The Effects of reading and writing upon thinking and learning

A study explored etuC_Ats' dynamic use of various kortas of reading and writing to learn. In investigating the relationship between learner initiative, literacy, and the ability to conduct a critical inquiry of a topic of study, seven College undergraduates were asked to direct their own reading and Writing engagements enroute to composing a persuasive essay. The main sources of data for the analySes were video-taped work sessions, think-aloud protocols, persuasive essays that the students produced, and students' responses to the debriefing interviewS. Analysis of students' think-aloud protocols and debriefing interviews,indicated that the reasoning in which students were involved., and how reasoning changed across the task, was -a complex phenomenon mediated by both specific reading and writing engagements and the purposes for which these activities mete undertaken. Results of the debriefing interviews, in conjunction-with the think -aloud protocols and students' essays, revealed that an individual learner was capable of creating a kind of vicarious community of readers and writers exchanging different topical perspectives with one another as they moved back and forth between writing notes, reading articles, writing the essay, reading the essay, and reading their notes. Findings suggest that in order to foster studentS' ability to inform themselves about topics of study, ways of helping them begin to direct their own reading and writing activities in order to learn need to be explored. (Five figures and 11 tables of data are included, and 61 references are attached.) (Author/MG) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF READING Technical Report No. 477 THE EFFECTS OF READING AND WRITING UPON THINKING AND LEARNING William McGinley University of Michigan P. Dniiid Pearson; Rand J. Spiro, and Kathleen Copeland University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Robert J. Tierney Ohio State University