Learners' noticing of their own second language output and its effects on subsequent task performance by Japanese learners of English as a foreign language

The present study reports on a quasi-experimental classroom study which examined the effects of focusing Japanese second-language learners of English on their own output through the use of transcripts of their discussion task production. This study contributes to research in five areas: (a) The role of output in instructed second language acquisition; (b) the differential effects of processing input for grammar or meaning, or both simultaneously; (c) the effects of learning under different conditions of exposure to input; (d) the role of attention and consciousness of form during second language learning; and (e) the measurement of interlanguage change along the dimensions of accuracy, fluency, and complexity.; The study took place within a task-based language learning classroom. Transcripts were analyzed by the students in one of three treatment conditions: Noticing Form (group correction of grammatical errors noted by the instructor); Noticing Meaning (group clarification of unclear production); Noticing Enhancement (group clarification of unclear production with enhancement of researcher-corrected grammatical errors). A control group receiving none of the above treatments was included.; The results show no statistically significant differences between the groups' performance from a discussion task after the treatment on measures of grammatical accuracy, syntactic complexity, and fluency. Raw scores showed only small differences between the groups.; Comparisons of the gain scores of the measures and the participants' reported awareness of their performance on a questionnaire showed a significant negative relationship between gains in accuracy and reported awareness of the clarity of production. This effect is explained within an information-processing theory of language use in which speakers have a limited capacity for processing language and, therefore, will decline in accuracy as they focus on meaning, or vice versa.; The results of this study suggest that a metalinguistic focus by the learner on their own output may have limited effects on subsequent task production---in the short term---but that whatever changes in production occur depend on the learners' awareness of and attention to their output.