| This study examined the role of working memory and transcription speed in two different modes of written language production. Using a repeated measures design, high school students with learning disabilities produced both sentences and essays by hand and by using the computer. Existing theory suggested that any reduced demands on working memory would result in higher quality written products.;Each subject's production speed was measured using timed typing and handwriting tasks. Students' working memory was assessed by an auditory digits-reversed task. Next, subjects completed a series of experimental tasks assessing their written productivity, syntax and cohesion. Tasks required writing at both the sentence and passage level, and all tasks were completed in both modes of production---handwriting and using a computer.;When comparing the two modes of production, significant differences were found between the computer and hand-generated essays but not on the sentence-level tasks. When compared to the handwritten essays, the computer-generated essays contained more words, more variability in the words used, more cohesive devices and more syntactically complex sentences.;While the results provided some evidence in support of current theory, there were also inconsistencies with the currently accepted model. Despite the fact that subjects could write significantly faster than they could type, the use of a computer resulted in increased written productivity and syntactic complexity. This finding is counterintuitive and cannot be accounted for by existing theories of writing. A modified model is proposed. The factors that result in writers benefiting from using a computer to write need to be explored in future studies. |
