HOW TO DEVELOP WRITING SKILLS IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE?

Tamara Oshchepkova, Ali Ata Alkhaldi

Abstract


Writing is potentially to be the most difficult skill for Foreign Language (FL) learners to master (Nunan 1999). It motivates thinking, that is, it can help learners to organise their ideas, and develop their critical thinking skills to summarise, analyse, and criticize (Rao, 2007). In this paper, the authors analyze the role of reading in the process of developing writing skills. Literature review shows that there is a close interconnection between the two skills. The relationship has been discussed since a long time, and the beneficial mutual influence of the two skills has been revealed. These interrelations between reading and writing are significant to understand in order to develop these skills effectively. The authors then analyse how a reading passage can be exploited to boost writing skills. In particular, reading passage can be used as a model, as a source of ideas, as a sample of language use, which eventually advances writing skills. Finally, the authors studied several coursebooks to find out how reading is used in the process of teaching writing. Observations and recommendations are shared at the end of the article. Namely, the authors confirmed that the idea of integration is widely exploited by the textbook writers. Moreover, every single reading passage is looked at from different perspectives and is used for several purposes.

 

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foreign language teaching, developing writing skills development, reading passages, integration

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejfl.v0i0.220

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