ABSTRACT
To write about writing in all its aspects would be to write about every facet of our private and social lives, about the functions of the written word in religion, law, government, politics, industry, commerce, education, art, and entertainment, in all formal and informal relationships among people, all mechanisms for organizing, informing, instructing, persuading, exciting, amusing, tranquilizing, and otherwise controlling or influencing individuals. Writing touches every part of our lives, and not even the illiterate escape its consequences. Indeed, not being able to write is often regarded as an affront to literate society, a societal and an individual inadequacy. For decades, ability to read and to write has been a central issue in the politics of education and in educational research.
