The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Carol A. Chapelle
needed on the role of awareness in the L2 learning process. There are several avenues of research that have been suggested. First, the construct awareness needs to be established: Is it a dichotomy (aware vs. unaware) or does it occur on a continuum (Leow, 2000)? Second, the stage at which awareness is measured along the L2 learning process needs to be firmly established (Leow et al., 2011). Third, future research needs to probe deeper into the potential co‐occurrence of both implicit and explicit learning during the L2 learning process (Leow & Donatelli, 2017). To address these theoretical gaps, future research in SLA may want to view awareness from both a process and product perspective (Leow, 2015a, 2015b) and situate this distinction within an SLA theoretical framework that typically comprises several stages along the learning process from input to output (Leow 2015a, 2015b). Data gathered at a stage before internalization of L2 data comprises the stage of construction, where L2 learners encode and/or decode incoming L2 data (process), while data gathered after the internal system comprises the stage of reconstruction, where L2 learners report or demonstrate what they have learned or became aware of (product). Employing concurrent data elicitation procedures may address (a) the role of awareness in the learning process, (b) the potential interactive role played by both implicit and explicit learning during the construction stage, and (c) the appropriate categorization of participants into (i) aware or unaware status or (ii) the type of knowledge (implicit or explicit) being developed (Leow & Donatelli, 2017).
Conclusion
This entry has presented a concise overview of the theoretical, methodological, and empirical issues surrounding the roles of attention, noticing, and awareness in adult L2 behavior and learning and provided brief synopses of empirical studies premised on these roles in L2 development. The overall findings appear to indicate facilitative effects of attention/noticing and awareness on adult L2 learners' subsequent processing, intake, and learning of targeted L2 forms or structures embedded in the L2 data, with one caveat: Not all data attended to or noticed automatically become internalized in the internal system. At the same time, notwithstanding the methodological concerns inherent in both the operationalization and measurement of the slippery construct of awareness, further research on unaware learning is warranted given the central role awareness plays in many major strands of SLA research. While current research findings are indeed promising, more robust research designs are clearly needed to address the issue of L2 development premised on the roles of attention/noticing and (un)awareness given the wide variety of variables that can potentially impact learners' processing and processes while interacting with L2 data. Such findings can only improve our understanding of the attentional and cognitive processes involved in L2 learning.
SEE ALSO: Task‐Based Learning: Cognitive Underpinnings
References
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2 Godfroid, A., Boers, F., & Housen, A. (2013). An eye for words: Gauging the role of attention in L2 vocabulary acquisition by means of eye tracking. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35, 483–517.
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Suggested Readings
1 Leow, R. P., Grey, S., Marijuan, S., & Moorman,