Noticing and Instruction in Second Language Acquisition [antikvár]

PREFACE In the field of second language acquisition (SLA), cognitive theories of language learning and the research based on thenn have received growing interest and attention since the 1990s, and the research I present in this monograph fits squarely within this tradition. This project, which investigates the relationship between foreign language instruction and the noticing of features of language in input, was originally written as my PhD dissertation at the University of Pittsburgh, and was carried out at a Hungarian secondary school. Since the completion of this research, the field of second language acquisition has continued to explore cognitive approaches to language learning, confirming the importance of the role of explicit processes such as noticing as studied in this research. As will be developed in the following pages, noticing refers to the conscious, explicit registration of linguistic form in working memory, and has been seen as an essential step in the process of learning, as first presented in the "noticing hypothesis" (Schmidt, 1990). Noticing can be conceived of on the most basic level of attending to forms and functions in input or on the more complex level of consciousness raising concerning forms and their functions, but in either case, it is tliis intersection with conscious awareness and input which is essential for learning. This point of view, that consciousness is key to learning, has stood in contrast to vastly popular approaches to second language learning which promoted a view where second language acquisition happens as an essentially unconscious, implicit process (e.g. Krashen, 1981; 1985). By now it is safe to say that while both implicit and explicit processes exist in language learning, there is a quite large role for explicit processes and there is no reason to assume that implicit processes alone are responsible for learning. The noticing of form in input, then, becomes a potentially vital first step in the learning of grammar and vocabulary, and the research presented here in this monograph can add to the understanding of that process. The research developed here contributes to the understanding of noticing through the establishment of links between instruction and noticing, and through the development of a theoretically grounded instrument for the study of noticing. A main claim of the study is that foreign language instruction indeed induces learners to notice grammar and vocabulary in subsequent input. Furthermore, a differential relationship was found in the data between the noticing of grammar and vocabulary, whereby vocabulary is easier to notice, yet instruction in grammar produces greater results in terms of noticing. These findings, though, rest on the ability of a research instrument which allows learners to express their conscious awareness of form in input. To this end, a test of noticing was developed based in part on work in recognition memory where the differential levels of conscious awareness of previously encountered data has been researched (see, for example, Gardiner, Ramponi, & Richardson-Klavehn, 1998). The resulting "noticing test" developed for this current research allows learners to report on whether forms encountered in input were accompanied with conscious recollection