How is “noticing” during L2 speech production retained in recent memory?

A case study of intermediate learners of Japanese

Abstract

In ‘output hypothesis’ (Swain, 1985; 1995), one of the functions of L2 learners’ output is the ‘noticing function’, which prompts L2 learners to pay selective attention to their lack of L2 knowledge and competence. Although this hypothesis has previously been examined by some researchers, their studies are based on cognitivism’s classic paradigm, via which they consider the L2 learning process as a computer-based metaphor beginning with input and ending with output. However, our speech production, whether it is in L2 or L1, begins with the conceptualization of the message (Levelt, 1989; Kormos, 2006). This research focuses on L2 speech production including message conceptualization. The data collected from an opinion sharing task of intermediate learners of Japanese showed more than half of the noticing occurring during speech production is related to lexical holes and gaps. Also, although less than 10 % of the noticing is specifically recalled immediately after the production, the data indicated that linguistic items related to limitations that the learners recognized repeatedly tended to be recalled vaguely.