Setiono Sugiharto , Jakarta | Sat, 23rd August 2008 10:01 AM | Opinion
Conventional wisdom advises this: "If you want your student writers to be able to write, have them write, and nothing else." Our tendency in teaching writing seems to reflect this wisdom.
The best we can do to assist our students of all levels of language proficiency in developing their writing skills is to give them writing instruction, to encourage them to do more writing practice and then to give feedback.
In addition, as writing entails ability in adeptly using language rules (grammar) and as students often find it hard to write using correct grammatical structures, teachers cannot resist the temptation to explain the rules as painstakingly as possible to their students. In this case, grammar instruction is considered necessary.
Both writing instruction and the mastery of language rules, however, are of little value in helping student writers acquire writing competence. Many published studies demonstrate that the effects of instruction on students' writing are weak, fragile and immediately wear off over time. Other studies show that instruction has no effect at all on writing development.
With research confirming that instruction has little or no effect on accelerating writing competence, it is pretty safe to conclude that writing competence cannot be acquired via either instruction or practice.
It is really unfortunate, however, that most teachers are not well-informed about what research on literacy has told us. Because, in their view, research is often incompatible with what they are experiencing in the classroom, they just ignore it.
While it is true that research often makes statements incompatible with teachers' experience, its importance in helping shape our teaching methodology cannot be overlooked.
We need a philosophical justification of what underlies our methodology. At this time, research helps us discern the extent to which our justification is consistent with the reality we are facing.
In fact, teachers' ignorance of research findings has prevented them from finding good solutions to the problems they are constantly confronting. Writing teachers, for instance, have enthusiastically endeavored to assist their student writers in bolstering their writing ability via writing instruction and practice, with little success.
Such a persistent problem can be solved, as long as teachers are willing to pay attention to the following suggestions based on current research, and then take the other alternative which offers much better and less tedious effort on the part of both teachers and students.
Writing instruction doesn't give students a feel of what good and acceptable writing looks like. Specifically, it doesn't help students acquire writing style, appropriate diction and correct spelling. Increasing writing frequency either through self-sponsored writing or classroom-instructed writing doesn't result in significantly increased proficiency. It must be emphasized that the ability to write is the result of acquiring written codes, not the cause of it.
Similarly, the mastery of language rules, which is the result of grammar teaching, doesn't necessarily contribute to writing development. It has been evident that students who are exposed to grammar lessons for many years and grapple with understanding and memorizing rules are still unable to display competence in writing.
A general conclusion then is that writing competence cannot be acquired via either writing and grammar instruction. Forcing students to write without sufficient competence is tantamount to forcing an engine to work without gasoline. This, however, doesn't mean writing and grammar instruction are of no use and should be jettisoned from the school curriculum.
Their relative usefulness can best be explained in terms of Stephen Krashen's dichotomy: writing competence and writing performance. The former refers to the possession of technical writing skills (i.e. grammar, vocabulary and spelling), while the latter designates the ability to write using efficient writing strategies (i.e. planning, drafting, revising and editing).
Writing instruction, it should be reiterated here, cannot make students competent in writing, but it does help equip students with efficient writing strategies. As these strategies are teachable, writing instruction is key to raising students' awareness of how to compose efficiently.
By contrast, writing competence can only be acquired via reading. That is, the ability to write in an acceptable manner using correct grammar, vocabulary and spelling is derived from reading, not from writing practice. It is reading, Krashen says, that gives the writer the "feel" for the look and texture of reader-based prose.
One might argue that language components such as grammar and vocabulary are teachable via instruction. However, it could be counter-argued that they are much too complex, not to mention tedious, to be taught. What is more, we need to invest more time and energy in making students understand and acquire them.
It seems then that the best and the only way of accelerating students' writing competence is to get students hooked on books and to make them fly to books, just as an opium smoker flies to his pipe.
The writer is chief editor of the Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and teaches English composition at Atma Jaya Catholic University, Jakarta. He can be reached at setiono.sugiharto@atmajaya.ac.id.
Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.
Source URL: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/08/23/books-not-instruction-key-creating-writers.html
I definitely agree with this post. Teachers in Jakarta, where I live before going to Yogyakarta always teach the students to write with instruction, not reading (not all, but at least my English teacher does). I, for one example, did understand what were my teachers implying, but I believe few weeks later I forgot about what they had explained. Why do I agree with this article? It is because love to read books, especially novel, and I am sure that the way I write now is much better than when I didn’t read book at all.
ReplyDeleteBooks definitely make your range of vocabulary wider and wider, unconsciously. When I enjoyed some English language books and I didn’t know some word in it, I tried to understand it with my own logic, and my own desire to learn. When the sentences don’t make any sense at all without knowing the meaning of the word, until then I will open the dictionary to find the meaning of that word. No matter how good a teacher is at teaching, when the student doesn’t have the will to study, he won’t learn anything good. Reading and learning from books are a better learning process than having a teacher smacking your weak willed heart to study.
Dear Adhiwana Ariessa Huvat, what is the short name you use in the classroom? Do you have a photo of your face you can use?
DeleteOk, I have read this on another thread: "My name is Adhiwana Ariessa Huvat, but you could call me Adhi." So now I know. How about a photo of your face?
DeleteHave you watched or read the movie or the book by Stephen Chbosky called "The Perks of Being Wallflower"? You should. The lead character in this story is named Charlie (15). So, Charlie wanted to be a writer and in high school he met with his english teacher, Mr. Anderson. After every class, Mr. Anderson gave charlie a book to read and by the next meeting he expected an essay about the book from Charlie. So, Charlie read then wrote, read then wrote, read then wrote and so on.
ReplyDeleteAnd then it came to me, in order to write, you should read. By reading, you are improving your almost everything. You are improving your knowledge by gaining information, you are improved in your language skill, you're going to be more critical, etc. By reading, you have something to write about. Reading encourage you to write, to respond to the reading itself. (that is what I exactly am doing right now)
So, I really agree with the article.
