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Volume 7 Number 1, Spring 2010, Pages 1-393   


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Effects of Extensive Reading on Students' Writing Ability in an EFL Class

    Wilairat Kirin


Theoretical rationale and research evidence from L1, ESL and EFL supports the relationships between reading and writing as well as the advantages of encouraging students to read as much as possible to enhance their writing ability. This paper gives details of a 15 week reading experiment with a group of Thai EFL learners who were encouraged to read and, by the end, were then sub-divided for statistical analysis on the basis of their reading amounts. Designated ‘high' and ‘low' groups, this represented the volume of their exposure to comprehensible input. All subjects had their essay writing abilities measured every five weeks throughout the entire engagement with simplified reading books. Research results along with a discussion of the results provide theoretical as well as unique characteristics of low-ability learners and reasons why their writing abilities did not improve despite additional reading involvement over the four months.

Keywords: extensive reading, reading comprehension, writing ability, reading amount, EFL, low proficiency, reading-writing connection