Simard and Wong (2001) raise serious concerns about the theoretical and empirical (Leow,1998b) aspects of Tomlin and Villa's (1994) model, which postulates a fine-grained analysisof attention for SLA and the prediction that awareness at the level of detection is not crucial forfurther processing of second or foreign language (L2) data. According to Simard and Wong,Tomlin and Villa's frequently cited model has provided the “theoretical motivationfor recent studies of input enhancement and especially of textual enhancement in SLA” (p.104), an impact that needs to be viewed with caution (p. 105). To motivate their critique ofTomlin and Villa's model, the authors repeatedly question the validity of basing their modelon “findings from the research contexts of psychology and neuroscience” (p. 105)and, in turn, put forward suggestions for a model of attention that they claim would better reflectthe complex nature of SLA as well as suggestions for “new” research orientationsrelating to attention and awareness in SLA.