ABSTRACT
Historically and currently at the college level, and indeed at lower school levels as well, reading and writing are often taught separately. This occurs despite the fact that teaching reading involves writing in terms of taking notes and writing responses to what was read, and teaching writing involves reading⎯either reading something as a prompt for writing or a student reading his or her own work in the revision process. Research well documented in the fi rst edition of this Handbook (Flippo & Caverly, 2000) and further documented here demonstrates the inextricable link between reading and writing. This research has prompted some reading and writing centers and courses to merge. Although there are many exemplary models of teaching reading and writing together as integrated and complementary, an informal survey of the websites of post-secondary reading/writing centers done in the process of writing this chapter shows that, despite some claims to the contrary, many institutions teach reading and writing as discrete subjects. Furthermore, new technologies have shaped people’s communicative practices in such a way as to emphasize the blending of reading and writing as well as introducing new means of communication that call into question defi nitions of reading, writing, literacy, context, and text, which should challenge reading and writing centers to reexamine their practices in light of these new literacies.
