This study explores the connection between writing and working memory, specifically the role of the subvocal articulatory rehearsal process (or inner voice). The authors asked the 18 participants to type sentences describing 24 multipanel cartoons. In some conditions, the participants were required to repeat a syllable continuously while writing. This activity, called articulatory suppression, interferes with the articulatory rehearsal process. Results indicated that interfering with the articulatory rehearsal process (or inner voice) interferes with writing by slowing the rate of writing, increasing mechanical errors, changing the temporal microstructure of text production, and increasing the perceived difficulty of the writing task. The authors applied their model of written text production to provide a theoretical account for these results.

This study explores the relation between fluency in writing and linguistic experience and provides information about the processes involved in written text composition. The authors conducted a think-aloud protocol study with native speakers of English who were learning French or German. Analysis reveals that as the writer's experience with the language increases, fluency (as measured by words written per minute) increases, the average length of strings of words proposed between pauses or revision episodes increases, the number of revision episodes decreases, and more of the words that are proposed as candidate text get accepted. To account for these results, the authors propose a model of written language production and hypothesize that the effect of linguistic experience on written fluency is mediated primarily by two internal processes called the translator and the reviser.

Generally, researchers agree that that verbal working memory plays an important role in cognitive processes involved in writing. However, there is disagreement about which cognitive processes make use of working memory. Kellogg has proposed that verbal working memory is involved in translating but not in editing or producing (i.e., typing) text. In this study, the authors used articulatory suppression, a technique that reduces working memory to explore this question. Twenty participants transcribed six texts from one computer window to another, three of the texts with articulatory suppression and three without. When participants were in the articulatory suppression condition, they transcribed significantly more slowly and made significantly more errors than they did in the control condition. Implications for Kellogg’s proposal are discussed.

This paper summarizes the assessment results of the Language Online project at Carnegie Mellon University. The study investigated the effectiveness of online language courses for students' learning outcomes in four hybrid online language courses (elementary and intermediate levels) and their counterpart conventional (offline) courses from Spring 2000 through Spring 2002. Eleven teachers and 354 students were involved in this study, which included five semesters and 34 sections (13 online and 21 offline). Multiple measurements were used to compare learning between online and offline students in oral production, written production, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, grammar knowledge, and vocabulary. Student and teacher feedback, reflecting attitudes and experiences with the online courses, were used to better understand the comparative results. The results from this study indicate that the hybrid online language courses have been reasonably successful: the students in most online courses made progress in their L2 performance similar to that of the students in the equivalent offline courses. Statistical analyses identified two online courses in which the offline students outperformed the online students on several of the learning measures. The qualitative data suggest that students need instructor guidance and that both students and instructors need ongoing technical support for the successful implementation of online language courses.

In an investigation of native speaker (NS)‐nonnative speaker (NNS) conversations in social settings, we learn that only a small percentage (8.9%) of NNS errors were corrected by NSs. These corrections occurred in response to errors of fact, discourse, vocabulary, syntax, and omission. Since discourse and vocabulary errors were corrected more frequently than errors in syntax and omission, we recommend that the treatment of vocabulary in the ESL classroom be reexamined, and that serious consideration be given to teaching ESL students the discoursal properties of English.