I understand why studies show that reading will improve our writing. I’m used to reading books, and gradually i learned to write. I started writing diaries since elementary school then I continued writing fiction stories a few days a week until a few months ago. Whenever I was forced to write, or chasing a deadline, I ended up writing a less interesting story rather than when I’m in the mood. That should apply to writing in these comments as well.
ReplyDeleteBut we can’t rely on our writing skills from reading entirely. It needs process from learning the language itself, and understanding what fits in the sentences, and writing beautifully written paragraphs. And it definitely depends on what we read on a daily basis. It will show a visible difference if you read The New York Times or you read teen magazines with slangs in your writing.
So I suggest you have a wide range of reading materials. We should start reading proper writing so we could apply them in our essay assignments later on in the future. And to not use google translate because it always messes up the vocabularies and it would just embaress yourself later on. Here’s a quick tip though: if you do use google translate, you could easily make them read it out loud to you. It’s an easier way to spot the mistakes. Hope this helps!
I do agree with the statement above,which is stating that if you wanted to teach one to write, you should told them to write.
ReplyDeleteWhy do i agree? Well, there are various reasons.
Because based on my experience, I do find it easier to learn something by doing it. Theories may help, but not that much. And the other reason is that, by letting students to write, you can build more than writing skills, but you can also grow fondness in writing inside them. And when you love to do something, you will do anything to master it. And yes, I also agree that to master the writing skill, one have to read. But reading books alone is not the only way and the best way to master the writing skill. Because, not every students love to read books. And I guess, to solve this problem, teachers have to make students to love books, by letting student to read whatever things they love. Like quotes, taglines, letters, poems, or anything they prefer and they love best. And the teacher should allow the students to express their creativity by writing something they like. And I guess that may solve the problem. And in the end, practicing is also important. And that is my opinion about the article above.
There are few ways that we can use to improve our writing skills. I think writing thousands of words using instructions is definitely an arguable way to imrpove our writing skill, because psychologically, our brains prefer to work properly, improve, and acknowledge information fast if we do activities that we could enjoy. Instructions, however, may not be enjoyable as there is a must-to-do factor, resulting in fewer acknowledgeable improvement. Despite that, I have to say that writing itself is a good way to improve our writing skill, if of course, we use imagination to write rather than instructions.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have learned from other people, famous authors used to write loads of random stuff on a piece of paper in their childhood. As they grew older, they started to write an imagined story with structure. This may not be entirely true, but I think the importance of imagination when we write something is non-questionable. Still, the combination of reading loads of books, or just newspapers everyday, with writing random story each night would definitely increase your writing skill, helping you to write quicker, whilst also using the right grammar, vocabulary, etc.
Oza
This article confirms what I have already experienced myself: Reading is the key to a good style of writing. In my secondary school we had various books to read, also in foreign languages like English, French and Italian. Of course back then all the students regarded this task rather as a necessary evil rather than as a useful way to improve the language skills. As far as I remember it was in the age of 15 when I read my first English book that was not prescribed by school. It was an English crime novel and it was written with so much suspense that I couldn’t stop reading until I had finished the book. Since then I was more and more turning to English books and gradually realized how much my English improved because of that. Not only writing in English got much easier but I also could speak and talk more fluently. When I read an English book and several months later its German translation I figured out how much got lost only by translating. Comments or jokes that make only sense in English often cannot be translated into another language without losing their meaning. Since then I only bought the English book when the original version was in English. I can only recommend everybody to read as many English books as possible. And don’t grow desperate if you don’t know all words. Often the context is sufficient to get the meaning. Besides, it is a good way of enjoying your leisure time usefully!
ReplyDeleteI do agree that “ Reading is Important “. I Have a ninety-six years old grandfather. He do like reading. He reads everything, for example newspaper, magazines, books, and many more. He always knows the news every day. Because of his hobby, he is not senile even though he is so old.
ReplyDeleteFrom my grandfather’s condition, I can conclude that reading is very important for us. First, it can improve our knowledge because by reading we always get new information or even refresh our memory. Second, it can make us think logically and rationally. Reading can minimize the chance of being a jumping logic person because it makes us think with the right order. Third, reading can make us easy to communicate and express our opinion in the right way. Forth, reading is fun. For me, reading gives so much pleasure. I know that sometimes it is a little bit boring, but if we try to read continuously we will enjoy it. So, just start to read read and read.
I can also fully agree with this article that reading is the key to better language and writing skills. The theory alone is not sufficient because you don´t know in which way you can use it. Reading on the other side gives you various opportunities how to put the theory into practice and you can learn from native English speakers/writers. I also experienced the progress gained through reading by myself. One of the first books I have read in English was Harry Potter and with its many technical terms about wizardry I definitely could not understand every word or every sentence but I could get the meaning for the most part. I looked up almost every word I didn´t understand in the beginning but I stopped doing that because I could not really enjoy reading. The more and more books I read in English the more I understood the meaning of several words that are often used even without looking them up in a dictionary, just because of the context. Today I really enjoy reading books and watching movies in English and I can recommend everybody to do so as well because it definitely improves your language skills.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion reading is really important, reading a book is a key to get a new knowledge. Reading a book is also to make wider your insight about the world. More books you read, more knowledge you get. That is why our teacher or parent usually asks us to read a book. I read a quote about the book that said, “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero, and “When I have a little money, I buy books and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.”
ReplyDelete― Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus. Those quotes show us that how book is really important. We should love books and start to make a good habit to read a book every day. Book is not an instructor, but it is more about learn something from the book. When reading a book, you should looking for the value from the book, then apply it into your life.
