A Study of Noticing and Grammar Achievement in Two Cognitive and Ecological Perspectives to Language Learning via Oral and Writing Modalities

Given the growth of new technologies in the field of education, further research and development in this field can lead to the emergence of new educational methods for curriculum providers and teachers. Most teachers aim at raising learners’ noticing and developing their language learning competencies. The present paper investigates learners’ noticing and their achievement in certain grammatical structures in two cognitive and ecological perspectives on language learning. In doing so, the learners were assigned to four experimental groups and were taught certain grammatical structures in two different cognitive and ecological approaches through oral and writing modalities. The sample of the study included 120 students from Islamic Azad University and University of Applied Science and Technology in Tehran. Tools used to gather data were observation, interviews after each session, and one grammar test including target structures. The results of the study showed that there was a statistically significant association between learners’ noticing and the cognitive approach to language learning. However, the ecological approach was more effective in learning the given structures. The results of the analysis also revealed that learners’ noticing and their grammar learning were not statistically different in writing and oral groups. The ecological perspective, which is a new educational and ecological-driven approach and focuses on language tools in the space and environment and learners’ interactions, can act as an innovative approach in the education system of Iran.