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SSLA, 25, 99–126. Printed in the United States of America. DOI: 10.1017.S0272263103000044 CONSTRAINTS ON “NOTICING THE GAP” Nonnative Speakers’ Noticing of Recasts in NS-NNS Interaction Jenefer Philp University of Tasmania Interaction has been argued to promote noticing of L2 form in a con- text crucial to learning—when there is a mismatch between the input and the learner’s interlanguage (IL) grammar (Gass & Varonis, 1994; Long, 1996; Pica, 1994). This paper investigates the extent to which learners may notice native speakers’ reformulations of their IL gram- mar in the context of dyadic interaction. Thirty-three adult ESL learn- ers worked on oral communication tasks in NS-NNS pairs. During each of the five sessions of dyadic task-based interaction, learners received recasts of their nontargetlike question forms. Accurate im- mediate recall of recasts was taken as evidence of noticing of re- casts by learners. Results indicate that learners noticed over 60–70% of recasts. However, accurate recall was constrained by the level of the learner and by the length and number of changes in the recast. The effect of these variables on noticing is discussed in terms of processing biases. It is suggested that attentional resources and processing biases of the learner may modulate the extent to which learners “notice the gap” between their nontargetlike utterances and recasts. The findings reported in this paper are based on part of my doctoral dissertation completed at the University of Tasmania. Earlier versions were presented at the annual meeting of the American Asso- ciation of Applied Linguistics in 1999 (Stanford, CA) and at the Second Language Research Forum in 1997 (Michigan State University). I am very grateful to Alison Mackey for her encouragement and astute criticisms on many earlier drafts, to Susan Gass and Noriko Iwashita for their insightful input, and to the anonymous SSLA reviewers for their detailed comments. Remaining errors are my own. Address correspondence to: Jenefer Philp, P.O. Box 100, Scottsdale, TAS 7260, Australia; e-mail: [email protected]. © 2003 Cambridge University Press 0272-2631/03 $12.00 99

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Page 1: Nonnative Speakers’ Noticing of Recasts in NS-NNS … Speakers’ Noticing of Recasts in NS-NNS Interaction Jenefer Philp University of Tasmania ... during sequences of interactional

SSLA, 25, 99–126. Printed in the United States of America.DOI: 10.1017.S0272263103000044

CONSTRAINTS ON“NOTICING THE GAP”

Nonnative Speakers’ Noticingof Recasts in NS-NNS Interaction

Jenefer PhilpUniversity of Tasmania

Interaction has been argued to promote noticing of L2 form in a con-text crucial to learning—when there is a mismatch between the inputand the learner’s interlanguage (IL) grammar (Gass & Varonis, 1994;Long, 1996; Pica, 1994). This paper investigates the extent to whichlearners may notice native speakers’ reformulations of their IL gram-mar in the context of dyadic interaction. Thirty-three adult ESL learn-ers worked on oral communication tasks in NS-NNS pairs. Duringeach of the five sessions of dyadic task-based interaction, learnersreceived recasts of their nontargetlike question forms. Accurate im-mediate recall of recasts was taken as evidence of noticing of re-casts by learners. Results indicate that learners noticed over 60–70%of recasts. However, accurate recall was constrained by the level ofthe learner and by the length and number of changes in the recast.The effect of these variables on noticing is discussed in terms ofprocessing biases. It is suggested that attentional resources andprocessing biases of the learner may modulate the extent to whichlearners “notice the gap” between their nontargetlike utterances andrecasts.

The findings reported in this paper are based on part of my doctoral dissertation completed at theUniversity of Tasmania. Earlier versions were presented at the annual meeting of the American Asso-ciation of Applied Linguistics in 1999 (Stanford, CA) and at the Second Language Research Forum in1997 (Michigan State University). I am very grateful to Alison Mackey for her encouragement andastute criticisms on many earlier drafts, to Susan Gass and Noriko Iwashita for their insightful input,and to the anonymous SSLA reviewers for their detailed comments. Remaining errors are my own.

Address correspondence to: Jenefer Philp, P.O. Box 100, Scottsdale, TAS 7260, Australia; e-mail:[email protected].

© 2003 Cambridge University Press 0272-2631/03 $12.00 99

Jinxiao Song
Jinxiao Song
Jinxiao Song
Jinxiao Song
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100 Jenefer Philp

For language learners, conversations with more competent speakers can be arich source of exposure to the target language (TL). Some researchers haveargued that learners benefit from such input only if they attend to the lan-guage forms they hear (Corder, 1967; Gass, 1997; Long, 1996; Schmidt, 1993).In conversation with native speakers, struggles for mutual comprehension typ-ically result in modifications to both the language and the structure of the dis-course itself (Hatch, 1978, 1983; Long, 1983, 1985; Long & Sato, 1983; Swain,1985; Wagner-Gough & Hatch, 1975). These interactional modifications providelearners with implicit feedback on their own IL production (Gass; Long, 1996;Pica, 1994; Swain, 1995). This feedback comes at a time crucial to learning—when there is a mismatch between the input and the learner’s IL grammar(Gass & Varonis, 1994; Long & Robinson, 1998).In (1) a native speaker (NS) and a nonnative speaker (NNS) carry out a

story task together.1 The NNS apparently has difficulty in framing her question(first line), and her interlocutor’s initial response seems to be incongruentwith what she had intended to say (second and third lines). This pushes thelearner to try again; this time she is able to produce the key lexical item“guide,” and the NS provides her with a targetlike version, or recast, of herquestion (fourth line). The recast functions as a confirmation check of hermeaning.

(1) NNS: The girl is it what the gui for the for for the boy for the boy. [laughs]NS: Uh huh she likes him, too.NNS: She likes him no ah I mean is ( . . . ) the girl is this um ya be be a guide? guide?NS: Oh is she a guide?NNS: Uh huh.NS: Um I don’t know what she does maybe she’s a student.

Researchers have argued that it is the perception and resolution of the mis-match between the learner’s IL utterance and the TL response that may leadto destabilization and IL restructuring (Ellis, 1991; Faerch & Kasper, 1986;Gass, 1991, 1997; Gass & Varonis, 1994; Long, 1996). Recasts, in which thelearner’s nontargetlike utterance (e.g., “The girl is this um ya be be a guide?”)is subsequently reformulated by the interlocutor as a TL version (e.g., “Is shea guide?”), exemplify this process: Recasts are congruent with the learner’sown production and juxtapose the incorrect with the correct. If the learner isfocused on both form and message, such feedback may present a catalyst forchange (Long; Long & Robinson, 1998; Mackey & Philp, 1998; Oliver, 1995; Sax-ton, 1997). Alternatively, the learner may simply consider a recast to be confir-mation of meaning (Chaudron, 1977; Lyster, 1998; Lyster & Ranta, 1997) ratherthan linguistic correction. In (1) it is unclear whether the learner notices theNS’s reformulation of her own question or simply responds to the reiterationof her meaning (line 5). This paper explores the extent to which learners no-tice the form of recasts of their nontargetlike utterances.Following L1 acquisition research, recasts have generally been described

as utterances that “rephrase a child’s utterance by changing one or more sen-

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Constraints on “Noticing the Gap” 101

