Unpacking Reading-Writing Relations: Do Reading Comprehension and Written Composition Draw on Shared Skills?

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Reading-Writing Relations: Theory, Evidence, Identification, and Intervention

Abstract

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to examine the nature of reading-writing relations. Specifically, we examined whether reading comprehension and written composition draw on shared language, cognitive, and print-related skills; and whether reading comprehension is uniquely related to written composition.

Theoretical Framework: The relation between reading and writing has been long recognized (Fitzgerald & Shanahan, 2000; Langer & Flihan, 2000) from various perspectives (see Shanahan, 2016 for a review). One speculation for the relation is the “shared source hypothesis” – reading and writing draw on common skills and knowledge (Author, 2019; Fitzgerald & Shanahan, 2000; Shanahan, 2016). Fitzgerald and Shanahan (2000) described shared sources in terms of metaknowledge, domain knowledge about content, knowledge about universal text attributes, and procedural knowledge. Recently, Author (2019) extended this work by reviewing theoretical models and empirical studies in reading and writing, and by articulating specific language, cognitive, and print-related skills that are shared between reading and writing. The present study examined the shared source hypothesis, and the relation of reading comprehension to written composition.

Methods and Data Sources: A total of 350 children in Grade 2 was assessed on language (vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, discourse oral language), cognitive (working memory, attention, inference, perspective taking, monitoring), reading (reading comprehension), and writing skills (spelling, handwriting fluency, written composition). Structural equation models were fitted to investigate the relations of language and cognitive skills to reading comprehension and written composition, respectively. In addition, it was investigated whether reading comprehension is uniquely related to written composition over and above the language and cognitive component skills.
Results: Structural equation models fit the data very well for reading comprehension and written composition, respectively, and the language and cognitive skills explained large amounts of variance in reading comprehension (99%) and written composition (75%). Reading comprehension uniquely and strongly predicted written composition (.89, p < .001). These results support the shared source hypothesis for reading-writing relation (Author, 2019; Shanahan, 2016), and the relation of reading comprehension to written composition.
Scholarly Significance: Reading and writing are fundamental skills for academic achievement and work places. Despite the recognition that reading and writing are related, empirical investigations that explicitly examine the contributions of language and cognitive skills to reading comprehension and written composition have been limited. The present findings not only show the relation between reading and writing but also demonstrate why the relation exists.

References
Author (2019). Masked for blind review.
Fitzgerald, J., & Shanahan, T, (2000). Reading and writing relations and their development.
Educational Psychologist, 35, 39-50.
Langer, J. A., & Flihan, S. (2000). Writing and reading relationships: Constructive tasks. In R. Indrisano and J. R. Squire (Eds.), Writing: Research/Theory/Practice (pp. 112-129),
Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Shanahan, T. (2016). Relationships between reading and writing development. In C. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of Writing Research (2nd Ed., pp. 194-207). New York: Guilford.

Authors

• Young-Suk Kim, University of California - Irvine

• Steve Graham, Arizona State University, Editor Journal of Educational Psychology