I agree that learning about writing instructions such as grammar and tenses don’t help us to get a better writing skill. I will tell you about my personal experience related to this topic as evidence. I am learning English since 1998. That’s when I was still in the Kindergarten class. But until now, I only know about 4 tenses. But earlier in this year, I can pass an International English test and I found that my writing mark is one of the best compared to the other marks. How can I do that? When you have a habit to read English article or book, your mind is inadvertently memorizing a lot of kind and type of sentences which is oftenly used in the article and that’s why you can write in English properly because your mind already trained to understand the correct grammar.
ReplyDeleteBut it also doesn’t mean that writing skills isn’t important. Writing skills is important because it teach us how to organize ideas and make an efficient sentence. So understanding both of reading and writing skills could make you a good writer.
There are several aspects of most languages, for examples: reading, writing, speaking, listening, and being good at one aspect doesn't mean you'll be good at the rest. I ever thought that writing skills can be measured by your ability to speak english. Someone who can write in english properly often have good english language skills as well. But, it’s not always true. Because, not everyone can write with well formed grammatical sentences to create a good impression and get the meaning across effectively.
ReplyDeleteAs we know, most of students do not like writing essays or research papers, (sometimes, it happened to me). For me, the reasons for disliking writing assignments are poor english classes in high school and instructors fail to explain different writing styles. Of course, effective writing requires a good command of the language. Based on my experince, more readings leads to be better writing. Because what we learn as readers, we use as writers. My teacher told me, there are two ways to improve my writing skills, write a lot and read a lot. No matter what problems you may face, we have to work smart and hard to acquire them. So, practice make prerfect.
According to my experience when I take IELTS course, reading is the key to reach highest score. Because from reading a novel for example, I will acquire new vocabularies also will understand how to write an essay very well. Eventhough, yes, reading is really boring activity moreover the article is written in english and the vocabulary is difficult to understand. But trust me, it will bring many values to your life especially to your english skill.
ReplyDeleteI was trying that method two month ago. Basically , my hobby is reading novel but in Bahasa. Then I bought english novel and trying to read it. The first twenty pages i was so excited but then I leave that book in my room. Several weeks after that, I read that book again and also noted the vocabulary that i did not understand. Finally, the book was over and I got new vocabularies so i could use it when I took an IELTS test.
I really agree that reading is important because I've jugded it wrong once. That happen when I was a child. I didn't like to read much before. My parents always ask me to read books but at that time and I ignore them because I felt reading was queit boring. As time goes by I finally understood why my parents asked me to read lots of books. I figured out that from reading books I can learn more vocabalary (especially when I'm reading english books) and by knowing lots of vocabalary I can also improve my writing skills. So we can say, the more you read the more you get better on your writing or grammar. Not only that, I also think reading can improve our concentration and develop our imagination. Thats because when we read our brain translate the descriptions we read of people, places and things into pictures. So, we can conclude that reading is very important, especially for students .For students who still doesn't like to read, well, just look at the bright side. If you read a lot you might get good marks in your exams.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with this article. Reading is very important. First it will give you knowledge. Of course this depends on what you're reading. Since I was a kid, my dad had encouraged me to read. Mostly self development books. He would let me read one novel that I want after I read one self development book. And then I realized those books did not only gave me the knowledge but also improved my English so much. It enriched my vocabularies.
ReplyDeleteBut now since I moved to Jogja, I only read few books. Far from what I expected myself. And I think that's one of the reasons why my English is getting worse. I'm very disappointed and worry about it. I used to be able to speak English fluently and my grammar absolutely was not this bad. So now I am planning and determined to learn more. Both speaking and writing in English.
So if anyone knows a good book or website or anything that can help me develop and improve my English, I will be honored if you care to share it with me.
Thanks before.
I love reading, so I totally agree with article above. Writing only based on is not really effective for me. I’ve joined English course and mostly I learned about grammar. Well, I can’t say that grammar is not important, but just by memorizing its formula, we learn nothing. I found that I can write easily after I read books. I love reading since elementary, but I just started to read English book since high school. As a student, I used to read novels to improve my ability in understanding English and also learn more vocabularies. And sometimes when I read books I write some of the vocabularies which I don’t know.
ReplyDeleteNow, I am a student and I’m studying in university. I feel that I need to read books other than novels, because if I just read novels, I won’t understand English vocabularies other than daily conversation. I really need to read more books right now because I’m taking the IUP class and I will try to read more books in my spare time.
I personally believe that reading is quite important to boost my ability in writing. I’m currently a student of the Economics Department. So, I have to read a lot in order to have better knowledge especially about economy and to write great essays related to the economy. I have no other choice, other than I must love to read. I mean it. By reading, I can improve my critical thinking too about things and give great arguments because I already have the knowledge. Reading will reduce the possibility of me writing about silly things that are not related at all with the theme of the essay. But, I think that writing and grammar instructions are important too to improve my ability in writing, because they are like the basic of writing. So, it’s like I must know the instruction first before starting an activity. Besides that, I have to diligently practice writing too and ask someone to give feedback. Because by doing so, I can know what my faults are, and learn from my faults. Trust me, practice makes perfect.
ReplyDeleteI honestly don’t really like reading. I can get bored easily. I would prefer watching a movie rather than reading a book. When a movie is adopted from a book, I always watch the movie first then decide whether I should read the book or not.
ReplyDeleteI know that reading is very important, especially for us, university students. Reading thick textbook is now our daily activity. We have to write pages of papers and essays. Sometimes our lecturers ask us to make a summary from a chapter. I think summarizing needs both reading and writing skill. In my opinion, to have a great writing skill, we have to read appropriate books, know the rules of writing, and of course do a lot of practices.
When I was in senior high school, I never got to practice my writing skill, because my English teacher always asked us to copy a text from our textbook and memorized it. How can we develop our writing skill by doing that? Thank God, now I can practice and improve my writing skill.
