Elaine,
You gave examples of writers copying styles from their reading. I am
referring to the actual process of writing. There is a coordination of the
writer's ideas, word choice, grammar, spelling and voice. It is extremely
difficult to accruately communicate what is in your mind to someone else who
will filter what you say or write through their personal schema.
Speaking has the enhancements of inflections, pauses, rate of speech,
facial expressions and gestures. Writing uses punctuation, word choice,
sentence variety and personal style. Accurate spelling and proper grammar make
the writer's ideas more communicable.
Your are absolutely correct that reading reinforces writing. If what you
read is well written you have an example of how to communicate accurately,
precisely. Real writers develop their own style. Reading voraciously
certainly will increase vocabulary and, to an extent, accurate spelling and
expose you to various styles of writing. But only writing will make you a
proficient writer just as reading makes proficient readers.
What do the rest of you think about the reading/writing connection?
Jeanne
-------------- Original message from elaine garan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
--------------
> > In a message dated 6/30/2007 1:46:33 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> >
> > Totally different skills are involved in reading and writing,
> > although they
> > are related.
> >
> >
> > Is this true?
>
> Research shows that eading and writing are very closely connected. One
> is receptive (reading) and the other is expressive (writing). However,
> there can be no reading without the expression of someone's writing and
> most writing is read. But beyond that, writing reinforces all the
> skills needed in reading. It requires students to use phonemic
> awareness, phonics and come to a recognition of standard written
> conventions. There is a lot of research that shows that reading and
> writing reinforce and extend each other including the work of Tim
> Shanahan and Susan Neuman to name but a few.
>
> Here's one quick example. If a teacher is doing a unit on or kids are
> reading a particular author, they internalize the style of that author
> and it's reflected in their writing. Kids who have been taught to read
> using basals will often expressive themselves in "basalese" i.e. " I
> see the dog. I see the cat. The dog can run. The cat can run. I have a
> lot of examples gathered over the years that show this relationship. In
> fact, by looking at a kid's writing, you can often tell what they've
> been reading.
>
>
> On the other hand, kids who have read or who have had stories read to
> them will put on the style of that author. I can remember laughing at
> the writing of kids after a Robert Munsch unit in Ardie Cole's
> classroom. Her first graders wrote like little Munsches. This happens
> to adults too. I often find my thinking (my internal dialogue) shifting
> to the style of an author I've just read-- so there's a kind of oral
> language connection too! There's a lot more to it than that, but
> reading and writing skills so dovetail with each other that more
> closely reading and writing are integrated, the stronger the literacy
> development in the student.
>
> Maria Ceprano and I did a really interesting research project using our
> university students and first graders with whom they were penpals. We
> analyzed the writing and we found we could document and trace back the
> style of the university students' letters to the style of letters the
> kids wrote. If a university student wrote a series of short sentences
> and questions, in their letters, that's what their penpal did. If, on
> the other hand the university student chatted about her life and asked
> open ended questions. the first grader responded in kind. In other
> words, they internalized the style of writing they were reading and
> then translated that reading skill into their writing. We made several
> tables that showed the connections as well as the growth in
> conventional spelling over time.
>
> Steve Krashen maintains that best way to help kids in spelling and
> grammar skills is not by direct instruction, but through lots of
> reading because they internalize the patterns and the conventions of
> language. I myself, have a pretty good grasp of grammar and correct
> written conventions but often I don't really know why something is
> wrong. I just know that it is. There's a built in internal compass that
> got there through lots of reading.
>
> Usually, reading is slightly in advance of writing just as
> understanding of spoken language usually develops in advance of the
> ability to construct spoken language. This is true of second language
> learners too. The receptive is easier to master than the expressive but
> both are necessary and should be integrated rather than
> compartmentalized. There is a ton of research that supports that
> symbiotic relationship between reading and writing.
>
> On Saturday, June 30, 2007, at 02:48 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >
> > Nancy Creech
> >
> >
> >
> > ************************************** See what's free at
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