Addressing basic writing not only as a practical problem and humane responsibility, but also as a challenging area for research and theorizing, this book reviews, interprets, and applies the growing body of work in second language acquisition. Chapter 1 presents 6 hypotheses constituting an attempt to develop a cohesive theory of writing acquisition that incorporates the redundancy of language and facilitates the process of language acquisition. The following chapters explore this theory in detail to serve as a basis for experimental confirmation. Chapters 2 and 3, on spoken and written language and redundancy, provide the theoretical basis for the argument that academic discourse is a separate linguistic system characterized by particular psycholinguistic features. Chapters 4 and 5 present a detailed analysis of the behavior of basic writers with respect to written form, reviewing both pertinent second language theory about learners' errors and a case study of one writer. Chapters 6 and 7 discuss the relevant affective factors analyzed in second language acquisition theory and detail Stephen Krashen's recent proposals for a comprehensive theory of second language acquisition. The final chapter reviews the entire theory, summarizes the evidence, and outlines the agenda for further research. (JD)