A study examined the effect of a computer network which was designed to create a functional learning environment to engage students in writing as a communicative act with a real audience. Subjects, 44 seventh-grade Israeli students, wrote an essay as part of their regular midterm examination and, a week later, wrote another essay for their peers, intended for transmission through an international newswire service to a network of computers located in Virginia. Students wrote their essays in Hebrew without the use of computers. The essays for the network were then translated into Spanish or English for the computer-linked audience. Results indicated that student essays written for a real audience (their peers) were better organized and dealt with the content in a more informative and elaborate fashion than did the essays written for the exam. (Two tables of data are included; 57 references are attached.) (RS)