tence components (subject, verb, or object) while still referring to its centralmeanings” (Long, 1996, p. 434; see also Baker & Nelson, 1984; Farrar, 1990,1992). Although there is variation, particularly concerning the degree to whichthe recast might expand the initial utterance (Bohannon, Padgett, Nelson, &Mark, 1996) or add emphasis to the changed elements (Chaudron, 1977; seeNicholas, Lightbown, & Spada, 2001, for an overview of recasts in L1 and L2acquisition research), this definition has been widely adopted in SLA research(e.g., Lyster, 1998; Mackey & Philp, 1998; Oliver, 1995). Recasts in the presentstudy included all NS utterances immediately following a NNS’s nontargetlikeutterance that reformulated part or all of the utterance while maintaining thecentral meaning (Long, Inagaki, & Ortega, 1998). No explicit emphasis wasgiven to the changed elements in the recast; rather, the recasts were providedas confirmation checks, as seen in (1).The central research question addressed in this study, in the context of

dyadic interaction, is: Do learners notice recasts? Arguably, noticing is funda-mental to the potential that feedback can have for the learner. According toSchmidt’s Noticing Hypothesis (Schmidt, 1990, 1993, 1998, 2001), it is onlywhat the learner notices about the input that holds potential for learning be-cause intake—that is, the detection, processing, and storage of input (Gass,1997; VanPatten, 1990)—is conditional upon noticing. Long (1996), in a reform-ulation of the Interaction Hypothesis, also points to the importance of noticing(i.e., selective attention): “Negotiation work that triggers interactional adjust-ments by the NS or more competent interlocutor facilitates acquisition be-cause it connects input, internal learner capacities, particularly selectiveattention, and output in productive ways” (pp. 451–452, emphasis in original).Evidence that learners notice interactional modifications, such as recasts,would provide support for the connection between input, the learner’s atten-tional resources, and intake (Carroll, 1999; Corder, 1967), and it may furtherour understanding of the processes of SLA.2

Currently, there is a paucity of work that directly investigates learners’ no-ticing of forms as a result of linguistic and conversational modifications in oralinteraction.3 In part, this lack of research is due to the difficulty of operational-izing noticing for the context of interaction, which engages both the aural andoral skills of the learner. How can the internal processes of noticing be tappedat the time in which the learner is engaged in interaction? Therefore, one ofthe challenges for this study was to develop a means of measuring noticing inoral interaction.

NOTICING AND THE MEASUREMENT OF NOTICING

Noticing has been described as the part of the attentional system that involvesthe detection and consequent registration of stimuli in memory (Posner& Peterson, 1990; Robinson, 1995; Tomlin & Villa, 1994). Noticing of stimulimakes it potentially available for inclusion in long-term memory and for fur-ther processing, hence Schmidt’s (1995) claim that noticing is requisite for

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learning. Robinson distinguished between noticing and detection on the basisof awareness.4 More recently, Simard and Wong (2001, p. 119) suggested thatwe “view alertness, orientation, detection, and awareness as . . . coexisting andinteracting in graded levels.” Noticing may then be conceived as detection ac-companied by lesser and greater degrees or levels of awareness (see Leow,2000; Philp, 1998). Further, as Williams (1999) and Robinson suggested, de-grees of noticing (and, indeed, of awareness) may relate to the amount andnature of rehearsal in memory that occurs with detection.5

Following Robinson (1995), noticing is viewed in the present study as onestep beyond detection, being “what is both detected and then further acti-vated following the allocation of attentional resources” (p. 297). Schmidt(1995) argued that L2 learning must entail awareness and particularly that“the noticing hypothesis claims that learning requires awareness at the time oflearning” (p. 26, emphasis in original). Typically, in SLA research, noticing hasbeen addressed through measuring awareness. Awareness has been variouslydescribed using both online procedures, such as think-alouds (Alanen, 1995;Leow, 1997, 2000; Rosa & O’Neill, 1999) or private speech (Ohta, 2000), andoffline procedures, such as a written questionnaire following treatment (Rob-inson, 1995, 1996a, 1997). The section “Constraints on Noticing” discusses var-ious methods used to tap noticing of form in oral contexts.To date, noticing of form by learners engaged in oral interaction has been

assessed through retrospective methods rather than online methods (Mackey,Gass, & McDonough, 2000; Schmidt & Frota, 1986). Schmidt and Frota’s oftenquoted diary study, in which Schmidt’s noticing of input at various stages inhis development is traced through diary entries, relates to instruction and nat-uralistic input rather than specifically to negotiated interaction. Their studytraced the acquisition of 21 verbal constructions by Schmidt as a beginninglearner of Portuguese. The forms he produced were also those that had ap-peared in diary notes. On this basis, Schmidt and Frota stressed the role ofconscious learning, suggesting that input only has an impact on IL productionif it is noticed and becomes intake. Diary studies such as Schmidt and Frota’sprovide a useful, albeit partial view of L2 learning processes. However, diaryentries involve more than noticing and fall short of arriving at actual pro-cesses (Tomlin & Villa, 1994).In a recent study, Mackey et al. (2000) used a variation on think-alouds to

tap perception of feedback by L2 learners of English and Italian during oralinteraction (see also Gass & Mackey, 2000). They used stimulated recalls inwhich learners were asked to respond to video replays of their own task-based interaction with NSs. As learners watched the video, it was stopped atparticular points in the interaction (i.e., during sequences of interactionalmodification), and they were asked to recall what they were thinking at thetime. Learners’ perceptions (rather than noticing) were operationalized as thelearners’ articulations of what they considered to be the focus of the feed-back. The researchers noted a much higher proportion of accurate reportsabout lexical and phonological feedback than of reports about morphological

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Constraints on “Noticing the Gap” 103

or syntactic feedback. The Mackey et al. study, although not online, providesan effective means of examining attention to modifications in the context oforal interaction. Their study, which investigated the extent to which learnersperceive feedback as such, is one step beyond noticing. Stimulated recall in-volves verbal articulation of noticed feedback entailing detection and furtherprocessing of input. Clearly, as the authors noted, failure to notice cannot beinferred by a failure to verbalize something (see also Robinson, 1995).An alternative means of accessing noticing may be immediate recall, a tech-

nique that, along with shadowing, has been commonly used within cognitivepsychology to access detection and rehearsal in short-term auditory memory.Shadowing describes a task in which the subject simultaneously listens to andrepeats the input given; in an immediate recall task, the subject responds to acue to “replay” what was heard at a particular point in the input (e.g., Darwin,Turvey, & Crowder, 1972; Glucksberg & Cowan, 1970; Moray, Bates, & Barnett,1965, as cited in Baddeley, 1990). Results from studies on shadowing (Cherry,1953; Glucksberg & Cowan; Norman, 1969, as cited in Coren, Ward, & Enns,1994), in which two messages are given (a different message in each ear) butonly one repeated by the participant, have implications for the use of recall.Tests revealed that participants could not recall at the end of listening any ofthe unshadowed message. However, if interrupted during shadowing theycould recall at least five to seven units of the message (words, numbers, etc.).This suggests that at some level people do detect filtered, seemingly “unat-tended” input. This input is available for processing for a short time, but, ifnot attended to, it is not stored in short-term memory. Schmidt’s (1995) de-scription of noticing essentially captured this in his claim that input that wasnot attended to was not held in short-term memory and was not available forfurther processing.The connection between recall and noticing may best be understood

through a brief description of so-called working memory, as formulated byBaddeley and Hitch (1974) and further elaborated by Baddeley and others(Baddeley & Logie, 1999; for review, see Baddeley, 1986). According to theirmodel, verbal input is handled by the “articulatory loop,” a subcomponent ofworking memory, and is held in “phonological store.” Information recently at-tended to, while held in working memory, is available for conscious recall.Thus, immediate recall can be a measure of what has been noticed—that is,“detected and then further activated following the allocation of attentional re-sources” (Robinson, 1995, p. 297). Additionally, as an oral medium, immediaterecall could be appropriate for measuring noticing in the context of interac-tion.

