Factors Affecting Second Language Acquisition: Readiness to Notice and Task Demands

5. Readiness to Notice (means be ready prepared)

The current state of the interlanguage system (when you're studying your first SLA). What the L is ready to notice (or attend to) due to his/her internal structures or mechanisms (some Ls are going to be more able than others to noticing structures). Pieneman’s Multidimensional Model (word order acquisition in L2 German or emergence of questions in L2 English). Acquisition of word in German. EX: Capacity to place adverbs at the beginning of sentences before. Capacity to place the verb at the end of the sentence in some structures. EX. Prediction about what the L can notice: what is to be noticed refers to the next thing to be acquired: adverbs at the beginning of sentences -> verbs at the end of the sentence (if they have not developed this capacity, it's impossible to develop the next because it's a sequence; some students develop earlier than others.

6. Task Demands (related how demanding a task is). Related to the amount of computation (i.e. processing) required what is expected of the learner as a result of the activity he/she is engaged in (if you don't pay attention to all forms, you don't notice them; more difficult would be if the task has a big input, will not be able to pay attention to everything & can lower the ability to noticing input).

Objections (we're going to focus on one person): - N. Ellis: the Noticing Hypothesis may be right, but only if accompanied by an Implicit Tallying Hypothesis (only if we consider the 2 hypotheses, it'll be valid).

1. Noticing: necessary, but only for new elements with certain properties that make low-attentional learning unlikely (not for all aspects of the language).
2. Noticing: necessary, but only for the initial registration of the form in long-term memory, (not for subsequent encounters). Explicit learning creates the initial mental representation of the target structure, but when you learn some structure, you create a mental representation of the structure, noticing is necessary only for this initial represent. Once the representation of the structure has been created, it isn't necessary to notice it again. Why did Schmidt do? Abandoned his original claim (noticing is 'the necessary and sufficient condition for converting input to intake') -> if there's not noticing, there's not learning. 'More noticing leads to more learning' (noticing is facilitative of L2 learning but learning without noticing is possible) -> Weak version of Noticing Hypothesis.

5 Exemplar–based vs rule–based knowledge:

The debate on representation of linguistic knowledge has been those who defend how we represent linguistic knowledge: A) a generative rule-based system. B) an exemplar-based system: - Rule-based system (RBS) - Information processing theory - Exemplar-based system (EBS) - Connectionism. RULE-BASED SYSTEM. Linguistic knowledge is represented in the brain as a set of rules which are worked out from the input. Assumption: What is learned, although derived from actual instances, consists of underlying rules which have been induced from the stimulus material (i.e. input); all learning is based on rules. Rules become the basis for generalization and transfer (when a student induces rule, generalizes & then applies to other contexts: EX. He puesto, he ponido*). The brain is able to generate rules about the language. Chomsky: UG (human being is biologically programmed for language). Children are born with a special ability to discover on their own the rules governing a language system (Special ability: LAD (Language Acquisition Device). RBS is considered to be 'the most creative system'. Because it facilitates the expression of new meanings. Enables the generation of utterances which have never been produced before. - Psychological assumptions of this type of system were: a) Computation is cheap and fast. b) Memory system is compact, efficiently organized and non-redundant. However, research has shown that: RBS is 'expensive' in terms of psychological resources (our knowledge of the language is sets of words). No evidence that the memory system is efficiently organized avoiding duplication in storage (linguistic knowledge is represented in the brain as a set of rules).

EXEMPLAR-BASED SYSTEM:

Linguistic knowledge is based on the accumulation of large numbers of formulaic items/language/chunks. Some examples: Phrasal verbs (put up with), Idioms (a piece of cake), Collocations (heated argument), Frames (If I were you, I’d..), Expressions (How are you?). According to Bolinguer: lg is largely based on lexical elements that cannot be easily described by rules. Ex: Somewhere else vs. *Sometimes else. RBS: unable to account for this & other exceptions so it cannot always be justified. Memory system: It's not compact but quite large (vast storage capacity). Not efficiently organized but redundant with dual & multiple representations of items (the same word may be stored more than once). Scholars said: Much of the language is exemplar-based rather than rule-based. Ls are able to draw on their EBS to obtain quick and easy access to the linguistic means needed to generate utterances. They rely on this system because fluent speech is based on the retrieval of ready-made exemplars (formulaic items) rather than the rapid computation of rules. Exemplars require minimal processing capacity because they are accessed as wholes. Memorization and recall are cheap in terms of mental resources. So, language must be represented as an EBS because, if not, normal fluent speech would be impossible. Problems: EBS is limited and not all language use involves real-time processing. There are times when Ls need to formulate precise & novel propositions/utterances.

A RBS: it makes creativity & flexibility in what is said possible.