ABSTRACT
In their discussion of writing and reading in the context of using our native language, Davies and Widdowson (1974) draw a distinction between what they call Institutional and Personal writing. Institutional writing is the type of writing which we produce in our professional (or institutional) roles, such as that of school teacher, administrator, technician, and so on. What distinguishes such institutional roles from personal ones (such as that of friend, son, uncle, parent etc.) is that there are institutionalised conventions (or rules) as to how one behaves in relation to others who are part of the same institutional network. If, for instance, I am writing a letter as a customer to a business firm, there are conventions about what I will say and the way that I will say it. So long as I know what these conventions are, I am unlikely to make any gross errors in my communications with the firm. Similarly, the members of the company concerned will also play by the rules, and our business will proceed smoothly, efficiently and impersonally.
