THE IMPACT OF EXTENSIVE READING HABITS ON THE SYNTACTIC COMPLEXITY OF ESL ACADEMIC WRITING

This study explores how extensive reading habits influence the syntactic complexity of academic writing among students learning English as a second language (ESL). It analyzes the pedagogical role of voluntary, pleasure-oriented reading in enhancing learners’ linguistic competence, clause production, and discourse organization within written assignments. The research evaluates the correlation between a student’s exposure to diverse text genres and their ability to deploy sophisticated syntactic structures (such as subordination, coordination, and nominalization) in academic essays. The findings demonstrate that rich reading habits serve as a primary source of implicit linguistic input, significantly reducing writing anxiety and L1 grammatical interference.