I absolutely agree with the article. I'm actually surprised at how often I write and type in English, especially after I've read so much in English. To be encouraged to write at all, we need to develop our writing style first, which can be developed through reading (which was argued in the article). I find this method quite similar within the fields of photography, in which photographers are, most of the time, inspired by the works of other photographers. I would argue that no photographer can 'make something up' completely from their own without at least seeing once what other photographers can do. It's not rare to see photographers flock to buy photo albums, see portfolios, galleries as well as photo exhibitions in order to get inspired. The process, I believe, is not all that different for writing skills.
ReplyDeleteI am concerned, however that EWS students will only write comments in this site just for the sake of fulfilling their writing quota but almost ignoring the fact that they need to read the articles first to get in line, and that they won't bring their reading habit outside of EWS. Let's hope I'm wrong.
I agree with this article. Why? Because in Indonesia, we often taught to just practice and improve your grammar without really knowing the purpose on the sentences. Many people often discard reading for their study because it’s boring and it also takes time to do this. It is our false that reading is not a habit in Indonesia. We often being “baby sitting” by the teacher who is more diligent to tell us exactly the instruction without we read it. The results are lack of understanding sentences and also lack of creativeness. Reading for me has many advantages especially for my writing skill. I can easily choose the appropriate words for my sentences because I have known the words from articles that I had read. Reading has a good contribution in improving my vocabulary and even grammar. I don’t need to checked the dictionary so often because I already knew what they want to tell and also. Reading help you build the sentences. It’s not always the correct grammar or spelling but the appropriate way to say something.
ReplyDeleteFrankly speaking, I hate reading very much. My reading score in TOEFL is the worse compare to my listening and structure score. I am too lazy to read thick books, thick article, and it is really boring. I ever like to read novels in my last year of elementary school. But, I read thin novels.
ReplyDeleteAnd now, it will be an obligation for me to read and write in English because I join the international program. I choose this program to improve my English skill. So, I will learn more about English. I know that reading is really important. From the IUP class, every books and every class using English. All books are in English. Inevitably, I have to use English in everyday life, especially in my university life. I have to read English books every time I study.
English writing skill class helps me to improve my writing and at the same time, it also helps me to improve my reading skill. There are lots of article in English and we have to comment it in English as well.
Besides, there is also the Indonesian Culture class, which every week we have to submit the review of twenty, thirty, or more pages in one article. I really have to struggle and being adapted with English.
Now, I already enjoy the English language as the first language in the university life. I really hope that in everyday my English skill gets better and better for a better future as well.
For me, reading is important. Without reading we can’t know about what’s going on around the world. The newspaper, the internet, and many other resources to knowledge require us to read. That’s why there is a saying about ‘reading is a key to knowledge’ and ‘book is the window of the world’.
ReplyDeleteBesides, as the article tells us, reading also has a big impact in our writing skills. The more we read, the more we know how to write in a proper way. Well, maybe it’s not about the proper way but more to the ‘readable’ form. Every writer has their own way to write, but not everyone can write in a good way. The good way which I’m talking about is the chronological order, with the good choice of words, and maybe with some idiom or something that will make the writing become more beautiful and easier to read.
So, yeah I'm totally agree with this article.
Based on my opinion reading a book is really important for us, actually my parent always ask me to read any kind books but I ignore them, because for me reading a book makes me feel bored. But now I realized that reading book was so important for our life, by reading books we could got a lot of knowledge that we don't know before. Besides knowledge readings book give many benefits for us such as we can learn and get new vocabulary and increase our English skills (if books that we read in English version), also it will improve our writing skills because from reading we can get a lots of new word that we can used when we write something. Moreover reading could improve our memory and comprehension. Through reading we can learn about great things that can make us become a better and useful person for anyone in the future.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with this article. Yes it is, reading is very important. With reading we can know everything. We can know about economics, politics, socials, cultures, legends, histories, entertainments, and many more. Reading will give you informations and knowledges. The more you read books, the more informations and knowledges that you get. And also with reading we can develop our English skill. With reading we can get and learn many vocabs and grammars that we don’t know before, so we can increase our English skill. Reading also has impact in our writing skill in English. Because from reading we can get a lots of new words, grammars, and vocabs that we can used when we write something. And also we can get more sentences collections that we don’t know before. My English teacher when I was in primary school used to say ‘Language is a habit’. it means that if we want to be professional in other languages (expect mother language) we have to make it as a habit. So if you want to improve and develop your English skill, you should make reading as your habit.
ReplyDeleteI’m agree with this article, yes reading is very important for us, we will get new vocabulary, knowledge, and reading will improve our writing skill, like i said before in article “writing for higher education” reading and writing is a complement, when you reading a book, you will learn how to make a good sentence. So as the student of IUP UGM, you’ve to start reading from this semester.
ReplyDeleteThere’re many reasons why reading is really important for us first reading is an exercise for our brain, it’s strengthen our memories, and i saw some article which said reading will make a new connection and improve our concentration. Then reading will develops our imagination, because when we read our brain translate the description of people, place, and things into picture, another reason is reading will relaxes the body and calms the mind, this is important because these day we seem to have forgotten how to relax.
Everyone knows that reading is important. Reading is important for variety of reasons but actually I don’t like to read something. For example when Andrea Hirata (author of the Rainbow Troops) published his novel and his movie “The Rainbow Troops”, I prefer to watch the movie instead of reading the novel. Sometimes It’s kind of boring when you read a thick book like novel. Even though I don’t like to read, I know how reading so important to our life. Let me show you how important it is:
ReplyDelete• Through reading, you’ll explore yourself to new thing, to new information , to new ways to solve many problems and new way to achieve one thing.
• Through reading, you get to understand more on a topic that interest you. For example: how to memorize things better, how to make better plan before action, etc.
