This study aims to examine whether the TOEIC Bridge Test measures the declarative and/or procedural knowledge of L2 learners. Elder and Ellis (2009) investigated the relationships between two standardized proficiency tests (TOEFL and IELTS) and the implicit and explicit knowledge of L2 learners. Their results suggest that different L2 proficiency tests may encourage the use of different types of knowledge. However, no previous research has investigated the relationship between the TOEIC Bridge test and declarative/procedural knowledge, which this study undertakes. The results indicate that although the TOEIC Bridge test assesses both declarative and procedural knowledge, the relationship between procedural knowledge and the TOEIC Bridge test was relatively stronger than that between declarative knowledge and the TOEIC Bridge test. In addition, the results suggest that the reading section of the test might be more related to declarative knowledge than the listening section. Thus, these results support Elder and Ellis’s argument that different standardized L2 proficiency tests may measure different types of grammatical knowledge.

Writing is a complex process where learners are required to demonstrate linguistic skills and knowledge by constructing clear, relevant, and logical arguments. To write an essay in a foreign language (English) is not easy for Japanese college students who have insufficient experience in academic writing, sometimes even in their native language. To help those students, a collaborative writing support system has been developed, which allows learners to read English text to analyze information and to write a well-organized academic essay. In a previous study, the effects of the system were observed in the writing performance of EFL Japanese university students; however, a problem―a large amount of time allotted for discussion―was found (Kano, 2018). Therefore, the necessity of discussion was examined utilizing the same system in this study. In order to investigate its effects, a small group discussion session was held for the students in the with-discussion group. Their writing performance was later compared to that of the without-discussion group. The results showed no significant differences between the two groups regarding word choice, grammatical correctness, logical development, and organization of their writing performance. The results suggest that providing time for discussion is not necessary when the system is implemented.