The purpose of this study was to investigate the covert linguistic behavior of two groups of subjects, one classified as above-average users of language, the other as below-average users. It was hypothesized that the remedial group would manifest higher levels of subvocal motor activity than the above-average group during stimulated tasks, but that during pausing episodes that occur during writing the remedial group would manifest lower levels of subvocal activity than its counterpart. During each task, covert linguistic behavior was measured continuously by three electromyographs and was analyzed to determine physiological changes. The results confirm the hypotheses and suggest a lower level of cognitive activity on the part of the remedial group. Given that pausing episodes have come to be recognized as important periods of discourse planning, failure to utilize pauses for planning might account for qualitative differences in the writing of the two groups.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bakke, H.
(1979). Lab-system: A multipurpose program for analyzing electro-physiological data. Computer program documentation and user's guide. Oslo, Norway: University of Oslo.
2.
Baev, B. F.
(1957). On certain peculiarities of inner speech in mental problem solving of various types. Dokl. APN RSFSR, 3, 50-62.
3.
Bamberg, B.
(1983). What makes a text coherent?College Composition and Communication, 34, 417-429.
4.
Blonskii, P.
(1964). Memory and thought. In Selected works on psychology. Moscow: Proveshchenie Press.
5.
Britton, J.
(1975). The development of writing abilities. London: Macmillan.
6.
Cacioppo, J.
, & Petty, R. (1981). Electromyographic specificity during covert information processing. Psychophysiology, 18, 518-523.
7.
Conrad, R.
(1972). Speech and reading. In J. Ravanuagh & I. Mattingly (Eds.), Language by ear and eye. Cambridge: MIT Press.
8.
Daiute, C.
(1985). Do writers talk to themselves? In S. Freedman (Ed.), The acquisition of written language: Response and revision. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
9.
Davis, J.
(1959). Manual of surface electromyography (WADC Technical Report 59-184). Washington, DC: U.S. Air Force.
10.
Edfelt, A.
(1960). Silent speech and silent reading. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
11.
Faaborg-Anderson, K.
, & Edfelt, A. (1958). Electromyography of intrinsic and extrinsic laryngeal muscles during silent speech: Correlations with reading activity. Acta-Oto Laryngology, 49, 478-482.
12.
Flower, L.
, & Hayes, J. (1981a). The pregnant pauses: An inquiry into the nature of planning. Research in the Teaching of English, 15, 229-243.
13.
Flower, L.
, & Hayes, J. (1981b). Plans that guide the composing process. In C. Frederiksen & J. Dominic (Eds.), Writing: The nature, development, and teaching of written communication. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
14.
Glassman, W.
(1972). Subvocal activity and acoustic confusion in short term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 96, 164-169.
15.
Hardyck, C.
, & Petrinovich, L. (1967). The functions of subvocal speech (Project Literacy Reports, no. 8). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.
16.
Hardyck, C.
, & Petrinovich, L. (1970). Subvocal speech and comprehension level as a function of the difficulty level of reading material. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 9, 647-652.
17.
Johnson-Laird, P. N.
(1983). Mental Models. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
18.
Kaplan, R.
(1972). The anatomy of rhetoric: Prolegomena to a functional theory of rhetoric. Philadelphia: Center for Curriculum Development.
19.
Levelt, W.
(1983). Monitoring and self-repair in speech. Cognition, 14, 41-104.
20.
Liberman, A.
, Cooper, F., Shankweiler, D., & Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1967). Perception of the speech code. Psychological Review, 74, 431-461.
21.
Liberman, A.
, & Mattingly, I. (1985). The motor theory of speech perception revisited. Cognition, 21, 1-37.
22.
Matsuhashi, A.
(1981). Pausing and planning: The tempo of written discourse production. Research in the Teaching of English, 15, 113-134.
23.
McGuigan, F.
(1966). Thinking: Studies of covert language processes. New York: Appleton.
24.
McGuigan, F.
(1970). Covert oral behavior during the silent performance of language tasks. Psychological Bulletin, 74, 309-326.
25.
McGuigan, F.
(1973). Electrical measurement of covert processes. In F. McGuigan (Ed.), The psychophysiology of thinking. New York: Academic Press.
26.
McGuigan, F.
(1978). Cognitive psychophysiology: Principles of covert behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
27.
Milberg, W.
, Whitman, R., Rourke, D., & Glaros, A. (1981). Role of subvocal motor activity in dichotic speech perception and selective attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 7, 231-239.
28.
Novikova, L.
(1961). Electrophysiological investigation of speech. In N. O'Conner (Ed.), Recent soviet psychology. New York: Liverwright.
29.
Sokolov, A.
(1972). Inner speech and thought (G. Onischenko, Trans.). New York: Plenum.
30.
Ushakova, T.
(1961). Interaction between the first and second signal systems in the acts of inferential concrete thinking. In E. Boiko (Ed.), Boundary problems in psychology and physiology. Moscow: Academy of Pedagogical Sciences.
31.
Williams, J.
(1983). Covert language behavior during writing. Research in the Teaching of English, 17, 301-312.
32.
Williams, J.
(1985). Coherence and cognitive style. Written Communication, 2, 473-491.
33.
Witte, S.
(1985). Revising, composing theory, and research design. In S. Freedman (Ed.), The acquisition of written language: Response and revision. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
34.
Witte, S.
, & Cherry, R. (1986). Writing processes and written products in composition research. In C. Cooper & S. Greenbaum (Eds.), Studying writing: Linguistic approaches. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
35.
Witte, S.
, & Faigley, L. (1981). Coherence, cohesion, and writing quality. College Composition and Communication, 32, 189-204.
36.
Zecker, S.
, Tanenhaus, M., Glaros, A., & Whitman, R. (1984). Subvocal motor activity and contextual processing. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 13, 177-193.
