Children learn to read and write around the same time. These two skills build off each other as children begin to gain an understanding of phonemes and graphemes. Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound, and a grapheme is the smallest unit of a written language.
Eventually, early readers and writers begin to learn about morphemes, which is a small unit of meaning that can’t be broken down any further.
Becoming a strong reader goes together with becoming a strong writer. While some will end up preferring one over the other, there is still a correlation between the two skills. Reading focuses on decoding, while writing focuses on encoding.
Research Between Reading and Writing
The National Council of Teachers of English outlines the connection between reading and writing. Their Executive Committee wrote, “Research has shown that when students receive writing instruction, their reading fluency and comprehension improve.”
Terrill Jennings, teacher and writer, explains in an article with the Lexicon Reading Center that there is a strong correlation between reading, writing and speaking. She writes, “In order for students to develop fluent reading or written expression, they need structured teaching as well as enough practice using their reading and writing skills.”
She explains how reading and writing are independent skills that benefit each other. When students are provided with direct and explicit instruction in both subject areas, they will improve their abilities and become strong readers and writers.
Connecting Reading and Writing at Home
In the classroom, decoding and encoding are taught almost daily. Teachers are trained to support students as readers and writers in multiple ways. That practice doesn’t have to stop when the school day ends, however.
Anytime your child reads a book, with you or a sibling or on their own, they can do a quick writing activity. For younger readers and writers, give them a word or pattern (such as -ing endings or vowel combinations) and have them write down all of the words from the book that match that pattern. To help them recognize the patterns, color coding while writing can be fun and helpful as well.
During summertime, give them some chalk and have them write words or patterns on the sidewalk or driveway. To make it into a game, try putting words or patterns in a hopscotch design with the numbers. After you skip to the correct number, say the word or pattern out loud. This not only helps with reading and writing skills but with speaking skills as well.
For older students, there are endless amounts of writing prompts as they read. They can practice writing patterns found in words to help with spelling skills, noting which words have the same letter pattern. They can also practice different forms of writing, such as informative, narrative and opinion.
Writing Takes Practice
For informative writing practice, they can write about what they read after they finish a chapter or an entire book. This helps with summarizing, which is also a skill that good readers use. If they are interested in nonfiction books, they can read multiple books on a certain topic and then combine everything they learned into key details to write an informative essay about it. To practice speaking skills, they can read out what they wrote to a family member.
Narrative writing practice can be supported through reading both fiction and nonfiction books. If your child finishes a fiction story, they can write a sequel using the same characters and setting. They can even write an alternate ending and share it with you.
After reading a nonfiction book, they can turn the topic into the main character of a short story. For instance, if they read about tornadoes, they could make a tornado the main character and use evidence from the nonfiction text to create a setting and plot.
Opinion Writing
When your child reads a story, newspaper article, informative book, or blog post, they can practice their opinion writing. They can use prompts such as which was better, the book or the movie? They can also write a letter to a family member on why they believe a candidate running for a government position should or should not be elected.
If they aren’t sure about opinion writing, they can start by identifying common words and phrases in articles and books that state various viewpoints. This can help them to build a vocabulary for when they are ready to practice opinion writing.
Whether a child is an emerging reader in kindergarten or a developed writer in high school, understanding the connection between the two skills benefits everyone involved in the education of the child.
