This study aims to provide an in-depth qualitative analysis of instructional effects in L2 pragmatics by exploring the manner in which Japanese EFL learners' noticing of target English request forms is constrained by different types of treatment tasks and the subsequent effect of the learners' noticing on their learning outcomes. Following the pretest, 49 learners were assigned to one of the two instructional (treatment) conditions: a form-comparison condition and a form-search condition. The treatment data were examined with regard to the extent to which the learners had noticed the appropriate manner of request realization in English. The treatment data were further compared with the posttest self-reports, which revealed the learners' primary concerns regarding their L2 request realization. The results indicated that during the treatment, the learners in the form-comparison condition noticed the target request forms to a greater extent than those in the form-search condition. Further, the learners' higher awareness of the target forms tended to ensure the emergence of these forms during their posttest performance. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.