Synthetic and Critical Review of a Second Language Theory The Noticing (original) (raw)
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This research study is based on synthetic and critical review of a second language theory from the cognitive perspective. In this regard the Noticing Hypothesis of Richard Schmidt has been chosen to describe and evaluate. In the first part, an attempt has been made to explain the hypothesis as conceived by Schmidt; the second part focuses on a critical evaluating of his claim in the light of empirical and experimental research; whereas the last part explores the implications of his hypothesis for language pedagogy. Key Words: L2 Acquisition, Noticing, Conscious Learning, Intake, and Implicit Learning
Noticing in second language acquisition: a critical review
This article examines the Noticing Hypothesis -the claim that second language learners must consciously notice the grammatical form of their input in order to acquire grammar. I argue, first, that the foundations of the hypothesis in cognitive psychology are weak; research in this area does not support it, or even provide a clear interpretation for it. The problem of interpreting the hypothesis is much more acute in the area of language acquisition. Partly because the hypothesis is not based on any coherent theory of language, it is very difficult to determine exactly what it means in this context,or to draw testable predictions from it.In the absence of specific predictions, research on form-focused instruction and feedback provide indirect tests, the results of which create additional problems for the hypothesis. The various problems can be eliminated or greatly reduced if the Noticing Hypothesis is reformulated as a claim that noticing is necessary for the acquisition of metalinguistic knowledge but not competence.
Noticing Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition
As one of the most influential theoretical underpinnings in second language acquisition (SLA),Noticing hypothesis hasbeen receiving an increasing amount of attention from researchers in this field over the last decades. However, there have been different perspectives on the role of Noticing.In order to provide multi-dimensional perspectives on Noticing Hypothesis, contribute to the exploration of the Noticing Hypothesis,and reaffirm the importance of this hypothesis in SLA, this paperwill briefly present the contents of the hypotheses by Schmidtand Robinson before presenting Krashen's perspective on the issue, which stood in contrast withthe other two. Also, the comparison between these perspectives will be made. Finally, a critical review on the work of Schmidt's noticing hypothesis will be presented.
The comparative effectiveness of noticing in language learning
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 2017
The Noticing Hypothesis holds that input does not become intake during language learning unless it is noticed. The hypothesis has been tested and evaluated in many empirical studies for more than two decades, either supported or criticized. This study shares the findings on the comparative effectiveness of noticing treatments gathered and evaluated from various empirical studies that were carried out in different countries. The results of the studies reflect the potentials of noticing treatments in second language/foreign language -L2- instruction/learning and touch upon the validity of the Noticing Hypothesis. The results of the reviewed studies also showed that noticing through output oriented tasks generates higher level of perception of L2 knowledge.
Second Language Processing and Linguistic Theory
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics
The distinction between representations and processes is central to most models of the cognitive science of language. Linguistic theory informs the types of representations assumed, and these representations are what are taken to be the targets of second language acquisition. Epistemologically, this is often taken to be knowledge, or knowledge-that. Techniques such as Grammaticality Judgment tasks are paradigmatic as we seek to gain insight into what a learner’s grammar looks like. Learners behave as if certain phonological, morphological, or syntactic strings (which may or may not be target-like) were well-formed. It is the task of the researcher to understand the nature of the knowledge that governs those well-formedness beliefs.Traditional accounts of processing, on the other hand, look to the real-time use of language, either in production or perception, and invoke discussions of skill or knowledge-how. A range of experimental psycholinguistic techniques have been used to assess...
A Qualitative Study of Experience in Forming Teachers' Cognition on the Concept of Language Noticing
Awareness, in language learning, is a focused area of debate encompassing many different aspects of language teaching research, especially that of grammar. Although the learner's awareness has been widely taken into account, noticing, which embraces the meaning of awareness, is something that lacks empirical data and literature in teacher's cognition when it comes to second language teaching studies. Therefore, this qualitative study aimed to explore the teachers' theoretical and practical cognition in conceptualizing and using noticing in teaching and practicing language; in addition, the congruency between teachers' theoretical beliefs and actual practices were investigated. To this end, a total of 30 novice and experienced teachers were interviewed and the role of teaching experience as an overarching concept affecting teachers' beliefs and performance was detected by using constant comparative analysis. Findings revealed seven conceptual themes out of the collected data as pedagogical effects, type of input, skill type, when to notice, noticing techniques, time allocation, and measurement. Then, six teachers from the same sample group were observed for possible inconsistencies in their teaching practices and their cognition about the concept. The discrepancies between the teachers' stated beliefs and actual practices revealed that teaching experience has a relative impact on teacher's performance.
ATTENTION, AWARENESS, AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
The Noticing Hypothesis-an hypothesis that input does not become intake for language learning unless it is noticed, that is, consciously registered )-has been around now for about two decades and continues to generate experimental studies, suggestions for L2 pedagogy, conference papers and controversy. To many people, the idea that SLA is largely driven by what learners pay attention to and become aware of in target language input seems the essence of common sense. In the simplest terms, people learn about the things that they pay attention to and do not learn much about the things they do not attend to. Others consider the hypothesis to be undesirably vague, lacking in empirical support, or incompatible with well-grounded theories. In this talk I will review the evidence for the hypothesis, as well the major objections that have been raised against it, paying particular attention to learner characteristics such as motivation, aptitude, and language learning history that affect what learners notice and become aware of when processing L2 input.
Exploring the role of noticing in a three-stage second language writing task
Journal of Second Language Writing, 2001
The importance of noticing as a cognitive process in second language (L2) acquisition has been increasingly recognized by applied linguistics researchers. However, issues concerning how noticing is related to composing and subsequent feedback processing, and what impact such noticing has on L2 writing improvement, need to be addressed. We conducted a case study to investigate these issues with two Mandarin background adult English-as-a-second language (ESL) learners. The study documents the relationship of noticing, both in the composing stage (Stage 1) and the reformulation stage (Stage 2, where learners compare their own text to a reformulated version of it), to the improvement of the written product in the posttest (Stage 3) of a three-stage writing task. The findings suggest that while composing and reformulation promote noticing, the quality of noticing, which relates directly to L2 writing improvement, is different for learners with different levels of L2 proficiency. We argue that while promoting noticing is important, promoting the quality of that noticing is a more important issue to be addressed in L2 writing pedagogy.
Teaching English as a Second Language: The Role of Noticing the Gap
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2012
The role of consciousness in learning has dominated current debate on second language learning. This is now the focal point of recent research by philosophers, psychologists, language theorists, linguists and especially language teachers who carry the burden of pedagogical consequences. The singular question is – how can successful language learning be achieved? In this paper, attempt at answer is made through the appraisal of the effect of consciousness, awareness or noticing on learning. It is argued that an effective way of learning is to raise the awareness of a learner on a language item to cause him to notice it and subsequently learn or internalize its use. A number of factors influence noticing but this paper focuses on the gap between the observed input and the learners typical output. The aim is to provide remedy to performance errors via positive feedback. In the paper, ‘learner’ is used to refer to every second language user but immediate attention is paid to the teacher...