Recognizing the differences between reading and writing is as important as recognizing their similarities for improving current methods of teaching composition. Environment and motivation are two areas in which these differences are most noticeable. Since motivation is a preexisting quality that can only be fostered and not implanted, environment must play the central role in the learning process. Reinforcement, in the form of feedback indicating level of success, is central to motivation, yet this feedback is often missing when children write in school, thus generating important differences in the acquisition of reading and writing skills. Any program to improve developing writers must establish a classroom environment that will stimulate their innate desire to learn. Such an environment must offer a wide range of stimuli in speaking, reading, and listening, as well as writing. The program must also make students aware of the need for written communication and establish realitic goals that will generate success. Immediate feedback can be provided through conferences between teachers and peers and in collaborative writing projects. Although classroom environment plays a pivotal role in writing improvement, the complexity and individual nature of the learning process preclude the establishment of any single teaching method for composition. Teachers must constantly seek out the research reports that address the most effective methods of teaching the composing process. (HTH)