We have been hearing that Johnny can’t read since the 1950, in this research project we are going to talk about “reading and writing are not connected,” taken from the book bad ideas about writing, by Ellen C. Carillo. And I will connect what Ellen C. Carillo said about “reading and writing are not connected” and what Merrill Sheils said about why Johnny can’t write. In this research project we will see what the good ideas about writing are.
Ellen C. Carillo said the relationship between reading and writing. She explains why reading and writing are the most important skill needed by all students as they both help students to develop effective communication skills. Ellen briefly explains the connection between reading and writing, and she mentions what needed to be done. Ellen thinks is great idea when writing and reading are connected, and students learn both skills simultaneously. According to the surveys taken reading and writing have close relationship and they both need to be taught together.
Teachers, instructor and professors must teach students how to read an article and at the same time also teach them how to write what they were reading about and make sure that the students understand what the article is discussing about. Reading and writing are the most essential tools help students to interact with the writer and it helps them to understand what writer.
Reading and writing are the most essential tools that help students to interact with the writer and it helps them to understand what writer is trying to say. As Ellen says, “although writing is more often thought of as a creative act, reading is just as creative” (Ellen C. 40). According to various research done, students reading abilities are often more underdeveloped than their writing, this means they still need to do a lot of work for their reading skills also at the same time.
Merrill Sheils discussed the chances of writing and reading skills of all different students according to the level of education their belong to. She said how a steady erosion of reading skills among American students since 1965. Even the SAT scores showed the biggest drop. Majority of American tend to use only the simplest sentence structure and the most elementary vocabulary when they write. And the study shows that 13- and 17-year-old are far more awkward, incoherent and disorganized.
In this article Merrill said that a student who can’t read with true comprehension, it will be hard to write well. “Writing is, after all, book-talks,” says Dr. Ramon. And she talks about most of student who graduate from high school and college their writing skills are poor, this means teachers and professors must put more effort in teaching reading and writing at the same time. This will develop student’s skills in both reading and writing. According to the various survey taken shows that most of students ‘reading and writing skills are poor, and the teachers and professors do not teach students both skills at the same time.
In this article Merrill says more professors did not specialize in English in their college year. Like Merrill said,” Even where writing still is taught, the creative school discourages insistence on grammar, structure and style. Many teachers seem to believe that rules stifle spontaneity” (Merrill Sheils. Pg. 2).
Generally, all professors should be focusing on teaching active reading and all students need to start practicing reading and writing at the same time. Students must stop thinking about reading and writing as two different things, they need to learn both simultaneously. Even professors should be teaching both together. If students understand that reading and writing are connected and practice both together, they will be successful in both the reading and writing communication skills.
Works Cited
Carillo, Ellen. “Reading and Writing Are Not Connected” from Bad Ideas About Writing | Open Access Textbooks | WVU Libraries, 2017, https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf
Merrill sheils, “why johnny can’t write.” December 8, 1975, united states edition; pg. 58
http://engl4190fall2011.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/46866774/sheils_johnnycantwrite.pdf
pictures uploaded:
https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf
https://www.landmarkoutreach.org/strategies/the-reading-and-writing-connection/