• Reading for preparation to action. For example like read the manual book before you using a new device. That can be help you become more prepared before action.
• Reading is a starting step of many things, which build a more solid stairs for you to climb up achieving something big out there.
That’s the reasons why reading is important to our life. We can’t live without read because we need a lot of knowledge. So I suggest you to read many books and try to be love with reading.
-ekal-
After reading the article I remember my times when I was in the high school. Where my English teacher taught me English’s grammar until I had enough. Most of the time the teacher just keep explaining about grammar rules for almost 1.5 hours every lesson, because of that I hate grammar.
ReplyDeleteWhen I studied abroad English lesson was taught in very different way. For most of the time the teacher asked the student to read a passage for every lesson. Upon completion the teacher would break the passage into few sentences that has grammatical error in it, and asked the students to correct it. After that we studied new vocabulary words and made one or two sentences with that word. Then we were asked to make a short essay that are usually related the article given.
So we did not spend 1.5 hours listening to the teacher writing the grammar rules. By doing so we can immediately apply it to the essay that we have made.
Yes, we’ve already know that reading is the window of the world. Reading gives us so many advantages: reading or understanding skills, vocabularies, and writing skills too. In reply to the text, in my opinion, writing instruction is still needed by students, because it makes us clear about what to do or what to write. In example, when the lecturer gives the student instructions of grammar or instruction of the using of colons, the students (which is keeping their attention to the lecturer) will get the point of that writing skills or the point of doing tasks. Besides, i really agree with some idea in the article and also the research. Reading will automatically teach us the way to produce a good writing, because we will know about how writers write. But, unfortunately, i just can’t enjoy reading too much. I can’t finish reading one book, because i think that it is too much for me. We can relate the conclusion of the research, which is “reading is important” to my own life. As I can’t enjoy reading, this habit limits my development of english skills. I admit that my English writing skills or my vocabularies is not as cool as my other friends. I would like to change my habit, I would like to read more. And, by joining this EWS class, I hope I can improve my general English skill.
ReplyDeleteIt is commonly accepted that Reading is essential for everyone and anyone. To get information and to learn something new. By reading a book you will find a whole new world and a new fantastic point of view. No sire, I did not take the lyric from Aladdin OST. Students can have a wide variety of words and learn grammar from reading books, from thin to thick, from light novel to scientific writings. I do recommend to read scientific writings because back in High School sometimes I was forced to read scientific writings to gain information for my assignments. Additionally, I collect interesting words that I did not know and amazed that such words exist. Scientific writings also helps you to learn how to use the grammar properly because sometimes scientific writings tend to be published in public, which grammar error is unacceptable, and also for higher education final test or called Skripsi in Indonesia. I do enjoy obtained new words, but I certainly not interested on reading wall of texts. However if the topic is interesting, I would read it no matter how many words it has.
ReplyDeleteBased on my experience, it is certainly agreeable that, while you can learn the basic writing techniques at school or lessons, it can be greatly improved by reading various materials.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in my high school freshman year, I used to only read light English materials, such as comedy novels, and articles from sites such as cracked, gizmodo, or yahoo. However, after I joined an Indonesian skeptics group, I started reading scientific articles and journals, as well as books from experts such as Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, etc. From reading such materials, I learn much more things about writing than what I learn about at school. I started improving my writing skills and tried not to always use the conventional writing method. My mother, who was an English teacher, even noticed my significant improvement and praised me for it.
I agree with this article. When I was still in Junior High School, I didn’t read much books or articles as much as I do now. And I personally feel that after I did a lot of reading books or articles in Senior High School and College, I have more confident to actually write something. “Other studies show that instruction has no effect at all on writing development”, but I don’t agree with this statement. Because from what I’d experienced, I do feel that instructions from my teacher affect my writing development. But still, do a lot of reading activity has much more effect than just listen to instructions alone. “This, however, doesn't mean writing and grammar instruction are of no use and should be jettisoned from the school curriculum.” And I agree with this statement. Writing and grammar instruction are very important, especially in Indonesia. Because we have to understand the basics first, if we want to do some reading activity, which is important. Like this statement says “It is reading, Krashen says, that gives the writer the "feel" for the look and texture of reader-based prose.” Thank you for reading.
ReplyDeleteWell, reading improves concentration. Reading teaches us about the world around us. It would give us a better understanding about the people, the places, any situation that is happening. In other word it helps us to expand our horizon. Reading improves our vocabulary, leads to more highly-developed language skills and improves our ability to write well. And with the given knowledge in a reading that we've read, we could develop a story much better. We could subconsciously connect any event that we've read and make it a story. I also read it somewhere that reading can actually make health beneficial. Such as keeping you sharp and relax, This is an important point because these days we seem to have forgotten how to relax and especially how to be silent. I feel that my self. I love reading. Novels, random article, or any other kind of literature. I think that through reading i could definitely be much more aware about the world, and give me a perception on how to see the world, and end up giving me an inspiration to write.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I dont really interested in reading, though I know that reading is very important like reading can improve our concentration, reading also can give us more knowledge. But sometimes, I interested in reading a book with a historical, political topic inside. If we are still learning in English, reading an English book or novel can improve your vocabulary, your grammar knowledge and many more. I started to love reading by starting reading news in some sites, like Detik.com and other. My teacher also forced me and my friends to improve our reading skills, beacuse reading has so many benefits for us. I had ever feel the advantage of reading book, especially eenglish book, when i was on my Engish test in my highschool, theree was writing test and I by reading English book was ease me to write any word that i want to write beacuse indirectly, i had learned about grammar and i got more vocabularies from my book. Therefore, reading is very important
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ReplyDeleteBesides getting more knowledge, the importance of reading is it can improves our writing. The best way to learn something is by keep practicing it. We can not just hoping that we will able to be good at writing simply by reading a theory. I agree with what has mentioned in the article, "If you want your student writers to be able to write, have them write, and nothing else”. I admit, neither reading and writing is an easy thing to for me. I love to read since I realize how important it is, but not really have a big passion in it. Then most of the time, it always takes a while for me in making a good essay or articles.
