diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/Chunker.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/Chunker.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b9b555826
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/Chunker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2006-2008 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.batch.core.domain;
+
+import org.springframework.batch.io.exception.ReadFailureException;
+
+
+/**
+ * Interface defining the contract for reading a chunk. This is most useful when
+ * implementing a 'chunk-oriented' approach to processing. Implementors of this
+ * class are expected to aggregate the output of an ItemReader into 'chunks'.
+ * 
+ * @author Ben Hale
+ * @author Lucas Ward
+ */
+public interface Chunker {
+
+	/**
+	 * Read in a chunk, given the provided chunk size for the given StepExecution.
+	 * 
+	 * @param chunkSize the number of items that should be read for this chunk.
+	 * @param StepExecution the stepExecution the current chunk is being processed within.
+	 * @return the {@link Chunk} that has been read.
+	 * @throws IllegalArgumentException if chunkSize is less than zero.
+	 */
+	public ChunkingResult chunk(int chunkSize, StepExecution stepExecution) throws ReadFailureException;
+	
+	/**
+	 * Flush any chunks that may be buffered.  Because it may be advantageous to buffer chunks in case of
+	 * failures, calling this method should flush any that are stored, however, it is not a requirement
+	 * of the interface that it be implementated.
+	 * 
+	 * @param stepExecution
+	 */
+	public void flush(StepExecution stepExecution);
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/ItemFailureLog.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/SkippedItemHandler.java
similarity index 55%
rename from spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/ItemFailureLog.java
rename to spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/SkippedItemHandler.java
index bf6381a45..9c5547843 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/ItemFailureLog.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/SkippedItemHandler.java
@@ -17,15 +17,28 @@ package org.springframework.batch.core.domain;
 
 import java.util.List;
 
+import org.springframework.batch.io.exception.WriteFailureException;
+
 /**
  * Interface for defining the contract to log out read and write
- * failures encountered during batch processing.
+ * failures encountered during batch processing.  It is expected
+ * that any failures encountered while writing will be
+ * represented as {@link WriteFailureException}s, which contain
+ * the items which caused the exception.
  * 
  * @author Lucas Ward
  *
  */
-public interface ItemFailureLog {
+public interface SkippedItemHandler {
 	
-	void log(List exceptions);
+	/**
+	 * Handler the list of exceptions.  This will usually be done
+	 * by logging out the details of the exception to either a
+	 * file or database table.  It is expected that any implementors of this
+	 * of this method will not throw an exception.
+	 * 
+	 * @param exceptions
+	 */
+	void handle(List exceptions);
 
 }