Constraints on Noticing

Having discussed means of measuring noticing in oral interaction, I return tothe central question posed by this study of whether learners notice recasts inNS-NNS interaction. Although noticing depends initially on available atten-

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tional resources, a myriad of other factors have been suggested to mediatenoticing (see Simard & Wong, 2001). These include: the readiness of thelearner (Pienemann, 1989, 1999); frequency and saliency in the input (Bardovi-Harlig, 1987; Ellis, 1994; Gass, 1997); L1 influence (Carroll, 1999; Zobl, 1979);prior knowledge (Carroll; Ellis; Gass); familiarity, novelty of the input, or both(Ellis); linguistic content of the input (Mackey et al., 2000); the degree towhich the discourse is understood (VanPatten, 1990, 1996); the degree of auto-maticity involved and the distinctiveness and complexity of the tasks (Robin-son, 1995, 1996b; Rosa & O’Neill, 1999); individual differences in workingmemory capacity and abilities (Mackey, Philp, Fujii, Egi, & Tatsumi, 2002; Rob-inson, 2001); and the relevance and contiguity the discourse has for thelearner (van Lier, 1994). The present study focuses on three independent vari-ables that may affect noticing of recasts: the level of the learner, recast length,and the degree of difference between the recast and the learner’s initial utter-ance.

Developmental Level of the Learner. In an exploration of the connectionsbetween the input and the learner’s attentional resources (Long, 1996), thelevel of the learner may be a key factor modulating noticing for two reasons.First, research suggests that more experienced learners may benefit from theincreasing automaticity that comes with repeated practice, which allows at-tentional resources to be focused on higher order aspects of speech process-ing (Ellis, 1994; McLaughlin, 1987; VanPatten, 1996). Second, there is therelated issue of readiness. Speaking of the effectiveness of recasts on L1 acqui-sition of morphemes, Farrar (1990) claimed that so-called linguistic readinessis a determining factor. Farrar found recasts to be particularly effective at acertain stage in the child’s development of morphemes but not “prior to thetime the children are cognitively ready to extract a morpheme or once theyhave successfully extracted it” (p. 621). Similarly, there may be a prime timein which recasts are effective in facilitating particular L2 forms, such as ques-tion forms in English (Mackey, 1999; Mackey & Philp, 1998). It may be thatlearners tend not to notice input that is beyond their level of acquisition.Others have examined this issue of readiness in terms of the learners’ prior

knowledge. Saxton (1997) suggested that a child’s use of recasts depends onhis or her prior knowledge that two variant forms fulfill identical grammaticalfunctions (e.g., bought, buyed). It is on the basis of this knowledge that thechild can then identify a recast as a contrast between two forms, one of whichthe adult prefers. Carroll (1999), speaking of input in general, argued that “in-take is . . . determined by our grammars . . . [and] . . . we . . . perceive what ourlinguistic systems enable us to perceive—based on the categories and struc-tures of the grammar” (p. 343). Other SLA researchers have also identifiedprior knowledge in terms of familiarity with lexical or grammatical items, sug-gesting that it may affect noticing of particular forms (Gass, 1997; Schmidt &Frota, 1986). Schmidt and Frota, for example, reported that Schmidt, as alearner of Portuguese, did not notice (at the level of articulation of form in a

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Constraints on “Noticing the Gap” 105

diary entry) forms that were abundant in the input until they were highlightedthrough instruction. Perhaps the forms were not noticed at this high level ofawareness until the learner was ready (in terms of psycholinguistic process-ing) or simply because the forms were not sufficiently encoded in long-termmemory and were therefore not recognizable to the learner.6 In summary,readiness, in terms of processing mechanisms, prior knowledge, or both, maymodulate noticing.

Length of Recast. The length of the recast is another factor that may criti-cally affect noticing, as attentional capacity is limited. Units of informationmay be held in working memory for about 15–20 seconds, although by re-hearsal (i.e., how long it takes to repeat the words) they may be held longer(Cowan, 1988). What remains in working memory is a factor of the rate of re-hearsal as well as the rate of decay in the phonological store (Baddeley, 1986;Cowan, 1992, 1993, 1995; Cowan et al., 1992). Thus, longer recasts, which mayexceed the limits of temporary phonological store, might be less accuratelyrecalled than shorter recasts.

Degree of Difference. A third factor that may limit noticing is the degreeof difference between the recast and the learner’s trigger utterance. A numberof studies researching the effectiveness of recasts in L1 acquisition have con-sidered whether recasts were more likely to be provided after single or multi-ple errors (Bohannon & Stanowicz, 1988; Farrar, 1992). SLA research hassuggested differences in incorporation of these recasts by learners (Oliver,1995). If recasts are too different from the learner’s original utterance, theymay be unlikely to be imitated, as they are too far removed from this firstattempt (Long, 1996). The present study considers whether L2 learners noticerecasts involving multiple changes.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

Do learners notice recasts? Noticing of recasts, the dependent variable, wasoperationalized as the learner’s cued, correct recall of a recast immediatelyfollowing production of the recast. On the basis of the research previouslyoutlined, the following questions and hypotheses were formulated:

1. Is the ability to recall a recast constrained by the level of the learner?Hypothesis 1: Accuracy of recall is correlated with the level of the learner such thatthe higher the level of the learner, the greater the accuracy of recall.7

2. Is the ability to recall a recast constrained by the length of the recast?Hypothesis 2: Accuracy of recall will be higher for shorter recasts than longer re-casts.

3. Is the ability to recall a recast constrained by the number of changes made by therecast?Hypothesis 3: Accuracy of recall will be higher the fewer the changes made in therecast utterance.

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METHOD

Design and Participants

Following a preliminary placement session, each learner was involved in fiveNS-NNS dyadic interaction sessions over 2 weeks (100 minutes).8 Participantswere 33 adult ESL students, enrolled in 6–8-week intensive English courses atan Australian university. There were 18 female and 15 male students who wereof different ESL proficiencies, had various L1 backgrounds (Japanese, Korean,Thai, Cantonese, Russian, and Indonesian), and were between 17 and 30 yearsof age. Participation in the project was voluntary. Three NSs, including theresearcher, acted as partners in NS-NNS dyads; there were two females andone male between 25 and 35 years of age. Participants were randomly as-signed to NSs and rotated so that all participants were paired with all NSsover the five sessions.

