Predicting L2 learners’ noticing of L2 errors: Proficiency, language analytical ability, and interaction mindset

The current study explored whether three individual difference variables (proficiency, language analytical ability, and interaction mindset) predict the ways in which second language (L2) speakers report noticing of L2 errors produced by another learner. University-level EFL learners in a teacher training program (N = 102) watched a video in which two L2 speakers carried out a job interview role-play. The interview was scripted so that the job applicant produced 15 errors: five morphosyntactic, five lexical, and five phonological. While watching the video, the pre-service teachers completed a form to give feedback to the job applicant about four dimensions of her performance: appearance and behavior, interest and enthusiasm, content of responses, and language use. They also completed a cloze proficiency test, the MLAT analytical ability test, and an interaction mindset questionnaire. Results showed that the learners reported few of the errors that had been scripted into the role-play. A regression model indicated that two subconstructs of interaction mindset (form-orientation and provision of peer feedback) predicted the number of linguistic errors reported. The findings and pedagogical implications are discussed in light of the relevance of interaction mindset to L2 learners’ attention to form during task-based interaction.