Over the past decade, the theoretical basis for composition research and pedagogy has expanded. A social perspective on writing has been added to the cognitive view which dominated composition studies throughout the 1970s and early 80s. This social perspective has radically altered conceptions of the writing process. Whereas cognitive theory placed a creative and isolated individual at the centre of the writing act, social theory locates the writer in community, and shifts much of the control of discourse from the individual to the group. / This research takes the form of a case study of social workers attached to Quebec's Youth Court system. The specific focus within that setting is the preparation of reports about adolescents in trouble with the law. Data were collected through "think-aloud" protocols and interviews, including discourse-based interviews. The study offers a detailed description of the complex and dynamic relationship between the individual writer and the community, and provides a new perspective on the concept of "audience" and the notion of genre as social action.

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M.Phil. ( Education Linguistics) / Since communication between language groups is of crucial importance in a multicultural country, the inadequate second language proficiency of school-Ieavers gives cause for concern. The current paradigm shift to relevant and vocationally orientated education raises questions about the relevance of the literature component and literature methodology within a communicative approach to second language teaching. The aim of this study is to investigate the nature of communicative competence and the way in which this is accounted for in second language teaching. The nature of literature is studied to determine whether it allows for a literature-orientated approach which can contribute towards the development of communicative competence within the parameters of a second language communicative approach. Research findings have indicated that communicative competence functions as a cognitive web of interwoven abilities and that second language teaching, which has as its ultimate aim the fluent and correct use of the target language, has to take the complex and interactive nature of the various components into account. It has also become evident that a literature teaching approach, based on the readerresponse theory, affords opportunity for stimulating language acquisition processes. By participating in analytical and communicative acts of learning, proceeding from the literature text, the leaner is involved in a process which can result in the gradual development of linguistic, strategic and psychomotor abilities. Literature thus forms a relevant and functional component of the second language syllabus and can contribute to the development of communicative competence.