Volume: 13  Number: 4  Page: 243–264

Verbal Reports, Noticing, and SLA Research

Takako Egi University of Florida, USA

In the growing interest in the role of attention and awareness in SLA, researchers have employed various introspective measures to uncover cognitive processes underlying SLA. This paper explores the use of a recall technique known as immediate retrospective verbal reports as a qualitative measure of noticing during oral interaction in SLA (compare Philp, 2003). The study employed a pre-test–treatment–post-test design with two groups: immediate report (n = 13) and stimulated recall (n = 10) groups. Using the immediate retrospective verbal report technique, the immediate report group recalled thoughts about language episodes immediately after a brief conversational turn during the treatment as prompted by an auditory stimulus. In contrast, using the stimulated recall technique (Gass & Mackey, 2000), the stimulated recall group recalled thoughts while watching videotaped treatment sessions after the completion of the treatment and post-test. Results indicated no significant between-group differences on the production and recognition post-tests, suggesting no influence of immediate reports on subsequent learning. Qualitative analysis of the data suggested that immediate reports may more clearly capture learners’ noticing with fewer memory decay problems relative to stimulated recall.

Keywords: verbal reports, noticing, SLA, research methodology

© 2004 T. Egi

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