Theme: Speaking as an interactive process Table of content

A: The first stage: input processing
VanPatten (1996) suggests two principles that govern the processing of input for FL learners:
* Learners process input for meaning before processing it for form.
* Attention to form requires that we give learners more time and lighten the burden on their cognitive capacity so that they can learn these forms. Hence, it is claimed that in order for input to become intake and be available for further processing, it has to be ‘noticed’ or ‘detected’ under consciousness (Tomlin& Villa, 1994; VanPatten, 1996 and Kasper, 2001: 510). In this phase, consciousness is interpreted, in Schmidt's (1994) terms, as focal attention or "noticing" that is a necessary condition for storing information into long-term memory (Tomlin& Villa, 1994). Analyzing the role of noticing in FL learning, Fotos (1993: 389) proposes that a language learner goes through four steps:
* A eature in the input is noticed, either consciously or unconsciously.
* An unconscious comparison is made between existing linguistic knowledge (interlanguage), and the new input.
* New hypotheses are constructed on the basis of the differences between the new information and the current interlanguage.
* The new hypotheses are tested through attending to input and also through the learner's output using the new form.
Van Patten (1996) provides the following model to show how noticing the input affects language acquisition.
Noticing


Input Intake Developing inter language
Hence, the framework places noticing in a mediating role between input and the memory system, represented by "intake" which leads to language development. After the input is noticed it is stored in the form of representations to undergo what is called "central processing" this is interpreted in the following section.
B: The second stage: Central processing
Having considered input processing, we need to examine what happens to the input within the system. Three questions immediately arise:
- What sort of information organizational system is involved?
- What sort of processes operate upon such a system? Input Intake Developing interlanguage Noticing
- What role does learner's awareness play at this phase?