DeleteI remember in the previous class meeting, Mr. Adrian gave us an instruction how to make a good writing. We have to generate ideas then list everything glanced in our mind. Just write it down randomly. Also we need to eliminating and organizing the ideas so it will turn into a great structured piece of writing. Joining this class and keep posting comments in this blog are very helpful in order to improve my writing skills.
I can't delete your 'removed comment' because you have replied to it!
DeleteAre there any reasons why you deleting some comments? I'm just curious about it.
DeleteMany comments get deleted by members of the IUP class, mostly because they realize they have made a mistake in their reply or comment and they they then resubmit their comment having deleted the original comment. This creates a message that says "This comment has been removed by the author". I delete these when I see them. I was not able to delete Mai's 'deleted comment' message on 19th October because she replied to her own deleted comment message, which means if I deleted the deleted comment message, I would also delete the comment she made in reply to her own deleted comment message. This would result in one deleted comment message [which I would then delete] for both deleted comments, and no comment at all ~ not even the comment I made about Mai's comment [and her deleted comment, and about the deleted comment message about her deleted comment] where I said "I can't delete your 'removed comment' because you have replied to it". I hope this clears this up and satisfies your curiosity.
DeleteI think everybody agree with reading is important. We all know the more we read, the more we know. For me it’s easier to explain “more we read, more we know” by relating it with photography. In my opinion, one of the ways to improve my photography knowledge is by seeing other’s photos. I learn from their photos, because the more photos I see, the more photo ideas I find, more photo techniques I learn, more creativities I get. Same with reading, the more you read, you will get more things from your reading. Even though I prefer to speak rather than to write, I’m still finding reading is important. Because you don’t just need reading for writing something, but you also need reading for speak. If you read many things you’ll have wider knowledge and it makes your speak has more values.
ReplyDeleteHuman is like an empty glass, empty glass that needs to continue being filled. Then, so that the glass is not full because it does continue being filled, the glass needs to give the filling to other glass. What I mean is, reading is part of the filling’s component for the empty glass. We have to make our self not to stop reading something because reading make our self not empty, then after that we also have to remember to transfer our knowledge or other good things we got to other people around us, whether by write it or speak it or another way.
Some people say “Reading is the window of our world” and I agree with that. By reading we can explore so many things and also it has so many advantages. Through reading, I can explore new things, new information, and new ways to overcome a problem. Reading also helps me to be a better person. I can read about how to build a self confidence, how to be a friendly person, etc. Additionally, reading also makes me gain an experience and knowledge from other people, so it makes me have a lot of perspective to face something. I have ever read a quotation from Andre Maurois which is said “The art of reading is in great part that of acquiring a better understanding of life from one’s encounter with it in a book.”
ReplyDeleteIn the other hand, reading can improve our writing skills, we can gain so many new vocabularies which can help us to write something. Therefore, I think reading is really important.
I definitely agree with this post. Honestly, I can’t remember something like many people did. In my process of learning I didn’t learn something with only remember things that I should to remind. I have tried instant study one day before my daily exam which is I only remember the point of the chapter that will asked next day, and I passed that exam and got a good grade. In final exam I decided to not open that chapter because I think I can do that chapter perfectly. And the result I didn’t passed my exam because of I got blanked on that chapter. From that case I conclude I just only read the whole courses repeatedly without work hard to remember the chapter whole night. That’s why I think reading was so important. You got knowledge for every book that you’ve read. I was so inspired that smart people called Marcus Tullius Cicero he said “When I have a little money, I buy books and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.”
ReplyDeleteI really agree with this article. Reading does help you to improve your writing skills, either in english, bahasa, or another languanges. It’s not only for english, you can actually practice the other languanges with reading and get used to it. I’ve been doing this method since years ago, when my english was below average (although it’s not that good now) and I was so impressed with the result. I often watch videos that require me to read the english translation so I have to translate it in my mind fastly. Not only that, reading stories in english can really improve your grammar and vocabulary. I don’t need to buy an english novel every week. In fact, I don’t really read novels recently. I will just search an interesting story in the internet and read it every single day. If you already get used to read english words, it will be easier for you to write whatever you want.
ReplyDeleteBecause I’ve known the good impact of reading, I really recommend everyone who hates this activity to start doing it slowly. Reading will give you a lot of knowledge and moral values. I don’t like science books or other serious topics, but I do love reading because it’s one of my hobbies. Although most teachers in my previous school didn’t really tell us to read, I believe this method will enrich you in every aspect, as well as you writing skills.
