Summary: Researchers investigated the cognitive processes that support how English learners produce written text in their second language.
Testing nearly 500 elementary students, the study found that working memory capacity had a central influence on these young bilingual writers’ English writing performance.
Although students’ skills improved across grades, working memory repeatedly emerged as the strongest predictor of higher writing scores. These insights point toward targeted interventions that could strengthen writing outcomes for English learners.
Key Facts:
- Working memory was the clearest predictor of writing ability among the bilingual students studied.
- Of the roughly 5 million English learners in the United States, about 3.8 million are Hispanic, highlighting the study’s relevance for a large population.
- The research underscores the importance of native language instruction to support bilingual students’ linguistic strengths and literacy development.
Source: University of Kansas
When someone writes, they draw on interrelated cognitive skills—such as working memory for holding ideas, phonological awareness for sound and structure, and knowledge of syntax and vocabulary. These processes operate even more complexly when writing in a second language.
A new study led by researchers at the University of Kansas is among the first to examine several bilingual cognitive skills and how they relate to teaching English learners to write in their second language. The findings illuminate how students develop writing proficiency in English and suggest ways schools might narrow achievement gaps in a growing Hispanic English learning population.
The researchers administered a comprehensive set of bilingual cognitive and reading assessments to 494 Spanish-speaking English learners in Grades 1 through 3. They measured phonological awareness, oral language development, and working memory in both Spanish and English, and tracked students’ English writing performance across the elementary grades.
Study results showed that the links between English writing and English-based cognitive and reading skills strengthened as students progressed in grade level. In contrast, relationships between English writing and the same skills measured in Spanish were less consistent. Overall, working memory stood out as the most reliable predictor of English writing success.
“Working memory emerged as the most significant predictor of writing,” said Hui Wang of McKendree University, a recent doctoral graduate from KU’s Department of Educational Psychology and the study’s lead author. “Each assessment captured elements of the cognitive processes we studied and how those processes supported students’ written English.”
Michael Orosco, a KU professor of educational psychology and co-author on the paper, noted that while education policy often emphasizes reading and math, writing is a powerful measure of student understanding and academic progress. He and his colleagues have previously explored how limited native language instruction can impede bilingual students’ development in English reading and other academic skills.
“If we do not directly assess how bilingual students are developing in their writing, we cannot design targeted interventions to help them improve,” Orosco said. He added that bilingualism itself can confer advantages: “Bilingual children often show enhanced working memory capacity, an executive function that supports retaining and manipulating information during tasks such as composing text.”
Students in the study showed gains in phonological awareness, oral language, working memory, and writing as they moved from Grades 1 to 3. Yet only working memory consistently predicted higher writing scores across grades, highlighting the importance of rapid retrieval of vocabulary and concepts during composition.
The authors suggest that without sufficient native language instruction, schools may miss opportunities to reinforce oral language and phonological awareness in students’ first language—skills that can support overall literacy and cognitive development.
The study’s co-authors include Anqi Peng, Haiying Long, Deborah Reed, and H. Lee Swanson. The research was published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.
Orosco, who directs the Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Neuroscience at KU’s Achievement & Assessment Institute, emphasized that these findings deepen our understanding of how bilingual students’ brains process language and writing. “Neuroscience shows that working memory depends on multiple brain regions, especially the prefrontal cortex, which manages short-term retention and manipulation of information,” he said. “For bilingual learners, these executive functions help integrate structures and vocabulary across languages, enhancing the working memory skills crucial for effective writing.”
“Improving oral language and phonological awareness appears to support working memory capacity,” Orosco added. “That expanded capacity helps students hold, organize, and transform ideas while they write.”
About this memory and language learning research news
Author: Mike Krings
Source: University of Kansas
Contact: Mike Krings – University of Kansas
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“The relation of bilingual cognitive skills to the second language writing performance of primary grade students” by Hui Wang et al. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Abstract
The relation of bilingual cognitive skills to the second language writing performance of primary grade students
This study examined how cognitive and reading abilities—specifically working memory (WM), oral language development (OLD), and reading skills—relate to second-language (L2) writing performance among Spanish-speaking children learning English. Researchers administered a battery of assessments in both English and Spanish to 494 English learners in Grades 1 through 3, measuring WM, OLD, reading, and English writing. Path analyses for each grade revealed that associations between English writing and English cognitive and reading skills strengthened with grade level. Associations between English writing and the same skills measured in Spanish were mixed: Spanish WM and reading skills related significantly to writing for some grades, while Spanish OLD did not show consistent links across grades. The results have implications for understanding L2 writing development and for designing educational interventions that leverage cognitive strengths in bilingual learners.