Recent studies have suggested that the incorporation of some attention to form into meaning-centered instruction can lead to improved performance in processing input and increased accuracy in production. Most have examined attention to form delivered by instructors or instructional materials. This study examines the production of 8 classroom learners at 4 levels of proficiency to determine the extent to which learners can and do spontaneously attend to form in their interaction with other learners. Results suggest that the degree and type of learner-generated attention to form is related to proficiency level and the nature of the activity in which the learners are engaged. They also indicate that learners overwhelmingly choose to focus on lexical rather than grammatical issues.Findings of a wide range of immersion and naturalistic acquisition studies suggest that when second language learning is solely experiential and focussed on communicative success, some linguistic features do not develop to targetlike accuracy (see

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Results of recent studies, some of which appear in this volume, suggest that the incorporation of some degree of focus on form (FonF) into meaning‐centered instruction can lead to improved performance in processing input and increased accuracy in production. Long (1983) originally defined FonF as a brief turning of attention to some formal feature while the overriding focus of the interaction remains on meaning. Ideally, this focus should arise incidentally, in response to some problem in comprehension or production. The incidental nature of the interaction would be more likely to result in focus on a form to which the learner is attending and is ready to notice. However, to ascertain the effect of such a focus in an experimental setting, it becomes necessary to manipulate the situation somewhat, in particular, to predetermine the formal focus and to ensure that it will occur. As a result, in most studies the focus is provided by the researcher and delivered intentionally, and usually extensively, through the teacher or special materials. Thus, the focus no longer arises incidentally, potentially vitiating the effectiveness of the intervention. This study differs from previous studies in two ways. First, it is set in intact classrooms, so all episodes involving focus on form arise incidentally. Second, it examines only such episodes as are initiated by learners. The justification for this is an extension of the argument for incidental FonF. If the effectiveness of FonF is ultimately determined by learner need, then it is essential to examine the episodes in which the learners themselves choose to focus on formal aspects of language. The study addresses the following research questions: Do learners initiate attention to form, as requests for assistance, feedback on error, modeling, or fine tuning, that is, repetitions, recasts, and requests for clarification? If so, on what kinds of forms do they choose to focus? The results suggest that learners can and do attend to form, though relatively infrequently. The most frequent way that they do this is t o request assistance from their teachers. Learner‐generated attention to form increases considerably with rising proficiency and during specific activities. In general, the likelihood of learner‐generated attention to form seems to be linked to learners' perception of the goals of the activity. In addition, as learners' proficiency increases, they are less likely to rely on their teachers for help. Finally, episodes that involve learners‐generated attention to form revolve largely around lexis. More than anything else, learners want to know about words.

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This paper examines the curriculum of international teaching assistant (ITA) programs within a sociolinguistic model of language use, the “communicative competence” model proposed by Hymes (1972) and, in its pedagogical applications, by Canale (1983), Canale and Swain (1980), and Savignon (1983). In the face of a growing number of ITA programs, at times with ad hoc curricular goals, the communicative competence framework provides an integrated, theoretically sound principle for ITA program development and assessment, and an appropriate basis for understanding the emerging models of ITA competence. In order to take advantage of such a framework, however, it is crucial that ITA program developers and instructors come to terms with the task of preparing their students for their new role in the classroom. This will necessarily entail training beyond traditional ESL concerns, although ESL professionals may have neither the mandate from their institutions nor the background to accomplish this.

An examination of the planned and unplanned production of 24 nonnative‐speaking teaching assistants indicates that there is a greater difference between the 2 conditions in the degree of discourse marking than in grammatical accuracy. In planned production, discourse moves were more likely to be marked overtly and explicitly than in unplanned production, whereas the level of syntactic and morphological errors differed only slightly. This increased marking in the planned condition appeared to contribute significantly to comprehensibility, suggesting that explicit marking of discourse structure is a crucial element of the comprehensibility of nonnative‐speaker production.

The objective of the study was to determine the effect on lexical acquisition and retention of: (a) L1 multiple-choice glosses, (b) L2 text reconstruction with opportunities to recheck input and (c) combined treatments. These treatments were chosen for the following reasons: multiple-choice glosses are said to require ‘mental effort’, increasing the likelihood of retention. Reconstructing the text in the L2 may prompt learners to notice ‘holes’ in their lexicon and focus their attention on subsequent input. Seventy-six fourth-semester learners of German read a text in one of the four conditions (3 experimental; 1 control). Productive and receptive word gains were tested immediately after the treatment and again five weeks later. Findings suggest that the multiple-choice gloss treatment resulted in significantly deeper productive and receptive word gains immediately after the treatment. A significant receptive word gain was retained for five weeks only for the combined treatment condition.