Integrating Reading and Writing Instruction for Writing Efficiency: Federal University of Technology Owerri Fresh Students as a Case in Point

The advanced language requirement at the tertiary education level has continually challenged and affected the performance of many fresh students in their core courses, and have impeded their achievements generally. This has been attributed in part to the conventional instructional methods employed by language instructors at the lower rung of the educational ladder. Therefore, this study investigates the probabilities that the integration of reading and writing instruction would make any difference on the writing achievement of freshly admitted undergraduates of Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria. The study adopts the pretest, post test, control group quasi experimental design in which three hundred and two students from three different faculties and departments participated. Two experimental groups and one control group were used for the study. The first experimental group was taught with the activation of the background knowledge method; while for the second experimental group, the response to the text-strategy was added to the activation of the background knowledge method. The control group was taught with the usual conventional method and the treatments lasted for six weeks. All groups of participants were given a pretest before treatment commenced for the experimental groups. A post test was also administered on all participants at the end of the six weeks treatment. Students’ writing were graded and the scores used as data which are analysed using means, standard deviation and t-test. The results show that the experimental groups which are treated with the integrated reading and writing instructional methods perform significantly better than the control group whose own instruction had gone on with the conventional method. It therefore concludes that integrating reading and writing instruction would enhance the writing competence of newly admitted undergraduates in the university.