My parents always say that reading can improve our intelligence. The old people use reading to improve their memories. I do agree that reading is important, especially in writing skills. Because by reading, we can improve our knowledge and vocabularies. I feel so, that by reading I could find many new vocabularies and after that I will use it for my next articles or comments. Also by reading, I could find new inspirations for writing. The imagination of what I want to write suddenly comes. I love reading novel and when I reading novel I can imagine the situation that is told in the story. After that I want to make the new one with the imagination that I have. In my opinion, without reading, there will be no writing skills. There is no writer that hates reading, I think. Not only the non-fiction, but we can also use fiction story to be read. Start reading to improve our knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThis topic is really interesting. In my opinion, reading is very important. Somehow, It can shape people’s knowledge. Through reading, they learn about people, places and events outside their own experience. They are exposed to ways of life, ideas and beliefs about the world which may be different from those that surround them. I think its true that a book is the window of the world. The variety of reading also plays an important role in shaping’s people knowledge. As they read more various of book, the more various knowledge that they will have too. For example, a student majoring mechanical engineering, they probably have more knowledge in mechanical stuffs or engineering stuffs. However, if that person loves to read newspaper, he or she might have some knowledge about economics or politics too. In the other hand, in literature or studying new languages, reading can help our writing skill since the more we read, the more we meet new vocabulary and eventually will become more familiar with those vocabulary that we have never use or even heard before. Thus, we have a tendency in finding the meaning of those unknown words. In the other hand, when we read, we unconsciously absorb information such how to structure sentences and how to use words and language effectively. Learning new languages need time; it is not an instant thing to do. In my humble opinion, we must make children getting used to read from they are younger. Kids who read often and widely get better at it. This is pretty much just common sense. After all, practice makes perfect in almost everything we do and so does with reading.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the statement written above because reading is really important; it makes you get accustomed to the writing structure, it gives you a good example of writing, it improves your grammar, and it gives you new vocabularies. The article written above said that practicing doesn’t really improve our writing skills. But, I think practicing is also as important as reading. Practicing affects your writing just as much as reading does but before you practice, you need to read books first so it would be more efficient and effective. As a student, I can say that an instruction doesn’t really help me to write better. When I read an instruction, I just understand it but then I forget to apply the instruction when I write. In my opinion, the best way to improve our writing skills is by reading and then writing, reading and then writing, and doing it all over again.
ReplyDelete"It seems then that the best and the only way of accelerating students' writing competence is to get students hooked on books and to make them fly to books, just as an opium smoker flies to his pipe." I think that it's true, how you will get even better at writing when you read more and more books. Because when you write based on instructions only, you will then get confused because things are easier said than done, right? In the instructions, it would look like such a piece of cake, a cakewalk, but when you try to do it you will get confused, because you did not know what it should look like, what it is supposed to be, because you did not read as much and you did not know what good writings looks like. When you read, it’s like you’re slowly absorbing how you should write, when you read, you will know how things are done. Also, when you read, it will improve and add more of your vocabulary and that will make it easier for you to write because then you will have more words to work with in your writing.
ReplyDeleteIt was true that reading is important, in my opinion reading have 2 advantages. First we can get many deeper information about many topic or fresh news that lately happened in our country. We can be active speaker that easily talk about our opinion, in our speech we need to know who are our listener so we can explain what is our feeling about a topic, it is we agree or disagree without make any dispute. Second we can easily develop our writing ability, we can convey what is exactly we want to say to the reader. By reading many books, magazine, fairy tale, and many written, we can know about what is the most common word will be use.
ReplyDeleteTo improve our writing ability we need to have many practice about it, and one of the easiest way to master it is to have reading as much as we can. After that to be great debate person we need to read something, after we read that we can give our feedback about particular topic. With this kind of practicing we can communicate better about our idea. And probably we will have many error about grammar, vocabulary and may be spelling, but from our error we will improve our ability for this. Once we have our ability to generate our idea we still need to have many practice to maintain our ability for this.
We know that as the time goes by, student’s interest in reading is going down and down. This is also what I experienced myself. Understanding the grammar, even it’s your own language’s grammar is not that easy. Language study is very hard to learn, not to mention because we don’t usually use formal language on our daily conversation, but we usually use the slang language.
ReplyDeleteBased on my experience also, writing instructions are not that helpful because there are too many instructions. If we focus on the writing instructions, we tend to forget what we actually want to write and at the end we will mess everything up. Then what can we do to manage those things?
If the article says that reading is the most efficient way for students to understand grammar, I must say that there are a lot of obstructions. Most students nowadays don’t like to read, especially reading a thick book with no pictures, just words. So, it’s probably better to find a new way to get students’ writing skill improved by doing a new research.
Besides the importance of reading, I’m kind of a bookworm person. I love to read whenever and wherever I feel bored. There are so many advantages from reading, it makes you understand the writing structure, gives you a good example of writing, gives you a brand new point a view, improves your grammar, and you’ll found many vocabularies. As an accounting student, many lessons that require us to read so many thick book and articles. And I think it will give you advantage if you love to read. Well I have an Indonesian Culture class, which every week we have to submit the review of twenty, thirty, or more pages in one article and also Introduction to Business class, which every week we have to submit a review from business issue based on the chapter that we will talked about. It’s not an easy thing to do because the article is sometimes not interesting. But if we love to read, it will not be a big burden for us because we have to do it every week.
ReplyDeletePeople who often read (journals, novels, articles, etc.), can be seen from the comments they made. I really admire some of our friends whose writing is beyond good, and who’s using wide range of vocabularies, which are not often to be heard, so I got to translate it with Google’s help. People who often read do not only post comments within a given minimum characters and quantity, but more like quality so it makes their comments worth reading for.
ReplyDeleteThe more we practice ourselves with various plots (when you read novels), you will expand your way of thinking and point of view, and with no doubt, you can be a better writer because the idea will easily flow into your mind, arranging words and sentences. I really do feel pity for our friends out there who still can’t read because they couldn't afford education. Be grateful because we can still read by ourselves. Read, read, and read, to expand your knowledge!
After reading this post, I realize that the process of making our writing’s better is not (only) writing aggressively, or try to write something based on sentences instruction, but to learn from available writings. Maybe we can learn how to maintain ideas and to write something unstoppable by independently learn how to write by just practice writing every day. But we won’t know how to wrap up some sentences and choosing better word for our writings that can be enjoyed by others. We won’t know writing styles other than ours, and we won’t know what kind of writing is accepted and enjoyed by public.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of learning process is also applicable in every art subjects. When we learn how to paint, we learn how to use pencils, choosing paper, paint, using brush, etc. We also learn how to paint something by copy from its portrait to the canvas. But to make a great artwork in painting, we also have to see many successful artwork from previous; Picasso’s, Leonardo’s, Dali’s, Affandi’s, etc. So, when we trying to make something good, first we have to know how people made it before.
