A study investigated the writing of incipient bilinguals (students who were in the initial process of acquiring a second language). A total of four Latino children were chosen for final, in-depth study over a 2 year-period at three middle schools in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Data included initial interviews and observations, assessments of English language proficiency, classroom and school observations, written products produced inside and outside of school, and interviews with students and school personnel. Results indicated that: (1) a strong relationship existed between the development of other areas of language proficiency and the development of written language abilities; (2) instruction and teacher expectations were directly related to the opportunities that students had to develop their written language abilities; and (3) in 2 years even students who started at zero English reached the point where they could carry out speech acts in writing; and (4) growth took place slowly and in small steps. (Numerous student writing samples are included; assessment questionnaires and procedures used for assessing English language proficiency are attached.) (RS)