Learning & Acquisition Learning is considered a conscious process where we focus on linguistic forms. Acquisition is considered as a more natural way of learning a language because the form of the language is SECONDARY to DOING something with the language. We acquire the language UNCONSCIOUSLY.

Consciousness Being conscious means you you are paying attention You have some degree of control BUT We cannot attend to different things unless one of them is automatic Limited processing space means learners find it hard to ATTEND to form and meaning AT THE SAME time

Attention/ noticing If you ATTEND to something you NOTICE it. To acquire the grammar of a language, you need to notice aspects of the language. Noticing is necessary for INPUT to be processed for FORM.

The noticing hypothesis Learners must first consciously ‘notice’ some particular form in the input before any processing of that form can take place.

Why does noticing help the language learner You become more aware of the language and thus more receptive to it. You notice the gaps in your own knowledge. Noticing is realised through FOCUS ON FORM APPROACHES OR Fonf approaches. The focus is STILL on communication but you draw learners’ attention to linguistic forms as they arise in natural, authentic communication

Noticing Influences on noticing (adapted from Skehan) NOTICING QUALITY OF INPUT VARIATION BETWEEN FREQUENCY & INDIVIDUALS – E.G. ARE SALIENCE THEY READY? (CF zpd) DEMANDS OF TASK ON PROCESSING CAPCITY

Helping learners notice form whilst still being a communicative task (See Ellis Task Based Learning) Structure based production tasks (you need to use the structure to complete the task) Input enrichment tasks (you make a particular structure stand out) Consciousness raising tasks (these aim to get you to notice aspects of your IMPLICIT knowledge & develop explicit knowledge.

Implicit vs. Explicit Language Learning Area Implicit Explicit How the knowledge is represented In chunks, lexical bundles or examples –called ‘exemplar’ Intuitive Rule based Getting and using the knowledge Automatic and effortless Fluent and skilled Deliberate: (so needs more effort). Perhaps slower How do we learn Incidental/unaware Inductive Deductive/intentional Noticed Attention Unconcious Concious What does the teacher do? Unobrustive/none Teacher intervenes/ often uses metalinguistic terms

An interface position consciousness raising Implicit explicit Knowledge knowledge automatization

Explicit learning does not mean the TEACHER TELLS you the rules.