for using experimental method 38

2.2 Variables 42

2.3 Participants 43

2.4 Intervention 43

2.5 Data collection instruments 47

2.6 Data collection procedures 50

2.7 Data analysis methods 50

CHAPTER 3 – RESULTS 3.1 Comparison of experimental and control groups’ writing performance 52

3.2 Comparison of writing performance between groups 53

3.3 Survey questionnaire 53

3.3.1 Students’ opinions about the provided course 53

3.3.2 Students’ evaluation of the program 55

3.3.3 Students’ suggestions 58

CHAPTER 4 – DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS 4.1 Discussion of the research questions 60

4.1.1 Comparison of experimental and control groups’ writing proficiency 60

4.1.2 Students’ opinions about the program 61

4.2 Discussion of the research hypotheses 65

4.3 Implications 65

4.3.1 Theoretical implications 65

4.3.2 Pedagogical implications 66

PART C – CONCLUSION

1 Conclusions 70

2 Limitations of the study 70

3 Suggestions for further study 71

REFERENCES 73 APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

APPENDIX 3

APPENDIX 4

APPENDIX 5

List of tables and figures

Figure 1 Stages of writing process

Table 1 Schedule of the writing course

Table 2 Descriptive statistics for the pretest and posttest scores of the

experimental and control groups

Table 3 Mean gains of the experimental and control groups

Table 4 Experimental students’ opinions about the reading materials

Table 5 Experimental students’ opinions about the program

Table 6 Experimental students’ suggestions for future program

List of abbreviations

ESL English as a second language

EFL English as a foreign language

TESOL Teaching English to speakers of other languages

FELTE Faculty of English Language Teacher Education

ULIS University of Languages and International Studies

VNU Vietnam National University

PET Preliminary English Test

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

PART A: INTRODUCTION

This part is dedicated to introducing the rationale of the study, the problem to be addressed

in the study, the aims and the objectives of the study, and the research questions to be answered It will also present the scope of the study, an overview of the employed methods, and the design of the study

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

English teachers often ask themselves what their students‟ problems are and how they can help their students One of the sources which allows teachers to know more about their students‟ difficulties is students‟ test results The author has realized that her students‟ performance of achievement tests is very poor, especially students‟ bad performance of writing tests The most frequent answer of students when asked about difficulties in writing

is that they cannot express their ideas in English and they find it hard to choose a suitable word or structure in order to make their writing sound English One of the most frequently-made errors relates to the use of unsuitable expressions; moreover, students‟ writing pieces are affected seriously by their mother tongue It is clear that students do not have adequate knowledge of sets of vocabulary, grammatical structure, culture, etc Thus, they encounter difficulties in writing and cannot produce creative writing works

With the purpose of improving the above situation, the author decided to do research on

the topic “Integrating Reading and Writing Teaching to Improve VNUH University of

Languages and International Studies First-year English-majored Students’ Writing Skills”

Providing supplementary reading materials was believed to bring students the best progress

in a short time because first year students lack background knowledge Reading passages and doing supplementary exercises give them a chance to acquire target language and cultural knowledge, sets of vocabulary and structures as well to help students write better However, this method of teaching and learning also has some shortcomings, for example the preparations, teaching techniques, syllabus, students‟ assessment, etc

In L2 literacy contexts, Krashen's (1984) argument that “it is reading that gives the writer the 'feel' for the look and texture” (p.20, cited in Hirvela, 2004) paves the way leading writing researchers and instructors to the vision of reading/writing connection He claims

that reading, which builds the knowledge base of written texts, helps L2 learners acquire necessary language constructs such as grammatical structures and discourse rules for writing, and facilitates the process of language acquisition

The author is always interested in studying writing instructions and has received the permission and support of the faculty and colleagues; therefore, this study has been motivated It is hoped to provide educators and teachers with a clearer insight into how the theories of integration of reading and writing can influence and correspond to actual classroom practices

2 Objectives of the study

Firstly, this study is carried out to investigate the theories and findings of the earlier studies and provide more empirical evidence for the effects of integration of reading and writing

on learners‟ writing performance to support the tendency of integrated skills teaching in the context of Vietnam and the author‟s workplace Secondly, it is an attempt to meet the needs of the first year students in University of Foreign Languages and International Studies (ULIS) to improve their writing ability Thirdly, it is expected that the results of the study would be useful in some ways for teachers and educators in university who are teaching reading and writing at the same time or anyone who is interested in this field of the English language teaching Finally, the study is aimed at providing more information for the trend of integrating skills to teach English language learners in the division

This study specially has the following objectives:

1 Investigating the effects of the integrated reading and writing instruction program

on first year students‟ writing performance in EFL settings

2 Investigating the students‟ opinions about the integrated reading and writing instruction program

3 Offering some practical recommendations for improvement of first year students‟ writing skills at English I

3 Research questions of the study

In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the research questions of the study are set out as follows:

(1) Is there a difference between the writing performance scores of the control group and those of the experimental?

(2) What are the students‟ opinions of the integrating reading and writing instruction program and their suggestions for future research?

The study was conducted to test the following research hypotheses:

4 Scope of the study

This study focuses on the present context at English I, Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (FELTE, ULIS,VNUH) This study investigates the impact of the program of integrating reading and writing teaching on first year students‟ writing performance in 15 weeks These students‟ writing proficiency was measured in correlation

to the application of an experimental reading – writing integration program

5 Methods of the study

The research method employed in this study is a quasi-experimental design to propose the research questions and to find out the answers The method involves the three basic components of experiments as presented by Selinger and Shohamy, that is, the population (ULIS first year students), the treatment (the program of integrating reading and writing

instruction) and the measurement of the treatment (t-test) (1989, p.136) It is conducted with the participation of 52 first year students Data collection instruments include pre and post tests, and a survey questionnaire More details can be seen in Chapter 3

6 Design of the study

This study consists of five chapters Chapter 1 introduces the research topic, the rationale for it and provides the aims, the scope, the method, and the research questions as well Chapter 2 has an overview of the literature on the field of writing and integration of reading and writing teaching Chapter 3 describes the methodology of the study including information about the respondents, data collection instruments and the procedure of data collection and analysis Chapter 4 presents the results of tests and survey questionnaire Chapter 5 discusses the findings, draws conclusions, provides pedagogical implications, discusses the limitations of the study and provides some suggestions for further research

In this chapter, the author has mentioned the rationale, the scope and the objectives of the study The research questions are also presented as well as the employed methods and design of the study In the next chapter, she is going to review the relevant literature to provide a theoretical framework for the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 – LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides the theoretical background for the study It includes theories about definitions of reading and writing, teaching reading and writing skills, and previous related research

1.1 Teaching reading

1.1.1 Definition of reading

There are many definitions of reading, the most frequently quoted of which were proposed

by Foertsch (1998), who has suggested three basic definitions of reading According to the first definition, learning to read means learning to pronounce words In the second definition, learning to read means learning to identify words and get their meaning The third definition is that learning to read means learning to bring meaning to a text in order to get meaning from it

