A study analyzed some of the characteristics of junior high students' oral communication behavior that accompanied the assignment, production, and evaluation of a writing task. It involved fieldwork in three junior high school English classes--first in a six-month pilot study and then in a year-long period of observation. Through direct participant observation and interviews with students, four functions of oral communication in written composition were identified. These functions reveal the following patterns or clusters of communication behaviors: (1) expressing self through language, (2) seeking confirmation through validation of writing, (3) evaluating one's own writing, and (4) assimilating the writing task to one's own understanding. An evaluative theme appeared in many of the patterns of students' classroom talk and involved their seeking an audience and feedback for their writing. Another characteristic was their sensitivity toward their language use. Often an interaction occurred between students' concern for evaluation and their sensitivity to language use. In such instances, the students encountered a dilemma. To seek an audience and feedback for one's writing required that one allow the writing to become the focus of another person's attention and judgement. Other students, also faced with a desire to share their communication effort but mindful of the self-revelatory nature of their work, took pains to direct their audience's attention to specific parts of the writing. Unfortunately, there appears to be a discrepancy between the frequency and spontaneity of students' sharing behavior and the lack of provision for, or emphasis of, this dimension in current composition materials. (HOD)