Explicit Input Enhancement: Effects on Target and Non‐Target Aspects of Second Language Acquisition

Abstract: Many recent studies have examined the effectiveness of various types of input enhancement. The following study expands this line of inquiry to include technological applications of language learning by comparing the effectiveness of the computer application of diacritics to a traditional pen-and-paper process among beginning students of French and Spanish. In addition to studying the effect of computer-mediated input enhancement on the recall of accents, this study also questions the incidental effects of input enhancement on non-target aspects of the second language acquisition (SLA) process. Results support the effectiveness of explicit and computer-mediated input enhancement. Key words: accents, attention, diacritics, enhancement, input, salience Language: French and Spanish Introduction Over the past few decades, the second language (L2) teaching profession appears to have reached a general consensus concerning the importance of providing comprehensible input along with opportunities for meaningful communication in the L2 classroom. As important and meaningful as this seeming accord may be, some educators and students remain unimpressed by the resulting degree of linguistic accuracy achieved by some learners (Candelier, 1986; Fotos, 1995; Gnutzmann, 1997; Harley, 1993; Harley & Swain, 1985; Herman & Olson Flanigan, 1995; Luc, 1995; Trevise, 1993). For Simard and Wong (2004), a "pure focus on meaning in L2 learning does not lead to high levels of linguistic accuracy" (p. 96), while Trevise (1993) fears that the removal of grammatical and pedagogical metalanguage from the communicative classroom can result in increased linguistic deficiencies. Just as communicative competence represented a reaction to the form-focused grammar classroom of our professional past (Garrett, 1986), recent as well as current movements such as input enhancement (Sharwood Smith, 1993), focus-on-form (Doughty, 1998; Doughty & Williams, 1998a, 1998b; Long & Robinson, 1998), and processing instruction (Collentine, 1998a, 1998b; VanPatten, 1990, 1992; VanPatten & Cadierno, 1993; VanPatten & Sanz, 1995) call the profession back from an extreme communicative position toward a middle ground. In fact, even during a period of unprecedented support for the communicative movement, some theorists already suspected that something was missing (Gascoigne, 2006) and suggested a need to draw attention to the formal properties of the language via input enhancement while maintaining a communicative context. Many recent studies have examined the effects of input enhancement techniques employed within a communicatively oriented environment. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to both replicate and expand upon earlier research examining the effectiveness of computer-mediated input enhancement among beginning L2 learners of French and Spanish. Whereas earlier studies typically focus on a single L2, this study is replicated in two distinct beginning postsecondary language environments (French and Spanish). In addition to examining the effect of input enhancement on recall of the target structure, this study also questions the incidental effect, if any, that input enhancement may have on nontargeted aspects of L2 production. Finally, the present study employs a robust and kinesthetic, rather than merely visual, form of input enhancement within a computermediated environment. Input Enhancement Input enhancement theory is premised on the belief that sheer exposure to certain L2 structures is insufficient for language acquisition, or at least mastery, to occur (Rutherford & Sharwood Smith, 1985, 1988a, 1988b). Indeed, "it is quite possible that the L2 learner, even though exposed to certain structures, will fail to perceive them in naturalistic input. In other words, the input does not become intake" (Lightbown & Ranta, 1991, p. 417). Input enhancement, formerly known as consciousness-raising, is defined by Sharwood Smith as a deliberate attempt to draw learners' attention to formal properties of an L2, or to increase learners' awareness of structures and functions of the target language (1993). …