Features of Input of Second Language Acquisition

Article by Xiaoru WangProject by Sarah Ruff

What is Input?

• A variety of student and teacher characteristics– Intelligence– Sex– Personality– Learning style– Teaching style– Previous experience– Motivation– Attitudes

Features of Input

• Simplified, input is “general learning or teaching style”

• Students in other countries learning English:– Depend almost entirely on classroom to improve

English skills– Only hear “Teacher talk”

– Short, simple, grammatically correct sentences– General, high frequency vocabulary– Unreal, irrelevant questions– Teachers do most of the talking– Uninteresting topics

Optimal Input• Stephen Krashen• Said “optimal input” in

the classroom should:– Be comprehensible– Be interesting– Be in sufficient quantity– Be authentic

• If learner is exposed to these, language acquisition more likely to occur

“Be Comprehensible”

• Material should be reasonably paced

• Material should not be too demanding– If a student cannot keep

up with the rate of exposure, he will fail to comprehend and thus fail to acquire

“Be Interesting”

• Most textbooks available to Chinese ELLs are designed to cater solely to the needs of exams

• To prepare for these tests, students have little time to read more interesting materials

“Be In Sufficient Quantity”• Main concern of optimal

input hypothesis• Difference between

learning English in native vs. target language environment

• Students may only have textbook to rely on– Important to provide

material from which they can derive meaning rather than just grammatical concepts

“Be Authentic”

• ELLs in native country are not exposed to authentic speech patterns

• Must learn more than “textbook English”, which:– Simplifies material

lexically and syntactically– Loss of cultural meaning

Application in the Classroom

• Relevant/interesting topics within the classroom– Student life

• Clothing• Family• Likes/dislikes

– Immediate environment• Classroom

Application continued.• Language activities

establishing relationships between forms and meanings– Hands-on activities– Using spoken/written forms to

achieve a goal• Teaching both formal AND

informal English– Present a conversation in

formal English– With another English speaker,

“perform” the same dialogue informally

– Lead a discussion with the students pointing out the differences

For example……

Given this “formal” dialogue: Perform “informally”:

Click image to play

In Conclusion• English language

teachers ought to provide students with optimal input

• Encourage students to explore optimal input outside of classroom

• If teachers could employ this strategy, they should find their teaching more effective

Source

• Wang, Xiaoru (2010). Features of Input of Second Language Acquisition. Journal

• Of Language Teaching And Research, 1(3). Retrieved July 5, 2010, from

• http://www.academypublisher.com/ojs/index.php/jltr/article/view/0103282284/1813