We read, we write: reconsidering reading–writing relationships in primary school children

Lucy Taylor,Paula Clarke

doi:10.1111/lit.12235

Abstract

AbstractThe extent to which children's reading experiences influence their writing production is not well understood. It is imperative that the connections between these literacy practices are elucidated in order to inform the development of stimulating curricula and to support children's development. This paper presents new data and key findings from a project investigating relationships between children's free choice reading and volitional writing in Key Stage 2 (9–10 years). The data were collected in two primary schools in northern England, using mixed methods. Quantitative data were collected using an online reading survey taken by 170 children, and qualitative data were provided through independent writing journals maintained by 38 participants. Through analysis of the data using a multiliteracies approach, we demonstrate that the writing that children choose to do is influenced by the texts they encounter as readers in terms of content, text type and linguistic style. The child readers in this project encountered texts in different media and created texts in a range of genres. By examining a sample of children's written texts from the data set, we show that children's interactions and transactions with texts as readers and writers are complex and multiple. Children creatively work across media, and in doing so the boundaries of traditional text genres and styles are redeveloped and redesigned. These findings highlight the importance of providing children with opportunities to freely choose and create texts and recognising the wide variety of text experiences that children bring to their classroom learning.

Highlights

In the 21st century, the proliferation and availability of texts in multiple modes and media means that such texts are an integral part of children’s literacy learning
In 1983, the National Council of Teachers of English in the USA published a special edition of the Language Arts journal entitled Reading and Writing in which contemporary understanding of the relationship between reading and writing was explored
Despite the body of work conducted in the 1990s which concerned reading and writing (Martin and Leather, 1994; Meek, 1988, 1991; Meek et al, 1977), the issues raised by Stotsky and Eckhoff about the relationships between reading and writing have not yet been thoroughly investigated or resolved

Summary

Introduction

In the 21st century, the proliferation and availability of texts in multiple modes and media means that such texts are an integral part of children’s literacy learning. Contributors to the journal (Eckhoff, 1983; Stotsky, 1983) concluded that, based on a review of the available research evidence at the time, more research was needed to understand how reading and writing were related and that this knowledge would have important implications for teaching. They argued that the separation of reading and writing into distinct elements of the curriculum could be challenged by further research into the reciprocal nature of reading and writing. The questions that this study sought to answer are as follows: Is there a relationship between texts that children encounter in their reading and those they produce in their free writing?

Methods

Results

Conclusion