The Consequences of Writing

This book features two major sections. The first presents historical and thematic background on the "Writing Across the Curriculum" movement, followed by discussions of the relationship between language and thinking and the role of writing in the construction of knowledge.

The second section presents case studies of students and teachers using writing for learning. Drawn from a mixed urban/suburban county community college in New Jersey, the case studies span both academic subjects and vocational subjects. In the final chapter, an alternative view of the relationship among writing, teaching, and learning is presented. The view challenges teachers not just to change their practices with writing, but to become reflective practitioners, to rethink their entire implicit theory of language and learning, and thus to adopt new practices in the light of new theoretical ideas.