Leow (2001a) employed concurrent data elicitation procedures (think aloud protocols) to investigate the benefits of textual enhancement, premised on the roles of attention and awareness (noticing), in second/foreign language (L2) learning. The present study follows this methodological approach to further investigate these benefits in addition to the role of type of linguistic item in subsequent processing of targeted items in the input. Seventy-two first year college-level participants read an enhanced or unenhanced text with either the present perfect or present subjunctive forms. Their performances on an immediate recognition and comprehension task were subsequently submitted to quantitative analyses. Results indicated no significant benefits of written input enhancement over unenhanced written input for (1) the amount of reported noticing of the Spanish present perfect or present subjunctive forms, (2) readers' comprehension, or (3) readers' intake. With respect to type of linguistic item, significant benefits of more salient forms (present perfect) over less salient forms (present subjunctive were found for (1) the amount of reported noticing of targeted verb forms, but not for (2) readers' comprehension, or (3) readers' intake. Theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical implications are also discussed.