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Abstract

This exploratory study examined the effect of a process-oriented writing programme on reading skills during one semester in which students were given writing, but not formal reading instruction. Twenty-five students enrolled in English 11 during the first semester served as the experimental group, while twenty-five students not taking English 11 first semester served as a control group. The experimental group participated in a process-oriented writing programme, Writing 44, for nineteen weeks. Both groups were pre-and posttested with the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Level F, Forms 1 and 2 and the Writing 44 Diagnostic Test, Forms C and D, the latter a locally-developed criterion-referenced test of writing skills. Independent t-tests and Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance were used to compare pre-and posttest scores of reading comprehension and vocabulary on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Level F, Forms 1 and 2, and pre-and posttest scores of writing on the Writing 44 Diagnostic Test. A Pearson R Correlation was also carried out to examine relationships between reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing. T-tests for independent samples showed a non-significant difference favouring the experimental group in the vocabulary subtest. The Repeated Measures of Analysis of Variance showed no group differences on the vocabulary subtest, but there was a significant time effect (p