ABSTRACT
As a theoretical construct, writing is complex. Writing is a social and cultural act; it is problematic to specify what ‘develops’ or progresses in writing; what it develops towards (Marshall 2004) and under which conditions. The complex and less than tangible nature of writing is an issue for both pedagogy and evaluation, where it affects the decision of what precisely is to be taught and what and how it is to be evaluated. In writing research, the links between theory, pedagogy and evaluation are not clearly articulated; the direction of influence seems to be from theory to pedagogy and, to a much lesser extent, to evaluation.
