| Swain (1993) and Swain & Lapkin (1995) proposed the output hypothesis as a complement to the role of input in second language acquisition. The hypothesis argues that second language learners, when led to reflect on their output, will notice gaps in their L2 knowledge and (1) resolve them correctly, (2) resolve them incorrectly, or (3) ignore the gaps. This process of verbalizing and either modifying or ignoring problems with the L2 was defined as a language-related episode (LRE), and it was claimed that this type of output may lead learners to the edge of their interlanguage and encourage L2 development.; This research investigates noticing during an output push as a part of learner output and whether such noticing is required for L2 development in writing to occur. Following procedures similar to those used by Swain & Lapkin (1995), ten intermediate to advanced ESL learners participated in three think-aloud sessions while writing essays for their classes. The protocols of the think-aloud sessions were transcribed, compared with the written essays, and coded for LREs (verbalized problems) and self-pushes (non-verbalized, automatic corrections). Relying on this coding, the verbal protocols were analyzed by describing the noticing that learners engaged in during the think-aloud sessions. The essays were examined for T-units, clauses, and evidence of coordination/subordination, focusing on the learners' L2 fluency, lexical density, grammatical complexity and accuracy. In order to determine the relationship of noticing to L2 development in writing, group correlations were established between the ratio of the learners' noticings per total words and the changes in written fluency, lexical density, grammatical complexity, and accuracy between the last think-aloud session and the first.; The results indicate that the learners noticed difficulties when writing in the L2 during a think aloud task. However, only accuracy in the learners' essays, as measured in the number of errors per T-unit, was significantly correlated to noticing. These findings suggest that further research on noticing and its relationship to L2 development in writing should be conducted to provide a closer understanding of learner output and its relationship to L2 development. |