Targeted Form

The order of acquisition for ESL question formation had been identifiedthrough previous research (Cancino, Rosansky, & Schumann, 1978; Johnston,1985; Lightbown, 1980; Meisel, Clahsen, & Pienemann, 1981; Pienemann, 1984,1989; Pienemann & Johnston, 1987; Pienemann, Johnston, & Brindley, 1988;Pienemann & Mackey, 1993; Spada & Lightbown, 1993, 1999). Thus, learners’production of questions was considered to be a reliable indicator of their lev-els of development in terms of question forms and was chosen as the targetedstructure of recasts. In SLA, the work of Pienemann and others has demon-strated that question forms in English are acquired in a fixed order regardlessof instruction. I verified that, during the period of data collection, questionforms were not a focus of instruction in the learners’ ESL classes.9

Group Assignment

For coding purposes, following data transcription participants were assignedto one of three groups—Low, Intermediate, or High—according to their per-formance in a preliminary placement session and in the first treatment ses-sion. This group assignment was based on learners’ production of particularquestion forms that were the structures targeted in the study.10 The size ofeach group was constrained by the number of students studying at the lan-guage center. Learners fell within four of the six stages of development pre-sented by Pienemann and colleagues (Pienemann & Johnston, 1987; Pienemannet al., 1988), as shown in Table 1.11 The distinction between groups was madeaccording to learners’ readiness to acquire stage 4 and stage 5 questionforms. Previous use of the treatment materials had established that theseforms were most elicited by the tasks and therefore most likely to elicit re-casts. The Low group was composed of seven learners (four at stage 3 and

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Table 1. Summary of stages reached by participants in pretest performance

Group Stage Description Example

Low 2 Canonical word order with rising into- You have girl?nation

Low 3 Yes-no questions in which an auxiliary Do you have red alien?(e.g., do or wh-word) fronts canonical Is he is son?word order

Intermediate 4 Yes-no questions in which subject and Is he angry?main verb or auxiliary are inverted or Where is the girl?the wh-word fronts the verb

High 5 Auxiliary (e.g., do or have) in second What does he do?position after wh-word and preceding What is your alien holding?the main verb

Note. Adapted from Mackey (1999). See also Mackey (1995), Pienemann and Johnston (1987), and Spada and Light-bown (1993, 1999).

three at stage 2) who did not show any evidence of being able to producestage 4 or stage 5 forms. The Intermediate group comprised 11 learners, all ofwhom could produce stage 4 question forms. Many in this group also showedemergence of IL stage 5 question forms, although not in sufficient numbers toconsider that they had acquired stage 5 forms. Typically, any production ofstage 5 forms was very limited and generally could be described as productiveuse of a formula pattern (Ellis, 1984; Weinart, 1995; Wong-Fillmore, 1976), suchas What is he doing? What is he looking? In terms of readiness, it appears thatthis group was at an optimum stage for acquiring stage 5 forms. Learners inthe High group were clearly able to produce both stage 4 and stage 5 forms.Typically, these learners produced both IL and TL question forms at stages 4and 5.Learners were assessed as being at a certain level if they made at least two

productive uses of question types of a particular stage in at least two differentcontexts (Mackey, 1999; Mackey & Philp, 1998; see also Lightbown & Spada,1997; Pienemann & Johnston, 1987; Pienemann et al., 1988; Silver, 2000; Spada& Lightbown, 1993, 1999). For example, a learner would be assessed as beingat stage 4 if he or she were able to generate in different contexts various formsof the same stage 4 question type, such as Is it book? Are they yellow?, and didnot simply repeat a formula, such as Is it book? Is it yellow? Is it big house onleft? Assessment was based on consistent performance over two sessions: thepretest and the first treatment session.

Materials

Sets of pictures were used to elicit questions from the participants in bothtreatment and test sessions.12 Two tasks were used in treatment sessions. Thepicture-drawing task required the NNS to ask questions to discover the con-

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tents of a hidden picture held by her NS partner. The NNS had to ask ques-tions about the picture and draw a picture to resemble as closely as possiblethe objects and their position in the hidden picture. In the story-completiontask, the NNS was presented with a pictorial story. Six pictures were shown insequence, one by one. As each picture was shown, the NNS was instructed toask any questions to discover the story behind the pictures. Two tasks wereused in the test sessions: a story-completion task in the treatment sessions,and a spot-the-difference task in which the NNS asked questions to find thedifferences between one picture and an almost identical one held by the NSpartner.

Procedure

The protocol for treatment sessions was developed through piloting of thetest instruments and use of recall 2 months prior to data collection. NS inter-locutors were trained to a high level of consistency in task protocols by read-ing instructions and sample transcripts and by participating in and observingrole plays. In each of the five 20-minute sessions, NNSs were paired with a NSand together performed three tasks: a warm-up task, a story-completion task,and a picture-drawing task. The warm-up training task involved the serial re-call of numbers. Participants listened as their NS partner read a string of 12random numbers. The reading was interrupted at places by the sound of twoknocks, after which participants were required to attempt to recall the lasttwo numbers they had just heard. No feedback was given as to whether recallwas correct or incorrect. This warm-up task was used to train participants torecall the NS’s previous utterance in response to a knocking sound that wasmade by the NS who knocked twice on the table. All participants were able tocomplete this simple task without difficulty.While working on picture tasks, the NNS asked the NS questions. The NS

provided recasts in response to any nontargetlike utterance, particularly ques-tion forms.13 Following the recast, the NNS’s response was interrupted by thesound of two knocks on the table.14 The sound was a cue to the NNS to repeatthe last thing he or she heard prior to that sound—namely, the recast, as illus-trated in (2).

(2) NNS:Why he is very unhappy?NS: Why is he very unhappy? [2 knocks]NNS: Yeah why is very unhappy?

The five sessions were audio-recorded and took place over a 2-week periodduring and following classes, depending on the schedule of the participants.One week prior to the treatment sessions, a similar placement session was

administered for the purpose of group assignment. This session consisted of20 minutes of NS-NNS, task-based interaction (without recasts) using a story-completion task and a spot-the-difference task. Data from this session and the

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Constraints on “Noticing the Gap” 109

first treatment session were used to assess the developmental level of thelearner.

The Use of Recall as an Instrument for Measuring Noticing. In the pres-ent study, it was important to preserve the flow of normal conversation, yetin some way access learners’ short-term auditory storage of recasts at thetime the learner heard them.15 Cued immediate recall was used as a measureof a particular level of noticing (Leow, 1997, 2000; Rosa & O’Neill, 1999). Un-doubtedly, learners may notice input yet be unable to recall it. For example,they may notice that something in the recast was different from their own ut-terance but be unable to perceive what it was that was different, or they mayat least be able to report what they perceive. Mackey et al. (2000) demon-strated that certain input (e.g., morphological information) is less susceptibleto verbal report of noticing than other types (e.g., phonological information).Alternatively, learners may notice the difference yet be unable to reproduce itbecause of the limitations of working memory. Thus, accurate recall is a veryconservative measure, unlikely to capture all that is noticed. However, if re-casts are recalled, it is evident that noticing at some level has taken place:Input has been detected and further processed in working memory to the ex-tent that it is available for recall. Obviously, the task conditions, consistentlyproviding recasts of question forms, and alerting learners to their interlocu-tor’s speech through the use of the recall signal made learners more alert tothe details of that speech than they may have been ordinarily. Nevertheless,only what was already detected and entered in working memory was availablefor immediate recall.16

Coding Scheme

Data were transcribed and coded according to the degree of accuracy withwhich learners recalled the recasts as well as the length of the recast and thenumber of corrections made by the recast.17 Accuracy of recall was catego-rized as “correct,” “modified,” or “no recall.” Correct recall was applied to rep-etition of the recast utterance. Modified recall described those instances inwhich the learner’s recall of the recast was inaccurate but represented a mod-ification of the original trigger utterance; see (2) for an example. Both the rep-etition of the trigger utterance without change and failure to respond to thesound cue were categorized as no recall.The degree of difference between the learner’s initial utterance and the re-

cast was coded for the number of changes to the initial utterance: one, two,or more changes. The changes examined were only those errors directly re-lated to question forms, the focus of the study.18 Thus, in (2), inversion countsas one change. Recasting “What are you doing?” as “What is he doing?” involvestwo changes—one to the subject and one to the auxiliary. A complete re-phrasal such as “What is he carrying?” for “Does he the hand what?” involvesmore than two changes.

