Work with 12 students in a basic writing class led to the conclusion that textual analysis alone will not provide basic writing teachers with the information they need to deal effectively with student errors; instead, contextual analysis is needed, an understanding of how students compose and what their guiding concerns and basic problems are. There are six main developmental stages which make up the student writing continuum--scribal, ideational, performative, communicative, intergrative, and creative. Each of these stages may be thought of in terms of five aspects of a student's progress: (1) the relationship of his or her speaking and writing skills; (2) his or her individual composing style; (3) his or her guiding concerns; (4) his or her basic problems; and (5) his or her common errors. First and second drafts by students at three distinct levels reveal how a student can be helped to progress from one level to the next. If teachers can encourage students to elaborate the meaning of their own texts and to become more careful, insightful readers of their own writing, then the students themselves will be able to recognize and correct errors that interfere with the clear and complete communication of their ideas. (A chart of the six writing levels is included.) (JL)