The Case for Integrated Reading and Writing Instruction: Foundational Literacy Skills
English Language Arts teachers across the country have the distinct challenge of balancing reading and writing instruction within one comprehensive class. Do they teach reading and writing on alternating days? Should they split the literacy block into 45 minutes of reading and 45 minutes of writing? Might their 50-minute English class devote 10 minutes to grammar, 10 to writing, and 30 to reading? In some cases, schools even separate reading and writing into different classes altogether.
All of these solutions approach reading and writing as two distinct and separate subject areas. They’re represented that way in many state standards, and they’re tested separately on many assessments. Even while separating reading and writing seems like a solution that gives each subject its due time, an emphasis is still often placed on reading because standards, assessments, and accountability metrics create the perception that it is more important. This leaves writing instruction out of the conversation and off of teachers’ lesson plans.
But, research does indicate that giving writing instruction due attention pays off in powerful ways. Strong writing is not only a desired outcome of literacy instruction, but writing itself is also a key driver of foundational literacy skill development.
Reading and Writing Share a Foundation
Dr. Young-Suk Grace Kim and Dr. Elizabeth Zagata (2024) emphasize that reading and writing share foundational knowledge and cognitive processes, such as reasoning and making inferences, as well as understanding syntax, sentence structure, and morphology, just to name a few. Given the significant overlap of foundational skills (they name 29 unique shared constructs/skills in their article!), Kim and Zagata advocate for teachers to integrate reading and writing instruction.
In other words, ensuring that writing is a significant part of your literacy instruction at any grade level provides more opportunities for students to apply foundational literacy skills, and deepens students’ understanding of language and texts.
Writing’s Effects on Reading Comprehension
Teaching writing is necessary for its own sake because of the importance of students harnessing the power of the written word in order to communicate effectively, express themselves, and use writing as a tool for thinking. In the classrooms of emerging writers and readers, it has also proven to be a valuable tool for improving reading comprehension (Graham & Hebert, 2011).
In the integrated reading and writing classroom, this means more than just assigning students to respond in writing after reading a text. It can include reflecting on a topic or theme before reading a text or writing predictions about the text before reading, both of which help activate prior knowledge and prepare students to better understand what they read. Writing can support literacy developing during reading as well, providing opportunities for students to pause and monitor their comprehension. During reading, writing can include active annotation and jotting like Jennifer Seravallo (2025) highlights in this blog post.
When reading and writing are treated separately in the classroom, teachers and students miss out on the multiplying effect of reciprocal literacy development.
Integrating Reading & Writing with NoRedInk
NoRedInk offers activities that stand at the intersection of the reading and writing relationship, allowing students to develop their foundational reading and writing skills simultaneously.
Our Text-Based Writing library is a curated collection of engaging fiction and nonfiction texts for students in grades 3-12, each accompanied by numerous text-based prompts that ask students to apply reading skills like analyzing author’s purpose, identifying main idea and details, and evaluating arguments.
In addition, our Skill Building with Mentor Texts prompts encourage students to explore writers’ moves as they read mentor texts and apply them in their own writing.
Read-Write-Reason™ activities help students move back and forth between analyzing texts and applying strategies to their own writing. These activities also provide opportunities for students to think critically about author’s choices before, during, and after reading texts.
Ready to explore how NoRedInk can help you maximize your literacy instruction? Sign up for free today!
References
Graham, S., & Hebert, M. (2011). Writing-to-read: A meta-analysis of the impact of writing and writing instruction on reading. Harvard Educational Review, 81, 710-744.
Kim, Y. G., & Zagata, E. (2024). Enhancing reading and writing skills through systematically integrated instruction. The Reading Teacher, 77(6), 787–799. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2307
Serravallo, J. (2025, April 2). Writing about reading: The power of the pencil. Jennifer Serravallo. https://www.jenniferserravallo.com/blog/writing-about-reading-the-power-of-the-pencil
