Under the reasonable supposition that L2 speakers have a less exact probabilistic representation of the syntax of their L2 language than L1 speakers do, the noisy channel model directly predicts that L2 comprehenders will rely more on world knowledge and discourse factors when interpreting and recalling utterances. Also, under the supposition that L2 speakers suppose a higher error rate than L1 speakers do, the noisy channel model predicts that they will be more influenced by alternative parses which are not directly compatible with the form of an utterance.