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Table 2. Recasts provided to each group

Percentage of questionRecasts forms in recasts

Group n N M Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5

High 15 659 43.93 7 (44) 65 (415) 28 (179)Intermediate 11 531 48.93 8 (42) 62 (316) 30 (155)Low 7 379 54.14 6 (15) 63 (237) 33 (122)

Note. N = total number of recasts provided to the group. M = mean number of recastsfor each individual in the group. The percentage of type of question form presentedin recasts was calculated as the number of recasts of that stage question form di-vided by the total number of recasts for that group. Numbers in parentheses are totalraw scores.

Table 3. Length of recasts and changes to learners’ utterancesin recasts: Percentages by group

Length of recast Number of changes

Group n Short Long 1 change 2 changes ≥3 changes

High 15 38 62 39 30 31Intermediate 11 52 48 37 31 32Low 7 67 33 30 30 40

Recasts were coded as long or short on the basis of morpheme count.19

Longer and shorter utterances were compared; longer utterances were thoseof more than five morphemes. This distinction was based on the pilot testingof the cued immediate recalls.20

RESULTS

One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a priori paired comparisons (con-trasts) and t-tests were carried out to test the hypotheses. ANOVA was usedto determine differences between groups, whereas t-tests for paired sampleswere used to compare accuracy of recall with each variable for each individ-ual group. An alpha level of .05 was used for all statistical tests.The provision of recasts depended entirely on the production of nontar-

getlike forms by each learner. Generally, as illustrated in Table 2, each learnerreceived 44–55 recasts of question forms over five sessions, with those in theLow group generally receiving higher numbers of recasts.21 Of these recasts,all groups received over 60% of recasts of stage 4 questions.As shown in Table 3, the High group was presented more frequently with

long recasts (62%), whereas the Low group received more short recasts(67%). Similar numbers of recasts with one, two, or three or more changes to

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Figure 1. Comparison by group of proportion ofnumber of changes in recasts.

Table 4. One-way ANOVA for three groups on correct recall

Source df SS MS F ratio F prob.

Between groups 2 951.2820 475.6410 4.1695* .0252Within groups 30 3422.2649 114.0755Total 32 4373.5469

*p < .05.

the learner’s trigger utterance were received by all groups, although the Lowgroup received slightly more of the latter. A comparison between groups isshown in Figure 1.

Noticing and the Level of the Learner

To test hypothesis 1, which predicted that recall of recasts would be moreaccurate the higher the level of the learner, the High, Intermediate, and Lowgroups were compared. The results of a one-way ANOVA, provided in Table 4,show a significant effect for learner level on recall of recasts. With an alphalevel of .05, the effect of learner level on recall of recasts was statistically sig-nificant, F(2, 30) = 4.1695, p < .05. A priori contrasts, tested by the t statistic,were computed to establish the source of difference between groups. A signifi-cant difference was found between the High and Intermediate groups on theone hand and the Low group on the other (p < .05). The High and Intermediategroups were not significantly different in performance on recall (p = .814). TheANOVA results were confirmed by t-test comparisons between High and Lowlearners, t(14.18) = 2.76, p < .05, and η2 = .35, and between Intermediate andLow learners, t(11.81) = 2.71, p < .05, and η2 = .38. The strength of association

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Table 5. Correct recall by groups

Correct recall

Group n M% SD SE of M

High 15 74.179 12.059 3.114Intermediate 11 73.203 8.896 2.682Low 7 60.675 9.957 3.764

Figure 2. Accuracy of recall for each group.

between the level of the learner and accuracy of recall was moderately high,at 35–38%, which suggests that level is one important factor but other vari-ables also play a part in noticing. As shown in Table 5, High and Intermediatelearners recalled over 70% of recasts accurately, whereas the Low learners ac-curately recalled 60% of recasts. A comparison by group according to recall isshown in Figure 2. The Low group modified more recasts in recall than thehigher level groups (27% compared to an average of 19%). Fewer than 11% ofrecasts were not recalled at all. Notably, immediate recall involved somechange to the trigger utterance in 88% of cases for the Low group and over92–93% for the higher level groups.In summary, the High and Intermediate groups were significantly more ac-

curate on recall of recasts than the Low group. This is an indication that thehigher level learners noticed recasts more consistently than the Low group.

Noticing and the Length of the Recast

The length of the recast utterance was investigated as a constraint on accu-rate recall, irrespective of the level of the learner, and hypothesis 2 was sup-ported. The results of a t-test for paired samples performed on data from allgroups found that recasts of five or fewer morphemes were recalled withgreater accuracy than recasts of six or more morphemes, t(32) = 5.47, p < .05,

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Figure 3. Percentage of correct recall ac-cording to the length of the recast utter-ance.

and η2 = .48. The eta squared result reveals that almost 50% of the variabilityin this sample can be accounted for by the length of the recast. Differencesare reflected in Figure 3. For the High and Intermediate groups, the percentageof correct recall was as much as 15% higher for short recasts than for longrecasts, with over 80% accuracy on recall of short recasts. Similarly, the Lowgroup performed far better on shorter recasts than on longer recasts, recall-ing the latter with only 50% accuracy on average. Thus, length of recast had asignificant effect on accuracy of recall, which suggests that short recasts weremore consistently noticed by learners. This result held irrespective of thelearner’s level.

Noticing and the Number of Changes in the Recast

Finally, the difference between the learner’s nontargetlike utterance and therecast offered in response was another potential constraint on noticing. Theresults of a paired sample t-test indicated that all groups performed better thefewer the changes to the trigger utterance, t(32) = 5.74, p < .05, and η2 = .51.The eta squared result reveals a strong association between noticing and thenumber of changes to the trigger utterance. For the High and Intermediategroups, there was a significant difference in accuracy of recall for recasts withonly one change compared to recasts with two changes. However, thestrength of association between these variables is low, t(25) = 2.07, p < .05, andη2 = .15. This was also true of recasts with two changes compared to recastswith three changes, t(25) = 3.71, p < .05, and η2 = .36. Figure 4 shows the rela-tive performance of the three groups according to the number of changes inthe recast. The High and Intermediate groups showed at least 20% greater ac-curacy on recasts containing only one change compared to recasts with threeor more changes. The Low group’s accuracy was 14% greater for recasts withone or two changes compared to recasts with three or more changes.In summary, all groups recalled recasts with three or more changes with

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Figure 4. Accuracy of recall according to number ofchanges in recast.

significantly less accuracy than they recalled recasts with fewer changes. Thisresult held irrespective of level, and it is an indication that the more differentthe recast is from the original utterance, the less likely the learner is to noticeall features of the recast with accuracy.

