The effectiveness of visual input enhancement on the noticing and L2 development of the Spanish past tense

Shawn Loewen,Solène Inceoglu

doi:10.14746/ssllt.2016.6.1.5

Abstract

Textual manipulation is a common pedagogic tool used to emphasize specific features of a second language (L2) text, thereby facilitating noticing and, ideally, second language development. Visual input enhancement has been used to investigate the effects of highlighting specific grammatical structures in a text. The current study uses a quasi-experimental design to determine the extent to which textual manipulation increase (a) learners’ perception of targeted forms and (b) their knowledge of the forms. Input enhancement was used to highlight the Spanish preterit and imperfect verb forms and an eye tracker measured the frequency and duration of participants’ fixation on the targeted items. In addition, pretests and posttests of the Spanish past tense provided information about participants’ knowledge of the targeted forms. Results indicate that learners were aware of the highlighted grammatical forms in the text; however, there was no difference in the amount of attention between the enhanced and unenhanced groups. In addition, both groups improved in their knowledge of the L2 forms; however, again, there was no differential improvement between the two groups.

Highlights

Multiple pedagogic techniques are used in focus on form instruction, in which attention is drawn briefly to linguistic items while learners are engaged in larger, meaning-focused activities (Doughty & Williams, 1998; Ellis, 2001; Loewen, 2011; Long, 1991, 1996; Long & Robinson, 1998; Williams, 2005)
Building on previous research of focus on form and noticing, the current study addresses the following research questions (RQ), with RQ 1 addressing attention and RQ 2 addressing awareness: 1. Do participants reading a text with visually enhanced preterit and imperfect Spanish verbs look longer at those verbs than do learners reading an unenhanced version of the text?
The comparison of the enhanced and unenhanced groups show that enhancement did not induce learners to look at the verbs longer, nor did it result in greater gains on the cloze test or production task

Summary

Introduction

Multiple pedagogic techniques are used in focus on form instruction, in which attention is drawn briefly to linguistic items while learners are engaged in larger, meaning-focused activities (Doughty & Williams, 1998; Ellis, 2001; Loewen, 2011; Long, 1991, 1996; Long & Robinson, 1998; Williams, 2005). Some focus on form techniques, such as metalinguistic corrective feedback (e.g., Ellis, Basturkmen & Loewen, 2006) and dictogloss (e.g., Swain & Lapkin, 1998), are relatively explicit in how they draw attention to form. Other techniques such as recasts (e.g., Loewen & Philp, 2006; Nicholas, Lightbown & Spada, 2001) and input flood (e.g., Loewen, Erlam & Ellis, 2009) are less explicit. One of the debates regarding focus on form concerns the optimal level of explicitness (Loewen, 2011; Norris & Ortega, 2000, among others). It is important to investigate the effects of such techniques on L2 development

Methods

Results

Conclusion