Comparative Case Studies On The Impacts Of RW And IW On Writing Proficiency Development

This study, which lasts for two semesters, is implemented to compare the impacts of reading-based writing (RW) and independent writing (IW) on the development of accuracy and complexity. The participants in this research are six non-English majors who are freshmen in Dalian Maritime University (DMU).Results show that during two semesters, (1) in regard to accuracy, the development trajectories of RW and IW are both non-linear, with much fluctuation; there is a significant difference between RW and IW and accuracy of RW is significantly higher than that of IW; (2) as for complexity, vocabulary complexity and grammatical complexity of RW and IW also show a non-liner trend, with fluctuation; RW can significantly improve grammatical complexity but no significant difference exist in vocabulary complexity; (3) from the interviews, it is found that in RW, students pay more attention to language learning while in IW, they attach more importance to language use. Students can obtain more effective information (e.g. vocabulary, collocation, sentence patterns, organizing patterns, etc) from reading materials. By sifting, imitating, and integrating the information, students will apply what they learn to their RWs and the following IWs. It is also suggested that RW and IW have different impacts on different individuals.This research sheds light upon English pedagogy and learning:to improve students’writing accuracy and complexity, teachers can provide them with related reading input, instruct them and adjust the teaching strategies based on students’ actual performance; students can enlarge language input through reading to improve the quality of language output.