The Effects of Reading Habits on Writing Performance: A Case Study at Van Lang University

Abstract

Reading habits and writing performance reportedly share a close correlation; however, there has been less investigation on this aspect in Vietnam. The research aims to bridge the gap in the literature review with a description of Van Lang University English majors’ reading patterns, a report of their writing ability, and a conclusion on the relation between these two elements. Quantitative data were collected through an online questionnaire discovering students’ reading habits and a writing test administered to evaluate their writing performance. The test results were analyzed through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 26 (SPSS 26). Additionally, Pearson correlation and linear regression were applied to confirm the influences of five elements in reading habits on students’ writing performance. Qualitative data were obtained through a structured interview and then quantified with Microsoft Excel 2019. The interview was carried out to generalize the reading patterns of different purposive samples categorized by their writing marks. The result of the study asserts a positive correlation between students’ reading habits and their writing performance (robtained=0.433 to 0.542), and nearly 60% of the segments of the reading patterns were proved to have a great contribution to writing ability. The study indicates that a good reading habit entails improvement in writing achievement. The research suggests further investigation of factors influencing reading habits, the effects of teachers' instructions on students' writing performance, and the genres of essays that are most affected by reading patterns.