Anderson (1985) defines reading as the process of constructing meaning from written

texts Skilled reading is constructive: learning to reason about written material using knowledge from everyday life and from disciplined fields of study; fluent: mastery of

basic processes to the point where they are automatic so that attention is freed for the

analysis of meaning; strategic: controlling one‟s reading in relation to one‟s purpose, the nature of the material and whether one is comprehending; motivated: able to sustain attention and learning that written material can be interesting and informative; and a

lifelong pursuit: continuous practices, development, and refinement

Nowadays, the literacy research has brought us a more comprehensive definition of reading It recognizes the importance of skill instruction as one piece of the reading process It also supports balanced reading instructions for all students (Allington & Cunningham, 1996) Balanced reading instruction usually means a combination of whole language and phonics approaches which help students develop awareness of individual sounds, cueing strategies, and learn to decode the text and comprehend the material (Kelly, 1997) Teachers should pay attention to students‟ learning styles, some students are

"analytic and auditory” ones who benefit from phonics instruction; some students who have "visual, tactile and global learning styles" profit from a whole language approach (Carbo, 1996, cited in Stoicheva, 1999)

Suleiman (2005) states that reading can be seen as an “interactive” process between a reader and a text which leads to automaticity or reading fluency In this process, the reader interacts dynamically with the text as he/she tries to elicit the meaning and where various kinds of knowledge are being used: linguistic or systemic knowledge as well as schematic knowledge Since reading is a complex process, Grabe argues that “many researchers attempt to understand and explain the fluent reading process by analyzing the process into a set of component skills” (1991, cited in Suleiman, 2005) in reading; consequently he proposed at least six general component skills and knowledge areas: (1) Automatic recognition skills (2) Vocabulary and structural knowledge (3) Formal discourse structure knowledge (4) Content/world background knowledge (5) Synthesis and evaluation skills/strategies (6) Metacognitive knowledge and skills monitoring

1.1.2 Theoretical background of teaching reading

Reading is an essential part of language instruction at every level because it supports learning in multiple ways Rabideau (1993) states the important role of reading activities for learners to acquire English as a second language: for example, students dictate stories to the teacher or share orally a common experience The stories are accessible because they reflect the language and experience of the learners These stories and sharing experiences create reading texts for beginning-level ESL students whose command of vocabulary and structures in English is limited, as well as for those who are learning to read for the first time D'Annunzio (1990) describes a bilingual version of the Language Experience Approach Bilingual tutors take whole-class dictations on a class-selected theme, each learner is encouraged to provide a sentence or two After the story is completed, it is translated into English by the tutors, and related reading and writing activities are carried out in English and the native language Learners gradually move from these stories to more extended, expressive writing

In literature-based programs, learners often select their own reading texts which are of high interest and low level, fiction or non-fiction books for instance Books of high level are sometimes acceptable if cultural concepts and idiomatic expressions are accessible When the text is written at an accessible level and the story is engaging, readers usually get past unfamiliar words and derive meaning from the context From reading these stories, students enhance their knowledge and acquire language competence as well such as vocabulary,

grammar, cultural customs concepts and idiomatic expressions; therefore, students boost their language ability

Rosow (1990) describes using junk mail and other advertisements as reading texts in a consumer skills class Whatever they select to read, learners read complete texts that they have chosen, rather than the short, decontextualized passages commonly found in skills books

It is undeniable that reading brings student a lot benefits The first benefit is that reading helps to learn the language Reading material is language input By giving students a variety of materials to read, instructors provide multiple opportunities for students to absorb vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and discourse structure as they occur in authentic contexts Students thus gain a more complete picture of the ways in which the elements of the language work together to convey meaning The second benefit is that reading provides content information Students' purpose for reading in their native language is often to obtain information about a subject they are studying, and this purpose can be useful in the language learning classroom as well Therefore, teachers should give students both authentic reading material and an authentic purpose for reading The last benefit is that reading gives learners cultural knowledge and awareness Reading everyday materials that are designed for native speakers can give students insight into the lifestyles and views of the people whose language they are studying When students have access to newspapers, magazines, and internet, they are exposed to culture in all its variety, and

monolithic cultural stereotypes begin to break down

The Little Red Reading Book (Illinois State Board of Education, 1997) lists essential

components of research-based programs for beginning reading instruction in which it stated that learners will have opportunities to:

- Expand their use and appreciation of oral language

- Expand their use and appreciation of printed language

- Hear good stories and information books read aloud daily

- Understand and manipulate the building blocks of spoken language

- Learn about and manipulate the building blocks of written language

- Learn the relationship between the sounds of spoken language and the letters of written language

- Learn decoding strategies

- Write and relate their writing to spelling and reading

- Practice accurate and fluent reading in decodable stories

- Develop new vocabulary through wide reading and direct vocabulary instruction

- Read and comprehend a wide assortment of books and other texts

- Learn and apply comprehension strategies as they reflect upon and think critically about what they have read

With respect to types of reading, there are two types of reading, extensive and intensive reading (Hedge, 2003, cited in Suleiman, 2005) Extensive reading refers to skimming and scanning activities or quantity of material Hafiz and Tudor (1989) state that:

the pedagogical value attributed to extensive reading is based on the assumption that exposing learners to large quantities of meaningful and interesting L2 material will, in the long run, produce a beneficial effect on the learners‟ command of the L2 (p 5)

Hedge (2003) states that since extensive reading helps in developing reading ability, it should be built into an EFL/ESL programme which provides the authentic texts, i.e “not written for language learners and published in the original language” (p 218) - and

“graded” Moreover, extensive reading enables learners to achieve their independency by reading either in class or at home, through sustained silent reading (SSR) Carrell and Eisterhold (1983) argue that SSR activity can be effective in helping learners become self-directed agents and an SSR program is “based on student-selected texts so that the students will be interested in what they are reading Students select their own reading texts with respect to content, level of difficulty, and length.” (p 567)

Hedge (2003) states that extensive reading helps greatly in “exposing” second language learners to English and especially when the class time is limited Hedge briefs the advantages

of extensive reading in the following lines:

Learners can build their language competence, progress in their reading ability, become more independent in their studies, acquire cultural knowledge, and develop confidence and motivation to carry on learning (p 204-205)

In intensive reading, students usually read a page to explore the meaning and to be acquainted with writing mechanisms Hedge argues that it is “only through more extensive reading that learners can gain substantial practice in operating these strategies more independently on a range of materials.” (p 202) These strategies can be either text-related or learner-related: the former includes an awareness of text organization, while the latter includes strategies like linguistic, schematic, and metacognitive strategies Moreover, Hafiz and Tudor (1989) differentiate extensive and intensive reading:

In intensive reading activities learners are in the main exposed to relatively short texts which are used either to exemplify specific aspects of the lexical, syntactic or discoursal system of the L2, or to provide the basis for targeted reading strategy practice; the goal of extensive reading, on the other hand, is to „flood‟ learners with large quantities of L2 input with few or possibly no specific tasks to perform on this material (p 5)

Day and Bamford (2002) have offered ten principles for an extensive reading to teaching foreign language reading as follows:

