INTEGRATING READING INSTRUCTION AND WRITING PLANNING TO SUPPORT ACADEMIC SKILLS AMONG INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS
Abstract
The research examines the pedagogical effects of combining cause-and-effect reading teaching with pre-writing instruction using infographics as a way of scaffolding the academic literacy development process among intermediate EFL students. This teaching intervention was intended to improve the level of understanding by the learners of the informational texts and the structuring of the academic writing. The empirical design was a classroom based implementation involving 20 intermediate EFL students who were taken through an academic course in English. The data was gathered by use of reading and writing assignments, classroom observations and reflections by the learners. The results show evident positive changes in the awareness of the text structure, the coherence of the written work, and the confidence of academic activities. This research proposes that a connection between reading strategies and multimodal writing prompts seems to be an effective way to teach academic English in the academic setting, especially in the IELTS-focused programs.