DISCUSSION

In general, the results support the claim that learners notice a considerableamount of implicit feedback provided through interaction in a primed context.However, recast length, the number of changes made in the recast, and thereadiness of the learner are all factors that appear to constrain the noticing offeedback provided through recasts in the context of interaction.

The Level of the Learner

Bias. Learner biases may account for the relationship between the IL levelof the learner and noticing. Both L1 and L2 acquisition researchers have ar-gued that learners are biased to some degree to the input they hear by theircurrent IL knowledge (Carroll, 1999; Gass, 1997; Harley, 1994; Newport, Gleit-man, & Gleitman, 1977; VanPatten, 1996; White, 1987). This bias modulates thelearner’s apperception of the recast and, ultimately, what becomes intake forthe learner. As White (p. 97) noted, “the learner’s current grammar . . . actsas a filter on the input. . . . That is, the learner rejects input which cannot beinterpreted in terms of his or her current knowledge, or modifies it so that itcan be dealt with [emphasis added].”This is illustrated in (3), in which the Low learner reinterprets two consec-

utive recasts according to her own IL grammar. In each case, consistent withher own IL production, she uses a stage 3 rather than a stage 5 question formin recall.

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(3) a. NNS: Does does he uh the hand uh on the hand ah what what.NS: What is he carrying?NNS: Yeah what he is carry?

b. NNS:What are you doing what are you doing the pic uh the boys in the picture?NS: What is he doing?NNS: Yeah what he’s doing?

The learner’s struggle to express her question is resolved by the NS’s re-cast (second line). The learner modifies this recast in her recall, maintainingthe lexical item “carry” but modifying the syntax and morphology (third line).She uses a stage 3 form in which the question word is placed before canonicalword order. This pattern is repeated in (3b). This time the NNS initially usesa formulaic question, “What are you doing?” (first line).22 In response to therecast she reformulates the stage 5 question as a stage 3 form, again using aquestion word to front canonical word order, ignoring the use of inversion inthe NS’s recast (last line). This inversion, required in stage 5 question forms,is not consistent with the learner’s current IL grammar. Arguably, the learnermay have noticed that her IL form was different from the recast, but her ap-perception of the recast was partial; she received an incomplete picture of theinput given. Thus, it may be that the learner is biased by her own IL grammarand potential immediate developments beyond it.23 An alternative argument isthat apperception was accurate, but retrieval was problematic. It appears thatwhere the recast is sufficiently long for the learner to have to reconstruct itto some degree—that is, where the whole recast utterance cannot accuratelybe represented in working memory—recall may be affected by reliance onlong-term memory and the learner’s own IL system.Clearly, the level of the learner is not the sole determining factor in terms

of what is noticed. Even learners in the Low group were able to retain veryshort recasts in working memory and recall them accurately, such as thestage 4 form Where is she? Perhaps such short chunks, although beyond thelevel of the learner, form the basis for future development. The possibility thatlong-term rather than short-term effects are one outcome of interactional feed-back has been suggested by other researchers (Brock, Crookes, Day, & Long,1986; Lightbown, 1998; Mackey, 1999; Mackey & Philp, 1998). This is in keepingwith the claim that pattern extraction is a key mechanism in language acquisi-tion and that learners slowly accumulate frequent sequences in the input (El-lis, 1996, 2002).

Familiarity. Familiarity with form in the input may also account for the dis-parity between groups in accuracy of recall, particularly with longer recastswhen attentional resources are taxed. Compare, for example, the responses ofthese two learners to recasts of their nontargetlike utterances:

(4) Intermediate learnerNS: He’s selling the house.NNS:Why he is sell the house?

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NS: Why is he selling the house? [knock knock]NNS:Why he : is : selling the house?

(5) High learnerNNS:Why they want to sell to the house?NS: Why do they want to sell the house? [knock knock]NNS:Why : do they want to sell the house?

In (4), the Intermediate learner constructed a question using the language pro-vided by the NS in the preceding utterance and omitted the morpheme pre-viously provided with the verb (second line). In the recast, a stage 5 form wasprovided; the auxiliary and subject were inverted, and the morpheme was re-peated in the verb (third line). Following the recast, it was the morphologicalchange that the NNS apparently noticed; perhaps now hearing it for the sec-ond time, she did not pick up the syntactic changes made (fourth line). Herrecall was marked by pauses and hesitation, she appeared to have difficultyrepeating the recast from working memory, and she did not manage to recallit accurately. Stage 5 forms were not part of this learner’s IL grammar, and herunfamiliarity with the form may have affected recall. In (5), the High learnerrecalled with accuracy a rather lengthy recast in which there were twochanges: the insertion of the auxiliary “do” and the deletion of the particle “to”after “sell” (third line). This was perhaps a performance error on her part.Both directly before and after this recast episode this learner produced theauxiliary in stage 5 question forms in a targetlike way, as shown in (6). Argu-ably, familiarity with the form allowed her to focus on other corrections in theutterance of which she may have been unsure initially. She recalled the previ-ous recast accurately.

(6) High learnerNNS:Why ah does he want to wash the window before he goes to work?

(later turn)NNS:Why he oh why does he want to call the painter?

Phonotactic familiarity was found to affect performance in a study by Ser-vice (1992). In a comparison of Finnish children’s repetition of Finnish- andEnglish-sounding pseudowords, Service found that the children could repeatFinnish pseudowords with almost 100% accuracy but had difficulty with En-glish-sounding words. Service suggested that “the familiar sounding pseudo-words created better-quality or longer-lasting traces in the phonological inputstore and were therefore easier to repeat” (p. 44). The same may be true ofthese adult L2 learners.In addition to phonotactic difficulties, lack of familiarity with the lexical

items encountered in recasts may account for poor recall among the Lowgroup. This is supported by the findings of L1 research. Cowan (1993), for ex-ample, reported on a study in which participants were more successful in re-call of English words than nonsense words (Hulme, Maughan, & Brown, 1991)and concluded that “one’s long-term lexical familiarity with the material to be

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activated makes a big difference in working memory tasks” (p. 166). The samemechanisms concerning phonotactic and lexical familiarity may hold for mor-phosyntactic forms (see Ellis, 1996).24

In summary, both the learner’s processing biases and familiarity with thetarget structure may modulate noticing of recasts. In terms of acquisition ofquestion forms, recasts may be of more or less potential benefit to the learneraccording to how well the recast matches the learner’s readiness to acquirethe form (see Mackey & Philp, 1998; Spada, 1997). Recognition of units withina recast may have contributed to increased accuracy according to the level ofthe learner: The higher level learner may have had the advantage of prior fa-miliarity with the input. As working memory is limited in capacity, learnerswho have a larger store of L2 data and greater automaticity in comprehensionand production may have an advantage.

