Writing about reading makes a difference

A recent meta-analysis from the Harvard Education Review has shown that writing about something they have read improves students' understanding of the text, as well as their reading fluency and word reading. To reach this conclusion, the authors reviewed findings from 92 studies on the topic. They focused on studies that had an experimental or quasi-experimental design; involved a treatment group that wrote about what they read, were taught to write, or increased how much they wrote; and included at least one reading measure that assessed the impact of the writing treatment or condition.