Writing and reading approach

Bereiter and Scardamalia (1992) (cited by Hurtado and others, 2005) match a great writing and reading approach and identify two models of composition: on the one hand, reproducing the knowledge, and on the other hand, transforming the knowledge. In the second model, the authors consider that the writer starts from some previous mental representations, constructed in the moment when he takes up the task of writing, sets his objectives, organizes a writing plan and reflects on its development. Also, this model of writing is perceived from the point of view of problem solving, since at the time he produces the text, the writer must make certain decisions in regard to two aspects that offer multiple options: one of these is content, which refers to “what”, and the other is rhetoric, which refers to “how”.

The Spanish Minister of National Education (1998) also mentions the double condition of writing, as a process both individual and social: “This is not only about the coding of the significates by the means of linguistic rules. It is about a process that can be individual or social, through which a whole world is created, and in which are involved abilities, knowledge, interests. Sometimes, this process can be defining for a sociocultural and pragmatic context that determines the act of writing: writing means creating the world.”