Noticing Game

The Noticing Game is a procedure for early immersion. The learner watches real content in the target language and looks on purpose for pieces they can recognize. The content stays real. The goal of the session is to find those pieces. Understanding the whole video is not the goal.

Early immersion content is mostly not understood. Looking for recognizable pieces on purpose makes that content usable earlier.

Core takeaways

• The basic version has five steps: pick short tolerable content, choose one target set, watch with high attention, mark or mentally register what appeared, and stop before the hour turns into background exposure.
• A target set can be cognates, words from a frequency list, primed vocabulary, repeated sounds, familiar characters or subtitles, or grammar forms recently reviewed in a primer. The learner chooses one set per session.
• The basic version, with no confirmation, is the complete game. The confirmation version adds a tool layer and is a variant.
• The game fails in two directions: a session in which nothing noticed can be named, and a session in which every second becomes a lookup.
• The checkable result is that the learner can name something noticed at the end of the session.

The five steps

The basic version is five steps.

1. Pick short content you can tolerate, so the session does not turn into background listening.
2. Choose one target set. Choosing several sets at once leads to over-checking.
3. Watch with high attention. Attention is Important gives the reason the game exists: attention needs one specific thing to do.
4. Mark or mentally register each target that appeared. Marking produces a record. Whether marking works better than mental registration is unverified.
5. Stop before the hour turns into passive background exposure.

What counts as a target set

The learner picks one kind of target from a list. The kinds have no set order. A beginner can use cognates. Words from a frequency list are a reasonable early target set, because high-frequency vocabulary covers a large share of running text. A short written list of targets brought into the session is enough. Ten words already known, or ten words from any free frequency list, can be written down in a minute. Primed vocabulary is a valid target. So are repeated sounds, which are useful while the learner cannot yet read the writing system, familiar characters or subtitles, and grammar forms recently reviewed in a primer.

Why the basic version is complete

The game gives attention one specific job: register a specific surface element on purpose. In place of passive watching of content the learner does not understand, the session searches for pieces that are partly familiar. This makes immersion usable earlier. It also gives repeated chances to connect primed vocabulary with real input. That connection is transfer of priming into input. It is not a spaced-repetition finding.

Noticing with no confirmation is still the full game. The confirmation version is a variant. It does not improve on the basic version. Confirmation is what makes the game part of Interactive Immersion. The basic version is complete without being part of that mode.

The confirmation version

The confirmation version adds a tool layer. The tool checks whether the item the learner noticed was really there. The tools are subtitles, a popup dictionary, a transcript, or another metalayer. Immersion Metalayers describes that class of tools and reviews no products.

Confirmation is useful in four situations:

• Target-language subtitles are on screen.
• The learner is connecting a sound to its written form.
• The learner is testing whether a word or grammar pattern was actually present.
• The session is Interactive Immersion rather than pure freeflow.

Confirmation fails when it turns every second into a lookup.

Four ways the game fails

Failure	Signal	Repair
Passive watching	Nothing noticed can be named	A smaller target list, or shorter content
Over-checking	Every second becomes a lookup	Limit checks to likely targets
Content too hard	Nothing stands out	Easier, more visual, or previously watched content. Hacking Comprehension Menu holds the list of changes to make
Content too boring	Attention drifts even when difficulty is right	YouTube Immersion Account

How to tell the game is working

The main way the game fails is that the learner goes back, without saying so, to the goal of understanding the whole thing. The game needs high attention, and it runs on short content. The checkable result is that the learner can name something noticed at the end of the session.

A session in which nothing can be named was passive watching. A session in which every second was a lookup was over-checking. Both are outside the game. Stop the game after two sessions in which nothing was named, or two in which every second was a lookup.

A good session produces a few recognizable pieces found in real language. The rest of the video can stay not understood.

How to practice this

1. Pick short content in the target language that you can tolerate. Notice whether the session stays active or turns into background listening.
2. Before you start, choose one target set: ten words you already know, or ten from a free frequency list. Writing the list takes about a minute. Notice that one set keeps you from checking everything.
3. Watch with high attention. Mark, or mentally register, each target that appears. Notice which targets appeared and which did not.
4. Stop before the hour turns into passive background exposure. Notice the point where your attention drops.
5. At the end, name something you noticed. If you can name nothing, use a smaller target list or shorter content next time.
6. If you used a confirmation tool and every second became a lookup, limit checks to likely targets next time. After two sessions that named nothing, or two that were all lookups, stop the game.

Related pages

• Interactive Immersion: the mode the confirmation version belongs to.
• YouTube Immersion Account: the repair for content that is the right difficulty and still loses attention.
• Attention is Important: the reason the game exists. Attention needs one specific thing to do.
• Hacking Comprehension Menu: the list of changes to make when nothing stands out.
• Immersion Metalayers: the class of tools confirmation uses. The page describes the class and reviews no products.

2 more related pages

• Vietnamese Language Learning Resources: where to find content and lists for Vietnamese, one of the languages this vault works on.
• Mandarin Chinese Language Learning Resources: the same, for Mandarin Chinese.

Open questions

Whether marking works better than mental registration is unverified.

Sources

• Schmidt, R. (1990, 1995). Noticing / attention-to-form in input. The game itself is a procedure made in this vault.
• Costa, A., Caramazza, A., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2000). Cognate facilitation: the reason a beginner can use cognates as a target set.
• Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Frequency lists as a target set: high-frequency vocabulary covers a large share of running text.