Exploring The Role Of Enhanced Models In High School Students’ Incidental Noticing And Use Of Vocabulary In L2 Writing Tasks

This study explores whether enhanced model can significantly influence incidental noticing and use of vocabulary in L2 writing.Two homogenous groups of thirty-four high school EFL students were asked to participate in the three-stage writing tasks.Each group included 8 high-intermediate,6 intermediate and 3 low-intermediate students,and the three-stage writing tasks involved a)initial composing based on picture cues,b)comparing their texts with the enhanced(for the experimental group)and unenhanced model text(for the control group),and c)rewriting their original compositions.To reduce the inaccuracy of note-taking as measurement of learners’ noticing for individual factors,two three-stage writing tasks were implemented with treatment type of two groups being exchanged.In addition to written notes and compositions and questionnaires,interview transcripts were also collected to probe into six participants’ noticing processes while comparing original texts with the model,as well as underlying factors influencing students’production of L2 vocabulary.Data analysis showed that enhanced models significantly promoted learners’ incidental noticing in Task 2 but failed to do that in Task 1.Besides,it did not significantly facilitate incorporation of noticed target vocabulary in both tasks.The multiple sources of data showed whether target vocabulary is necessary for task completion and perceptual salience were more influential than textual enhancement in influencing noticing of participants,while for incorporation,it was mainly influenced by complexity of target vocabulary,including their forms and uses.As to effects of L2 proficiency levels,high-intermediate participants noticed more words,whereas the intermediate students incorporated more of their noticed words in writing.This study contributes to our understanding of the effects of textual enhancement on incidental vocabulary noticing and incorporation from L2 model learning.It calls for and suggests appropriate use of textual enhancement and other pedagogical methods to facilitate the effects of textual enhancement,such as promoting memorizing and explaining the usage of some vocabulary.