THE RISING WORKLOAD OF ENGLISH TEACHERS FOSTERED THIS FEASIBILITY STUDY WHICH USED DICTATING MACHINES TO TRANSMIT TEACHER COMMENTS ON COMPOSITIONS TO STUDENTS. APPROXIMATELY 600 STUDENTS IN 30 SECTIONS OF FRESHMAN ENGLISH WROTE PRE- AND POST-EXPERIMENTAL THEMES. IN CONTROL SECTIONS, TEACHERS GRADED ASSIGNED THEMES IN THE TRADITIONAL WAY WITH MARGINAL SYMBOLS AND COMMENTS. IN EXPERIMENTAL SECTIONS, ONLY MINIMUM NOTATIONS WERE ALLOWED ON THE PAPER, AND ANY EXTENDED COMMENTS WERE RECORDED ON PLASTIC DISKS FOR LATER STUDENT USE. IT WAS FOUND THAT 95 PERCENT OF THE TEACHERS AND 65 PERCENT OF THE STUDENTS LIKED THE RECORDS. FOR THE AVERAGE STUDENT, RECORDED COMMENTARY CAN IMPROVE HIS WRITTEN COMPOSITION, BUT THE IMPROVEMENT IS LIKELY TO APPROXIMATE THAT CAUSED BY THE TRADITIONAL METHOD. THE SINGLE, IMPORTANT IMPROVEMENT THAT RECORDED COMMENTARY CAN BRING ABOUT IS IN BETTER CONTENT AND ORGANIZATION, AND THAT IMPROVEMENT SEEMS TO BE RESTRICTED TO SUPERIOR STUDENTS. (JM)