Task modality and working memory: oral production improvement through a text-reconstruction task across various proficiency levels in L2

Abstract This study investigates the potential of written tasks to enhance L2 oral production across various levels of proficiency and examines relationships between individual Working Memory (WM) capacity, measured in both native and target languages, and learners’ performance in written and spoken tasks. Sixty-four university L2 learners of Russian (Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced) participated in the study. They were tasked with reconstructing a text and completing a ‘notice the gap’ activity in writing and orally. Novice and Intermediate learners exhibited enhanced speaking accuracy only when engaging with texts through writing. Russian (L2) WM showed correlations with lexical diversity in both written and spoken tasks. However, syntactic complexity displayed a significant correlation with L2 WM solely in spoken tasks, while semantic accuracy suggested a relationship with L2 WM only in the written form of recall. Based on these findings, explanations and suggestions for future research are offered.