Reading–writing connections: toward a description for second language learners

It is understood that many of the questions that shape ESL writing classroom practices center on the issue of what constitutes the relevant language input from which second language learners construct their hypotheses about second language (L2) written text.

Abstract

Decisions about English as a second language (ESL) writing class activities are aimed at providing a language environment in which the ESL writer can begin to construct text that is clearly recognizable as written English. Teachers wrestle with the usefulness of classroom work focusing on, for example, transition words, sentence structure, paragraph development, or rhetorical patterns. It is understandable, then, that many of the questions that shape ESL writing classroom practices center on the issue of what constitutes the relevant language input from which second language learners construct their hypotheses about second language (L2) written text. Traditionally the answer has been reading.