Personally I do agree that reading is important thing to do, because by reading something you may acquire a lot of information; you may get to know something that you have not known before, new stuff, you will get some news and information of what is happening now out there, you will not miss any information and news. You can say withal reading you will be coming smarter person. Moreover, by reading is not only giving you some news and information, it also may help you improve your English and writing skills; because by reading books, articles, magazines, or anything sometimes you may see new words that you might not familiar with and you may see the usage of those words, and also it will help you develop your thinking and expend more ideas. By reading books or anything it will also help you improve your knowledge and memory of remembering something. So basically reading is important, and you have to get used to doing it.
ReplyDeleteReading is a really important thing to do. Reading can increase your knowledge. The more you read book, the more your knowledge increases. My oldman said that you have to read book often, because reading book is like seeing the world through the window. We can achieve many things from reading books. And we can also improve our writing skills, which is essential for us specially if we want to be journalist or something like that. My mom and dad love reading book so much. That is why we have our own mini library near the door to my room in my house in Jakarta. We usually spent our time reading books after the maghrib prayer, while waiting for the isya prayer time comes up. But still I don't know why I still got bad writing skills (maybe because I am too lazy to write something. I prefer reading to writing honestly)
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I want to say that the article is true. To teach writing to students, teacher can not only use instruction. In fact, it’s not motivated us to increase our writing and grammar skills, it’s just makes us confuse and sometimes scared to write. Writing practice and instruction may be increase our imagination by compose our own writing. But they can’t increase our grammar and vocabulary skill. Reading is the solution. Reading is related with writing, same as writing is related with reading. With reading many books, we can write a good writing. As if in cooking, we must eat many foods to increase our taste, so we can cook more delicious food. Many of my friends who are experts at writing, usually are good readers. They love to read and that’s why they can compose good writing. To be honest, I get more knowledge about grammar and more vocabulary from reading. One of my favorite author said that her passion is reading. With her passion, he can write good books like now.
ReplyDeletePeople say that ‘Book is the window of the world’. Well, I think it is. By reading books, we are able to know about new things. I like reading books, but unfortunately not all type of books. I just like reading light books such as magazines and novels. Even if the novel already filmed, I would prefer to read the novel rather than watch it. By read the novel, I can imagine what happened on the story. I can make my own illustration inside my mind, while in the film someone already did it for me. Sometimes when I see the film after I read the novel, I got disappointed. Why? Because what I imagine is not even close with the illustration the film has.
ReplyDeleteAside from widen our imagination, reading book can also improve our grammar and way of write. By reading, we are getting usual with the way in selecting words, making phrase, and using grammar.
Why reading is important?
ReplyDeleteIf you said that read something is not important, you are a big wrong. When you read something, you will get some information from that what’s you read. So read is important for us moreover we are a college student, we have to read many books to increase our knowledge. It’s not only increased our knowledge but it can increase your vocabularies too and if you like to read many novels, it makes you be more mature than before because in novel, we can learn how to live our life. So there are many benefits if you read a book, novel, or article.
Overall, reading is really important for all people in the world. There are many benefits such as:
1. Your knowledge will be increase
2. You’ll get new vocabulary
3. It makes you more mature
So don’t waste your time for unimportant things. Let’s read in your spare time.
Hhmm such an interesting blog post. Hhmm i think reading is very imprtant for us. Because by reading we gather more information. Reading will make us smarter. Especially for us who are a student. We have to make a habit for reading. Because by reading we will gather much information. We will become much smarter. And it will inflict in our grades. Our grades will get higher and higher than before. And reading is not just making us smarter and get more information. By reading we can learn language. Because by reading, we will expand our dictionary and learn more vocabulary. So becuase i am a university student, i have to read more and more. To get the benefits of reading: get more information, to get more smarter, to get more vocabulary.. Okay that is all of my opinion about this blog post. Hopefully i will be more often reading than before, because now i know the benefits of reading.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I joined a short course to make English essay, my tutor advised me to read more, until I get the "feel" when writing essays in English. Sentence structure, grammar, style, if you keep reading (especially in a foreign language) you will get used to writing with a foreign language. Read frequently if you want a reliable writing skill.
ReplyDeleteThis article is true. If someone wants to write a fluent writing (essays, articles), you should read a lot. I feel the impact of frequent reading by myself. Writing exercise itself isn’t enough since you still carry your personal writing style in your essay that might still look stiff and even incoherent. By reading, you will know how to arrange good words, the “flow”, you will feel the difference when you write without reading and writing by reading. At least, if you still haven’t got the essence of writing, you got new vocabularies.
" It seems then that the best and the only way of accelerating students ' writing competence is to get students hooked on books and to the make them fly to books , just as an opium smoker flies to his pipe . "
In addition to effectiveness in writing, clearly, reading can enrich your knowledge. Many things you get from reading. Without the need to re-explain, I think everyone already know the usefulness of reading. Now, reading comes more easily. The existence of a PDF reader makes you not like the look nerdy anymore because of too much bringing books . So, what are you waiting for, let's read!
Awesome blog. I enjoyed reading your articles. This is truly a great read for me. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new articles. Keep up the good work! yurt dışında üniversite okuma şartları
ReplyDeleteReading Ojo App | Students Factory
ReplyDeleteA unique gaming App developed to inspire the reading habit through a competitive spirit. “OjO” as in Reading OjO refers to the eye which is keen to read. The motive of Reading OjO is to persuade every eye ready to read, read and read. Reading OjO is all about creating a fun habit through the convergence of Technology, Academics, Gamification and General Knowledge.
https://livingwriter.com/ Wow, cool post. I'd like to write like this too - taking time and real hard work to make a great article... but I put things off too much and never seem to get started. Thanks though.
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