The Relationship Between Reading and Writing in the ESL Context

What is writing and why is there a need to learn it?

In this study, writing will be explored and discussed in the context of  ESL, particularly in an international school environment. Reference will also be made to studies and issues that affect first language writing since quite many of the theories that govern second language writing are also derived, based or influenced by first language theories on writing.

Writing, unlike the other skills of reading, listening and speaking seems to be of a more complex nature, especially in the context of second language use. In Britain, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, emphasis was placed more on reading than on writing. The basis of which was the notion that it was more desirable for people to be able to read than write. That way, they can be educated and/or instructed into a particular belief or ideology.

Writing also involves the giving of instructions, but instead of enabling learners to simply react to a range of social demands and instructions, it can lead to a more proactive role. It can lead to “the formation of views about society” (Foggart, 1993:6).And that aspect of writing, perhaps more aptly identified with the concept of empowerment, is a potential threat to the status quo in society.

This study will not be concerned much with the teaching of writing in order to produce learners who play proactive roles in society or in a political sense. Rather, the writing that will be discussed here is more on the expression of ideas and experiences, and the discovery of self which could come about as children engage in the writing process.

It can not be denied that the teaching of writing plays a significant role on the kinds of individuals students become once they have acquired mastery of the English language, and have reached adulthood.

Proficiency in this particular skill could open the way so students, in the future, would have access to certain social roles which would have remained closed to them if there was failure to give appropriate input or instruction today.

As countries become more industrialized and as the language becomes  more and more the language of choice in many business, political and social interactions, having the skill to write in the English language would give one an edge in the international community

(Tribble,1996).

There are many social and business activities that require proficiency in writing. The students in this study will not be involved in activities ranging from inviting a business contact to dinner to making a law. They will instead be more likely to be participating in writing in journals and diaries as a school assignment or personal activity, writing a descriptive or narrative essay on a topic assigned to them in school, writing a friendly letterto family, writing a story, or writing a response to literature read in thelassroom. Nevertheless, they still have to learn, practice and master the skill of writing. And being second language learners, this is a more difficult task than others.