Learners' grammar noticing centers more on syntax than morphology, with syntax issues encountered by all participants¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2017 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2022: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

Reading the evidence codes

q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.

This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.

q2 i? All ten learners encountered syntactical issues whereas only five encountered morphological issues, suggesting greater concern with syntax. → Monika Geist 2017

Evidence¶

Monika Geist 2017¶

Monika Geist. (2017). Noticing grammar in L2 writing and problem-solving strategies. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 7(3), 471-487. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2017.7.3.6

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

In the same ten-participant think-aloud dataset, 24 syntactical LREs were identified versus twelve morphological LREs; the author states "all learners encountered syntactical issues whereas just five learners encountered issues of morphology."

"Based on the limited data gathered in the current study, it seems that learners are concerned more about syntax than about morphology. In addition, all learners encountered syntactical issues whereas just five learners encountered issues of morphology."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

Morphological Awareness — outcome: instruction changes it

Review-reported experiment found output performed noticing and hypothesis-testing functions but no apparent metalinguistic function in L2 writing — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
Learners resolve grammar-related noticing with intuition, reasoning, rephrasing and explicit rules rather than external resources — related
The article concludes adult learners acquire two things about English adverbs: their general syntactic positions and their scope — related
Morphological noticing focuses mainly on verb forms, especially modals, and on preposition choice — related
Syntactical noticing focuses mainly on sentence length and ways of connecting clauses — related
The study tested the interaction of explicit instruction with complexity and morphology/syntax across four L2 structures — related
Lexical LREs dominate grammar-related LREs in young learners' L2 writing noticing — related
No differential effect of explicit instruction depending on the variable morphology/syntax — related

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`claim`
`id`	`syntax-outweighs-morphology-in-grammar-noticing`
`title`	`Learners' grammar noticing centers more on syntax than morphology, with syntax issues encountered by all participants`
`description`	`Learners' grammar noticing centers more on syntax than morphology, with syntax issues encountered by all participants`
`status`	`review`
`evidence_strength`	`weak`
`newest_evidence`	`2017`
`recheck_by`	`2022`
`generated`	by `process:wiki-ingest` on `2026-09-27`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `monika-geist-2017`

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