This paper critically examines Tomlin and Villa's (1994) fine-grained analysis ofattention and Leow's (1998) attempt to operationalize their model. Our position is thatwhereas Tomlin and Villa have moved the attention research forward by describing the nature ofattentional processes and by pointing out that detection is a critical function of SLA, their claimthat alertness and orientation are not necessary for detection to occur is currently unsupportableand does not reflect the complex nature of SLA. We argue that Leow's efforts to provideempirical support for this model fall short of that goal. Additionally, we cast doubt on Tomlin andVilla's position that awareness is not required for the detection of L2 data by arguing thatthe issue of awareness as well as the role of attentional functions must be viewed from a moreinteractive perspective in terms of the nature of the task, the nature of the linguistic item, andindividual learner differences. We conclude by proposing research orientations that may helpadvance the discussion on this topic.