(1) The reading material is easy

To help beginning readers feel comfortable and confident in reading and get the overall understanding of the text, there should not be too many new words which make students nervous and confused He suggested that for intermediate learners, no more than five difficult words per page, should be used Hu and Nation (2000) suggest that learners must know at least 98% of the words in a fiction text for unassisted understanding

It also mentions that for advanced learners the text should be adapted to help students with the linguistic and knowledge constraints of language learners This is especially helpful when learners read independently, without the help of a teacher

Moreover, easy materials help students to be motivated to read more and study more, and to be able to ladder up as their foreign language and reading skills improve, they must be reading texts that reflect their language ability The suitable texts help students find easy and enjoyable at every step of reading

(2) A variety of reading material on a wide range of topics must be available

The success of extensive reading depends largely on enticing students to read If the reading materials are various and exciting, they will awake and encourage students to read and they also support different purposes of reading Therefore, various and available sources should be facilitated such as books, magazines, newspapers, fiction, non-fiction, texts that inform, texts that entertain, and so on

As a result, learners are provided with interesting materials, they will be likely to read for different reasons (e.g., entertainment; information; passing the time) and in different ways (e.g., skimming; scanning; more careful reading)

(3) Learners choose what they want to read

Learners may choose what they expect to understand, to enjoy and to learn from They are not made to read anything that they find to be too difficult or of interest which discourage them to read more Further, this technique is really important and helpful when students are assigned homework which students are learning on their own As Henry (1995) observes, "compliance means reading books, but other than that, the purposes and pleasures to which students put their reading are entirely their own" (p 69) This encourages students to become responsible for their own learning Samuels, (1991) in discussing first language reading, claims that

"unless we phase out the teacher and phase in the learner, many of our students will fail to become independent because throughout their education they were always placed in a dependent role - dependent on the teacher"

(4) Learners read as much as possible

This principle is made by the previous one When students are interested in reading, they can read what they like, they can read more The most critical element in learning to read is the amount of time spent actually reading because students do not always have incentive or aim to read Hence, it is very important for students to establish a reading habit, especially for low-level students, they should have a realistic target to make progress in learning

(5) The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding

In an extensive reading approach, learners are encouraged to read for the same kinds of reasons

and in the same ways as the general population of first-language readers This sets extensive reading apart from usual classroom practice on the one hand, and reading for academic purposes on the other

A reader's interaction with a text derives from the purpose for reading In extensive reading, the learner's goal is sufficient understanding to fulfill a particular reading purpose, for example, the obtaining of information, the enjoyment of a story, or the passing of time

(6) Reading is its own reward

The learners' experience of reading the text is at the center of the extensive reading experience, just as it is in reading in everyday life Therefore, extensive reading is not usually followed

by comprehension questions It is an experience complete in itself

Teachers may ask students to complete follow-up activities based on their reading From that teachers can find out what the student understood and experienced from the reading; to monitor students' attitudes toward reading; to keep track of what and how much students read;

to make reading a shared experience; to link reading to other aspects of the curriculum Students may be asked to do such things as write about their favorite characters, write about the best or worst book they have read, or do a dramatic reading of an exciting part of a novel Such activities help students to integrate what they read with their own experiences to produce interesting writings

(7) Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower

When learners are reading a material that is suitable for their linguistic ability, for personal interest, and for general rather than academic purposes, they will have an incentive to read faster and improve their reading fluency Nuttall notes that "speed, enjoyment and comprehension are closely linked with one another" (1996, p.128) She describes "The vicious circle of the weak reader: reads slowly; doesn't enjoy reading; doesn't read much; doesn't understand; " (p.127) Extensive reading can help readers "enter instead the cycle

of growth The virtuous circle of the good reader: reads faster; reads more; understands better; enjoys reading; reads faster ." (p 127)

To promote students‟ reading fluency, it is advisable for teachers to discourage students from

using dictionaries when they come across words they don't understand Extensive reading is a chance to keep reading, and thus to practice such strategies as guessing at or ignoring unknown words or passages, going for the general meaning, and being comfortable with a certain level of ambiguity

(8) Reading is individual and silent

Silent, individual extensive reading contrasts with the way classroom texts are used for teaching language or reading strategies or (in traditional approaches) translated or read aloud

It allows students to discover that reading is a personal interaction with the text, and an experience that they have responsibility for Thus, with freedom to choose reading materials, individual silent reading can help students discover on their own how foreign language reading fits into their lives

Extensive reading means learners read at their own pace It can be done both in the students' own time when and where the student chooses, or inside the classroom when part or all of a classroom period is set aside for silent, self-selected reading as Henry describes it, "the most beautiful silence on earth, that of students engrossed in their reading" (1995)

(9) Teachers orient and guide their students

There are many available sources; students may have difficulty choosing the right materials For this reason, teacher must guide and provide students with necessary instructions and help Teachers can explain that reading extensively leads not only to gains in reading proficiency but also to overall gains in language learning Teachers can reassure students that a understanding

of what they read is appropriate for most reading purposes It can be emphasized that there will be no test after reading Instead, teachers are interested in the student's own personal experience of what was read for example, was it enjoyable or interesting, and why

Moreover, students should be introduced to the library of reading materials and how it is divided into difficulty levels It should be remembered that students unaccustomed to browsing foreign language reading materials may need assistance in selecting appropriate texts of interest

to them

Teachers can keep track of what and how much each student reads, and their students'

reactions to what was read Based on this information, teachers can encourage students to read

as widely as possible and, as their language ability, reading ability and confidence increase, to read at progressively higher levels of difficulty

(10) The teacher is a role model of a reader

Nuttall famously said, "Reading is caught, not taught" (1996, p.229) Maley explains the implications of this for teachers when he says, "We need to realize how much influence we have on our students Students do not just learn the subject matter we teach them; they learn from their teachers Teacher attitude, more than technical expertise, is what they will recall when they leave us" (1999) In short, effective extensive reading teachers are themselves readers, teaching by example the attitudes and behaviors of a reader In Henry's words, teachers are "selling reading" (1995: 52), and the primary way to do that is to be a reader

Further, in Henry's opinion, teachers of extensive reading "have to commit to reading what their students do" (1995: 52) She explains, "By reading what my students read, I become a part of the community that forms within the class" (p 53) When students and teachers share reading, the foreign language reading classroom can be a place where teachers discuss books with students, answer their questions and make tailor-made recommendations to individual students It can be a place where students and teachers experience together the value and pleasure to be found in the written word

Caverly (2009) outlined some principles to develop students‟ reading abilities as follows:

- The reader makes a contribution to the reading process

- Word recognition is necessary but not sufficient

- A strong correlation exists between vocabulary development and reading comprehension However, developing vocabulary does not necessarily improve reading comprehension

- Students‟ interest in, motivation for, and attitude toward reading are vital for success

- Text is organized into super-ordinate, co-ordinate and sub-ordinate ideas

- Text has a variety of relationships that can be taught to improve comprehension

- Reading in a study situation is as much a strategic process as it is a comprehending process