The Length of the Recast

The fact that all learners, irrespective of level, found shorter recasts easier torecall suggests that recast length is a factor related to the limitations of work-ing memory rather than one linked to developmental level. Working memoryappears to offer a brief window of time in which data may be retained throughrehearsal (Baddeley, 1986; Cowan, 1988, 1993, 1995; Ellis, 1996), and the re-sults concerning length of recast reflect that phenomenon.The finding that the length of the recast affects accuracy of recall is rele-

vant to the claim that learners make comparisons between L2 input and theIL (Gass, 1991, 1997; Gass & Varonis, 1994). To do this, learners should firstnotice the differences and process them sufficiently for long-term memorystorage. Previous research on the learning of new words (Baddeley, Pa-pagno, & Vallar, 1988; Cowan, 1995) and on morphosyntactic development (El-lis, 1996; see Ellis & Sinclair, 1996, for review) has suggested that short-termphonological store, through processes of rehearsal, allows input to remain inworking memory potentially long enough for subsequent comparison and con-solidation. Cowan (1988, p. 66) suggested that because auditory memory canretain input for a limited time this input is available for comparison of utter-ances just as it is for problem-solving tasks. Further, Ellis claimed that mor-phosyntactic and other aspects of language are acquired through implicitanalysis of memorized sequences from L2 input. He asserted that “the repeti-tion of sequences in working memory results in consolidation of long-termrepresentations of this sequence information” (p. 113). This reflects the im-portance of auditory memory in language development.These findings suggest that shorter recasts may be of more benefit to learn-

ers because they can be accurately retained in working memory and thusmade available for comparison and further processing: Lengthy recasts (overfive morphemes) may overload time limitations of phonological store and aredifficult to retain in working memory in precisely the form given. Having said

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this, length of the recast is just one of many factors affecting retention inworking memory.

The Number of Changes Made by the Recast

In a similar way, recasts that are closer to the trigger utterance and thatchange the utterance in few ways linguistically may be of more benefit tolearners, as they were recalled with greater accuracy in this study. These re-sults support the claims of researchers such as Gass (1991) and Boulouffe(1986), who noted that if the mismatch between the TL utterance and thelearner’s utterance is too great, it will not be perceptible to the learner; cogni-tive comparison (Ellis, 1994) by the learner will be unlikely.Previous research on the incidence of recasts in L1 and L2 acquisition has

suggested that recasts are less likely to be provided when there are more er-rors (Bohannon & Stanowicz, 1988; Doughty, 1994a; Farrar, 1992; Oliver, 1995).The findings of the present study suggest that such recasts are also less likelyto be noticed by learners. Again, factors related to working memory, such aslength of recast, are likely to interact with the number of changes in the re-cast.

Limitations and Future Research

Generalizability of Findings. It is emphasized that this has been a reportof an essentially exploratory study. The majority of learners were educated toat least postsecondary level, most were socioeconomically advantaged, and,in general, they were motivated to study the L2. They were young adults, en-rolled in intensive, short ESL courses in the context of an English-speakingcountry. For many, their course was preparatory to university studies eitherin home countries or in Australia. The learners were eager to practice theirEnglish with NSs. Different populations involving larger samples from both for-eign and second language settings and with less educated learners wouldallow for factors such as L1 and instructional context to be controlled and forfindings to be generalized.This study involved one-on-one NS-NNS interaction in a controlled setting,

which is clearly different from many other contexts, including the L2 class-room. Differences in context, description of feedback, and analysis reveal dif-ferent results with regard to recasts (Nicholas et al., 2001). Lyster (1998)argued (in the context of the French immersion primary-grade classroom) thatrecasts provided by the teacher, although frequent, are unlikely to be noticedby the learner as corrective feedback. However, examining a different type offeedback (using more explicit, narrowly focused corrective recasts in a con-tent-based ESL science class), Doughty and Varela (1998) found contrary re-sults. Ohta (2000), evaluating responses to recasts through noting the privatespeech of L2 Japanese university students, similarly suggested that learnersdid notice recasts. These differences point to the need for more classroom-

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based research that focuses on various types of feedback and that includesnoticing.25 Additionally, given that NNS-NNS groups are more common in thelanguage classroom, a replication of the study with NNS-NNS dyads or groupswould be of interest, particularly in light of earlier work (Gass & Varonis, 1989;Porter, 1986) on the (non)incorporation of NNS corrections.As debate over implicit versus explicit feedback continues (Norris & Or-

tega, 2000; Spada, 1997), an extension of the current research would also beto compare learners’ noticing of recasts with noticing of NS input or othertypes of NS feedback. Finally, the analysis was confined to learners’ noticingof morphosyntactic changes to question forms. Obviously, this represents asmall part of all the linguistic features presented to learners in recasts. Futureresearch might explore learners’ noticing of phonological, lexical, and prag-matic elements as well as other morphological and syntactic forms.

Learner Production and Noticing. Another avenue for research lies in theconnection between output and noticing. Within the context of the classrooma number of researchers have suggested that recasts are less effective as aform of corrective feedback to the learner because they do not lead to self-repair and thus do not push learners in their output (Allwright & Bailey, 1991;Calve, 1992; Chaudron, 1988; Lyster, 1998; Pica, 1988; Pica et al., 1989; van Lier,1988). However, it remains unclear whether the internal processes of noticing,comparison, and integration occur following recasts, regardless of whetherpushed output is an outcome (Mackey & Philp, 1998). Other researchers havedebated the relationship between feedback and immediate output and its ef-fect on IL change (Gass, 1989; Gass & Varonis, 1994; Schachter, 1983). An im-portant theoretical question is: Does production per se make learners moreattentive to the feedback they receive? (See also, on the issue of learners’ ac-tive participation in negotiated interaction, Ellis, Tanaka, & Yamazaki, 1994;Mackey, 1999; Pica, 1992; Swain, 1995; Swain & Lapkin, 1995.)

CONCLUSION

The results demonstrate that these adult ESL learners for the most part no-ticed the changes made to their nontargetlike utterances through recasts.Learners whose level of acquisition of question forms matched those providedin recasts accurately recalled at least 70% of recasts and modified the triggerutterance in over 90% of cases. This finding suggests that recasts of questionforms may be effectively used by learners when developmental level and feed-back correspond.However, learners did not always notice recasts, and they did not always

notice every detail. In part, difficulties in recall may reflect the limitations ofworking memory. Unfamiliar input, multiple corrections, complex changes,and long utterances all pose high demands on learners’ attentional resources.Recasts may be less accessible to low-level learners in particular, who, whilestruggling with the unfamiliarity of the input, may find the disparity between

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the recast and their own attempts too great to deal with. Recasts may oftenpresent forms far beyond learners’ IL grammar. The learner’s own processingbiases may limit noticing—that is, biases to comprehend the message overanalyzing form and biases to perceive form in terms of the IL grammar. Interms of understanding processes of SLA, these findings support the claim foran interface between interaction, noticing, and SLA (Long, 1996). However, therelationship between interactional modifications, noticing, and intake is highlycomplex, balancing the learners’ IL knowledge and attentional resourcesagainst linguistic forms in the input. Future research on the role of noticing inL2 development through interaction needs to take this balance into account.

(Received 7 May 2002)

NOTES

1. All data is from Philp (1998).2. This study focuses on recasts as one type of implicit corrective feedback to learners occur-

ring in interaction. Recasts may function, though not exclusively, as negotiation for meaning (Long &Robinson, 1998). Although reducing the possibility of “pushed” output (Calve, 1992; Pica, Holliday,Lewis, & Morgenthaler, 1989; Swain, 1995), recasts have been argued to be an important source offeedback to L2 learners (Long & Robinson, 1998; Mackey & Philp, 1998; Ohta, 2000) and appear tobe more prevalent in the classroom than other types of feedback (Doughty, 1994b; Lyster & Ranta,1997).

