By investigating the similarities and differences between speech and writing, teachers can help students mature as writers. The difference between speech and writing in conveying meaning is explained by the degree of context dependence of the utterance or passage. Speech is highly context-dependent because a speaker depends on a listener to assist…

A southwestern university sponsored a two-week, half-day summer institute designed to help teachers become aware of recent writing research and implement writing within their classrooms based on the research findings. During the first week, teachers were encouraged to pay more attention to the communication perspective with less attention on…