Research report No. 10

Most of the attention of developmentalists interested in literacy has, over the years, been directed to reading. This is understandable for two reasons: First, the notion that reading and writing are necessarily intertwined from the very beginnings of literacy acquisition is a relatively recent one. Up until 10-15 years ago, reading was regarded by much of the teaching profession as the chronologically prior task for beginning students, to the extent that many believed at least implicitly that competence in reading would be followed inevitably by developing competence in writing. The name of this journal and the association that produces it are vestiges of this orientation.