- Good readers use meta-cognitive strategies to prepare for, monitor, and assess their progress

- Strategic reading must vary depending on the task demands

In terms of reading activities used in the classroom, Suleiman states that contemporary reading tasks involve three-phase procedures: pre-, while-, and post- reading stages Zhang believes that “comprehension is facilitated by explicitly introducing schemata through pre-reading activities” (1993, p.5) The pre-reading stage helps students have relevant schema or background knowledge which motivate students before the actual reading takes place Moreover, pre-reading brings students interest and attention to reading text Drucker (2003) suggests the following procedure teachers can take before reading

a text:

…relate the passage students are going to read to something that is familiar to them Next, provide a brief discussion question that will engage the students and, after that, provide an overview of the section they are about to read Name the selection, introduce the characters, and describe the plot (up to, but not including, the climax) Last, direct the students to read the story and look for particular information (p 23)

Similarly, Abraham (2002) states that an interactive approach “demands that the teachers activate the students‟ schema” during the pre-reading phase by helping “students recognize the knowledge that they already have about the topic of a text” (p 6), i.e through discussion of titles, subheadings, photographs, identifying text structure, previewing, etc Such activities are called “pre-reading strategies” As Orasanu (1986) explicates the notion

of “schema” (or background knowledge) which

… can be thought of as a framework containing slots to be filled by incoming text information For example, if a reader is presented with a text about going

on vacation, he or she would likely have a slot in the vacation schema for packing a suitcase Text statements about folding clothes or carrying bags could then fill the slot

If a reader did not have a vacation schema with a "suitcase-packing slot," the information about clothes and bags might not be readily understood (p 118)

The aim of while-reading stage (or interactive process) is to develop students‟ ability in tackling texts by developing their linguistic and schematic knowledge Hedge (2003) argues that although some oppose the interactive activities carried during the while-reading phase, there are only few research studies that show the “effects of intervention and their outcomes”

Moreover, “many students report positively on the usefulness of while-reading activities.” (ibid, p 210) On the contrary, Paran (1996) believes that modern interactive reading models enable SL readers to be “less reliant on top-down processing” and enable them to achieve

“greater reliance on bottom-up strategies as they become more proficient” (p 29) It seems that teachers can use a balanced approach to teaching reading by incorporating both top-down and bottom-up processes, provided they are given flexibility in choosing the reading tasks

Haller (2000, p 21-24) modeled a number of school-based post-reading activities which enhance learning comprehension through the use of matching exercises, cloze exercises, cut-

up sentences, and comprehension questions For the cloze activity, the teacher puts blanks

in the story in place of some of the words, usually every fifth word but not the first or the last words in the text A cut-up sentence activity uses sentences from the given text and helps learners to gain confidence by manipulating the text in various ways The use of lines

in matching can be sometimes confusing for beginners Haller proposes the use of “paper strips” at the beginning where a student is given the strips and asked to match for example a name with its corresponding activity Later students can work in pairs as they understand the concept of matching and, finally, the teacher can introduce matching through lines For extra practice students can copy their matching word slips onto another sheet of paper

Researchers have identified and examined some comprehension strategies which are especially helpful to students First, activating and using background knowledge states that students should call up pertinent background knowledge and using that knowledge to help understand what is being read Second, generating and asking questions is that they should keep self-questioning throughout the reading of a text Third, making inferences is students use background knowledge or information from the text to evaluate or draw conclusions during reading The next strategy is predicting in which they should use background information to make informed guesses Moreover, summarizing suggests that students can synthesize information in a text so

as to explain what the text is about Last, visualizing shows that they may make mental images of

a text as a way to understand processes or events that are encountered during reading

1.2 Teaching writing

1.2.1 Definition of writing

The psychologist Lenneberg (1967) once noted the similarity between writing and swimming that human beings learn to walk and to talk but that swimming and writing are culturally specific, learned behaviors We learn to swim if there is water available and if someone teaches us, we learn to write if we are members of a literate society and if someone teaches us There are non swimmers, poor swimmers, and excellent swimmers, so

it is for writers So how to teach second language learners of English how to write well is still the concern of many educators and researchers Writing is of fundamental importance

to learning, to development of the person in each learner, and to success in the educational system As teachers, we need to work continually to aid our students in their search for fulfillment as writers (Graham & Harris, 1993)

Lannon (1989) views writing as “the process of transforming the material discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial or error, or whatever into a message with a definite meaning- writing is a process of deliberate decision” (p.9) It means that writing must convey a message with a meaning

The writing has been defined in a number of ways which reflects the complexity of writing process According to Byrne, writing can be seen as an “act of forming graphic symbols”, that is, letters or combination of letters (Byrne, 1991, p.1) Simply, writing is like “making marks on the flat surface of some kinds”

Another definition offered by Tribble (1996), considers writing a language skill involving

“not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts in a structured way” (p.3)

Besides, according to Sokolik, writing is defined by several contrasts (cited in Nunan, 2003) Firstly, in her opinion, writing is both “a physical and a mental act” in the sense that

it requires writers to commit words or ideas to some medium and at the same time to invent ideas, think about how to express them, and organize them into statements and paragraphs Secondly, writing aims at expressing and impressing Writers typically try to express their ideas or feelings; meanwhile they need to impress their readers in certain ways Thirdly, writing is a process and a product Writers have to generate ideas, organize, draft, edit, reread to produce a product – a paragraph, an essay or a report

Grabe and Kaplan (1996), explore the meaning of writing in terms of the rhetorical triangle

in writing And such triangle consists of the reader, the recipient of the final product of the writing process; the writer, the originator of the message; and the subject matter and text itself Both the writer and the reader have to consider all these aspects when writing and reading, respectively, for each one plays a significant role in the journey towards meaning

Fischer (2003) argues that no one definition of writing can cover all the writing systems that exist and have ever existed Instead he states that a 'complete writing' system should fulfill all the following criteria:

 it must have as its purpose communication;

 it must consist of artificial graphic marks on a durable or electronic surface;

 it must use marks that relate conventionally to articulate speech (the systematic arrangement of significant vocal sounds) or electronic programming in such a way that communication is achieved

In her article, Boughey (1997) gives some characteristics of capacity of writing as follows:

(1) Writing is a process of “exploring one‟s thoughts and learning from the act of writing itself what these thoughts are” (Zamel, 1982) This process also succeeds in giving thoughts a permanence which they would not have in their unwritten state By externalizing and giving permanence to thoughts, the act of writing allows writers to reconsider, clarify, and revise those thoughts more readily than if they had not been written down

(2) All texts are written for an audience even if that audience is the writer himself or herself The need to pay attention to the audience of the text prompts writers into anticipating and considering viewpoints other than their own The result of this is that propositions contained in the content of the text are likely to be more rigorously scrutinized than if they were simply thought about

(3) In contrast to speaking, writing is produced and received in a context which is devoid

of support for the communication of meaning (Cummins, 1986) The result of this is that,

in writing, meanings must be explicit Understanding of the need to be explicit forces writers to engage with the propositions contained in their text more than in speaking

