Elektronisch Schrijven In Het Echt, In Het Onderwijs En Als Onderzoeksobject

In this contribution, I give a sketchy account, based on personal experiences, of four characteristics of electronic texts and the problems they pose for composers and readers: 1. Discussion lists on Internet forums, and the problem of recovering interesting fragments; 2. The (overused) bulleted list; 3. Collaborative writing of public documents as a kind of completing a form; 4. The use of informal style in documents on the Internet. The remainder of this contribution is devoted to the question how much attention is given to these topics in the teaching of composition and communication and in language use research.