THE IMPACT OF EXTENSIVE READING ON IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS

Аннотация:

This study investigates the impact of extensive reading on the development of students’ academic writing skills within the framework of integrated reading-writing pedagogy. Extensive reading is widely recognized for improving vocabulary growth, grammatical accuracy, and the acquisition of rhetorical structures. However, its direct influence on academic writing performance requires further empirical clarification. Using a mixed-method design, the study collected quantitative data from pre- and post-tests measuring writing proficiency and qualitative data from student reflections. Results demonstrate significant improvements in lexical richness, coherence, cohesion, and syntactic variety among students who engaged in regular extensive reading activities over eight weeks. The findings support theoretical claims that reading exposure strengthens writers’ internal models of text organization, enabling more effective production of academic prose. The study concludes that extensive reading is a powerful, low-cost pedagogical tool that contributes meaningfully to writing development in secondary and tertiary English language classrooms.