A B S T R A C TReading and writing are critical to students' success in and outside of school. Because they draw on common sources of knowledge and cognitive processes, involve meaning making, and can be used conjointly to accomplish important learning goals, it is often recommended that reading and writing should be taught together. This meta-analysis tested this proposition by examining experimental intervention studies with preschool through high school students to determine whether literacy programs balancing reading and writing instruction strengthen students' reading and writing performance. To be included in this review, no more than 60% of instruction could be devoted to either reading or writing. As predicted, these programs improved students' reading, resulting in statistically significant effects when reading measures were averaged in each study (effect size [ES] = .39) or assessed through measures of reading comprehension (ES = .39), decoding (ES = .53), or reading vocabulary (ES = .35). The programs also statistically enhanced writing when measures were averaged in each study (ES = .37) or assessed via writing quality (ES = .47), writing mechanics (ES = .18), or writing output (ES = .69). These findings demonstrated that literacy programs balancing reading and writing instruction can strengthen reading and writing and that the two skills can be learned together profitably. R eading and writing are essential for success in school, at work, and in everyday life. Students use reading to analyze and acquire information presented in online text, books, and other printed materials (Berman, 2009), whereas writing is used to sharpen and promote students' learning and assess what they know (Bangert-Drowns, Hurley, & Wilkinson, 2004;Graham, 2006). Reading and writing serve multiple purposes in white-collar and blue-collar jobs today (Greene, 2000; National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges, 2004, 2005). This includes, but is not limited to, reading and writing to acquire and share information, communicating with other employees and the public at large, tracking and recording pertinent information, and developing reports and disseminating policies. Reading and writing also permeate day-to-day life, as Facebook, texting, tweeting, blogging, emailing, and other forms of digital literacy are prevalent.Despite the importance of reading and writing to life in the 21st century, there is considerable concern that many youngsters do not acquire the literacy skills needed to be successful in an increasingly digital and information-based world (e.g.

This meta-analysis examined if students' writing performance is improved by reading interventions in studies (k = 54 experiments; 5,018 students) where students were taught how to read and studies (k = 36 investigations; 3,060 students) where students' interaction with words or text was increased through reading or observing others read. Studies included in this review involved true-or quasi-experiments (with pretests) written in English that tested the impact of a reading intervention on the writing performance of students in preschool to Grade 12. Studies were not included if the control condition was a writing intervention, treatment students received writing 746927R ERXXX10.3102/0034654317746927Graham et al.Reading for Writing research-article2017 Graham et al. 244 instruction as part of the reading intervention (unless control students received equivalent writing instruction), control students received a reading intervention (unless treatment students received more reading instruction than controls), study attrition exceeded 20%, less than 10 students were included in any experimental condition, and students attended a special school for students with disabilities. As predicted, teaching reading strengthened writing, resulting in statistically significant effects for an overall measure of writing (effect size [ES] = 0.57) and specific measures of writing quality (ES = 0.63), words written (ES = 0.37), or spelling (ES = 0.56). The impact of teaching reading on writing was maintained over time (ES = 0.37). Having students read text or observe others interact with text also enhanced writing performance, producing a statistically significant impact on an overall measure of writing (ES = 0.35) and specific measures of writing quality (ES = 0.44) or spelling (ES = 0.28). These findings provide support that reading interventions can enhance students' writing performance.

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Individual differences in motivational beliefs, such as writing efficacy and attitudes toward writing in different contexts (academic, recreational, print or digital), are hypothesised to account for variability in writing performance. This study tested this proposition with 185 middle school students (58% were male), examining if writing self‐efficacy and attitudes toward writing made a statistically significant and unique contribution to predicting performance on a norm‐referenced writing measure, after variance related to gender, free/reduced lunch status, student's first language, disability status, reading self‐efficacy and attitudes toward reading were first controlled. Collectively, writing attitudes and self‐efficacy accounted for statistically significant and unique variance in writing scores after the other variables were controlled, providing support for the theoretical proposition that writing motivational beliefs are important ingredients in middle school students' writing.