Noticing Hypothesis Language Learning Theories

45

b. Noticing Hypothesis

As discussed before, noticing is one degree of awareness. Schmidt 1990 argues that noticing is necessary for input to become intake which is necessary for second language learning. This hypothesis claims that learning will take place when learners pay attention to the linguistic forms they attend to. The basic claim is that input will not become intake for second language learning unless it is noticed consciously. Schmidt‘s Noticing Hypothesis comes from his own experiences when he learned Portuguese. While he was learning Portuguese, he realized that certain linguistic forms began to appear in his own interlanguage system only when he noticed them. Thus, any forms of Portuguese that he did not notice from input either from his interlocutors would not appear in his language production or output. Regarding this hypothesis, Schmidt distinguishes this hypothesis into two; a strong form and a weak form of noticing hypothesis Ellis,2003. The strong form, which reflects his early position on this hypothesis, states that there is no learning without noticing the input. This claim is really strong since noticing is crucial in learning. There will be no intake without noticing. Meanwhile, the weak form which becomes his later position claims that people learn about the things that they attend to, and will not learn much about the things that they do not attend to. This hypothesis claims that noticing is a facilitative condition for learning. 46 I barely say that input should be noticed by learners in order to make learning take place. Thus, input should be presented explicitly in the learning materials to achieve intake. This idea has a connection with Input- Based Instruction Ellis, 2002 which promotes learners to be able to notice the presence of specific features in the input, to comprehend the meaning of the feature, and to rehearse the feature in short term memory. This type of instruction has already been discussed in pragmatics in language teaching section.

B. Review of Related Studies

There have been several studies carried out under the theme of pragmatic information in English course books used in various countries. Those textbooks were used either English as a foreign language or English as a second language. However, most studies showed that most English textbooks have insufficient both their sampling of pragmatics features and the quality of treatment of pragmatics. A qualitative and quantitative study was done by Vellenga 2004. She investigated 8 textbooks of English as a Second Language ESL and English as a Foreign Language EFL to determine the amount and quality of pragmatic information included in such textbooks. The analysis covered the use of metalanguage, explicit treatment of speech acts, and metapragmatic information which included discussions of register, illocutionary force, politeness, appropriacy and usage. The study found that there is a dearth of metalinguistic and metapragmatic information related to ways of speaking in textbooks. Although the amount of pragmatic information is small across all texts, a larger