Prepared as part of a series applying recent research in oral and written communication instruction to classroom practice, this booklet describes five situations where writing and speaking experiences are used as a way to learn subject matter. The first section of the booklet describes the learning that takes place in the home, where writing and speaking are tools used to question, express, entertain, solve, record, amuse, explore, and discover. The second section describes the writing and speaking activities occurring in a fifth grade class studying the Renaissance, while the third analyzes the interactions in a high school science class. The fourth section offers observations of a ninth grade mathematics class in which students spent the last 12 minutes of class writing about their feelings and conversed daily about their work. The fifth section describes a high school behavioral science class in which students learned through actions as well as books. Each section contains additional activities related to the subject area discussed. (FL)