The average worker spends 2.5 hours per day in occupational reading or writing, yet most classrooms fail to teach the reading and writing competencies required in skilled and semi-skilled job contexts. Occupational reading requires use of external references and following of directions, with a heavy dependence on prior knowledge and on insight. Occupational writing is very informal and "ungrammatical." Clear written communication depends more on knowledge of subject and audience than on grammar and mechanics. Cooperative efforts between English communication experts and vocational educators are essential to the successful teaching of occupational reading and writing at the high school level. A curriculum called "Applied Communication," developed through such a cooperative effort under the leadership of the Agency for Instructional Technology, should be available for dissemination in the United States and Canada in mid-1988. It will include videotapes of job-related problems to which reading and writing skills are applied. (Examples of occupational reading, examples of occupational writing, and 10 references are attached.) (MHC)