ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the position of learners' authoring of texts in the context of the school curriculum, the potential of digital media to extent and transform the way we use text as a tool to think with and takes a look at why this opportunity is rarely used in schools. International comparative studies suggest there is a problem with declining standards of literacy in the Anglophone world compared to other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries. Working with texts that are formed from media other than the written word is not as prominent in the curriculum and work in school with digital devices tends to focus on the operation of the technology- although strangely not mastery of the QWERTY keyboard. With access to word processors the objectives of writing to impact on learning must surely align with those skills and attitudes valued by Jessel and which Egan includes under the notion of 'comprehensive literacy'.
