There are different reasons for writing in the foreign language classroom:

• We can see, very readily, the learners' proficiency level: what language items the learners can use correctly and what mistakes they make. This is the traditional and still useful role for writing.

• Many who are visual learners need to write in order to engage their way of learning … they need to see the language. Writing with this purpose means that it is relevant even for learners who take no written examinations.

• Learners can be made aware of the many different purposes for writing in society: describing, narrating, advising, etc.

Writing, like speaking, is normally intended to communicate something to somebody. It is thus an advantage if writing activities in the classroom result in someone reading the texts that the learners write and then responding to them in an appropriate way, rather than just you, the teacher, marking the texts for errors of form. If there is a response from a reader, then the writer finds out if the reader was engaged, was able to follow the ideas, and was able to appreciate the points made in the text. You can then help the writer to reflect on his or her communicative success, or lack of success, deriving from the form, i.e. the choice of words and the arrangement of them. In this way form can be related to communication.

The games in this section assume this close relationship between form and communicative purpose.