Reading as A Pre-Writing Activity and the Writing Skills among Esl Students

Abstract

Effective writing skills are crucial for college students in today's competitive world. This study explores the impact of reading as a pre-writing activity on ESL students' writing proficiency. This quasi-experimental research focuses on 4th year college students enrolled in the course English for Occupational Purposes, analyzing their writing proficiency in content, conventions, and structure through pre-tests, formative assessments, and post-tests. Statistical analyses were conducted on the collected data, revealing a decline in content, conventions, and structure proficiency from the pre-test to the post-test. Formative test scores indicate satisfactory proficiency in content and conventions with slight fluctuations, while structure proficiency remains generally low. No significant difference is observed between the pre-test and formative test performances, indicating stability in writing proficiency. However, a significant negative difference between the formative test and post-test performances suggests a decline in content proficiency. Most importantly, there is no significant difference between the pre-test and post-test performances mainly due to the limited teacher involvement as a sole facilitator in the process. To maximize the benefits of reading as a prewriting activity, teachers may incorporate close monitoring, give timely feedback after each writing activity, select appropriate reading materials, and set clear writing models and guidelines. Administrators may offer workshops on assessment and ensure access to supplementary reading materials. The exploration of different teacher involvement strategies in the pre-writing process is also recommended for future researchers.