The theory and research resulting from the Writing Research Unit of the Schools Council Project in England has received widespread attention. In response to that attention, and with the opinion that the ideas "Writing across the Curriculum" and "Language across the Curriculum" developed in the Project are fuzzy slogans not always fully understood, a critical analysis of the whole Writing across the Curriculum Project was undertaken. This analysis traces the Project's evolution, examines its design and development, compares its theories of language to other language theories, and considers the role of theory in curriculum research. In view of this analysis, the usefulness of the Project seems to lie outside its chosen field of operation--the strictly defined bounds of theory and research. The Project's essential value appears to be that its position on language provides a powerful heuristic that teachers, especially English teachers, might use in the classroom and for purposes of action research. (RL)