SLaT 615: Input Processing

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Have you ever explained a grammar rule to your students that you thought was really easy, only to be surprised when- the very next day or even moments- they were unable to use the rule when they spoke or even wrote?

A simple rule such as using certain endings in the present tense may be easy to teach but can be difficult for our learners to acquire.

Grammar does not drive the curriculum in such a classroom, therefore, but instead is incorporated in the service of communication.

An input-first approach to teaching grammar helps students build a conceptual understanding of how grammar is used in context before they are asked to produce it when they speak or write. Rather than starting by presenting the grammar rule to students in a decontextualized way, the input-first approach starts by providing meaningful language input that uses the target grammatical form in context.

By starting with input, learners develop an idea of the general concept of what the target grammatical structure means.

Starting with input allows learners to develop conceptual understandings and provides them with many examples of how the structure is used in context. To help learners focus on special features of language input, strategies from input processing instruction- such as enriched input, enhanced input, and structured input- can help ensure that students notice what the teacher wants them to notice.

Input processing instruction builds from an important area of research in second language acquisition: input processing, which studies how learners how learners make connection between language forms and their meanings. Input processing instruction applies this research to the classroom. Using an understanding of how learners process input, teachers can develop activities that help learners notice and make meaning of grammatical forms. But first providing input and language in context, then supplementing the input with input processing activities, teachers equip learners to notice grammatical structure and develop conceptual understandings of them as a precursor to understanding and being able to use the structure in their own output.

Processing: It occurs when learners make connections between a form and its meaning. (It is different from comprehensible input and from noticing features of the input without actually understanding them.)

I.E. "Go get two books from the table."

Learner may understood and processed "two book" and "table", noticed that teacher said "book-s" but doesn't understand the meaning of "-s". If teacher deleted "two" from the instruction, the student will process the information and realize that "-s" meant more than one.

This if form-meaning connections.

Otherwise, the -s is a form that is both meaningless (that is, it encodes no meaning in and of itself) and redundant (that is, the lexical item books tells learners the -s, which in and of itself is also meaningless).

While the grammar rule may be simple, processing it (making connections between the form and its meaning when encountering it in the input) is something that comes much later in learners' language development.

"he walk", "she eat": Principles of input processing show that this form is both meaningless (can you give a definition of the third person -s?) as well as redundant (learners know you are talking about a he/she/it from the subject). Since this form is not likely to be processed when learners encounter it in the input, it is less likely to become part of their internal language system, which they draw from when they speak spontaneously.

Principle

Sentence Example

Explanation

Primacy of content words

Learners will process content words before anything else.

"The sky is blue."

Learners will focus first on sky and blue to derive meaning.

Lexical Preference

Learners will process lexical items before grammatical ones, particularly when they encode the same meaning.

"I walked to the store yesterday."

Learners will first use yesterday to understand the past time frame of this sentence, rather than the -ed in walked.

Preference for Non-Redundancy

Learners will process non-redundant grammatical markers before redundant ones.

"The two girls are watching T.V."

The -s in girls is redundant, since two encodes the meaning of "more than one." The -ing in watching, however, is the only place that learners will get the meaning "in the process of"; -ing is non-redundant, and therefore learners are more likely to process it.

Meaning before Non-Meaning

Learners will process meaningful grammatical markers before non-meaningful ones.

"Do you have the books?"

Do is used here to indicate a question, but it is meaningless in and of itself. Learners are more likely to process the -s in books since it encodes the meaning of "more than one" and is non-redundant.

First Noun

Learners are likely to assume that the first noun they encounter in a sentence is the subject.

"The letter was mailed."

The first noun here is letter, although this sentence uses a passive, construction and does not explicitly name the active agent (the person who sent the letter). In English, the first noun is always the subject, but in other languages the first noun can instead be a direct or indirect object.

L1 Transfer

Learners will use their L1 structures to help with the processing.

"A Sofia le llamo Juan."

(Literally, "To Sofia her called Juan," meaning "Juan called Sofa."

Spanish has a more flexible word order than English, and Spanish Speakers can put the indirect object when English speaker would instead put the subject. L1 English speakers may process this sentence assuming that Sofa is the subject and not Juan (this also reflects the First Noun principle).

