Graded Reading and its Effect on Enhancing Students Vocabulary and Improving Performance in Writing

Vocabulary knowledge has long been considered critical to students’ success in learning English in Arab countries. When students’ increase their reserves of word meaning, they also broaden their thinking and become aware of new semantic and conceptual relations. Their broadened awareness, in turn, increases reading comprehension and writing abilities. Second language reading and writing have traditionally been conceptualized both in research and teaching as individual skills that could be analyzed and taught as sets of independent sub- skills and strategies. Naturalistic studies of second/foreign language acquisition and use, however, show that reading and writing can’ t be separated from each other, and from other activities in which they are situated. From this point of view, this study tried to measure the effect of extensive graded reading on improving students’ performance in writing in governmental schools in Nablus district. The collected data indicated that extensive graded reading helped the students acquire the language easier and developed their writing abilities.