(4) In speaking, meaning is constructed through a process of interaction which involves both the speaker and the listener Speakers and listeners prompt each other by providing or questioning links between propositions They help each other to construct a meaning which may not be completely shared In contrast to speaking, writing is a lonely process requiring writers to explore, oppose and make connections between propositions for themselves, a process which is conducive to learning

(5) The linear form of a finished piece of writing requires that thoughts be ordered and organized The process of organizing and ordering these thoughts means that the writer has

to examine and manipulate those thoughts thoroughly

These characteristics show the relationship between writing and learning, therefore, students should learn to write Learning to write can help students improve their language ability and enhance their other language skills

1.2.2 Theoretical background of teaching writing

People often communicate with each other in writing For example writers transfer their thoughts, ideas, and feelings to readers or people write letters to each other to keep in touch However, communication is not the only reason to include writing as a part of second language syllabus There is another important reason is that writing helps students

to learn Through writing students can reinforce their grammatical structures and vocabulary Moreover, they can experience the target language and become involved in the new language Additionally, writing provokes students, it makes students think, create and discover new things while trying to express their ideas For these above reasons, writing is really important to teach in ESL lessons There are many studies carried out to explore the nature and techniques of teaching writing to students in ESL classes

Marc Freedman (1991) has done a small survey of current uses of writing in adult ESL classes He found three purposes for writing The first purpose has to do with practicing language: "Many traditional, workbook-style writing exercises seem predicated on the idea that practicing writing correctly formulated serves the purpose of concretizing learning " (p.11)

The second purpose has to do with experimenting with language, encouraging learners to attempt to write things they want to express, even if they are unsure of how to do it This emphasis does the following:

* It develops an experimental or exploratory approach to language and literacy learning in which the learner plays an active role;

* It allows learners to set their own goals and focus on the language necessary for what they are trying to convey in writing;

* It provides opportunities for learners to explore resources other than the teacher (e.g., their own, perhaps underestimated, knowledge; the knowledge of other students; dictionaries; texts; or their own notes) (p 12)

The third purpose has to do with "communication." While an oral utterance is usually based on a preceding utterance or event, has an immediate impact on what happens next, and is of immediate concern to the speaker, many writing activities share none of these characteristics

To produce a good piece of writing which has clear, fluent and effective communication of ideas, writers have to pay attention to a number of features such as content, the writer‟s process (getting ideas, getting started, writing drafts, revising), audience, purpose, word choice, organisation, machanics (spelling, punctuation), grammar (rules for verbs, agreement), syntax (sentence structure, stylistic choices)

Raimes (1983) in her book Techniques in Teaching Writing discusses the different

approaches to teaching writing in ESL classes as follows (p.8):

The Controlled-to-Free Approach

The controlled-to-free approach in writing is sequential: students are first given sentence exercises, then paragraphs to copy or manipulate grammatically by, for instance, changing questions to statements, present to past, or plural to singular They work on given material and perform strictly prescribed operations on it This approach stresses three features: grammar, syntax, and mechanics

The Free-Writing Approach

Some researchers emphasized quantity of writing rather than quality They have approached the teaching of writing by assigning vast amounts of free writing on given topics, with only minimal correction of error The emphasis in this approach is that students should put content and fluency first and not worry about form

The Paragraph-Pattern Approach

Instead of accuracy of grammar or fluency of content, the paragraph-pattern approach stresses another feature, organization Students copy paragraphs, analyze the form of model paragraphs and imitate model passages This approach is based on the principle that

in different cultures people construct and organize their communication with each other in different ways Therefore, students need to analyze, practice the particular English feature

of a piece of writing

The Grammar-Syntax-Organisation Approach

Some teachers have stressed the need to work on simultaneously on several features in the composition Writing cannot be seen as composed of separate skills which are learnt one

by one Students have to pay attention to organization while they work on the necessary grammar and syntax This approach links the purpose of a piece of writing to the forms that needed to convey the message

The Communicative Approach

The communicative approach stresses the purpose of a piece of writing and the audience for it Student writers are encouraged to behave like writers in real life and to ask

themselves the crucial questions about the purpose and audience, for example, Why am I writing this? Who will read it?

The Process Approach

Other researchers have stressed the process of writing Writers ask themselves not only

questions about purpose and audience, but also the crucial questions: How do I write this? How do I get started? In this approach, the students do not write on a given topic in a

restricted time and hand in the composition for the teacher to correct Instead of doing so, they explore a topic through writing, showing the teacher and each other their drafts, and using what they write to read over, think about and move them on to new ideas The

process approach gives students two crucial supports: time for students to brainstorm, try out ideas and feedback on the content of what they write in their first drafts Therefore,

writing process becomes a process of discovery for the students, discovery of new ideas and new language forms to express their ideas

A few decades ago writing teachers were mostly concerned with the final product of writing: the essay, the report, the story, and what that product should look like But in due course of time, learners were allowed to focus on content and message and their own individual intrinsic motives were put at the center of learning, the process approach to writing instruction has been developed Process approaches do the following (Brown,

1994, p.320):

a) focus on the process of writing that leads to the final written product

b) help student writers to understand their own composing process

c) help them to build repertoires of strategies for prewriting, drafting and rewriting

d) give students time to write and rewrite

e) place central importance on the process of revision

f) let students discover what they want to say as they write

g) give students feedback throughout the composing process

h) encourage feedback both from the instructor and peers

i) include individual conferences between teacher and student during the process of composition

The process approach is an attempt to take advantage of the nature of written code to give students a chance to think as they write Writing is indeed considered a thinking process like Elbow said (1973) “instead of a two-step transaction of meaning-into-language, think

of writing as an organic, developmental process in which you start writing at the very beginning-before you know your meaning at all- and encourage your words gradually to change and evolve”

For the process oriented professionals and researchers, writing is a product of a person‟s search for meaning Zamel (1982) points out that writers go through the process where meaning is created because writers seem to start off the process not knowing what they are going to say at all The process writing is a “complex, recursive, and creative process whereby the writers discover and reformulate their ideas as they attempt to approximate meaning” (Zamel, 1983, p.165)

Process writing, an integral part of most classes, is beginning to play a larger role in ESL classes as well From a process writing perspective, writing is a communicative act with an intended purpose and audience The teacher and other learners help the writer find a topic and revise drafts of a written piece until it conveys the intended meaning Learners are encouraged to take risks and try out new language As they continue to work to make their meanings clear, learners acquire competence using the style, syntax, grammar, and surface features of the language Sometimes language rules are taught in teacher-led mini-lessons, but always in the context of expressing the learner's own ideas

There are different views on the stages of writing process, according to Hedge (1990), the process contains several stages which can be illustrated as follows:

Figure 1 Stages of writing process

The five steps of the writing process are prewriting, writing, revising, editing, and publishing These steps are important to have a successful writing When a writer follows these five steps they will achieve the goal of an interesting and successful writing

(1) Prewriting

The first step of writing is prewriting which includes brainstorming, gathering information, thinking, planning, and listing During this step the writer develops a topic or topics to

