ABSTRACT
'Treatment' is being made to serve its obvious purpose of referring to a set of procedures to which some existing object is subjected. For writing, this incorporates all those activities of responding to the finished piece which, in schools at least, have been dominated by appraisal, assessment, marking. The evidence of a narrowing of language experiment is firm enough to indicate that full verbal preparation for writing should not be an habitual practice. Ways of sharing writing efforts satisfyingly pose a constant challenge to the teacher. Reading aloud, by writer, classmate or teacher, is the most direct method and has a claim to being the most frequently used. Exchanges among pupils appear to be very much less common, though, with the appropriate guidance in constructive response, the economy of effort is clearly worthwhile. All of these, to a greater or lesser extent depending on the writing's purpose, play a part in determining how we feel about the experience offered.
