noticing and grammatical accuracy in ESL learners' writing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25170/ijelt.v3i2.1579Keywords:
noticing hypothesis, input, intake, interlanguage, comprehensible output hypothesis, enhancement, reformulation, sequentialAbstract
This paper presents an overview of an exploratory study on the role of noticing in improving written accuracy. The noticing hypothesis, as conceptualised by Schmidt (1990, 2001), focuses on the need to enhance learners’ awareness of target language items in order to convert input into intake and subsequently internalise input as part of interlanguage. This study also takes into account the comprehensible output hypothesis (Swain, 1985, 1998) that proposes that output can promote noticing as it encourages learners to become aware of the gap between their interlanguage and the target language usage. These concepts have been translated into three types of feedback techniques for written output and the techniques are Enhancement, Reformulation, and Sequential. All three techniques function as a means to enhance learners’ awareness of past time forms and are therefore form-focused in nature but avoid explicit explanations of those target forms. Results indicate that noticing is influenced by the types of learner responses to the techniques. The structural components of a target form may influence the success of its acquisition. Statistical results suggest that all three instructional techniques were equally successful in enhancing noticing and in increasing learners’ written accuracy.
References
Allwright, R. L., Woodley, M-P. & Allwright, J. M. 1988. Investigating reformulation as a practical strategy for the teaching of academic writing. Applied Linguistics, 9, 236-256.
Batstone, R. 1994. Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Batstone, R. 1996. Noticing. ELT Journal. 50, 273.
Celce-Murcia, M., & Larsen-Freeman, D. 1999. The grammar book: An ESL/EFL teacher’s course (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.
Cohen, A. D. 1989. Reformulation technique: A technique for providing advanced feedback in writing. Guidelines, 11/2, 1–9.
Cohen, A. D. 1990. Language Learning: Insights for learners, teachers, and researchers. New York: Newbury House Publishers.
Doughty, C. 2001. Cognitive underpinnings of focus on form. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 206-257). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R. 1994a. A theory of instructed second language acquisition. In N. C. Ellis (Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages (pp. 79-114). London: Academic Press Limited.
Ellis, R. 1994b. The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ellis, R. 2001. (Ed.), Form-focused instruction and second language instruction. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Housen, A. 2002. The development of tense-aspect in English as a second language and the variable influence of inherent aspect. In Y. Shirai & R. Salaberry (Eds.), The L2 acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Huddleston, R. & Pullum, G. K. 2002. The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jourdenais, R., Ota, M., Stauffer, S., Boyson, B. & Doughty, C. 1995. Does textual enhancement promote noticing? A think-aloud protocol analysis. In R. Schmidt (Ed.), Attention and awareness in the foreign language learning (pp. 183-216). Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center: University of Hawaii.
Long, M. H. 1991. Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology. In K. de Bot, R. B. Ginsberg & C. Kramsch, (Eds.), Foreign language research in cross cultural perspectives. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Long, M. H. & Robinson, P. 1998. Focus on form: Theory, research, and practice. In C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition (pp. 15-41). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Pica, T. 1994. Questions from the language classroom: Research perspectives. TESOL Quarterly, 28, 49-79
Schmidt, R. 1990. The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics. 11: 129-158.
Schmidt, R. 1995. (Ed.), Attention and awareness in the foreign language learning. Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center: University of Hawaii.
Schmidt, R. 2001. Attention. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 3–33). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swain, M. 1985. Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In S. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 235-256). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Swain, M. 1998. Focus on form through conscious reflection. In C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition (pp. 15-41). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Thornbury, S. 1997. Reformulation and reconstruction: Tasks that promote ‘noticing’. ELT Journal, 51/4, 326–335.
Thornbury, S. 1999. How to teach grammar. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