Being motivated to write  getting ideas together  planning and outlining

 making notes  making a first draft  revising, replanning, redrafting

 editing and getting ready for publication

write about and ideas about the topic Prewriting is very important because it allows the writer to think of a topic then build ideas that help to clarify and define the topic

In the first step, the writer will brainstorm or develop a topic and ideas that support the topic The writer must decide which topic they will write about The writer must decide on the purpose for writing to help them choose a topic After that, there are six questions to ask when gathering information: who, what, where, when, why, and how Once a writer has gathered all the needed information they should review it to decide if the information is effective or important When all the information has been collected and sorted, the writer should provide a sequence for it The writer should make a list of important points and put them in order By doing this the writer can see where their research is missing so they can

do further research

(2) Drafting

The second step of writing is drafting Once having had enough information, the writer can begin their writing At this point the writer shouldn‟t be too concerned about punctuation and grammar This step is used to get the basics out in writing The purpose of this step is

to just get the information in writing and form a sequenced list in paragraph format Hence, the writers are focused on the fluency of the writing only not the accuracy

(3) Revising

Step three is revising This is the step where you perfect all your thoughts and ideas with the information gathered This is where the writer rereads the draft and finds areas that should be fixed This stage is the most time consuming and requires more hard work and thought than any other step This is the most important step The purpose of this step is to make a writing go from good to great This step allows the writer to add more details and interest to the writing

(4) Editing

The fourth step is editing After doing all the above-mentioned steps the writer will finally have a completed writing, but the work isn't done yet The writer will share their writing with someone else, such as a friend, classmate, parent, brother, or sister This person will

be the editor In the editing step the writer needs a fresh pair of eyes to find any problems

or errors in the writing that the writer didn't catch This is why they need someone to edit their writing The purpose of this step is to have someone catch your mistakes before the reader does

(5) Publishing

The final step is to publish the writing The writer shares their work with others and creates

a sense of pride and accomplishment on a well-written product that the writer can be proud

of The purpose of publishing is to introduce the writing to others and to show accomplishments

Writing has many steps to follow but these steps can lead to a sense of success and satisfaction By following each step in the writing process the writer can produce a well-written, organized, and thoughtful article they can be proud of

self-Brown (1992) also suggests some principles for writing techniques (p.331)

(1) Incorporate practices of “good” writers: good writers should

 focus on a goal or main idea in writing

 perceptively gauge their audience

 spend time planning to write

 let their ideas flow onto the paper

 follow a general organizational plan as they write

 solicit and utilize feedback on their writing

 are not wedded to certain surface structures

 revise their work willingly and efficiently

 patiently make as many revisions as needed

(2) Balance process and product

As mentioned, we should pay attention to the process approach; however, writer should also make sure that the process principle does not detract from a focus on the product as well

(3) Account for cultural/literary backgrounds

Teachers should not assume that students know English rhetorical conventions If there is any difference or contrast between students‟ native traditions and those teachers are trying

to teach, teachers should try to help students to understand what it is and by degrees, bring them to the use of acceptable English rhetoric

(4) Connect reading and writing

Clearly, students learn to write by carefully observing what is already written By reading and studying a variety of relevant types of text, students can gain important insights both about how they should write and about the subject matter that may become the topic of their writing

(5) Provide as much authentic writing as possible

Writing should be authentic in that the purposes for writing are clear to students, the audience is specified overtly, and there is at least some intent to convey meaning

(6) Frame the techniques in terms of prewriting, drafting, and revising stages

Process writing approaches tend to be framed in three stages of writing For example, the very important stage, the prewriting stage which encourages the generation of ideas can happen in a numerous ways:

 reading extensively passages

 skimming or scanning passages

 brainstorming

Rabideau (1983) claims the important role of process writing in ESL classes as well Writing is

a communicative act with intended purpose and audience The teacher and other learners find

a topic, they work out the main ideas, produce drafts and revise them until it conveys the intended meaning Teachers help students improve their writings and encourage learners to take risks and try out new language Learners continue to work to make their writing clear and better, hence, learners improve language competence and they can use the style, syntax, grammar and vocabulary of the language appropriately to express their ideas Sometimes

language rules are taught in teacher-led mini-lessons, but always in the context of expressing the learner's own ideas In D'Annunzio's (1990) work, he states that a learner's attempt to use quotation marks, however inappropriately, demonstrated that she had noticed this convention

in the texts she had read By experimenting with quotation marks in her own writing and through interaction with the teacher and fellow learners, she developed a deeper understanding of the purpose and correct use of that surface feature Dan also gives an example of a small survey of current uses of writing in adult ESL classes which was carried out by Marc Freedman (1991) He states the way of teaching writing such as getting students

to experiment with language, encouraging learners to write things they want to express and

to practice oral communication as well

1.3 Integrating Reading and Writing

Though the connection between reading and writing seems to be realized by all for a long time, reading is not always important in writing classes Reading and writing are regarded

as the products of skills acquisition There has been little attention to the connection between writing and reading for a long time Goodman (1986) claimed that reading and writing actually develop together Carson (1993) suggested that it is beneficial to integrate L2 reading and writing in the same class The traditional viewpoint is that reading is a receptive skill, whereas writing is a productive one (Heller, 1999) Hence, they were usually taught as separate subjects in schools Many studies have been done to prove the link between reading and writing instructions Reading is considered to provide students necessary background knowledge and improve their writing ability

Classrooms in which reading and writing are integrated are described as using “whole language” (Newman, 1985) or “literature-based” (DeFord, 1986) approaches Such approaches stress immersion of students in a language-based program that de-emphasizes skill instruction and stress supportive environment in which students are encouraged through different opportunities to develop personally relevant reasons for selecting books

or topics about which to write The teacher‟s responsibility is to provide information and to help students realize the range of goals and functions that reading can serve (Pearson and Leys, 1985, p.4) Instead of focusing on the teaching of isolated reading skills and writing skills, researchers began to study the relationship between the basic processes of reading and writing Tierney and Pearson have argued that reading is a composing process and that

composing and comprehending are possibly “two sides of the same basic process” (Squire, 1984) Now, there is general agreement that reading and writing are both fundamental cognitive process with different cognitive activities like selecting important information, organizing and retrieving, summarizing or consolidating information

Both reading and writing activities share three phases: planning (writing and reading); drafting (writing or guided reading) and revising (modifying and extending or post-reading)

pre-In the first stage, planning, both readers and writers generate ideas pre-In writing, writers make decisions about ideas of selected topics, the audience, purposes, and how the ideas are organized In reading, readers make decisions about the topic, the intended ideas, organization, and select information from their own background knowledge to make sense

of what they read

During drafting, readers and writers construct the meaning of the text Tierney and La Zansky (1980) state the author/reader “contract” that exists between an author and his or her audience When the authors create their drafts, they have to consider the needs of their audience (background knowledge, vocabulary, experience, etc.) similarly, readers also understand the intention or refer the implicit meaning of the text when they read information or read between the lines

Drafting also requires that both writers and readers use their knowledge of the text structure, and the question types (Armbruster & Anderson, 1982) For example, authors of stories follow a structure that allows readers to predict and identify information about the setting, characters Readers also follow the structure to recognize the ideas of the text

