Writing for Professional Development: An Introduction

Abstract

Across human history, writing has been a central medium of knowledge constitution and dissemination. This was, firstly, as a prerogative for societal elites. Yet, overtime the mastery of writing and reading has become the basis of formal education far more broadly across populations. Now, it is the key vehicle for all levels of education: from primary school to university where it is used as both the means of progressing individuals’ knowledge and also the means by which their learning is assessed. It stands as the key instrument by which what is known by human society is articulated and advanced, and, thus, through individuals engaging with others’ writing and expressing what they know, believe and can do through their own writing, thereby advancing further what they know, can reproduce and utilize that knowledge. Hence, writing plays a considerable role in human development at the both social and individual levels (Schnotz, 2001). While learning and teaching writing skills has long been a topic in humanities, it is only in the second half of the 20th century that the relation between writing and learning becomes a matter of scientific investigation. The initial model advanced by Hayes and Flower (1980) paved the way for a lively trend of research on the cognitive processes involved in writing in relation with the writers’ knowledge. Later, the research established that writing could also support the development of new knowledge, through reorganization and inference processes (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987; Galbraith, 1999).