This paper reports a study investigating the effects of connecting reading and writing in Chinese EFL teaching in the computer-mediated communication (CMC) learning environment. In this study, ways of reading which are likely to promote the development of writing ability are sought and tested. What the subjects in the experimental group and the control group did is almost the same except that subjects in the experimental group are asked to write a 400-word summary or reviews after they finish learning each text while those in the control group are not. Results show that connecting reading and writing has positive effects on helping the students to memorize the new words, reusing new words in their writing tasks and improving the students' writing quality.