In revision stage, both writer and readers focus on monitoring and evaluating how successfully their message has been constructed After drafting, writers reread to consider whether the text satisfy their purposes, and answer all the questions designed to answer Readers similarly reread the text when they discover discrepancies between the questions, the text and their own interpretation or to clarify any mismatch between the text and the readers‟ own background knowledge

In the 80's, some scholars had considered reading and writing as similar cognitive processes in which readers/authors interact with the texts For example, Tierney and Pearson (1983) believed that "at the heart of understanding the reading/writing connection one must begin to view reading and writing as essentially similar processes of meaning construction" (p 568)

Reading and writing became curricularly linked when Havard and other universities decided that reading literature was essential to learning to write According to Alderson and Urquahart (1986), reading and writing has a close relationship which serves both readers‟ and writers‟ purposes and background knowledge, productions and interpretation

of the texts Linda Markstein and Louise Hirasawa (1994) also stated the relationship of reading and writing “students write about what they read They explore in writing their own ideas and feelings about each selection, and they read their writing to their classmates.”

Moreover, Tierney and Shanahan (1996) suggested that when children write about what they have read, engagement with text is enhanced, recall of key ideas improves, and thinking deepens Moss, Leone, and Dipillo (1997) suggested that American educators were missing an opportunity to improve students‟ reading and writing proficiencies By having children respond to interesting and up-to-date non-fiction trade books, students may expand their understanding on a wide range of topics Because nonfiction texts are less prior-knowledge dependent, students who regularly read and respond to information trade books begin to develop the ability to read as writers Students begin to develop essential problem-solving and critical thinking skills as they respond to the factual information they are reading

Celce-Murcia (2001) emphasized the convenience of integrating the development of the four skills by using literature in class The reasons of her support are the following:

(1) Becoming engaged with a piece of literature can increase students‟ interest in reading frequently and widely in English

(2) Listening tasks, such as reading aloud and storytelling, are excellent ways to develop students‟ global listening skills

(3) In addition to the topics literature offers for discussions, it also provides students with a model of using the language appropriately

(4) Literature cannot only provide students with a way to express their personal interpretation of a story through writing, but also help students to become aware of voice and point of view in written texts

Promoting reading comprehension and focusing on writing are considered highly important

in Content and Language Integrated Learning methodology (Wolff, 2005, p.16, cited in Loranc-Paszylk, 2009) Integrated reading and writing activities brings benefits to the learner with respect to both content learning and language learning processes

For language gains, processing information and constructing new texts based on prior reading helps students develop target language competence for example reading provides students with knowledge, language use, especially it builds up reading and writing skills Reading will help students expand their vocabulary and structures so they can enhance their writing skills as well

The advantages of integrated reading and writing activities in reference to content learning are as follows: reading texts provide information that can be later used in written production Reading is considered as input and writing is output Therefore, readings will bring students a chance of revision and consolidation of old knowledge Besides, readings also supply more new information and provoke students in their writings Furthermore, the necessity of selecting information in the writing process helps students develop critical thinking skills

Allington and Cunningham (1998) describe these four components of a balanced reading and language arts classroom:

- Guided Reading (30-35 minutes daily)

- Self-Selected Reading (30-35 minutes daily)

- Word Study (30-35 minutes daily)

- Writing (25-30 minutes daily)

In the study Integrated Reading - Writing Instruction through Storytime in EFL Classes, the

researcher has discussed the factor of reader response to reading text The theoretical foundation of reader response is grounded in the work of Rosenblatt‟s Literature as Exploration, published in 1938 (Dressman & Webster, 2001; Hancock, 2004) The masterpiece not only considered the personal, social, and cultural contexts of the reading act, but also pointed out the dynamics of the reader and the text in the personal response to literature According to Hancock (2004), reader response to literature describes the unique interaction that occurs within the mind and heart of the individual reader throughout the literature event Reader response includes three components: the reader, the literature, and the context for response (Galda, 1988) The characteristics of a reader include his/her background knowledge, past literary experience, age or stage of cognitive development, literacy strategies and skills, attitudes toward the task, and personal morality and values The textual characteristics that influence the response of a reader are the genre of the literature, the text structure, the literary elements, and the content/topic The context for response to literature has a dual perspective: the broad social-cultural context of a child‟s life and the immediate situational context of the classroom

The crucial role of the reader has been discussed in many researches (Many, 1991; Yolen, 1985) Neither the author nor the text occupies the role of the leader in reading anymore The reader and the text both play important roles (Rosenblatt, 1978; Sebesta, 2001) Hickman (1981) observed seven modes of response to literature: listening behavior, contact with books, the impulse to share, actions and drama, making things, oral response, and written response Each of the seven modes evidences itself in many types of behaviors For example, types of listening behavior include physical response, spontaneous response, and participatory response while oral response includes retelling/storytelling, prompted response, and literature discussions

The author states that the more teachers realize and understand the variety of modes of response to literature, the more opportunities they would provide for children‟s responses From this characteristic, teacher can design suitable reading-writing activities which allow students to interact with the texts and freely express their feelings and thoughts

Moreover, the author states that it is necessary to pay attention to students‟ attitudes and the stories are believed to bring students better learning attitude McKenna (2001) explains that one‟s attitude toward an object or a subject can be conceptualized as a sense of “liking” or a

continuum with positive and negative extremes It refers to a learner‟s feeling that causes the person to approach or avoid doing something Unlike one‟s motivations as goals for achieving a task, attitudes are not objectives that guide behavior and are fulfilled Early in

1973, Gardner pointed out that both IQ score and learning attitudes influenced the achievements of language learning A great number of studies examined the influence learners‟ attitudes have on language learning and confirmed that language learners do benefit from positive attitudes and that negative attitudes may lead to unsuccessful attainment of proficiency (Bartley, 1970; Brown, 1994; Gardner & Lambert, 1972: Jong, 2002) Opitz and Ford (2001) claim that attitude creates desire to read Hence, children with a positive attitude are more apt to read for a variety of purposes while those with a negative attitude are hindered from enjoying reading

Several factors that help in cultivating positive attitudes have been identified and suggestions have been made in order to decrease the negative influences on learning (Lee, 1999; McCoy, 1979: Moskowitz, 1965; Rinswat, 1996; Wu, 2000) According to

Wu (2003), factors that evoke positive attitudes include: classroom atmosphere, interaction with the teacher and the peers, activities or learning strategies, grouping, individual needs, and materials Classroom atmosphere, interaction with the teacher and the peers, and learning activities or strategies are the most heavily emphasized factors in the studies carried out in EFL settings

From the point of view, the author supposes that instructors can help student have positive attitudes in class by encouraging them in study, creating comfortable learning atmosphere Moreover, teachers should prepare reading materials and activities carefully to motivate students in class

