Children in modern literate cultures often begin learning to write and read before they begin school, and continue to use written language, and to develop writing and reading abilities, in nonschool settings even as they attend school. It is often the case as well that the writing and reading demands of school differ from those of nonschool writing and reading activities, and that the literacy skills emphasized in school do not, moreover, coincide with those needed or desired in the working world. Recent scholarship on writing and reading outside the school provides the vehicle for exploration of the relatedness of reading and writing as social practices and consideration of the implications of this social view of literacy outside of school for reading and writing instruction in school. The areas of scholarship examined in depth are: (1) recent research on young children's early reading and writing, often called "emergent literacy"; (2) linguistic patterns children acquire in their development of spoken language and the relation of those patterns to writing activities in school; and (3) the similarities and differences between literacy demands in school and at work. Implications for school policy, curriculum development, and teaching practice are suggested. (One hundred and twenty footnotes are attached.) (RS)