Sentence Location

Learners are more likely to process grammatical markers and lexical items when they come at the beginning of a sentence.

"The two shiny round red balloons were popped by the girl"

vs.

"The girl popped the two shiny round red ballons."

Learners are more likely to process the English adjective order number [two] before quality [shiny], shape [round], and color [red] if it is in the beginning of the sentence, as opposed to the end of middle.

Event Probability, Lexical Semantics, and Contextual Constraints

Although these are three different principles, each considers the likelihood of whether a statement is logical, which may force learners to re-process or draw on other processing principles to make sense of it.

"The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families."

This is a confusing sentence! Learners will likely initially process houses as the first noun and assume it is the subject, when in fact complex is the first noun and houses is the verb. Learners will likely pause initially when they put complex and houses together- how can houses be complex? If initially processed with complex houses as the subject, the learner will invariably stumble with the rest of the sentence, since it makes no sense. The illogic of what follows will force learners to revisit the sentence and draw deeply on their processing skills.

Input Processing Instruction

The basic premise of input processing instruction is to apply what is known from the principles of input processing in teaching. Using the principles of input processing outlined above, teachers can use input to help learners notice and process certain forms, be they lexical and grammatical.

Teachers can use authentic resources or teacher-made material to draw learners' attention to particular lexical items or grammatical forms that they want to highlight as part of their instruction. There are a few key ways in which this can be accomplished, including using enriched input, enhanced input, and structured input activities.

Enriched input (selecting a resource that includes the target grammar form in high frequency)

Also referred as "input flooding", enriched input is a language input that includes the target lexical item or grammatical form with high frequency.

Teacher-made resources can provide useful supplements. You should be careful, however, to incorporate the target form naturally so that it isn't overly obvious to students.

In addition to using either authentic resources or teacher-made resources, teachers may choose to bridge both options by using authentic resources as platforms for creating their own stories or telling simplified versions of authentic stories.

By selecting images from music videos, films, or other authentic materials, teachers can develop their own narratives that feature a high frequency of a target structure to provide enriched input.

Enhanced Input (where teachers highlight key grammar forms)

Enhanced input is essential the same as enriched input but takes the additional step of highlight the target feature to further draw learners' attention to it.

Electronic highlighting tools such as Scanmarker or LINER allow you to highlight PDFs or websites if you are using authentic resources and want to enhance certain features in the input.

If input is being provide orally, teachers can enhance the target form by putting emphasis on certain words when they are speaking.

Structured Input

Structured input can build from enriched or enhanced input to force learners to process particular features in order to demonstrate understanding. Essentially, the "input is manipulated to push learners to process something they might miss otherwise", and learners show comprehension and evidence of processing by responding in non-verbal or minimally verbal ways. These responses could be ones in which learners supply simple information, rely to a survey, match items, answer questions with binary responses (yes/no, true/false, etc.) order or rank information, or select alternatives. Structured input is more complicated to apply than enhanced or enriched input, since the activity is designed by drawing on one or more of the principles of input processing outlined.

Embedding Input Processing Tasks Within the Interactive Model

The Interactive model for interpretive Communication, which uses an authentic resource as a platform for interpersonal and presentational communication. The model has five phases: Preparation, Comprehension (part 1 and part 2), Interpretation/Discussion, Creativity, and Extension. Input processing instruction can easily be embedded within this framework to keep a primary focus on meaning, while also helping learners notice the process key lexical items and grammatical forms that are important for communication on the topic.

As you have seen, both the Interactive Model and input processing instructions keep a clear and strong focus on meaning, not grammatical forms in isolation.

Research shows that when grammatical forms are "divorced from the communicative needs and activities of the students, only short-term effects are obtained". A direct grammar lesson on the abstract rule may result in short-term understanding, but without any real long-term gains in language proficiency. While there is mixed research on the overall benefits of input processing instruction resulting in acquisition of particular features of language, couching all learning in communicative activities and continuously providing meaningful input that includes the target features is your best bet for achieving long-term acquisition.

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