How Can We Take Advantage of Reading-Writing Relationships?

Tim Shanahan

Blast from the Past: This blog entry posted first on February 22, 2020, and was reposted on March 21, 2026. The major update to this piece is the inclusion of a reference list, only one of the studies included in it would not have been available in 2020. Aside from that and a few minor wording changes, this is the same blog entry that originally generated 26 comments. That version is linked here for those who want to the reaction.

Teacher question: 

Everyone says reading and writing are connected. But our school focuses on only reading. We have a reading program (we don’t have a writing program). We test the students three times a year in reading, but never in writing. Writing isn’t even on our report card, though I guess it is part of Language Arts. What should we be doing with writing?

Shanahan response:

You came to the right place.

I think your school is making a big mistake not giving sufficient attention to writing.

When I was a teacher my primary grade kids wrote every day. When I became a researcher, I conducted studies on how reading and writing are related. When I was director of reading for Chicago, I required 30-45 minutes per day of writing in all classrooms.

There are many good reasons why someone should learn to write. Many jobs, mine included, require it – and often jobs that require a lot of writing pay better (though I’m sure many nurses would disagree with that last point). Writing is also an important form of self-expression. Just as there are people who play musical instruments, dance, sing, paint, knit, cook, and so on, there are many who use writing as a form of self-expression, and a form particularly useful for preserving memory. All those are terrific reasons for teaching writing.

I’m going to guess that the reason your school is ignoring writing is because someone figured doing this might help raise reading scores. I say that’s a mistake because writing can also be a path to higher reading achievement, so your kids and your school are really missing out. Instead of promoting higher reading scores, your school is probably squashing them.

So, there are lots of reasons for teaching writing, and this entry will focus on one of them: how writing can help kids become measurably better readers.

Research has identified three important ways reading and writing are connected – and all three deserve a place in the curriculum (Tierney & Shanahan, 1991).

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