This document is the official report of a study, begun in 1972, conducted by the Committee of Inquiry, Department of Education and Science, United Kingdom. The study, designed to show the relationships between reading, writing, talking, and listening, was based on a series of visits to 100 schools, 21 colleges of education, and 6 reading centers in Great Britain. Part one reviews current attitudes toward the teaching of English and examines the question of standards, proposing a new system of monitoring. The second part discusses the interaction of language and learning and proposes various measures for improving language development in young children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Part three deals with reading as process and in the early years. Part four is concerned with language in the middle and secondary grades, including writing, language study, and content area language instruction. In part five, the organization of English education is discussed. Part six deals with reading and language difficulties, including adult illiteracy and special problems of children in England with international backgrounds. Part eight is concerned with preservice and inservice teacher education, and parts nine and ten discuss the survey itself and present a summary of conclusions and recommendations made on the basis of the study. Tables are included, along with appendixes of the study data. (DF)