Input to Output

Rakesh M. BhattUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Five givens in SLA: #1 SLA involves the creation of an implicit

(unconscious) linguistic system

Compare:

Mujhko ghar jaanaa hai ?maine ghar jaanaa hai *mai ghar jaanaa hai

#2 SLA is

Complex Linguistic competence

Lexicon/Morphology/Syntax Communicative competence

Pragmatics/Discourse

Different processes Input processing Change —accommodation, restructuring Output processing

#3 SLA is dynamic but slow

Developmental stages Acquisition orders

sequential acquisition

#4 Most L2 learners fall short of native like

competence

Critical Period Hypothesis Ultimate attainment: rare, exception

=>Nonnativeness is natural and typical

#5 Skill acquisition is different from the

creation of the implicit system

Knowledge, yes Articulation, no

Input Language that a learner hears (reads)

that has some kind of communicative intent

This input must be processed (made comprehensible) for acquisition to take place

=>Input => processing=>intake

Input processing: Principles Learners process input for meaning

before anything else Process content words Process meaningful grammatical forms

Learners process content/propositional message with minimal cost to attentional sources

Principles contd. Utterance initial position is the most

salient, followed by final position

Learners interpret first noun/noun phrase as the subject of the sentence

Output Language that has communicative purpose

Language that learners produce to express some kind of meaning

2 important (related) elements of output Fluency: speed and accuracy Automatization: speaking w/out much conscious

effort