ABSTRACT
It will have become apparent if you have read the book thus far that in describing language knowledge, whether at text, sentence or word level, we have been at pains to include both speaking and writing. They are not identical at any of these three levels, although there are large areas of overlap. Ron Carter (1994) claims that understanding the differences between speech and writing is one of the most important aspects of language knowledge for teachers, and we agree with this. The Rose review (Rose 2006), amongst other recent government publications, has made it clear that the development of speech and writing are of equal importance.