There is also one important quality, writing task, which instructors should take some consideration into Carson and Leki (1997, p.41) define this category of a writing task as

an assignment in which “the writers are responsible for demonstrating an understanding of

the source text…, they must produce text-responsible prose based on content acquired

primarly from text.” The sources from which the teachers take information may include books, articles, lectures, reports etc Content correctness of the produced text becomes absolutely essential for content learning – text-responsible writing not only helps to revise material, but it also requires accuracy, precision and correctness Carson and Leki (1997,

51) furthermore stress that there are disappointing consequences if writing is separated from text responsibility, especially on English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses where content is treated only as a material for practising some rhetorical skills, reasoning skills or problem-solving skills In conclusion, text-responsible writing is beneficial for students in reference to content learning as well as language learning processes, and it may

be assumed that instructors should provide excellent opportunities for such an integration

of reading and writing tasks

From the similarity between reading and writing process, it is reasonable to consider the effectiveness of integration of reading and writing instruction

Although writing and reading instruction can be integrated, teachers need a greater understanding of the similarities and differences in reading and writing processes, as well

as knowledge of ways in which instruction can be merged, before integration can take place Both reading and writing are complex cognitive processes that involve three similar strategies- planning (pre-writing or pre-reading), drafting (writing or guided reading), and revising (modifying and extending, or post-reading) Fundamental elements for developing

an environment within which writing and reading can be integrated include: (1) emphasizing writing for real purposes and audiences; (2) providing frequent opportunities

to write and share one‟s writing; and (3) creating opportunities for extended writing and evaluation In this general environment, specific strategies, such as “concept of definition” instruction and Cognitive strategy instruction in writing, focus on helping students develop

a schema that enhance both reading and writing Writing experiences should link directly

to reading activities in the classroom For example, students using reading can write in connection with each selection Some specific suggestions for writing activities integrated with basal reading topics include selecting a favourite character from a story and writing a character sketch, and rewriting a story written in the person to take the form of a newspaper report

1.4 Overview of previous related research

It is apparent that there has been little research on the effects of integrated reading and writing instruction in EFL context in Vietnam in general and at FELTE in particular In the world, integrated reading and writing instruction has been paid attention to for a long time,

thus, there have been many research carried out to investigate the relationship between reading and writing skills

In their article, Jiang and Du (2006) point out the necessity of integration of reading and writing instruction They state that writing should not be taught separately as a student with relatively higher reading ability has stronger language sense and is therefore able to write better This is because while reading materials, students are given time and information to generate ideas to complete writing task

When dealing with writing tasks, students often complain because they lack the information

of the concerned background or they find it difficult to organize their scattered ideas Actually such problems can be well solved through the combination of writing class and intensive reading class

They also claim that teachers can use these reading texts as resources for teaching writing Using reading for teaching writing has two benefits One is to increase the efficiency of the teaching of both writing and reading The other is to compensate for the limited available time for teaching writing

Firstly, we can use the information offered by the texts Good consciousness of the topic

is the basis of qualified writing Students always feel puzzled and hesitated when they are facing the unfamiliar topics Without the essential background information, they do not know what to write and how to write All texts in a unit usually center on one topic Through learning the texts, students can get a good understanding about the topic With sufficient background knowledge, they are more likely to produce a good composition

Secondly, when explaining the text, we can put emphasis on the writer‟s choices of words, particularly on linguistic and logical links between sentences Many students can write good sentences, but cannot arrange them into a good paragraph Therefore, they need to be aware of these links so that they can practice them in their own writing

Thirdly, students can learn how to organize their ideas through analyzing the structure of the text The heart of effective writing is the ability to organize a series of thoughts English writing emphasizes logical reasoning and clear organization of ideas, with the main idea clearly stated, facts provided to support the main idea and conclusion

explicitly drawn In intensive reading classes, teacher usually asks students to find out the sentence best expressing the main idea of the text and the supporting details given to develop the main idea In this way, students know how the text is organized and can imitate the structure in their writing

Last but not least, through learning the text for the purpose of writing, students can obtain a better consciousness of the differences between their mother tongue and English discourse patterns

Chen (2006) has carried out a research to study the using children‟s literature for reading and writing stories Participants are first year English majors (n=43) from a national university in southern Taiwan The author used children‟s magazine of literature to promote EFL university students‟ narrative thinking and enhance their writing ability through a task of story reading and writing A majority of selected stories were considered good writing models Besides, other utilized methods of teaching include process of writing and the web postings Labbo‟s (2004) technique of Author‟s Computer Chair which ask students to talk about and showcase their stories while sitting in the chair of the monitor computer Moreover, students‟ opinions and feedback were gleaned from their reflective statements and interviews Themes and categories were first identified by two raters with the constant comparative method (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) Then data were coded independently and presented in frequencies and percentages in relation to themes and categories Results of the study show that students made progress in their writings Chen also gives some benefits of utilizing children‟s literature for reading and writing stories First, children‟s literature, when selected carefully, can be a valuable resource for integrative EFL learning Second, sharing and publication with the assistance of computer technology can empower student writers and develop a writing community in the class Third, time, support, and practice can provide scaffolds for unskilled or low self-esteemed writers Fourth, narrative genre knowledge gained through explicit instruction can promote EFL students‟ narrative thinking and facilitate the task of reading and writing stories

Loranc-Paszylk (2009) has tried to explore the potential of integrated reading and writing activities within the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) classroom from the perspective of the students' linguistic achievements The paper presents a case study of a 2 semester-long project involving 17 undergraduate students of International Relations

These CLIL students were learning History of European Integration through English as an

instructional medium The time exposure variable regarding classes taught through English for the group was 90 minutes per week during 2 semesters The systematic text-responsible writing assignments were incorporated into the framework of the CLIL formula, and it is assumed that such a variable contributed to the effectiveness of this course in terms of foreign language competence growth

The instruments used to assess students‟ achievement and progress in academic reading and academic writing skills were the standard tests from respective sections of Cambridge ESOL exam, IELTS The results showed that the experimental group had made better progress than the control group This research suggests that systematic text-responsible writing contributed to the effectiveness of the course attended by the experimental (CLIL) group in relation to target language competence gains - the students who attended CLIL classes for 2 semesters had made significant progress in development of academic reading and writing skills, and grammatical competence

In the light of the literature review, this study on integrated reading and writing instruction

at FELTE is worth doing because it is in line with current trends of study on reading and writing integration in the world Furthermore, it is useful and beneficial as it provides further insights the opinions and attitudes of students about this trend of language teaching

at FELTE

To sum up, in this chapter, the researcher has already reviewed the literature of definitions and teaching of reading and writing skills, the related studies in integration of reading and writing teaching First, the definitions of key terms including writing, reading, writing teaching and reading teaching have been offered After that, the researcher has presented the theoretical background of reading and writing integration which serves as the basis for the development in the next chapter This second main part covered the issue of importance of skills integration and particularly reading and writing integration Furthermore, the chapter also dealt with the works related to this study which provided theoretical basis and practical experience In the next chapter, the methodology of the study will be presented

CHAPTER 2 – METHODOLOGY

The research method plays an important role in any study as it determines considerably the reliability and validity of the study Therefore, the following is an effort towards the methods that best suit the aims and objectives of the study