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MODELS, ATTENTION, AND AWARENESS IN SLA

A Response to Simard and Wong's “Alertness, Orientation, and Detection: The Conceptualization of Attentional Functions in SLA” (SSLA, 23, 103–124)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2002

Ronald P. Leow
Affiliation:
Georgetown University

Abstract

Simard and Wong (2001) raise serious concerns about the theoretical and empirical (Leow, 1998b) aspects of Tomlin and Villa's (1994) model, which postulates a fine-grained analysis of attention for SLA and the prediction that awareness at the level of detection is not crucial for further processing of second or foreign language (L2) data. According to Simard and Wong, Tomlin and Villa's frequently cited model has provided the “theoretical motivation for recent studies of input enhancement and especially of textual enhancement in SLA” (p. 104), an impact that needs to be viewed with caution (p. 105). To motivate their critique of Tomlin and Villa's model, the authors repeatedly question the validity of basing their model on “findings from the research contexts of psychology and neuroscience” (p. 105) and, in turn, put forward suggestions for a model of attention that they claim would better reflect the complex nature of SLA as well as suggestions for “new” research orientations relating to attention and awareness in SLA.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2002 Cambridge University Press

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