Writing-Reading Relationships: Effectiveness of Writing Activities As Pre-Reading Tasks to Enhance L2 Inferential Reading Comprehension

Abstract

The study examines the interaction between reading and writing processes in general and more specifically the impact of pre-reading tasks incorporating writing tasks (referred to as “prw tasks”) in helping the development of inferential reading comprehension. A sample of 70 first year ESL students of the University of Kelaniya were initially selected with one group (experimental group) engaging in “prw tasks” while the other group (control group) performing the tasks without a pre-reading component. The intervention was for 6 sessions (one hour in each session). At the end of each session, the performance of the two groups was measured and the test scores were analyzed using the data analysis package SPSS to determine the effectiveness of the intervention. The results indicated that the experimental group had significantly performed better than the control group which indicated the effectiveness of the prw tasks in improving reading comprehension.