There is no other way to improve your writing than to read widely.——This is almost a well-known secret and common sense.
But the opposite statement may not be true:Does extensive reading necessarily improve writing?——There are many people who have read a lot but don’t want to write or always feel that they can’t write well. What’s going on?
Frank Smith in his Reading Without
The book Nonsense (Getting Rid of Meaningless Reading) provides a very good idea, which inspired me a lot.
Chapter 9, “Joining the Club of
Readers begins by describing the many benefits of having your child join a readers’ club.As the summary notes of the previous chaptersAs explained in the book, Professor Smith’s “joining a club,” whether it’s a readers’ club, a writers’ club, or a combined reading and writing club, is a metaphor, not a literal one. Another way to put it is to make children feel like they have become or are learning to become a member of a group of readers (writers).
There are many benefits to getting children to “join the club” in this way, such as:
They can see written language in action;
☆ As new members, children naturally have the freedom to make mistakes without being criticized;
☆ Senior members will help new members become experts;
☆
Children are quickly accepted into the club’s full range of activities, and they can choose those activities that they find interesting and useful (rather than being forced to do useless work that is of no interest to them);
Most importantly, children learn to accept themselves as members of the club (i.e., as readers or writers);
☆ All learning processes are no longer risky. In other words, there is no need to worry about constantly increasing exams, tests or exercises;
…
When these advantages are viewed in the context of reading, they are easy to understand: they are effective conditions for helping children fall in love with reading and, of course, learn to read. But how should we view them in the context of writing?
We say:You learn to read by reading
readingSo, is it natural that you learn to write by writing?
by writing)?
Professor Frank Smith stated with great certainty:You learn to write by reading.
to write by reading)!
Here, Professor Smith still clearly criticizes some common writing teaching methods, especially the mechanical teaching methods that focus on punctuation, spelling, and error correction. His core reason is:Through this kind of writing learning, children make fewer and fewer writing errors and have less and less interest in writing!
Simply grading children’s articles does not help them improve their writing skills, but it has a huge effect on establishing their self-image, especially in completely destroying their self-confidence — making them feel that they are “not cut out for writing” because writing is so difficult and meaningless, and they can completely despair of it!
So how does “get your kid into the club” style of reading affect writing?
Besides insisting on the aforementioned advantages of “joining the club,” Smith reveals the secret:Learn to read like a writer!
The original words are as follows:If you see yourself as a writer, you read as a
writer, which means that you read as if you might be writing what
you are at the moment
If you think of yourself as a writer, you will read like a writer, meaning you will read as if you were likely to write the kind of writing you are reading.
This statement might sound a bit awkward at first, but let me give you an example. Take the Harry Potter series, for example. This fantasy novel series is not only captivating but also inspires many children and adults to want to write similar stories themselves. Once this urge is aroused, readers experience a subtle shift when they read this novel, or similar magical or fantasy stories, again. They become involved in the story’s writing process, feeling as if the author is also expressing their own (or perhaps unintentional) thoughts, or thinking, “I would have written it this way” or “I wouldn’t have written it that way.” Thus, they cease being merely passive readers and become eager writers-in-training!
Therefore, the secret revealed by Smith can be understood as follows:Not all reading states will necessarily promote the reader’s writing. Only when a person considers himself a writer can his reading state like a writer be of real help to his writing.
However, Smith also emphasizes that “learning to write through reading” doesn’t mean that writing practice itself is unimportant. Writing practice can help learners see themselves as writers. Correcting mistakes and improving writing skills are inevitable processes (and often a natural consequence) during writing practice, but they are not something to be emphasized. Writing guides (teachers) should appropriately help learners correct mistakes simply to help them write better. The relationship between them should be one of friendly collaboration.
【A little supplement】
Regarding reading that aids writing, I’d like to emphasize another point. I believe the concept of “reading” should be broader, extending beyond simply reading books or purely written materials. Readers who consider themselves writers should look beyond the mere “use of written language” and see more, because writing is essentially the description of events and the expression of thoughts and emotions. When reading to aid writing, acquiring rich material and content is far more important than learning the forms of expression.
Argentine Primera Diary, February 17, 2010, Guangzhou
【Related Notes】
[Notes] Chapter Summary of “Getting Rid of Meaningless Reading”
[Notes] 9+N Common Confusions in Guiding Children to Read