3. Many of the recent studies in SLA that have investigated learners’ noticing of form tended touse reading and written tasks or focus on instruction (input enhancement); for example: Alanen(1995), Doughty and Varela (1998), Fotos (1993), Jourdenais, Ota, Stauffer, Boyson, and Doughty(1995), Leow (1997, 1998), Robinson (1996a), Rosa and O’Neill (1999), Slimani (1989), Swain and Lap-kin (1995), VanPatten (1990), and VanPatten and Cadierno (1993). Spada (1997), in a review of re-search on form-focused instruction, described it as drawing “the learners’ attention to form eitherexplicitly or implicitly” (p. 73). Typically, research in this area assumes rather than tests noticingand looks at outcomes rather than internal processes (Truscott, 1998). Observation of learner up-take, for example, assumes noticing of interactional modifications and focuses on use, rather thanseeking to directly measure noticing per se as a first step (e.g., Ellis, Basturkmen, & Loewen, 2001;Lyster & Ranta, 1997).

4. Both Robinson (1995) and Schmidt (1994) clearly wished to distinguish between detectionleading to registration in short-term memory and detection as evidenced by transient, subliminalexposure effects, such as those measured in priming experiments (Tomlin & Villa, 1994). This distinc-tion is also made here as the issue of unconscious learning (e.g., Robinson, 1997) is beyond the goalsof this study.

5. I am thankful to an anonymous SSLA reviewer for this observation.6. The idea that prior knowledge primes the learner to apperceive specific elements in the input

(Gass, 1997) is upheld in general learning theory (Ausubel, Novak, & Hanesian, 1978; Bruner, 1961,as cited in Driscoll, 1994). Ausubel (1968), for example, claimed that we perceive and interpret verbalmessages in light of existing knowledge and that “the most important single factor influencing learn-ing is what the learner already knows” (p. vi). Bruner (1961, 1973, as cited in Driscoll, 1994) sug-gested that feedback be provided in a mode that is both meaningful (i.e., related to what the learneralready knows) and within the information processing capacity of the learner.

7. Level here refers to development, not proficiency, as determined by learners’ production ofquestion forms (see Mackey, 1999).

8. This study represents part of a larger study that examined learners’ noticing and use of re-casts (Philp, 1998). The complete study, including three posttest sessions, took place over 6 weeksand was based on a design developed by Mackey (1999); see also Mackey and Philp (1998).

9. Records of weekly lesson plans were made available to the researcher.10. This study focused on IL production of question forms. Therefore, group assignment was not

made according to proficiency level. However, it is noted that groupings roughly corresponded toclass groupings in the school, which were based on in-house proficiency measures: Six of the seven

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subjects in the Low group came from beginner-level classes, 7 of the 11 in the Intermediate groupcame from intermediate-level classes, and 10 of the 15 in the High group came from two advanced-level classes.

11. The hierarchy of stages is derived from hypothesized processing constraints that underlieeach stage. This hierarchy is implicational in that each stage is a prerequisite to the formation ofstructures in the following stage.

12. The picture tasks used in the sessions were based on those developed at the Language Acqui-sition Research Centre (LARC), University of Sydney, with funding from Language Australia. Thetasks were chosen for demonstrated elicitation of question forms (see Mackey, 1999; Mackey & Philp,1998; Pienemann & Mackey, 1993).

13. Although NS partners were instructed to recast any nontargetlike utterance (so as to mini-mize the likelihood of learners recognizing question forms as the focus of the research), in practice,recasts of other forms were disparate and few. NS partners provided 9–12 recasts on average fornontargetlike question forms compared to 0–2 recasts of other forms per session.

14. For the importance of using a sound cue rather than a verbal cue, see Baddeley (1990).15. Clearly, any intrusion interrupts the natural flow of conversation to some extent. The tran-

scripts, however, indicate that the use of recall posed minimal interference insofar as learners re-mained on task.

16. Note that with regard to NS feedback this study focuses only on noticing of recasts.17. All sessions were transcribed by the researcher. To ensure accuracy, approximately 10 hours

of data were also transcribed by two research assistants. The researcher coded all transcripts andrecoded approximately 15% of all data at least 6 months after the initial coding. The intrarater reli-ability on coding of accuracy of recall, based on percentage agreement of 135 recasts from 10 ran-dom transcripts from learners of all levels, was 99.92%. One-third of the treatment transcripts weredouble-coded by six assistants. The interrater reliability between three coders on coding of accuracyof recall in treatment sessions was based on 50 recasts from four random transcripts from learnersof all levels, and it was 91%. Intrarater reliability on coding of changes to the trigger utterance, basedon percentage agreement of 100 recasts from eight random transcripts, was 89%.

18. Thus, unrelated errors not pertinent to the question form, such as phonological change orthe addition of an article in a recast, were not considered in the analysis.

19. Given the work of Baddeley (1986), Cowan (1995), and others, in which the word-length effecton recall appears to be a function of rate of rehearsal, the length of time taken to articulate therecast may have been a more accurate measure rather than a morpheme or syllable count. However,the relationship between speech rate and memory span is still a contentious and complex issue (fordiscussion, see Cowan, 1993) involving not only duration of words but also pauses between words.Although important, this issue is beyond the means or goals of this paper.

20. During piloting of cued immediate recall by six learners of different levels, learners demon-strated less accuracy in reproducing recasts of questions longer than five morphemes. Stage 5 ques-tion forms, such as What is he doing?, were accurately recalled more consistently by learners thanlonger versions, such as What is she going to do? or What is that angry man saying?

21. Differences between groups on the provision of recasts were not considered problematic be-cause, for each research question, group performance was treated separately in the analyses. Wherecomparisons were made, averages were given.

22. Although it is possible that the question used by the learner is not formulaic, this is veryunlikely here, as this learner’s production is consistent with stage 3 utterances and no other exam-ples of stage 5 question forms are found in the data. Additionally, “What are you doing?” is a com-monly found formulaic question form in these learners’ production (see Lightbown, 1998, fordiscussion of analysis of unanalyzed chunks). Assessment of the learner’s IL production is a resultof data comprising a minimum of 100 minutes over 5 days.

23. Whereas High and Intermediate learners had acquired stage 4 prior to treatment sessions,present in over 60% of recasts, Low learners had yet to acquire these forms. This explanation for thedifference in performance between the higher level groups and the Low group provides support forthe notion of “readiness” and the sequential acquisition of question forms in ESL (Pienemann, 1984,1989, 1999). In this framework, acquisition is constrained by the prior acquisition of certain forms.Here it is suggested that readiness to acquire a structure affects the learner’s noticing of that struc-ture in the input, a step argued by most to be requisite to acquisition (Gass, 1991, 1997; Schmidt,1990).

24. Ellis (1996) argued that much of language—lexical, phonological, and morphosyntactic—inboth L1 and L2 is acquired through implicit analysis of memorized sequences of language. Arguably,the Low learners had not yet built up this resource of sets of sequences in long-term memory.

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25. In this study, although recall provided a limited measure of noticing, it nevertheless was auseful means of accessing noticing in oral interaction at the time that feedback was provided tolearners. The use of recall provided information not only about noticing but also about what mor-phosyntactic elements in particular were noticed by learners and how this related to their own rep-resentations of the data.

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