Effective strategies for the teaching and learning of writing

This introductory paper outlines the theoretical background to this special issue on the teaching and learning of writing. It distinguishes approaches which focus on direct interventions into cognitive processes from those which focus on the social and motivational context within which the writing process is embedded, arguing that they should be treated as complementary rather than competing. It then discusses the individual contributions, relating them to each other and to the broader theoretical context. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.