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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of concurrent reading and writing instruction on reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing attitudes of academically-underprepared community college students.
One hundred sixty students, enrolled in a developmental reading course, participated in the study: the experimental group received eight weeks of integrated reading and writing instruction; the control group received only reading instruction. To determine the effect of the treatment on reading abilities, the students were pretested twice and posttested once on multiple forms (B, C, & D) of The Nelson-Denny Reading Test. The reduction of anxiety in writing was measured using The Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test.
The data thus gathered indicated that students who received concurrent reading and writing instruction out-performed their control-group counterparts both in mean comprehension gains and in mean vocabulary gains. Both groups reported developing more positive attitudes toward "reading," but the treatment group also experienced a significant reduction in their "writing anxiety" levels.
The findings suggest that integrated reading and writing instruction is particularly effective for academically-underprepared community college students, regardless of gender and ability level.
Additionally, the data indicate that reading and writing activities should support one another in purpose and scope, and instructional designs should encourage transference of skills. In this way, not only can comprehension and vocabulary be increased, but also learning attitudes can be positively affected. Further study is recommended to determine the optimum, effective methodology.
