Effects of working memory on L2 writing performance

The present study explores the effects of working memory on L2 English writing performance of Korean EFL college students. A total of 60 students were recruited and asked to complete both L1 Korean and L2 English working memory tests and write an argumentative essay in English. The performance of a written task in L2 was measured along the dimensions of fluency and complexity. The collected data was analysed quantitatively by using SPSS. The results showed that (1) there was no effect of L1 working memory on L2 writing performance except for lexical diversity; (2) working memory in L2 had a significant impact on fluency in L2 writing performance; (3) and there was an effect of working memory in L2 on lexical diversity, which is one of the measures of lexical complexity. However, there was no effect of L2 working memory on syntactic complexity. In the concluding part, these issues were discussed and directions for further research were suggested. (158 words)