This paper describes three alternative perspectives--information processing, social constructivism, and Piagetian/naturalist--of reading/writing connections and suggests instructional implications influenced by the three perspectives. The paper explores each theory in terms of basic assumptions, related research, and strengths and limitations and then relates this information to the role of the teacher, the role of the student, and the role of the classroom environment. The paper suggests that although each approach provides a different lens for examining the relationships between reading and writing, the theories work together to build a picture of the converging processes of reading and writing. (Eighty-four references are attached.) (KEH)