ECIS Conference Hamburg 2009 #4 Comprehensible Input

In her presentation entitled Second Language Acquisition Via Comprehensible Input Susan Gross challenged the usefulness of time -honoured practices favoured by language teachers and those working with language learners in mainstream classrooms; for example sequenced grammar and exercises and error correction.

Her claims rest on Stephen Krashen's comprehensible input hypothesis and make the distinction between language learning and language acquisition. Through comprehensible input we acquire language. Acquisition is effortless, subconscious and leads to us understanding the message. Language learning comes after acquisition and requires study, understanding the mechanics, practising structures and knowing the rules. Both processes lead to getting better at the language.

According to this theory language learners develop fluency and proficiency through comprehensible input not through output (i.e. oral repetition or practice).

When learners are required to produce learned language they have 3 conditions to fulfill. They have to

1. know the rule
2. be focused on the rule
3. take time to edit.

This doesn't take much account of conveying meaning which is surely what we need language for and creates a huge barrier to output.

On the other hand, acquiring language through input, listening or reading, with limited pressure for output, allows the brain to process the language, looking for patterns and making sense out of it.

Output comes into play later being the assessment after acquisition.

In the handout which you can find at the first link in this post, Susan Gross outlines five effective practices. Much more is available at the link just provided.
In general she stressed the importance of:

• recycling material in as many ways as possible
• the need for learners to hear the whole language from the beginning
• sheltering the vocabulary but not the grammar
• personalising the input so that students are more concerned with the meaning than with the language.

Although this is approach is controversial and not universally accepted (see Stephen Krashen link for discussion) I draw on it widely in my work with learners and would be happy to share more of this presentaion as I have only given an outline here.

This holds true for all the ECIS posts.

The remaining sessions I plan to share with you, though more briefly, are on collaboration, differentiation and the mother tongue.